Download Study Guide for The Iliad, by Homer

Study Guide for The Iliad, by Homer
Richmond Lattimore translation
You must read the introduction to Richmond Lattimore’s translation of The Iliad before starting this
assignment. It is found in the first 11-55 pages of your book. This will give you a framework of
information to build upon as you read. Homer’s listening audience already knew the basic stories,
they were familiar with the attributes of each god and goddess. It would greatly assist you to read
through the supplementary glossary at this time (note that ‘k’ can be substituted with ‘c’ in most
cases).
NB: Use complete sentences for your answers. Include all details found in both the Glossary and
in “Who’s Who.” Points will be reduced for incomplete answers and improper grammar. There are
a total of 650 points possible in this guide. No re-dos are allowed; do your best the first time. Your
Iliad grade is your first-quarter grade.
Week One: Iliad #1 - #30 (due Session 2)
Week Four: Iliad #130 – 178 (due Session 5)
Week Two: Iliad #31 – 80 (due Session 3)
Week Five: Iliad #179 – 227 (due Session 6)
Week Three: Iliad #81 – 129 (due Session 4)
Week Six: Iliad #228 – 276 (due Session 7)
Introduction
The word Iliad means “a poem about Ilion” (another name for Troy). The Iliad is of the genre of epic.
1.
Define ‘genre.’
2.
Define ‘epic’.
3. Define and demonstrate ‘dactylic hexameter’, the traditional meter of Greek epic poetry (see
handout).
2 points
A character or object in The Iliad generally has a number of epithets of varying metrical size used
in conjunction with it. The reason for this is that sometimes a longer epithet is needed to suit
the meter, while on other occasions a shorter one is needed.
Thus, “glorious Hektor”(5
syllables) can also be, “Hektor of the shining helm”(7 English syllables).
The singing bard
could tell his story while keeping to 18 syllables when he had a variety of epithets to choose.
4. Define ‘epithet’ and give one example from the Iliad.
Book One
NB: When answering “What is” or “Who is” questions, please provide the following: family status,
superpowers and authority, Roman name (if there is one), trademark clothing or props,
personality traits, and any known familial (animal associations). These attributes are essential,
foundational material for the student to understand later works. Later authors assume classical
knowledge of the gods and their attributes.
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5. Lines 1.1,2 The goddess is the Muse (see Glossary). The oral poet believes she gave him
the story to relate, like a prophet. He says ‘sing’ because often a musical instrument was used
for accompaniment. What is a Muse?
4 points
ANSWER: There are nine muses: Clio (History), Euterpe (tragedy-flute), Melpomene (tragedy-lyre),
Terpsichore (dance), Erato (hymns/lyre), Polyhymnia (hymns), Urania (Astronomy), Thalieia
(Comedy), and Calliope (Epic) - Calliope was the mother of Orpheus and Linus. The muses are
beautiful, creative, elusive demi-godesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. They inspire
creativity in artists and scientists. They used to live wild on Mount Parnassus but were tamed by
Apollo and became his companions.
THIS ANSWER IS A 4-point ANSWER.
6. The anger of one man is the theme/subject of this epic, who is he?
The Greeks fight for glory (kleos) and honor (time). They can receive glory from victory booty physical items or persons awarded to them.
They can receive honor from their reputations,
what men say about them.
This honor is all that can escape the grave, Hades, where their
souls are fated to wander after the death of the body.
“In the house of Hades there is left
something, a soul and an image, but there is no real heart of life in it.” (Iliad 23.103,104) In the
Odyssey, we will accompany Odysseus to Hades and vicariously experience the underworld of
lost life and lost hope. If Agamemnon takes away Achilleus’ glory (his female prize), he will also
lose honor.
Line 2 The Greeks in The Iliad are referred to as Achaians, Argives, and Danaans. See
glossary.
7. Line 1.3 Who is Hades (Roman Pluto)?
4 points
Lines 1.4, 5
Birds and dogs eating your remains, rather than having a burial or cremation, was
the ultimate desecration for a warrior. It was believed that burial was necessary for the soul to
enter Hades. Note the importance of retrieving the body of your fallen comrades throughout this
epic.
8. Zeus (Roman Jupiter), who is he?
4 points
Line 5, “the will of Zeus.” As Hesiod laments in Works and Days, “there is no way to escape the
will of Zeus.”i The theological options for interpreting events were rather dismal for the Greek
soldiers here. They must believe that the immortal, squabbling gods are constantly engaged in a
tug-of-war with one another to control events on earth, or that there is no personal king of heaven –
events just happen arbitrarily. Violence is simply part of that picture. There is no omnipotent,
omniscient merciful and just Father in heaven, no hoped-for Redeemer, they have never heard
those prophecies that provided hope for the Hebrews.
