Venezuela Heroica: Cuadros históricos is a Venezuelan novel. It was written by Eduardo Blanco and published in 1881, with an expanded second edition in 1883. It is Blanco's main work, and presents a classic romantic view of history as an epic. "Venezuela heroica" is structured in five vignettes that depict the main battles and heroes of the Venezuelan War of Independence. It was from General José Antonio Páez himself that Blanco heard the stories of the Battle of Carabobo, during an encounter with Marshal Juan Crisóstomo Falcón to end the Federal War (1859–1863) near the site of the battle. Páez was so moved from his memories of youth, the anecdote goes, that he could not stop telling his aide (Blanco) the details of the battle. It was Falcón who then told Blanco "you are listening to the "Iliad" from the very lips of Achilles".