Gods and Humans (Which Gods/Goddesses favor which side
in war?)
Gods and Goddesses
Agamemnon & Gilgamesh
Achilles & Gilgamesh
Parents to Children
Homoeroticism (?) and Images of War
Repetition of Images/Language
Women as "prizes" vs. Women as "wives"
Men as Husbands vs Men as "Winners" of Prizes
Character of Helen of Troy (See Essay )
"Daughter of Zeus by Leda [to whom he appeared in the
form of a swan] . . . . Helen grew into the most beautiful
woman in the world, and her many suitors agreed among
themselves that whoever eventually married her would be
defended by the others. She married Menelaus, and when
Paris carried her off to Troy, the Greek leaders organized
the expedition against Troy" (WW97).
At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (eventual parents
to Achilles), Eris, the goddess of Discord and Strife, is
the only one not invited, but crashes the party and throws
on the floor a golden apple, on which is written, "To the
most beautiful." Three goddesses--Hera, goddess of
marriage; Aphrodite, goddess of Love; and Athena, goddess of
wisdom and battles-- all claim it. To settle the
dispute, the gods ask Paris, a Trojan traveller, to decide
who should get the apple. Each goddess promises him a
reward to decide in her favor--Hera promises him power,
Athena offers wisdom, and Aphrodite promises him the love of
Helen. Aphrodite wins. (See Ch. 27 of Bulfinch
text )
Epic: "A long narrative poem in elevated style presenting
characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole
through their relation to a central heroic figure and through the
development of episodes important to the history of a nation or a
race" (H&H 177).
Convention: Poem opens by stating theme, invoking Muse.
Epic/Homeric Simile: more involved or ornate comparison, in
which the secondary object is very fully developed, and for the
moment upstages the primary object.
Achilles: Warrior Identity Hector: Associated with civilized life
** Homework Questions ** (See Part Two Questions )
(Page numbers in parentheses refer to the Butler translation )
Homer: 123:
Explain the Judgement of Paris.
What, according to the editors, is the central
subject of The Iliad?
124:
Describe the attitudes toward war presented in The
Iliad.
What, according to the editors, is the major contrast in
The Iliad?
Book One:
What kind of king is Agamemnon? Compared to Gilgamesh?
Explain.
130: (6):
Why does (Phoebus) Apollo shoot arrows for nine days at
the Greeks? (See 1.45-51)
134-35:
(10-11):
What function does Athena (Minerva) serve here?
139:
(16-17):
What service has Thetis earlier performed for Zeus
(Jove)?
143-44:
(21-22):
Describe the relationship between Zeus and Hera (Juno).
(See 1.569-626)
(Book Eighteen):
What literary technique is used in this description of
the lion who has lost his cubs? Explain.
Peleus’ son
began the urgent lamentations, placing
his murderous hands on the chest of his companion,
with frequent heavy groans, like a bearded lion,
when a deer hunter in dense forest steals its cubs—
the lion comes back later, then sick at heart[320]
roams through the many clearings in the forest,
tracking the man’s footprints, in hopes of finding him,
as bitter anger overwhelms the beast—just like that
Achilles, amid his groans, addressed his Myrmidons
(18.316-24)
Other Discussion Questions: Homer:
121:
Who were the Myceneans?
What is a syllabary?
122:
What is hexameter?
124:
Explain the system of exchange presented in The
Iliad.
136:
(12-13):
What function does Nestor serve here?
141:
(18-19):
What does it involve for the Greeks to make a sacrifice?
(See 1.472-505)
144: (22):
Who is Hephaestus (Vulcan)?
** Homework Questions for Part
Two **
Find and explain an example of an epic simile in Book 22
or 24.
Find an example of the gods' intervention in the events
of Humans in Book 22 or 24. Explain their actions.
Book Twenty-Two: 145:
(427):
Explain Apollo's comment to Achilles:
"[Y]ou'll never catch me, man chasing god./Or are you too
raging mad to notice/I'm a god?" (22.12-14).
150:
(433):
Explain the significance of the "golden scales" (22.239).
151:
(434):
Why does Hector stop running from Achilles?
154-55:
(438):
Explain the Greeks' treatment of Hector in 22.409-15.
Book Twenty-Four: 158-59:
(471):
Why isn't Hector's body damaged when Achilles drags it?
159:
(471):
Why are Athena and Hera "steady in their hatred/For
sacred Ilion" (24.30-31)? (Why have they
"persisted in the hate which they had ever borne towards
Ilius" (471)?)
164:
(478):
Why would Priam trade his remaining nine sons for Hector?
177:
(494):
Why is Helen particularly upset by Hector's death?
Other Discussion Questions: 147:
(429):
Why does Hecuba expose her breasts to Hector?
148:
(430):
What does it mean to be slain "Naked like a woman"
(22.142) ("as easily as though I were a woman" (430))?
153:
(435):
Why won't Achilles agree to Hector's terms before their
battle?
161:
(475):
Why does Achilles agree to accept a ransom for Hector's
body?
163:
(477):
Is is true that Hector is "no coward" ("showed no
cowardice") and is "without a thought of shelter or
flight"(24.228, 230) ("thought neither of Right
nor of avoiding battle (477))? Explain.
166:
(480):
Why does Zeus send an eagle to Troy?
170:
(486):
How many children does Priam have? How does he have so
many?
174:
(491):
Does Achilles have the authority to promise an eleven-day
respite from fighting? Explain.
173-74:
(490):
Explain the interaction between Priam and Achilles in
24.679-84.
Questions from the Previously Used Text:
European Background: 193:
Who are the 12 Olympians? (See also page 791-92)
Who is Cronus? Who is Zeus?
Who is Prometheus? Who is Epimetheus?
194:
Who is Pandora?
When was the age of lyric poetry?
What are the 8 conventions of epic poetry?
What was the Pelopponesian War?
195:
What does "unity of time and place" mean?
196:
What is a Sophist?
Book Eighteen: 372ff:
What eventually causes Achilles to fight?
Explain: "It is decreed your death must come soon after
Hektor's" (18.96). (see also )
Why does he need a new shield to do so?
381:
Explain Thetis's complaint. Why is she "one who in
her heart has endured so many grim sorrows / as the grief
Zeus, son of Kronos, has given me beyond others?" (18.430-31).
Why is Hephaistos (Vulcan) in Thetis's debt?
383-86:
What is significant about the images Hephaistos puts on
the Shield of Achilles?
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