Iliad

Achilles is a Greek hero, and this means he has character flaws. Achilles is enraged when Agamemnon takes Briseis, and this action threatens his pride. Achilles is egotistical and craves glory and...

The gods have a complicated but important role in The Iliad. On the one hand, they are far more powerful than human beings and are depicted as having the ability to shape and manipulate human...

In the Iliad, the gods and goddesses play a very important part. In order to answer your question, you might want to explain that this is because the ancient Greek faith believed that the gods were...

The scene in which Andromache bids farewell to Hector on the eve of battle is one of the most tender in the entire poem. Hector appears in body armor, a long plume emerging from his helmet, to say...

The gods and goddesses portrayed in Homer's Iliad are anthropomorphic, meaning that they take forms like those of human beings. Even though they are immortal and have great powers, the gods have...

It has been established by scholars that the Iliad contains textual layers that pertain to various epochs beginning from Pre-Mycenaean era and ending at least with the ninth century BCE. Thus,...

Arete is honor and excellence. Males achieved arete in the Ancient Greek world by becoming valiant warriors. War was the chief source of male honor in life and after death, for courageous fighters...

At the beginning of the story, Achilles refuses to participate in the Trojan War because Agamemnon forcibly takes Achilles's slave and concubine Briseis after being forced to release his own slave,...

Although she has a small role in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, Helen has a profound impact on the action of the plot. She is, after all, the primary cause of the Trojan War, during which the poem is...

First of all, The Iliad is extremely important as a historical document and a lens through which we can examine the ancient past. Through this epic, we can gain insights into the religious life of...

The action of the Iliad leads to the high point, or climax, of the poem in which Achilles kills Hector. This is such a fraught moment because it is a clash between each side's greatest warriors,...

Homer's poem The Iliad is a classic example of an epic poem because it adheres to the traditional epic form in so many ways. For instance, the story takes place over a wide area. Specifically, The...

In the world of the Iliad, to be a man who lives with honor means to fight in wars. The greatest heroes, such as Achilles and Odysseus, are those who fight bravely and exhibit extraordinary...

In Homer's Iliad, Patroclus is the best friend of Achilles, who is the mightiest of the Greek warriors at Troy. In Iliad 1, Achilles becomes angry at Agamemnon for taking away his female war prize,...

The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles is absolutely crucial to the action of book 1 of the Iliad and provides a catalyst for much of the action to follow. Proud Achilles, the finest of the...

This is an interesting question, in that I've not heard it considered before, and, on the surface, the two heroes have little in common. Let's examine if the two legendary characters (for we have...

As noted by gcarden498, "in medias res" is a Latin phrase meaning "in the middle of things." With respect to Homer's Iliad, because other poems in the Greek epic cycle dealt with the events leading...

After sacking a Trojan-allied town, Agamemnon and Achilles, as is customary, help themselves to the spoils of war. Both men capture beautiful young women as war booty: Achilles takes Briseis, while...

Hera in Homer's Iliad is the Queen of the gods, and the wife of her brother Zeus who is the King of the Gods. She is the goddess of marriage and childbirth, and thus opposes the Trojans because,...

Achilles is the pre-eminent warrior among the Achaeans, and his status as such makes his rage the primary driver of events in the Iliad. Wherever his rage is directed, the action of the poem...

It's not enough for the Trojans to fight bravely on the field of battle. If they're going to prevail against the Achaeans, they're going to need some divine assistance. That's one of the reasons...

To offer supplications to a god is to pray to them and ask for favors. The Trojan women are terrified and turning to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, for protection against the invading Greeks. In...

Homer's view of war is suitably ambiguous. He's unstinting in his praise for individual acts of courage and valor on both sides. But at the same time, we are left in no doubt that war is a terrible...

While it is difficult to identify “message” in classic literature, it can be said that the manner in which Homer tells this historical saga demonstrates to some degree his attitude toward the...

The Iliad is an Ancient Greek epic poem written by the Ancient Greek poet Homer. The epic tells the story of the so-called Trojan War, which was supposedly fought between the Mycenaean Greeks and...

Achilles and Hector are both the greatest warriors of their respective camps, the Greeks and the Trojans. When it comes to their personalities, they could not be more different. Achilles is quick...

Achilles's shield depicts all the modes of life. Love, death, war, peace, farming and festivals, sieges and battles—everything is represented on the shield, which Achilles both uses to protect...

The Iliad reveals much about Greek culture as it existed before the Classical Age. As other contributors have already pointed out, we see within this poem the primacy of warfare in the era....

As we see in book 3 of the Iliad, Helen and Paris have mixed feelings for one another. Especially in Helen, lust and an extreme desire for Paris mix with a sense of sorrow and disgust at the...

Homer's Iliad opens with thematic lines: Anger be now my song, immortal one, Akhileus' anger, doomed and ruinous, That causes the Akhaians loss on bitter loss And crowded brave souls into the...

Achilles is a fascinating character to explore in depth precisely because he has so many characteristics that point towards differing interpretations of his character. On the one hand, he possesses...

Achilles's particularly egregious treatment of the corpse of his enemy, the Trojan Hector, all stems from the fact that he is desperate to avenge the death of Patroclus, whom he loved so much. In...

Homer's The Iliad is one of the most famous examples of Classic Greek poetry. Epic poetry is characterized by lengthy narrative and themes of heroism or a journey. Many other genres have been...

Joseph Campbell was a student of mythology and folklore who condensed his understanding of such stories into a monomyth that he termed "the Hero's Journey." The steps of this journey are summarized...

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are both much longer than the Iliad. The Mahabharata, the longer of the two, is approximately twenty times the length of Homer's epic. Moreover, while it seems...

Achilles death is not described in the text of The Iliad. The story of his death is part of later Greek myths. However the death of Achilles is predicted by Hector in Book 22, as he is dying by...

The greatest warrior in Homer's The Iliad is Achilles, and he has many character flaws that lead to his tragic death. At birth, Achilles was dipped in the River Styx which should have made him...

In Book 1 of the Iliad, Agamemnon is forced to return the girl Chryseis to her father, a priest of Apollo, in order to end a mysterious plague that has been afflicting the Greek army. Agamemnon is...

Answers will vary for this opinion-based question. It is important to provide reasons to back up and explain your answer. Zeus is reluctant to bestow the golden apple. He says Paris, a Trojan...

One of the most poignant aspects of Homer's Iliad is his development of the ancient definition of tragedy. Homer is able to display characters who are poised between equally desirable, but...

Justice in Homer is of a fairly primitive variety, based on customs of retribution and recompense. Response to what is seen as injustice can result in a demand for immediate compensation, as in the...

Achilles comes into the Iliad a glorious and prideful hero, demanding due respect and prizes for the acts of glory and talent he displays on the battlefield at Troy. This can be seen in Book One...

In certain respects, it can be awkward trying to justify Achilles's behavior, given that, by modern sensibilities, the actions taken by the Greeks would be classified as atrocities. Remember, as...

Like so much of the story of the Iliad, the war between the Greeks and the Trojans has causes on two levels -- that of men and that of the gods. "The Iliad begins with the topic of wrath. Homer...

The narrator of Homer's Illiad speaks from a third-person omniscient point of view. Specifically, the narrator is the poet himself. Homer appears to know the gist of the historical events that he...

As he heads off out to battle, Hector knows what's at stake. If Troy should fall, then all the men will be wiped out and the women and children sold into slavery. As Hector has a wife and son, he's...