Download Homer - Skilliter

English 112
Period 2
Dayeol Choi
 Homer is said to have lived around the 8th century B.C.;
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about 2 centuries after the Trojan War- which happened
around 1100s B.C.
He is known as the writer of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but
this is in dispute.
Some scholars believe Homer finished both long epic
poems only.
Other scholars believe Homer was not one but two or more
people.
Almost nothing is certain of Homer, not even his
birthplace or whether he ever lived.
He is known to be blind, but this is also disputable.
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Hector looked fiercely at him and said, "Polydamas, I like not of
your reading. You can find a better saying than this if you will.
If, however, you have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven
robbed you of your reason. You would have me pay no heed to the
counsels of Jove, nor to the promises he made me- and he bowed his
head in confirmation; you bid me be ruled rather by the flight of
wild-fowl. What care I whether they fly towards dawn or dark, and
whether they be on my right hand or on my left? Let us put our trust
rather in the counsel of great Jove, king of mortals and immortals.
There is one omen, and one only- that a man should fight for his
country. Why are you so fearful? Though we be all of us slain at the
ships of the Argives you are not likely to be killed yourself, for you
are not steadfast nor courageous. If you will. not fight, or would
talk others over from doing so, you shall fall forthwith before my
spear."
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So they were assembled within Zeus' house; and the shaker
of the earth did not fail to hear the goddess, but came up among them
from the sea, and sat in the midst of them, and asked Zeus of his counsel:
'Why, lord of the shining bolt, have you called the gods to assembly
once more? Are you deliberating Achaians and Trojans?
For the onset of battle is almost broken to flame between them.'
In turn Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to him in answer:
'You have seen, shaker of the earth, the counsel within me,
and why I gathered you. I think of these men though they are dying.
Even so, I shall stay here upon the fold of Olympos
sitting still, watching, to pleasure my heart. Meanwhile all you others
go down, wherever you may go among the Achaians and Trojans
and give help to either side, as your own pleasure directs you.
For if we leave Achilleus alone to fight with the Trojans
they will not even for a little hold off swift-footed Peleion.
For even before now they would tremble whenever they saw him,
and now, when his heart is grieved and angered for his companion's
death, I fear against destiny he may storm their fortress.'
 Summary: Zeus, leader of the Greek Gods, lifts the ban on the
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gods' influence of the war, and allows the gods to intervene in
the battles.
The poem contains numerous allusions to Greek mythology.
The excerpt foreshadows more violence and death since the Gods
are now free to do what they want. Achilles’ assault on the Trojan
forces is also foreshadowed.
Homer uses Dactylic hexameter as the basic rhythmical structure
of the poem.
The theme of the excerpt is divine intervention/retribution and
revenge- by Achilles after the death of his friend.
This part of the Iliad is a turning point as Achilles finally
engages in battle, shifting the tide in favor of the Greeks. Also, as
the various Gods take sides and join the War, the Iliad reaches its
climax.
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Achilles mad with rage darted towards him, with his wondrous
shield before his breast, and his gleaming helmet, made with four
layers of metal, nodding fiercely forward. The thick tresses of gold
wi which Vulcan had crested the helmet floated round it, and as the
evening star that shines brighter than all others through the
stillness of night, even such was the gleam of the spear which
Achilles poised in his right hand, fraught with the death of noble
Hector. He eyed his fair flesh over and over to see where he could
best wound it, but all was protected by the goodly armour of which
Hector had spoiled Patroclus after he had slain him, save only the
throat where the collar-bones divide the neck from the shoulders,
and this is a most deadly place: here then did Achilles strike him
as he was coming on towards him, and the point of his spear went right
through the fleshy part of the neck, but it did not sever his windpipe
so that he could still speak. Hector fell headlong, and Achilles
vaunted over him saying, "Hector, you deemed that you should come
off scatheless when you were spoiling Patroclus, and recked not of
myself who was not with him. Fool that you were: for I, his comrade,
mightier far than he, was still left behind him at the ships, and
now I have laid you low. The Achaeans shall give him all due funeral
rites, while dogs and vultures shall work their will upon yourself."
Then Hector said, as the life ebbed out of him, "I pray you by
your life and knees, and by your parents, let not dogs devour me at
the ships of the Achaeans, but accept the rich treasure of gold and
bronze which my father and mother will offer you, and send my body
home, that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire
when I am dead."
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Now Chryses had come to the
ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had brought with him a
great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo
wreathed with a suppliant's wreath and he besought the Achaeans, but
most of all the two sons of Atreus, who were their chiefs.
"Sons of Atreus," he cried, "and all other Achaeans, may the gods
who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to reach
your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a ransom for
her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Jove."
On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for
respecting the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not
so Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away.
"Old man," said he, "let me not find you tarrying about our ships, nor
yet coming hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your wreath shall
profit you nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow old in my
house at Argos far from her own home, busying herself with her loom
and visiting my couch; so go, and do not provoke me or it shall be the
worse for you."
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The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went
by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo
whom lovely Leto had borne. "Hear me," he cried, "O god of the
silver bow, that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest Tenedos
with thy might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have ever decked your
temple with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones in fat of bulls or
goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon
the Danaans."
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down
furious from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver
upon his shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage
that trembled within him. He sat himself down away from the ships with
a face as dark as night, and his silver bow rang death as he shot
his arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their mules and their
hounds, but presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves,
and all day long the pyres of the dead were burning.
 The Iliad was written centuries after the time when the
Trojan War took place; would you consider the poem
more closer to a novel or a piece of history? Will you
use the poem extensively if you were to write a history
book about the Trojan War? The Iliad is one of the very
few sources of the war.
 If you lived during the Ancient Greek era, but still
centuries after the Trojan War, how would you view of
the epic poem differ from your view now? Would you
have regarded the poem as a fact if you lived during
those times?
 Agamemnon says “Your scepter of the god and your
wreath shall profit you nothing,” when he is asked to
return a priestess to her father. Why would a religious
Greek say this? How does Agamemnon’s behavior and
the result of his behavior relate to the themes of the
Iliad?
 What does Apollo’s reactions portray about Greek
Gods?
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http://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/homer_british_museum.jpg
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http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-iliad-book-1/
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http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-iliad-book-12/
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http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/html/application.htmlhttp://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-iliad-book-22/
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http://navercast.naver.com/peoplehistory/foreign/1262
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http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar260640&st=homer
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http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar272200&st=iliad
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Homeric_Greece.svg/1000px-Homeric_Greece.svg.png
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http://audioforum.com/sc_images/categories/3352_image.bmp
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http://www.britaininprint.net/learning/include/images/common/trojan_war.jpg
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http://students.ou.edu/E/Ryan.C.Emrick-1/greek_trireme.JPG
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http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/86741023_ca21c79477.jpg
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http://faculty.mville.edu/cifarellim/images/10precept.jpg
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http://www.witiger.com/ecommerce/trojanhorse.jpg
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http://www.columbia.edu/cu/seminars/Special/Symposium2003/DacierHomer01.jpg
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http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/000Images/him/helen7804.jpg
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http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/G/n/T/2/Achilles_Patroclus_Berlin_F2278.jpg
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http://www.europe.org.uk/europlus/images/greece4.jpg
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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/3958263987_57f09c9325.jpg
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Mytikas_summit_PJS.jpg
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_Homer_and_his_Guide_(1874).jpg
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http://e-vangelos.net/link_images/homer.gif
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http://www.greek-islands.us/kefalonia/greek-god-zeus/Greek-god-Zeus-1.jpg
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http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/Armor/Achilles.jpg
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http://www.atech.org/faculty/burke/pictures/belvedere_apollo.jpg
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http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/sleepwalkrebel/TroySchoubroeck.jpg
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http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/d/e/2/Troy.jpg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDPMv36tv4A
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http://www.warchat.org/pictures/the_trojan_war_burning_city.jpg