The eighth Book is unusual in several respects. Known in antiquity as the Κόλος Μάχη or Curtailed Battle, it describes the fighting over one complete day, which begins with Zeus forbidding the gods to interfere and ends with the Trojans encamped threateningly in the plain. Their success is due to Zeus's support for Hektor, for he has at last decided to implement his promise to Thetis in bk 1 and avenge Agamemnon's insult to Akhilleus. Athene and Here are naturally unhappy at Hektor's success, and their frustrated attempt to set out for the battlefield against him is a major episode, clearly related to their similar but successful intervention in aid of Diomedes at 5.711ff. It is characteristic of the Book as a whole that most of its actions and initiatives, whether divine or human, are soon abandoned or reversed. Only Zeus's initial determination is ultimately maintained, to produce the sense of crisis needed to motivate the Embassy in bk 9.

Book 8 maintains something of the quality of its predecessor, halting or repetitive at times but with intermittent brilliance of detail and description.