Iliad - CLAS170

Greeks

Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, Patroclus, Odysseus, Telamonian Ajax, Nestor, Phoenix, Diomedes, Idomeneus, Teucer

Gods with the Greeks: Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Hephaestus (son of Hera)

Trojans

Priam, Hecuba, Hector, Andromache, Paris, Helen, Aeneas, Antenor, Sarpedon, Glaukos

Gods with Trojans: Aphrodite (Paris picks), Apollo (patron deity of Troy), Artemis

King and Queen of Troy

Priam and Hecuba

Analysts

The Iliad is the work of many:

a) the original Iliad has had several edits, additions and deletions OR

b) The Iliad is a composite of older, oral songs

Unitarians

The Iliad is the work of a single author:

a) the Iliad displays coherency that indicates careful authorship

Oralists

The Iliad is the work of many preliterate singers who changed and adapted the narrative until it was finally written

Neoanalysts

The Iliad is the work of a single literate singer who was trained in tradition of oral songs

Proem

Achilles Anger and Zeus' will

- Achilles anger at Agamemnon

- Cause death of many Greeks

- Zeus' will is accomplished

- Achilles goes to Agamemnon to get Zeus to help the Trojans

- Zeus helps Agamemnon

Succession Myth

At some point, olympian gods attempted to overthrow Zeus bu bounding him.

- Thetis unbounded Zeus

- Thetis requests of Zeus, but doesnt explicitly state how she helped him

- Zeus' rule seemed absolute

Iphigenia and Chryseis

Artemis angered by Agamemnon, prevents greeks from sailing to Troy

- Calchas reveals Artemis can be appeased by sacrificing Agamemnons daughter, Iphigenia

Apollo also angered by Agamemnon, sends down plague on Greek army

- Calchas reveals Apollo can be appeased by returning Chryseis to her father Chryses

Agamemnon characterization

- refuses to give Chryseis back, keeps her as a wife

- likes her more than his other wife

- assertive at first, but reels back when something bad happens

- going to take Presaus from Achilles, then gives her back

Achilles and Agamemnons quarrel

- Takes Presaus from Achilles as retribution for Chryseis

- Achilles management in war

- Agamemnon is paranoid of his status and becomes more assertive, and takes Achilles for challenging his authority

Agamemnons dream and test

-Zeus sends Agamemnon a false dream saying he will win battle if he goes to war right now

- Agamemnon tests his army, telling them to run away (thinking they will say no and continue to fight, and will chastise them otherwise)

- Army actually takes his word and goes to ships; Agamemnon is made a fool

Zeus' will

wants Patroclus to die to get Achilles back into fighting

Characterization of Gods

*Gods seem to be used as poetic devices to externalize impulses or thoughts in humans*

- Achilles and Athena in 1: self-interest and prudence

- Helen and Aphrodite in 3: erotic desire

** They can also just be to drive the plot, such as Zeus' intention (characterized in very human way)

- forced to help Thetis, bickering with Hera

- plotting and deceitful

- and implacable to sacrifice

Helens characterization

Pro-Trojan: wants approval of Trojan women, weaving robe depicting their struggles

Pro-Greek:

- recalls memories back home

- shames herself (calling herself slut, wishing herself death, etc.)

- Initial characterization as shameless

Generosity in Iliad 6

- Axylos

- Adrestos: wants to repay with riches for his life being saved

- Glaukos and Diomedes:

* Agamemnon wants them all dead *

Myth of Bellerephon(tes)

Proitus send Bellerephon to Lykia with a written letter on a folding tablet

Embassy to Achilles: Odysseus

Two Arguments:

- Fellow Greeks sail away in shame

- Odysseus impersonates Achilles, chastises him for being too angry

- Achilles will get a lot of stuff if he agrees

Embassy to Achilles: Achilles' response

Arguments didnt work-- Achilles says Agamemnon nor other Greeks will persuade him

- Believes he'll die anyways; doesnt matter if he does nothing

- Doesn't care for riches

Embassy to Achilles: Phoenix

- Phoenix makes personal connection with Achilles

Phoenix:

- cursed by his father and resents him; leaves family and doesnt forgive him

- Lives with Pelius' family

- Phoenix raised Achilles like his own son, and he was a difficult child

- Fable of ruin and prayers; ruin more welcome than prayer; prayer only when things go south

- Connects it to miliager, who refused to fight and then city caught on fire

Achilles agrees to fight only if Trojans set fire

Troy- Film.

How are characters portrayed?

