Download The Iliad

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The Iliad Background
A TALE OF ANCIENT GREECE
The Iliad is the story of Achilles, or, as it is often called, “the tragedy of Achilles,” and how he
brings disaster upon himself through his anger. Although parts of the Iliad have nothing to do
with Achilles, he is the central figure, or the medium through which Homer conveys the poem's
theme. Homer takes his audience on a moral journey, as Achilles comes face to face with his
own humanity. This is perhaps the main reason the Iliad transcends the limits of time, place, and
gender to speak to all human beings. Everyone must come to terms with how and why to live
and how to face death.
ACHILLES
Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the goddess Thetis (the sea goddess). He was the
mightiest of the Achaeans (a Greek clan) who fought in the Trojan War, and was the hero of
Homer's Iliad.
Achilles was very brave and undefeatable in battle –
almost immortal, in fact. There are two stories that
explain why Achilles was so resistant to death:
Story 1:
Thetis, Achilles’ goddess-mother, wanted to burn away
the human part of her son; so she placed him upon a
fiery altar. Peleus, Achilles’ father, intervened just in
time, but an angry Thetis abandoned her son and
husband.
Story 2:
Thetis, Achilles’ goddess-mother, wanted to make her
son immune to death. So she held him by the heel and
dipped him into the River Styx to make him immortal.
Thus, the only vulnerable (weak) spot on Achilles’
body was his tendon where his mother held him as she
dipped him into the waters of death.
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There was a prophecy given about Achilles’ destiny while he was still a boy. A prophet named
Calchas prophesied that the city of Troy would not be conquered by any other Greek state
without Achilles’ help. However, Thetis knew that if her son went to Troy, Achilles would die an
early death. So she sent him to the court of Lycomedes, in Scyros where he was hidden and
disguised as a young girl. Achilles' disguise was finally discovered by Odysseus. Eventually,
Achilles went willingly with Odysseus to fight the Trojan War, leading a host of his father's
Myrmidons (another Greek clan) and accompanied by his tutor Phoenix and his close friend
Patroclus.
THE TROJAN WAR
The Trojan War began as a result of events that took place at the wedding of King Peleus and
Thetis (Achilles parents) many years earlier……
The wedding took place in Troy in the presence of King Priam and his sons Hector and Paris.
While Hector was the best warrior in Troy, Paris was known as the handsomest man in all the
known world. This pretty boy was asked by Zeus to judge a divine “beauty contest” of sorts. A
golden apple would be given to the most beautiful goddess present – Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite.
Hera offered Paris ultimate power if he picked her; Athena promised to make him the wealthiest
man alive, and Aphrodite promised to give Paris Helen – the most beautiful woman alive.
{Nevermind that she was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta……}
Paris, of course, picked Aphrodite, and she helped him to
steal Helen from her husband’s home and whisk her away to
Troy, his boyhood home. This decision had many dire
consequences. First, it turned the goddesses Athena and
Hera against the Trojans. Second, it caused King Menelaus
to enlists the help of his brother Agamemnon (King of
Mycenae) and declare war against Troy.
The Greek state of Mycenae and their allies already had
control of almost all the city-states in the Aegean Sea –
except Troy. So Agamemnon saw it as a perfect opportunity
to expand his empire and for his brother to avenge his loss.
Needless to say, Menelaus launched 1,000 ships –
commanded by Greek kings and their armies – to get Helen
back. Thus, the Trojan War began.
Menelaus, and Agamemnon also enlist the help of two other Greek kings – Odysseus and
Achilles. Achilles was somewhat reluctant to join in the fight. He had no interest in politics, but
he was interested in making a name for himself as a great warrior. Despite the prophecy that he
would not return from war, Achilles wanted to go down in history.
While at war, Achilles became very angry at Agamemnon over a girl (you’ll just have to wait to
read the story to find out the juicy details!) Achilles refused to fight, and returned home in a
pout. The Greeks needed his strength to win battles, but all of the rewards they had to offer
could not entice him to return. However, he allowed his best friend – Patroclus – to fight in his
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place. When Achilles received word that his friend Patroclus was killed by Hector – the Trojan
hero – he returned to battle, swearing revenge on Hector. To be continued . . .
HOMER – BARD of THE ILIAD
The ancient Greeks ascribed the Iliad and the Odyssey, their
two oldest, monumental epic poems, to Homer, whom they
called simply "The Poet." Nothing certain is known about
Homer's life. His name, which means "hostage," gives no
clue to his origins, since small wars and raids between
neighboring city-states and towns were frequent in ancient
Greece, and prisoners were routinely held for ransom of sold
into slavery. Homer is commonly referred to as the "Ionian
bard," or poet; more than likely, he came from Ionia in the
eastern Mediterranean
Legend has it that Homer was blind. This legend may have
some basis in fact; if he lived to be an old man, he may
simply have become blind. However, the idea of Homer's
blindness may have arisen because of its symbolic
implications. The Greeks contrasted inner vision with
physical vision, that a “second sight” was a gift from the gods to make up for a loss of physical
sight. Also, Homer's image - the blind bard singing the myths of his people - is a striking symbol
for the beginning of Western literature.
