Iliad

On the whole, Troy makes a number of changes to the Iliad, mainly as a result of the filmmakers wanting to appeal to a modern audience. Characters are made nobler than they were in the original...

The various legends concerning Achilles' invulnerability are wildly contradictory. The most famous relates to his mother, Thetis, dipping him into the River Styx but failing to fully submerge the...

Women show the price of a warrior society on individual humans. They can't earn glory fighting, but they can reveal the ill effects of fighting. Chryseis and Briseis, for example, becomes spoils of...

This is a very good question and you would think that the Iliad would address this question at greater length, being that this was the causus belli of the Trojan and Greek conflict. However, if you...

The most important aspect of the heroic code in the Iliad is the attainment of honor. Without honor, one cannot be a hero. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that heroes value honor above life...

This depends on what your notion of "civilization" is. If you mean "civilization" as something like "nation" or "nationality," then the poem celebrates the Trojan War and the values that caused it,...

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...

In the movie, Briseis (Achilles's female captive) is related to Hector, which is not part of the epic. Briseis is taken away from Achilles very early on in the epic, but not until relatively later...

In the seventh book of Homer's Iliad, the Trojan Helenus proposes that Hector fight a single combat with one of the Greeks to determine the outcome of the war. Initially, all of the Greeks are too...

In book 6, Hector is about to leave for battle with the Greeks. He is saying goodbye to his wife and says the following prayer over his infant son, Astyanax: Then he took his darling child, kissed...

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...

If we examine the Iliad, there are a few key figures. Achilles is the main figure. If we sketch his character, we can say that military prowess, pride, and wrath characterize him. When Agamemnon...

The Greek's did place a lot of importance on the body after death. This is why Priam begged for Hector's body back. A proper burial was very important to the Greek's. Hector was brave and his...

While Achilles is busy sulking in his tent, his comrades are getting a good, hard thrashing on the field of battle. Without their finest warrior, the Achaeans are in big trouble against the...

Achilles was the most famous and powerful of the warriors named in Homeric tradition. His beauty was compared to that of the Gods, and in his infancy he was dipped into the river Styx and made...

Throughout Homer’s epic, the gods manipulate the humans to influence the war’s outcome. Instances when the gods trick the mortals by assuming disguises or using their divine powers can be found in...

This question is interesting, because it seems to focus alone on the positive achievements of Achilles, which is slightly difficult, as he is a character who throughout this text is associated with...

Chryseis was daughter to Chryses, himself a priest to Apollo. When Iliad opens, Chryses goes before the Greeks, in the interest of ransoming his daughter, who had been taken as a captive by...

Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks, obtains the lovely Chryseis as a prize of war in the early books of the Iliad. She is the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. When the god tries to ransom...

Apollo's question to Achilles is essentially a taunt designed to remind Achilles that he is not only fighting the Trojans but also the gods, some of whom are supporting the Greeks, and some,...

The theme of man's mortality is introduced immediately into the poem in its opening lines: Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaceans'...

In Book 22 of the Iliad, Achilles has returned to the battle after the death of Patroclus. He is the greatest warrior of the Greeks and enraged by the death of his lover. He first challenges Aeneas...

The Trojan War began after the Trojan Paris abducted a Greek woman, Helen, whose husband was Menelaus. Despite Paris' role in starting the war, he is mentioned comparatively infrequently in Homer's...

Helen of Troy is often portrayed as a wicked woman, an unfaithful wife who runs off with Paris, leaving her husband Menelaus furious and ready for vengeance. This picture is at least partly true,...

In the final analysis, Achilles approaches his mother with the underlying assertion that he has opted for greatness in the short term of being. Achilles' approaching his mother in the first book...

Achilles is in a state of high dudgeon. He feels that his honor has been impugned by Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Agamemnon has appropriated Briseis, Achilles's comely concubine, in compensation for...

In the first book of Homer's Iliad, we encounter a dispute over a war prize between Agamemnon and Achilles, culminating in Achilles withdrawing from the fight between the Greeks and Trojans, mainly...

I think that Homer is seeking to bring out how human beings, unlike the Gods, can change in a worthwhile and meaningful manner. Achilles' evolution is a reminder that the horrors of war can be...

Homer's poem The Iliad is consistently described as an epic poem, but does it meet those criteria? An epic is typically a very long narrative piece that follows a single hero or group of heroes,...

The 2004 film Troy was an adaptation of Homer's Iliad, covering the beginning of the Trojan War, the battles between Greece and Troy, and the internal and external fighting that plagued both...

The Iliad—like its sequel, the Odyssey—is attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer. There is some debate as to who Homer really was, and some scholars think these two works were written by more...

I would make the choice that Hector makes: responsibility to other people. This is one of the many personal qualities that makes Hector such a sympathetic character and which distinguishes him from...

In the Iliad, book 6, lines 11–13 and 16–18, Homer uses the poetic technique of alliteration with a little onomatopoeia. In the beginning of book 6, the gods have left the Greek and Trojan troops...

Agamemnon was forced to return his war prize, Chryseis, to her father because of an oracle delivered through the seer Calchas. This made Agamemnon irate as he felt overpowered, manipulated and...

Zeus is the King of the Gods, and the most powerful god in the Olympian pantheon. He is married to Hera, his sister, and the Queen of the Gods. They both were children of Cronus and Rhea. Zeus was...

Achilles is arguably the hero in The Iliad. To the ancient Greeks, a hero was a human who has been endowed with certain superhuman abilities. They are usually a child of the gods themselves. In The...

Considering how so much of what is known about Achilles is relayed through Homer’s epic poem the Iliad, this poem might be a good ancient source to use in an argument about whether Achilles is good...

I'm not sure you can easily state an attitude of war across the board. Each character would be different. There are the gods who take sides and see this more like a game. The war to them is almost...

I think that his initial decision to flee makes sense with his character because it shows his honor. Hector is fundamentally different from Achilles because he recognizes the horrors of war....

According to Joseph Campbell, myths serve four functions: evoking awe, presenting a mythos, reinforcing a sociological order, and teaching how to find fulfillment and happiness. One can find...

Agamemnon, probably purely out of a desire not to have to end the war because of the non-participation of Achilles, relents and admits that he was wrong to take Briseis, who was already in...

In Book VI, Hector rebukes Paris because of his younger brother's selfishness. Hector enters Paris's home, described by the poet Homer as "fine" and "built by the best workmen in the fertile land...

Achilles is a fascinating character to consider by the 21st century standards of what constitutes a hero. He is clearly presented as something of a superhero with amazing strength and as somebody...

Agamemnon has a hot temper and and a prideful streak. His arrogance toward the people around him angered the gods. He also angered them directly by saying things that were disrespectful to the...

Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid are both epic poems set around the Trojan War. The former recounts battles during a multiyear assault on Troy as strange and often strained bedfellows Achilles and...

Both Achilles and Oedipus are brave leaders who suffer from the tragic flaw of pride. In both cases, this flaw endangers their country. Achilles, a great warrior, gets angry and refuses to fight...