Line 7 People in The Iliad are often referred to by their father’s name (patrony´mic), this refers to
Atreus’ eldest son, Agamemnon. See the glossary. These first lines are the introduction to
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the epic. Note that the city of Troy itself is not mentioned; again, the subject/theme of the
story is the anger of Achilleus and the ruinous effects it had for the Greeks (Achaians).
Line 11 Note that Chryses was Apollo’s priest, Chryseis is his daughter. In Shakespeare’s The
Winter’s Tale, King Leontes sent to a priestess of Apollo at Delphi to find out the truth of a
matter. Pay careful attention to names of people and gods now, in the beginning of the story.
If you read carefully and are willing to reread, you will find that the main story of the Iliad is
fairly simple and involves a relatively small number of major characters. If you have not read
the glossary in its entirety yet, do so now. Homer’s audience was very familiar with his story
already, this much is assumed. You must make yourself familiar with the characters before
you will be able to understand the storyline.
9. Lines 26-32
Paraphrase. Note, a paraphrase is not a summary, it is translated
into your own words without leaving any of the thought out. You will lose credit if you
state only “Forget it, old man, I won’t give her back.”
5 points
10. Lines 1.36b-42
What does the old priest pray for? What might the ‘arrows’ represent? Use
the glossary to look up terms (“Sminthius”).
3 points
11. Line 1.44
Define ‘pinnacle’.
12. Line 1.55
Who is Hera (Roman Juno)?
13. Line 1.65
Define ‘hecatomb.’
14. Line 1.67
Define ‘bane.’
4 points
Lines 1.159,60 The whole purpose of the expedition was to recover Helen,ii the wife of Menelaos,
stolen (with her consent) by Paris/Alexandros, a son of King Priam. Helen was born to Zeus
and Leda, a mortal (already married, Zeus tricked her in the guise of a lovely swan). Leda
gave birth to a large egg. Inside were two children, Helen and Polydeuces. Later that night
she gave birth to two more, Clytemnestra and Castor, children of her husband. At age twelve
she was kidnapped and taken to Troy, where her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, rescued
her. Her father, now realizing how dangerous her beauty was, made every suitor/prince swear
that were he not chosen, he would still vow to always protect her.
“And they, each of them hoping to accomplish this marriage, obeyed him without wavering. But
warlike Menelaus, the son of Atreus, prevailed against them all together, because he gave the
greatest gifts.”iii Hesiod
“Hear me, Paris: For every false drop in her bawdy veins a Grecian’s life hath sunk; for every
scruple of her contaminated carrion weight a Trojan hath been slain. Since she could speak,
she hath not given so many good words breath as for her Greeks and Trojans suffer’d death.” iv
Shakespeare
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15. Lines 1.188-92
Line 1.197
What two courses of action does Achilleus consider?
2 points
One translation reads “long, red hair”.
16. Lines 1.210-18
Why did Athene come and what two selfish motives leads Achilleus to
obey her (see 1.218)?
2 points
Line 1.224
‘Atreides’, means ‘son of Atreus’. This is an example of the patronymics common
in the Iliad.
17. Line 1.227 Define ‘ambuscade’.
18. Line 1.231 Define ‘nonentities’.
Line 1.242
Homer uses foreshadowing to imply that Hektor will be a major threat to the
Greeks in battle.
Line 1.247
Nestor is the king of Pylos, old and respected.
Lines 1.259-74 ‘RING’ COMPOSITION, or ‘extended simile’ is common in The Iliad, sometimes in
multiple layers. Nestor goes full circle in explaining why these men should listen to him.
Line 1.265
Theseus was a very popular hero. During the time of the Minoan civilization he
was fathered by either Poseidon or King Aegeus (no one was sure) of Athens. His mother
wanted him to be king, but the king’s wife, the witch Medusa, convinced Aegeus that he was an
evil stranger and tried to poison him. At the last moment the king recognized Theseus and
relented, when he saw Theseus wore a sword given to Aethra, his mother.
The king of Krete (Crete), Minos, demanded fourteen young Athenians be fed to the Minotaur
every nine years in retribution for his son’s death earlier. Theseus volunteered, fell in love
with Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, who helped him, and killed the creature. He later dumped
her, became king of Athens, and married Hippolyte, an Amazon queen.
You will
recognize parts of this story in Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For Nestor to brag about Theseus listening to his advice commands attention.