Although it is not known for certain when Homer lived, the Iliad was almost certainly composed
late in the 8th century B.C. Historically, however, both the Iliad and the Odyssey take place in a
long-past heroic age known as the Late Bronze Age. Homer did not create the plot of characters
of the epics he is credited with writing; rather, he inherited the stories of those epics.
Generations of Greeks had preserved orally the subject matter of the Iliad and the Odyssey - the
story of the Trojan War and the heroic mythology that pervades both poems.
THE EPIC FORM
The Iliad was, in fact, considered historical fact: children in the fifth century B.C. memorized
large sections of the poem and practiced the ethical codes that Homer presents. Athenians even
claimed the Homeric gods and heroes as founders or champions of Athens and its people.
Homer's epics also had a tremendous influence on later generations of Greek writers. Greek lyric
poets, dramatists, and philosophers considered themselves Homer's heirs, drawing on his work
either to imitate it or to argue with it.
Just as the oral tradition supplied Homer with a vast body of legend, it also provided him with
the form and structure in which to express the legend. Although Homer was free to choose and
shape the elements of the story according to his own vision, his language, meter, and style were
formulaic. Over time, bards had developed a common fund of expressions, phrases, and
descriptions that fit the rhythms of the epic verse line. These conventions became the building
blocks of the epic genre.
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Homer begins the Iliad powerfully by stating the epic's theme and invoking on of the Muses.
The Muses are nine goddesses in Greek mythology who were believed to preside over all forms
of art and science. The poet calls on the Muse to inspire him with the material he needs to tell
the story. This type of opening is one of the defining features of a Homeric epic.
Homer observes another epic convention by beginning the story "in medias res," which is Latin
for "in the middle of things." Reading a Greek epic from the beginning is like tuning in to a
story already in progress, in that many of the story's events have already taken place.
Information about those events is revealed later in the poem through flashbacks and other
narrative devices. Homer could begin his poems in medias res because the general outline of the
plot and the main characters would have been already familiar to his audience
The particular demands of composing and listening to oral poetry gave rise to the use of stock
descriptive words of phrases, such as "brilliant Achilles," or "Hector breaker of horses." These
epithets, often compound adjectives like "blazing-eyed Athena," allowed the poet to describe an
object or a character quickly and economically, in terms his audience would recognize. Homeric
epithets and other formulaic language may have helped the poet shape his story and compose
while reciting, and the repetition of familiar expressions also would have helped the audience
follow the narrative.
GREEK CULTURE IN THE ILIAD
The gods and goddesses of Homer's epics often
would take contradictory sides in human affairs
and would interfere with mortals in ways that
sometimes seemed helpful while at other times
seemed unfair. Humans were constantly at the
gods' mercy, and many Greeks would blame
misfortunes upon an angry god or goddess who
had been displeased by the actions of some
human soul.
To protect themselves from the vengeance of
angry gods, Greeks practiced ritual sacrifices.
The ritual sacrifice of animals was a common practice. Normally, only certain parts of the
slaughtered animals were burned. Among these were the fatty parts that make aromatic smoke
sacrificers hoped would reach the gods; the remaining meat was shared among the people. When
the entire animals was burned, the sacrifice was called a holocaust, which means "wholly
burned" in Greek.
Sometimes larger, more substantial sacrifices were necessary. A hecatomb is the sacrifice of one
hundred animals (usually oxen, sheep, or goats), although the term may be used to refer to any
large sacrifice. Other times, a human sacrifice was required, as in the case of Agamemnon's
daughter who was slain in order to appease the goddess Artemis and ensure a safe voyage to
Troy. Agamemnon himself was said to have bragged that he had slain his child to help a war.
Throughout the Iliad, reciprocity, hospitality, and exchange are the glue that holds a society
together, mending the cracks that would split it apart. Exchanging gifts and services is the way
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"xenia" works, the guest-host relationship in ancient Greece that binds together people not
related by blood or clan.
Early in the sixth book of the Iliad, the heroes Glaucus and Diomedes come together to fight.
Before engaging in battle, each ascertain the other's identity. The two men discover that their
ancestors had established a bond of xenia. Realizing that they are bound to uphold the ancestral
bond, the two warriors vow not to fight each other and exchange armor as a gesture of
friendship.
Refusing to take part in the system threatens to shake the foundations of civilized community.
Likewise, Greeks who would withhold hospitality to other Greeks or traveling strangers risked
angering the gods and goddesses, who often traveled in disguise and would be offended if
hospitality were not given.
In ancient Greece, oaths were sworn to solemnize promises or threats and to formalize official
relationships between individuals, clans, or states. The gods were called on to witness the
intentions of the speaker; if the speaker violated his oath, the gods would punish him.
As warfare is presented in the Iliad, there are several options in dealing with a dead opponent.
The winner might strip the armor of the vanquished warrior and then return the body. The
returning of the vanquished hero to his homeland was important to the ancient Greeks, and
warriors would often go to great lengths to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The Greeks placed such importance upon burying the dead that they believed departed souls
would return to haunt the living if, in death, they did not receive a proper burial. In the context of
formal mourning, only women sang funeral dirges (songs). The men would play "funeral
games" - games of skill and chance to honor the fallen warrior.
All of these cultural influences can be seen in Homer’s rendition of The Iliad.
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