The Iliad Study Guide by Course Hero ABOUT THE TITLE What's Inside Iliad is Greek for "poem about Ilium," which is an alternate name for the city of Troy, the setting of the Trojan War. j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 d In Context a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2 h Characters .................................................................................................. 3 Trojan War k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 7 Based on its prominence in Homer's work, the Trojan War was c Book Summaries .................................................................................... 12 a central and defining event of Greek prehistory. It is believed to have been fought in the 13th or 12th century BCE. The g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 30 continued interest in it in Homer's time, approximately 400 l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 32 years later, is significant. Greek city-states were fiercely independent and perpetually at war with one another, yet m Themes ...................................................................................................... 33 Homer describes the Achaean (Greek) army in Book 2 of The Iliad as originating from more than 150 different locations from b Glossary ..................................................................................................... 34 all over mainland Greece and the Peloponnese. While this e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 35 number of different groups may be poetic exaggeration, an alliance between any large number of them would have been remarkable. It is impossible to infer any historical details of the war from the poem. However, archeological evidence found in j Book Basics the ancient city believed to be Troy supports its destruction in war around 1250 BCE. AUTHOR Troy is believed to have been located in northwestern Asia Homer Minor, near the mouth of the Hellespont, now called the Dardanelles, in modern-day Turkey. As such, the Trojans were YEAR WRITTEN a separate people divided from Greece by the Aegean Sea. c. 750–650 BCE However, Greek culture had spread through much of western GENRE Asia Minor by Homer's time. He depicts them as worshipping War Literature the same gods and living by the same values as the Greeks they are fighting. PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR The Iliad is narrated from a third-person omniscient point of As depicted in The Iliad, the Trojan War was caused by Paris's view. seduction and theft of Helen from Agamemnon. Scholars, however, speculate that the conflict may have had more to do The Iliad Study Guide Author Biography 2 with a dispute over trade routes and the strategic location of language, yet they are far from obsolete. Both works continue Troy at the Hellespont. to be taught, analyzed, adapted, and debated today. Other oral traditions produced ancient epic poems as well. The Poetic Techniques Indian poet Vyasa may have authored Mahabharata around 400 BCE, and another Hindu poet, Valmiki, authored Ramayana approximately 500 BCE. Both contain similar heroic tropes and The structure of Homer's epics comes from the long tradition metaphors of war, such as red flowers blooming on the body of of oral poetry. Like The Iliad, these poems are not memorized a wounded warrior. word for word. Instead, poets improvise from a base narrative structure. They rely upon formulas that they can combine in a wide variety of ways. The poet knows the characters and major points of the story and has a large collection of formulaic a Author Biography descriptions for a range of characters, events, and situations. The poet composes the exact words during the performance, Not much is known about Homer except that he is the poet to varying the words based on context and individual style. whom ancient Greeks attributed the epic poems The Iliad and its sequel, The Odyssey. Most of what is understood about This repetition of passages and familiar phrases might seem Homer is inferred from the poems themselves. From the boring, but a master like Homer creatively varies and combines language used, scholars believe he lived in around the early 9th these formulaic elements in a spectacular range of ways. or late 8th century BCE in Ionia, a region in what is now Turkey. Repetition also helps listeners quickly recognize and mentally Based on his description of a poet/singer in The Odyssey, organize elements of the poem to better understand the story. which many take as describing himself, Homer is often depicted as blind. Additionally, oral poets composed in a meter (called hexameter) in which a poetic line consists of six sections, or Features such as repetition and formulaic descriptions in the "feet." Each foot has one of two constructions. It may have one poems indicate that Homer belonged to an oral poetry long syllable followed by two short syllables (a dactyl), or it tradition. These stories were passed down through may be constructed of two long syllables (a spondee). Strict memorization and were sung by a poet for an audience. rules govern which elements can go where. Hexameter is Traditionally, these stories were likely of a length that could be associated with epic poetry. Its rhythm is distinctive and performed from beginning to end in the course of an evening. recognizable. Composing spontaneously within the restrictions Homer's innovation seems to have been to stitch a number of of such a complex system makes the work of oral poets that such stories together into a complex epic. Such a poem could much more impressive. only have been performed over the course of many days. At the time of the most likely development of The Iliad, around Influence the 8th century BCE, the Greek alphabet was coming into increased use. The earliest written version of The Iliad was To the ancient Greeks The Iliad and The Odyssey were recorded using this alphabet and contains elements of the historical accounts of heroic events. Their characters set an earliest form of Greek writing. This new technique of writing example for Greeks of how to live life honorably, and their undoubtedly played a part in the development and preservation messages remained influential through Roman times and of such a long and complex work. Whether Homer was purely beyond. Greek scholars started to write about Homer by the an oral poet who dictated The Iliad to a literate assistant or late 6th century BCE. The Roman poet Virgil emulated Homer's someone who was experienced in the oral tradition but meter, epic similes, plot structure, and many other elements of composed in writing continues to be debated. Homer's epics more than half a millennia later. More than a thousand years after Homer, Dante included characters from both Homeric epics in his Divine Comedy. The Iliad and The Odyssey are some of the oldest-surviving compositions in any Copyright © 2018 Course Hero, Inc. The Iliad Study Guide Characters 3 called "Atrides," meaning "son of Atreus" (as is his brother h Characters Menelaus). Achilles Priam King Priam presides over the city of Troy and daily life while his Achilles is the leader of the Myrmidons who fight on the side of many sons fight off the attackers. He shows compassion and the Achaeans (a collective term for the Greeks and their allies) understanding to Helen although she brought ten years of war against Troy. He is the son of Thetis, a sea goddess, and upon his city, and he reasons with his wife, Hecuba, in her Peleus, a mortal. He is a pure warrior concerned with honor distress. Unlike the warriors, he is not ruled by pride. He and glory—fierce and merciless in battle. His rage is born when humbles himself to appeal to Achilles personally for the return Agamemnon replaces the loss of one of his prizes of war by of his son's body, an act that finally brings out Achilles's human seizing one of Achilles's prizes. Until Agamemnon apologizes, side. Achilles and his men will not fight for the Achaeans. He actually asks the gods to ensure Agamemnon and his forces, his own allies, experience defeat without him, resulting in much bloodshed. His sense of honor doesn't allow for any Thetis compromise, but the loss of a friend and the appeals of an enemy bring out his humanity in the end. Achilles's sea-goddess mother, Thetis, protects and advocates for him throughout the poem. She carries his angry wishes to Zeus and persuades him to grant them, setting up the many Hector defeats that the Achaeans suffer through most of the poem. She also makes sure her son is protected, replacing his lost armor with a new set forged by a god. She is tortured Whereas Achilles is a warrior and nothing else, Hector is more throughout the poem by the knowledge that her son is fated to multifaceted. He is also a brave and fierce warrior, but as a die. prince of Troy, he is fighting for his city and family as much as for honor and glory. His interactions with his wife and son, as well as his brothers, demonstrate a strong sense of responsibility for protecting his city and the people in his Paris family. Unfortunately, his duty to Troy gets overridden by his pride, leading him to foolishly face Achilles in a fight he cannot Paris (also called Alexander in some translations) committed a win. daring act in stealing Helen away from Menelaus, but he is more a lover than a fighter at heart. He can be roused to honorable combat, but he is not terribly effective at it and often Agamemnon prefers to stay in his rooms with Helen. In contrast to Helen, who deeply regrets the consequences of her actions, Paris doesn't seem to feel much responsibility for the ten years of Agamemnon, a powerful and proud man, is the top commander war he has brought upon his city. However, his status as a of the Achaean army.