The Iliad

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The Iliad

• Its My Achilles Heel

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Introduction The Greeks Homer

• The Greeks were an oral society in the
  prehistoric period that is the setting for the
  Homeric poems
• After they invented the alphabet around 800
  B.C.E. (Before the Common Era), they preserved
  their culture through the unwritten word.
• Greek tragedies and comedies took on taboo or
  deeply personal issues, like child murder,
  incest, unjust treatment by the gods, brutality
  in war, and how unfair life really is.
• Before Greece had tragedy, comedy, history, or
  even formal schools, there was Homer.
• Greeks, young and old, learned about the
  realities of life by hearing
• separate episodes from Homer sung at public
  festivals, and then remembering the stories
  through the power of song.

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The Power of Song

• The very Greek word for truth alethes says
  that something cannot escape notice, cannot be
  forgotten. What they remembered was what
  mattered most.
• The epics worked then like modern folk songs.
• They offered bluntly honest views of life.
• Remember that as you are listening to Stanley
  Lombardo.

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What young men going to war needed to know

• The Iliad Begins in the 10th year of the battle
  of Troy with an egotistical and incompetent
  Spartan commander-in-chief disregarding the
  well-being of his troops and publicly disgracing
  and alienating his best field commander
  (Achilles).
• The Odyssey closes with a returning veteran
  (Odysseus) slaughtering the men back home who
  dishonored his wife and son during his absence.
• Young men who went to war needed to know these
  hard, pragmatic lessons.
• Homer was their teacher.
• (Tom Palima, Prof. of Classics, Univ. of TX at
  Austin)

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Whats the Story, Wishbone?

• SING, O GODDESS, THE ANGER OF ACHILLES, SON OF
  PELEUS, THAT BROUGHT COUNTLESS ILLS UPON THE
  ACHAEANS.
• MANY A BRAVE SOUL DID IT SEND HURRYING DOWN TO
  HADES, AND MANY A HERO DID IT YIELD A PREY TO
  DOGS AND VULTURES,
• FOR SO WERE THE COUNSELS OF ZEUS FULFILLED FROM
  THE DAY ON WHICH THE SON OF ATREUS, KING OF MEN,
  AND GREAT ACHILLES, FIRST FELL OUT WITH ONE
  ANOTHER.

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The Stanley Lombardo Translation

• Rage
• Sing, Goddess, Achilles rage,
• Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
• Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
• Of heroes into Hades dark,
• And left their bodies to rot as feasts
• For dogs and birds, as Zeus will was done.
• Begin with the clash between Agamemnon-
• The Greek warlord- and godlike Achilles.

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Two Kingdoms, Two Husbands, Three Women,
Countless Ills, Scores of Warrior Heroes, and the
Anger of Achilles

• The Iliad!
• Coming soon - to a Mythology classroom
  near you.

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Troy - Trash or Treasure?

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Anticipation, Anticipation is Making Me Wait

• The Trojan War might be the most famous event in
  classical mythology. What knowledge or
  impressions do you already have of the Trojan
  War? Where did you get this information?
• Most mythologies are filled with tales of
  conflict and war. What is a good reason for
  going to war? Historians sometimes discuss the
  three Gs of war God, gold, and glory. Would
  you be willing to go to war for the right reason?
• Eris, the goddess of discord, played a crucial
  role in starting the Trojan War. What is
  discord? Have you ever experienced discord?

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Eris

• Eris, the Goddess of Discord, was not popular
  among the gods. She would not have been invited
  to weddings, as you can probably understand.
  When Eris was not invited to the wedding of
  Peleus and Thetis, Achilles parents, she made
  trouble by tossing an apple which was engraved
  with the words, For the Fairest. Hera,
  Aphrodite, and Athena all believed that the apple
  was for them.
• What kinds of problems may this have caused? Why
  did Zeus stay out of the decision of awarding the
  apple?

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Thetis and Achilles

• Thetis wasnt happy to be married to a mortal.
  She knew that her children would die and she
  would not. She dipped Achilles in the waters of
  the river Styx to make him invulnerable (except
  for his heel) and disguised him as a girl to keep
  him out of the war. Neither ploy worked. Why
  not? What does this tell us about the beliefs of
  the Greeks?

• Thetis and Achilles

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Paris must decide

• Zeus sent the goddesses to a shepherd, who was
  really the son of King Priam of Troy. Paris was
  known for his honesty, but he had never
  encountered the beauty of goddesses before. He
  couldnt decide which was the fairest, so he had
  to be bribed. Hera offered him dominion over
  Europe and Asia, Athena offered him victory in
  all his battles, and Aphrodite offered him the
  most beautiful woman in the world.
• Which choice would you make? Why?

• Paris

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Its Keeping Me Waiting

• Helen was an astonishingly beautiful young woman.
  When her earthly father, Tyndareus, reviewed her
  suitors, he was afraid things might get out of
  hand because all of the powerful princes of
  Greece were presented as bachelors. To keep the
  rejected suitors from seizing Helen, he made all
  the princes promise to honor her decision and to
  attack anyone who did not.
• In other words, he made an alliance.
• What are the advantages of alliances? What are
  the disadvantages? Do you belong to any kind of
  alliance?

14
Paris and Helen

• Paris, having been given Helen, traveled to
  Sparta where Helen and Menelaus, her husband,
  entertained him. He then left with Helen (Some
  say he abducted Helen, and some say she went
  willingly). He was also warned by his brother
  and sister, the twins Helenus and Cassandra, not
  to pursue Helen. What ancient unspoken law did
  Paris violate? Did he have any justification for
  what he did? Did he even have a choice?

• Paris and Helen

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Helen of Troy

• Helen was so beautiful that her face was said to
  have launched a thousand ships. What does this
  saying mean? Could the abduction of one woman
  really spark a war?

• Helen

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Agamemnon

• Strong winds from the north kept the Greek fleet
  from departing for Troy. Agamemnon was blamed
  for the bad weather because of a boast he had
  made against Artemis. Agamemnon agreed to
  sacrifice Iphigenia, his daughter, to appease
  Artemis. In some versions she dies and in other
  versions she become a priestess of Artemis after
  Artemis replaces her on the altar with a stag.
  Would the sacrifice of a child ever be a means to
  an end?

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• Agamemnon disenfranchised his wife, Clytemnestra,
  and Achilles by his actions. What do his actions
  and their consequences tell us about Agamemnon?

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