Line 1.311
The epithet, ‘crafty’, might be better translated ‘clever’.
Line 1.314
The entire army goes through a ritual cleansing for purification after the plague.
Line 1.400-2
Hera, Poseidon (Roman Neptune), and Pallas Athene (Roman Minerva) help the
Greeks in this epic. Kottos, Briareus and Gyas each have a hundred hands and fifty heads,
monsters from early time described by Hesiod. In her youth, Athene had a good friend, Pallas.
While sporting with their spears one day Athene killed her friend by accident. To show her
respect, Athene added her friend’s name to that of her own.
Line 1.405
The suffixes ‘ion’ and ‘ides’ both refer to the son of a father. See 1.224. The
importance of both divine and human patriarchy in this epic can be seen in the frequent use of
patronymics. One of the most important things that can be said about a god or mortal is the
identity of the father.
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19. Define ‘patronymics’.
20. Lines 1.407-12
When begging, you clasp the knees of the person you are appealing to.
What is more important to Achilleus than his friends?
21. Lines 1.451-456
Paraphrase.
3 points
22. Line 1.452 Define ‘sacrosanct’.
23. Line 1.459 This refers to animal sacrifice. Remember, while the bard, Homer, was reciting
this epic that the Hebrews were already memorizing Wisdom Literature from Kings David and
Solomon, which reflected the character of Yahweh.
God had even described Himself in
Exodus 34:6,7. “Greek thought and culture, founded as it is in idolatry, does not represent
“wisdom.” It is, at base, folly.” v Considering Exodus 22:20, what will be the ultimate destiny of
these people?
24. Line 1.472 Define ‘propitiated’. An excellent theological explanation of propitiation can be
found in chapter 18 of J.I.Packer’s popular book, Knowing God (see Syllabus p. 11, 12).
25. Line 1.495
Define ‘entreaty’.
26. Line 1.504
Define ‘immortal’.
Line 1.570
Uranian means ‘heavenly’, from ‘Uranus’, the sky. In the beginning, from Chaos
came Mother Earth. She produced Uranus (the sky), whom she married. They bore three,
one-eyed Cyclops but banished them to the underworld. Next, human shaped giants called
Titans were born (the first gods and goddesses). The Titans, led by Kronos (Roman Saturn),
rebelled and took over. Several drops of Uranus’ blood fell to earth, forming the Furies, who
torment murderers. Another drop fell in the sea, forming Aphrodite (Roman Venus).
Line 1.574, 75 “for the sake of mortals”. Throughout this epic life action is presented on two
planes, the human and the divine. The gods serve to emphasize the limitations of man, how
short his life is, and how ultimately meaningless human affairs are. Here, “brawling among the
gods” paints the picture of the gods and goddesses in heaven as spoiled Über-humans, or
bored sports heroes attempting to entertain themselves with the plights of the pathetic mortal
creatures on earth.
27. Line 1.578 Define ‘ingratiating.’
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28. Lines 1.584-594
The island of Lemnos is in the Aegean Sea; the inhabitants are called
Sintians. Who is speaking here? Summarize (what is he telling his mother and why is he
telling her this?).
5 points
29. Line 1.604 Define ‘antiphonal’.
Book Two
30. Line 2.46
Define ‘sceptre’. What does a sceptre symbolize?
2 points
WEEK TWO -------------------------------------------------“I will make trial of them.” What is his intention here?
31. Lines 2.73,74
32. Line 2.87
2 points
What type of figurative language is this and how do you recognize it?
Lines 2.100b-108
This is simply the pedigree (family history) of his sceptre, which also
gives us a genealogy of Agamemnon’s family.
33. Line 2.134 How many years have the Greeks been trying to sack Troy?
34. Lines 2.149b-152
35. Line 2.169
What is the result of Agamemnon’s test of his men?
Why has Athene chosen Odysseus (Roman Ulysses)?
36. Lines 2.173-181
What does she tell him?
2 points
2 points
2 points
Line 2.192
Remember, Atreides is another reference to Agamemnon, son of Atreus.
are lost in the story, carefully start over at the beginning.
37. Line 2.193 What does Odysseus try to explain to the men of influence?
38. Line 2.205 Who is Kronos/Cronos?
39. Lines 2.211-223
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2 points
Describe Thersites.
3 points
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If you
40. What is Ilion?
41. Who are the Achaians?
42. Lines 2.225-241
Why is Thersites angry with Agamemnon?
2 points
43. Lines 2.257-264
What will Odysseus do to him if he ‘plays the fool’ again?
2 points
Line 2.303
“yesterday”, in other words, ‘it seems like only yesterday’. Aulis is the town they
sailed from when they first set off to sack Troy. Iphiginia in Aulis, a play by Euripides, recounts
the trouble of the Greeks trying to set sail for Troy and the tragic sacrifice of Agamemnon’s
daughter Iphiginia, demanded by the gods in exchange for a fair wind to set sail by.
Line 2.356
Note that this implies Helen was carried off against her will. It is not always the
impression we are given. It seems reasonable, however, that the Greeks must believe this to
strengthen their resolve for her recapture.
44. Line 2.379
What does Agamemnon claim would help to ‘put aside’ the evil of Troy? 2 points
45. Line 2.385 Who is Ares (Roman Mars)?
46. Lines 2.404-407
Odysseus?
4 points
This is a listing of all the commanders.
What is one character trait of
47. Line 2.446-51
You must imagine that the Greeks believe Athene is among them, waving
the aegis to urge them tirelessly forward. What is the ‘aegis’?
2 points
48. Lines 2.455-83
Within these lines are five similes, all describing the Greek army as it
gets ready for battle. Explain two, using quotation marks if you cite specific lines, and give line
references. For example, “The ____ are like ____.” Or, “The ___ are compared to ______.” 5
points
49. Line 2.479 Who is Poseidon?
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4 points
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50. Line 2.480 Define ‘pre-eminent’.
51. Line 2.484
What is Olympos and who lives there?
52. Lines 2.484-93
to help him?
2 points
Homer begs the Muses for assistance with his story, why are they qualified
2 points
Lines 2.494-759 A listing of the Greek ships.
53. Lines 2.509-10
How many Boiotian ships are there? How many Boiotian men were on
each ship? How many Boiotian men are there total?
2 points
54. Line 2.517-19
The important city in Phokis was Delphi (called Pytho here), on the
southern slopes of Mount Parnassus. Why was Delphi significant?
2 points
Twenty-nine contingents, 44 leaders, and 175 towns are named. According to Homer scholar
Malcolm M. Willcock, the information on the Greek and Trojan contingencies would have
been better placed in the beginning of the story. His opinion is that this information was added
later.vi Book Two provides invaluable evidence about the Greek world during the late
Mycenaean period; north of the Isthmus of Corinth (494-558), The Peloponnese (559-624), the
western islands and western Greece (625-44), the southeastern islands (645-80), and northern
Greece (681-759). Looking at a map of the whole area, it is evident that this is a description of
Greece by groups.
Some important islands and cities are not mentioned at all, leaving
scholars to believe it describes a particular time in history. vii Remember, German archaeologist,
Heinrich Schliemann, used The Iliad to direct him in his successful search for the ‘legendary’
city of Troy.
Although these portions of the epic are somewhat tedious to us, not unlike the Book of Numbers in
the Bible, the listening Greeks could mentally envision the vast forces of the different kingdoms
being accounted for. To them, it depicted the power of their people. Greeks could follow the
titles of cities and their heroes in a clockwise circle around the known Greek lands and islands.
55. Line 2.527,28
56. Line 2.530
57. Line 2.540
Who is the ’lesser Aias’ not to be confused with?
Define ‘Hellenes’.
Define ‘scion’.
58. Line 2.548
How was the great hearted Erechtheus, the mythical king of Athens,
born? This explains the frequent claim of the Athenians that they were the original and only
inhabitants of Athens.
2 points
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59. Lines 2.552-54 What was Menestheus best known for?
Line 2.557
This is the great Telemonian Aias, of Salamis (Ajax).
60. Lines 2.594-600
What happened to this mortal, Thamyris the Thracian, and why?
2 points
Lines 2.611-14 Apparently, the Arkadians borrowed ships from Agamemnon. They were not on a
sea coast and may have had little skill at sea.
61. Line 2.653 This mention of Herakles is noteworthy. We know him by the Roman ‘Hercules’.
His story is not part of The Iliad, though his descendants are mentioned here. Give a brief
biography, his lineage, famous feats, etc.. (Five to fifteen sentences should briefly cover his
story).
8 points
62. Lines 2.681-94
Why are not the people of Argos getting their ships in order for battle?
How is foreshadowing used here to give the listeners a clue as to what will happen?
2
points
63. Line 2.698-702
Who was the first Greek killed in battle?
64. Line 2.712 Colchis is where Jason of the Argonauts was from. He has his own legend.
See the glossary for a brief biography. What was the object of his quest, which would enable
him to reign as heir to the throne of Iolkos?