Agamemnon:

- imperialist before war begins. He wants to have eternal glory/ most famous king ever. New glory, opposite to Achilles, old heroism

- Constantly arguing over who will be remembered

- Steals Briseis just because

-Blood-thirsty throughout

Achilles:

- always hated Agamemnon. Also wants eternal glory

- Change of Character(anti-war): In love with Briseis, doesnt want to die, Grace of Priam shows he can be respectful to enemies, realizes war is bad, Achilles goes into Trojan horse, makes sure Briseis makes it out of Troy

-Change of Character(nihilism): Briseis killed, wants revenge on Hektor, Doesnt care about life or death anymore, no longer thinks himself as human

Paris:

- plans to run away with Helen, who thinkts its foolish

- agrees with Hektor that it wont be good for Troy to leave

- When Hektor dies, Paris changes and wants to be more like his brother

Troy and Iraq War

- ruler of empire wants to extend control by toppling local state

- suitable pretext is found to justify invasion

- invasion strategy: flooding battlefield with more soldiers

- cities destroyed but opposition forces not eliminated

Achilles to Patroclus

- chastises him for caring about the Greeks (nihilistic)

- Patroclus calls him heartless and proposes to let him fight in his armor

- Achilles agrees only if he is defensive/ needs his absence to be felt

- Ends with a wish: for as many Trojans and Greeks to die, only leaving him, Zeus and Patroclus surviving

Patroclus on Sarpedons body

- Patroclus drives Trojans over ditch, killing many Lycans and Trojans

- Sarpedon challenges him to a duel

- Patroclus says he wants Sarpedons body and mutilate him

Achilles regrets

- Thetis laments with Achilles

- Thetis poorly attempts console Achilles

Achilles grief

Antillicus tells Achilles of Patroclus' death, sending Achilles into a suicidal mindset

Achilles' shielf: ekiphrasis

- over description of his shield

contains the cosmos; nothing heroic besides anonymous figures

Meaning:

- 4 metals = Empedocles 4 elements

- 2 cities = Empedocles love and strife

** representation, describing ways of man

Hektor and Achilles duel

Hektor stays thinking it would be shameful to run and hide -> he dies

Andromache's lament

- immediately faints, wakes up and laments in concern for her son Asayanax, for his life without his father

- she fears he will live as a begger child and crying for his widowed mother; positive their future will remain in troy

- in reality, Astyanax is thrown from a tower and dies and Andromache is sold into slavery

Patroclus' ghost speaks to Achilles

- Achilles finally sleeps and dreams of meeting Patroclus; Patroclus says to bury him and stopping feeding his rage

- Achilles throws funeral goods, horses and 12 trojan hostages into bonfire human sacrifice for him (very taboo!)

Funeral Games for Patroclus

- Achilles sets up fineral games for Patroclus with prizes

Chariot Race:

- Eumelos in lead, his chariot is sabatoged by Athena, ends up 5th

- Diomedes 1st

- Antilochos recklessness puts him 2nd

- Menelaos is passed by Antilochus, ending 3rd. They took a shortcut which didnt fit both of them, but Menelaos let him first

- Meriones 4th

Achilles as host

- Feels bad for Eumelos (sinc ehis chariot was deconstructed), gives 2nd place prize as recompense, a female mare

- Antilochus' prize is stripped away; but Antilochus counters a prize even better that belongs to Achilles

- Achilles doesnt reply, agrees with Antilochus

- solution disputed by Menalaus by chicken game with Antilochus

- Antilochus yields and agrees, saying he'll give the mare

- Menalaus retracts the mare and lets Antilochus have it

Food race

- Ajax slips in poop and laughs it off

- Antilochus copete in one of the food races and loses to a much older man, Ajax, and is embarassed

- Only man faster than Ajax is Achilles; he likes the compliment and gives Antilochus an additional gift

Sphere-throwing

- Agamemnon automatically wins and Achilles gives him first place, saying hes the best Achaean spear throwing

- Direct text contradicts, hes the only greek hero who misses poorly; Achilles trying to save agamemnons face

- sign that they dont hate each other as much

- gift-given less prudent in context of Diomedes and more generous is good

Priam ransoms Hektors body from Achilles

- Story of Hektors body back to troy

- Divine intervention by Thetis to Achilles and Iris to Priam to form agreement over Hektors body to be buried

The Panathenaea;

Athenian festival instituted/ renewed by the tyrand Pisistratus

- said to be founded by Athens' first king Erectheus

- celebrated every 4 years

- involved hecatomb (sacrifice of 100 cows) at Acropolis, temple of Erechtheus

- contests include chariot race, footrace, etc.

Achilles' complicated grief

- Apollo looking upon Achilles grieving Patroclus- complicated used for grief more distressing than normal and warran counseling

- Dragging Hektors body around on his chariot

- Achilles agrees to ransom Hektor after Thetis asks

Divine Intervention

- Priam in dream and Iris tells him to ransom for Hektor's body

- tells Hecuba what hes going to do

- Hecuba rants on how much she hates Achilles

- Tells her this is Zeus' will and he must

Achilles' wisdom

- When Achilles meets Priam, he thinks of Peleus and asks for Achilles' pity

- Achilles and Priam share a meal and Achilles gives Priam advice to console his grief

- You get lives from thing of evil but not all come from thing of good

- Priam has lives of mixed goods and evils, no life with all goods

Atrytone

"unwearying" Athena

Kypris

"from Cyprus" Aphrodite

Kronion

"son of Kronus" Zeus

Phoibos

Apollo

Pallas

Athena

aristeia

the scene in which the hero is shown to be at their peak performance, their best moments

Examples:

Patroclus in Achilles' armor, killing many Trojans and shining in glory-- until Hektor kills him

Diomedes, aided by Athena, even wounded Apollo and Aphrodite

Achilles in the final fight against Hektor to avenge Patroclus

ekphrasis

detailed description of visual art as literary device

Example:

Achilles shield; description of 2 cities representing love and war, 4 elements, anonymous figures, etc.