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In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which the speaker either strengthens or weakens the emphasis of a claim by denying its opposite. The literal meaning of a litotes is "not X (but not necessarily Y)", and a litotes can be used as an understatement, actually meaning "very much Y," or to express ambivalence.
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Litotes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So you can use litotes to express understatement, but not all litotes is understatement and not all understatement is litotes.
I am not ignorant of The Iliad. (litotes expressing an understatement)
I know a fair amount about The Iliad; I've been studying it for 20 years. (understatement but no litotes)
(There are lots of other examples in the Wikipedia article.)
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litotes and understatement 
Re: litotes and understatement 
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