Big Poppa
Lombardo Book I
Simpsons
Do the right thing The Iliad
Dr. Le cia R. Rodriguez 04.10.17 • Epic – A long narra ve poem dealing with heroic deeds and o en associated with war, vengeance, and adventure – Wri en in an elevated style and concerns a heroic or semi-divine figure whose ac ons have a na onal or even cosmic importance
• Myth – Once believed to be true by a specific people or culture – A empts to explain the the nature of the world – Provides a ra onale for social customs and beliefs – Establishes rules by which people can live their lives Aeneas sacrificing, from the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, ca. 13 BCE-9 BCE Heinrich Schliemann, and his much younger Greek wife, Sophia, wearing ‘Priam’s treasure’.
Excava ons at Troy under Schliemann. Dr. Rodriguez, my double, at Troy. No, we are not related.
A silly Trojan Horse.
Homer, 2nd-1st c. BCE Roman copy of Greek original. The Bri sh Museum. dactylic hexameter
Dawn. Saffron light over all the earth. Iliad 8, 1-2
Dawn le her splendid Tithonus in bed And rose to bring light to immortals and men, Iliad 11, 1-2
Dawn shrouded in saffron Rose out of the deep water with light For immortals and humans alike. Iliad 19, 1-3
Lombardo transla on, 1997 Aristeia = Excellence Pallas Athena now gave to Diomedes, Tydeus’ son, the strength and courage That would make him shine Among the Greeks and win him glory. Starlight flowed from his helmet and shield, As if Sirius had just risen from the sea Before dawn in autumn, and that brightest of stars Was blazing from his torso and face Instead of from the sky. Book 5, 1-9
This was their labor in the crush of ba le. As for Diomedes, you could not tell Which side he belonged to, Greek or Trojan … …Many as they were, They could not withstand this single human de. Book 5, 95-97, 106-7
“Say a prayer to Zeus and take a shot at this man— Whoever he is—who is bea ng the daylights Out of the Trojans, some of our best too. It could be he’s a god, angry with the Trojans Over some sacrifice. That would be tough.” Book 5, 195-199 The havoc con nued, and when Hera no ced That the Greeks were being crushed in ba le, Her words flew fast to Pallas Athena:
“This is a disaster, daughter of Zeus. Our word to Menelaus that he would go home With Troy demolished will come to nothing If we allow Ares to rage on like this. Come. It’s me we remembered how to fight.”
Athena, the grey-eyed goddess, agreed. And Hera, queen of heaven, daughter of Cronus, Got busy harnessing the horses, gold-frontleted, … Hebe bound the golden yoke, and on that she hung The golden harness. Hera led the quick-hooved horses Beneath the yoke, her heart pounding for war.
Athena, meanwhile, Zeus’ favorite daughter, Let her supple robe slip down to her father’s floor, This embroidered garment her own handiwork. She put on one of cloudy Zeus’ tunics And strapped on her armor. Around her shoulders She flung the tasseled aegis… Book 5, 764-790
And, like a bronze bolt in the center, Achilles, Who now began to arm. His eyes glowed Like white-hot steel, and he gri ed his teeth Against the grief that had sunk into his bones, And every mo on he made in pu ng on the armor Forged for him in heaven was an act of passion Directed against the Trojans: clasping on his shins The greaves trimmed in silver at the ankles, Strapping the corselet onto his chest, slinging The silver-studded bronze sword around a shoulder, And then li ing the massive, heavy shield That spilled light around it as if it were the moon. … So too the terrible beauty of Achilles’ shield, A fire in the sky. He li ed the helmet And placed it on his head, and it shone like a star,
Book 19, 389-401, 407-410
The Judgment of Paris, Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1528. Oil on wood. Achilles dipped into the River Styx Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1630-35, oil on canvas. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Laocoön, 1st c. CE Roman copy of 2nd c. BCE Pergamene original. Va can Museums. Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (detail from an Athenian black-figure amphora), EXEKIAS, ca. 540–530 BCE. Musei Va cani, Rome. Achilles =
Grief (akhos) + Fighters (laos) 1. Agamemnon (King of Mycenae): takes Chryseis as his prize.
2. Chryse (an old priest of Apollo): comes to ransom Chryseis, his daughter, and Agamemnon refuses. He prays to Apollo to punish the Greeks.
3. Apollo: sends a plague (probably dysentery) to the Greeks for nine days. Lots of Greeks die.
4. Achilles: on the tenth day suggests that they ask a prophet why Apollo is angry.
5. Kalchas (a seer): says that he will reveal Apollo’s reasons, but only if Achilles will protect him. At this the blameless seer took courage again and spoke forth: “No, it is not for the sake of some vow or hecatomb he blames us, but for the sake of his priest whom Agamemnon dishonored and would not give him back his daughter nor accept the ransom.” Book I, 92-95 6. Agamemnon: responds by saying “Seer of evil: never yet have you told me a good thing. Always the evil things are dear to your heart to prophesy, but nothing excellent have you said nor ever accomplished.” Book I, 106-8 “Find me some prize that shall be my own, lest I only among the Argives go without, since that were unfi ng;” Book I, 118-19
“…but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis, your prize, I myself going to your shelter, that you may learn well how much great I am than you, and another man may shrink back from likening himself to me and contending against me.” Agamemnon, Book I, 184-87
“You wine sack, with a dog’s eyes, with a deer’s heart.”
“”…And this shall be a great oath before you: some day longing for Achilleus will come to the sons of the Achaeans, all of them. Then stricken at heart though you be, you will be able to do nothing, when in their numbers before man-slaughtering Hektor they drop and die. And then you will eat your heart within you in sorrow, that you did no honor to the best of the Achaians.” Achilles, Book I, 225, 239-44
Timē = respect Kleos = reputa on Kleos aphthiton = unwithering fame
Then Achilles, in tears … He prayed over and over to his beloved mother: “Mother, since you bore me for a short life only, Olympian Zeus was supposed to grant me honor. Well, he hasn’t given me any at all. Agamemnon Has taken away my prize and dishonored me.” … And The s, now weeping herself: “My poor child. I bore you for sorrow, Nursed you for grief … Now you’re des ned for both an early death And misery beyond compare. Book I, 361-77
Achilles bandaging Patroclus, (detail from a red-figure kylix) Sosias Painter, ca.500 B.C Staatliche Museen zu Berlin--Preussischer Kulturbesitz Hydria (water jar) with Achilles dragging the corpse of Hector, A c (Athenian). ca. 520-510BCE. MFA Boston “For nine days there has risen a quarrel among the immortals over the body of Hektor, and Achilleus, stormer of ci es. They keep urging clear-sighted Argeïphontes to steal the body, but I s ll put upon Achilleus the honor that he has, guarding your reverence and your love for me into me a erward. Go then in all speed to the encampment and give to your son this message: tell him that the gods frown upon him, that beyond all other immortals I myself am angered that in his heart’s madness he holds Hektor beside the curved ships and did not give him back. Perhaps in fear of me he will give back Hektor. Then I will send Iris to Priam of the great heart, with an order to ransom his dear son, going down to the ships of the Achaians and bringing gi s to Achilleus which might so en his anger.” Zeus, Book XXIV, 107-19 Geometric krater, from the Dipylon cemetery, Athens, ca. 740 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. How is Priam’s trip to the Greek camp described? That is, what kind of ‘journey’ is it?
Why does Achilles return the body of Hektor?
How does Achilles differ from Agamemnon?
What is Achilles’ ‘journey’?
What is the Iliad about?
Priam at the feet of Achilles, Jules Bas en-Lepage, 1876, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille