I just finished the Iliad, and I was wondering if more people sympathized with the Greeks or the Trojans when they read this. Sure, the poem was written by a Greek (or I guess an Ionian, but I presume he considers himself the descendant of the Achaians described in the poem), but the Greeks have almost no scenes of tenderness or compassion. Troy is described as a former idyllic paradise forever ruined by the Greek siege. Priam is a wise, compassionate ruler, always kind even to Helen, whereas Agamemnon is an overly arrogant tyrant who only reluctantly gives up the daughter of the priest of Apollo, nearly ruining the Greeks' chances at something they've put almost a decade of sweat and blood into. Hector, although not the fighter than Achilles is, seems like a truly noble man. He believes in the good of Troy, at what his people are fighting to save, and even though he can be overconfident and egotistical like Achilles, he seems to care more about his homeland (Achilles actually prays so that his people--granted, the Greeks didn't seem like the particularly organized and unified state that they would become in the coming centuries, so I guess it's a stretch to say that they have a national identity--will be defeated in battle by the Trojans to prove Achilles's point that they need him) than his rival does. I can't see Hector wishing defeat on his people.
To me what makes the Iliad so tragic is not Achilles and Patroklos (because I didn't feel that their friendship was particularly well-established before the latter's defeat at Hector's hands), but the fate of the Trojans. A war fought over Paris's womanizing is so below Priam and Hector's sensibilities, yet they feel compelled to defend their homeland against invasion, even as they condemn their vain son/brother. It is their human connections that makes the story so tragic, their humane characteristics. Priam and Hector's kind treatment of Helen even as the other Trojans reject her; especially the mourning of Andromache and her heartbreaking lines about her son growing up without a father. God, that was rough stuff. To me this was the real tragedy of the Iliad, and I found it interesting how Homer devoted so much attention to the positive qualities of the Trojans, because the Greeks usually come off as bickering and overly macho (although perhaps these qualities were more important back then than the close family connections of the Trojans?). It seems unlikely, although I'm not really sure.