# library.forgemesh.io – Ask the Iliad

> library.forgemesh.io – Ask the Iliad is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Retrieves the most relevant passages from Homer's Iliad in response to a natural-language question, with chapter and location citations.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/ask-the-iliad
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-ask-the-iliad-f7a69c1f
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_hVYq5uqkJLOysvcczv4bJ

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability library-forgemesh-io-ask-the-iliad-f7a69c1f -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search the Iliad for passages about why Achilles refuses to fight after his quarrel with Agamemnon — return up to 8 relevant excerpts with their chapter and location citations.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need verbatim, citable passages from Homer's Iliad with precise chapter and location references — for academic research, fact-checking, or quote retrieval. Prefer this over a generative summary endpoint when source fidelity and citation accuracy matter, or when you must avoid hallucinated quotations. This is a retrieval-only service, not a question-answering or paraphrasing service.

## Known failure modes

- Question too vague to match any passage — returns few or no results
- Limit parameter exceeds 15 — likely clamped or rejected
- Question about a topic not present in the Iliad (e.g. Odyssey content) — returns unrelated or empty results
- Payment of 0.01 USDC not fulfilled — 402 response blocks the request

## How this service works

Ask a question about Homer's Iliad and get back the most relevant passages from the text itself, with chapter and location citations. Retrieval only — full-text search, not a generated summary or answer. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of up to 15 verbatim passages from Homer's Iliad most relevant to the question posed, each accompanied by chapter number and precise location citation within the text. No generated summaries or AI-composed answers — only sourced original text.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max passages (default 5, max 15)"
  },
  "question": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Your question about the book, e.g. \"why is Achilles angry with Agamemnon?\""
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "count": 3,
  "title": "The Iliad",
  "author": "Homer",
  "method": "full-text retrieval — returns the most relevant passages from the book for your question; no summarization or generation",
  "book_id": 6130,
  "passages": [
   {
    "text": "…[Achilles] was furious, and his heart within his shaggy breast was divided…",
    "chapter": 1,
    "location": "chapter 1, passage #8"
   }
  ],
  "question": "why is Achilles angry with Agamemnon"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-ask-the-iliad-f7a69c1f/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from library.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/library.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)