4 points
65. Line 2.718-28
Philoktetes has in his possession the bow and arrows of Herakles. A
prophet foresees Troy can only be taken with these weapons. Soon after the story of The Iliad
ends, Philoktetes will kill Paris, one of King Priam’s fifty sons, who carried off Helen (the face
that launched a thousand ships). This story can be read in Sophocles’ Philoctetes. Who
takes his place as leader here? Where is he? Why is he incapacitated?
4 points
66. Line 2.755 Why is the River Styx a fearful oath river?
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2 points
Line 2.761
credence.
Homer again calls on the Muses to back him up in his story. This gives it more
67. Lines 2.771-79
68. Lines 2.780-85
How do Achilleus’ men amuse themselves while he pouts?
Who is Typhoeus?
2 points
4 points
69. Lines 2.786-806
We are introduced to the Trojans and their allies. Priam’s son, Polites, a
fast runner, is the watchman for the Trojans. When he comes running to announce the
Greeks are coming, all simply assume that the goddess Iris has taken his form. Why Iris?
Who is she?
2 points
70. Lines 2.816-17
Line 2.827
Describe the Trojan hero, Hektor.
2 points
This means he was a good archer.
71. Line 2.832-34
fate of these men?
With the familiarity of Homer’s style you now have, what is the probable
72. Line 2.845 The Hellespont. This is where Leander (another story) drowned while trying to
swim across to see his lover Hero. Where is the Hellespont?
Book Three
Continue if you feel that you have a firm understanding of the story thus far. If you are somewhat
lost, please start the book again, and read it slower and more carefully. The next chapters
concentrate on specific battles, Book Three on the single combat between Paris and
Menelaos, the Prince of Troy and the King of Sparta.
Lines 3.1-6
This refers to a pygmy folk tale.
73. Line 3.16
Who is Alexandros? Who do he and Menelaos both claim?
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4 points
74. Line 3.20
What challenge does Alexandros make and why?
75. Lines 3.21-29
Why does Menelaos react so violently?
2 points
2 points
76. Line 3.38
What relation is Hektor to Alexandros?
77. Line 3.54
64)?
Who is Aphrodite and what sweet favors has she bestowed upon Alexandros (line
4 points
If it seems as though ten years into the war is a little late for this battle, you are in agreement with
Malcolm Willcock.viii It seems that Homer wishes to make this poem a true Iliad (story of Troy).
Lines 3.121-44 As earlier, Homer convinces his audience that Iris, a goddess in disguise, has
come to Helen, rather than simply her sister-in-law. The ancient Greeks were thoroughly
convinced that the gods were active in assisting or preventing their actions.
Read the
following quote;
“The Egyptians likewise discovered to which of the gods each month and day is sacred; and found
out from the day of a man’s birth what he will meet with in the course of his life, and how he will
end his days, and what sort of man he will be - discoveries whereof the Greeks engaged in
poetry have made a use.”ix
Herodotus
78. Define ‘polytheistic’.
Line 3.144
This is an interesting reference to Aithre, the aged wife of King Aigeus and
mother of Theseus (see 1.265 note), as a servant to Helen. Before Helen married Menelaos
she had been carried off to Troy by Theseus and a friend. Two of her brothers rescued her,
and Plutarch says, “Some say that Aethra, Theseus’s mother, was here taken prisoner, and
carried to Lacedaemon, and from thence went away with Helen to Troy, alleging this verse of
Homer to prove that she waited upon Helen-Aethra of Pittheus born, and large eyed
Clymene.”x
79. Lines 3.156-60
(Cf. 3.159-60) What is the cumulative opinion of the old, wise men of
Troy who sit in the gates?
80. Line 3.161
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Give a brief biography of Helen based on your glossaries.
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4 points
i
Hesiod, Works and Days, line 104, Loeb edition.
In Euripides’ play, Helena, she is never really in Troy!
iii
Hesiod, The Catalogues of Women and the Eoiae, line 100 from fragment 68, Loeb edition.
iv
William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene I, lines 68-77
ii
v
vi
Peter Leithart, Heroes of the City of Man, p.16.
Malcolm M. Willcock, A Companion to The Iliad, (The University of Chicago Press, 1976), p.23.
vii
Ibid., p.24.
viii
Ibid., p.39.
ix
x
Herodotus, Herodotus, Thucydides, (Britannica Great Books, 1952), vol.6:p.65c.
Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, The Dryden Translation, (Britannica Great
Books, 1952), vol.14:Theseus, p.13d.
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