Throughout The Iliad, one could make the strong argument that it is glorifying or celebrating war. Characters are shown as either noble or incompetent based on their bravery or success in battle. For example when Paris voices his distaste for battle he is shunned by his family and lover. In book 6, Hector goes to Paris and tells him “I don’t understand you, Paris. No one could slight your work in battle. You’re a strong fighter, but you slack off-You don’t have the will. It breaks my heart to hear what the Trojans say about you.” (Homer, 127) Achilles can be viewed as the opposite of this and is in turn rewarded with eternal glory by denying a long, comfortable life with his family at home. The text itself appears to support this claim of judging character based on performance in battle and applies at times to the gods of Olympus. The epic seems to praise brave and war perpetuating deities such as Athena while it pokes fun at gods that despise battle, using the apprehensiveness of Aphrodite and Artemis to add comic relief. Fighting in battle for Kleos or glory, which is often achieved through glory in battle or one’s own death. To fight in war is to prove one’s honor and integrity, while avoiding warfare is illustrated as lazy and ignoble.
Armor in The Iliad is something more than just a set of protective clothing for a soldier. Hero’s armor is often portrayed as having an aura or glowing quality to it. In book six, Hector removes his helmet in order to keep it from frightening his son: “…Resplendent Hector reached for his child, who shrank from him screaming into his nurse’s bosom, terrified of his father’s Bronze-encased face and the horsehair plume” (Homer, 125-126). When Patroclus wears Achilles’ armor to frighten the Trojan...
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...the fleeting innate qualities of human beings and their world that they have constructed, giving way to the idea that mortals should live their lives as honorably as possible, so that they will be remembered by their future generations. The impermanence of the human form and its creations is heavily referred to as neither can survive throughout time, however, their words and deeds can live on through stories. The mere existence of this poem can attest to this idea.
Homer depicts war as a noble and honorable while never ignoring the brutal reality of battle. Men die, women and children are forced into a life of servitude and once great cities fall. Men who serve in the military honorably and fight bravely are often described as heroes and those who act as cowards are chastised by both the characters in the epic and the language itself used when describing them.
Within book six of the Iliad, we see how warfare interferes with personal relationships such as a marriage. Homer wants us to see not just how the soldiers suffer and feel alone during war, but also how their families feel as well. Hector’s wife doesn’t want him to go to war, because she knows how strong the Greeks are and Andromache also knows that Hector will be killed. Hector also knows he will be killed, but he makes this sacrifice to fight in the war, not only for his city of Troy but also for his family. Within this scene, we see the irony of war. Although war is terrible, and it dehumanizes soldiers and leaves them often emotionless, they also develop a sense of belonging, they gain new leadership traits and valuable human qualities such as comradeship, loyalty, and most of all- courage. These are all virtues Hector shows us in book 6. Homer wants us to see the very few but positive effects war has on soldiers. Although war tears families apart, soldiers become part of a family; a brotherhood and these relationships help them develop qualities they may have never developed before. Hector is courageous enough to finish fighting, although he knows he will lose, he is still loyal to his family by trying to provide a better life for them after the war has ended, and also to his brothers, by standing by them and fighting the Greeks off together, finishing this fight strong, representing his city as a leader, not as a scared soldier who chose to run away and be safe. Hector shows us he thinks critically, logically, not emotionally like Agamemnon did, which led to the Greeks being
Homer’s moral exemplars in the heroic tragedy, The Iliad, can be analyzed to further understand warrior ethics. Agamemnon, a powerful warrior king, was proud and arrogant. These qualities made him an excellent warrior and the Greeks respected him. However, Agamemnon demonstrated excess pride and arrogance, as well as stubbornness. The Greeks believed that people must face their destiny with pride and nobility.
This epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy. All of the places where Homer’s stories took place were in areas that had been significant in the Bronze Age of Ancient Greece. Excavations at Troy and Mycenae have revealed that affluent kingdoms did indeed exist there. The Iliad provides examples of the culture and traditions that took place in Ancient Greece. The warrior culture that is presented in The Iliad is based on honor and bravery, a good example of this is when Diomedes is trying to rally his fellow warriors in says, “I know only cowards depart from battle. A real warrior stands his ground. Whether he is hit or hits another.” This society was strongly against cowardice; bravery was the only option in these times. The Iliad preserves the Ancient Greek’s views on masculinity and what it meant to be a “real warrior” in their times. The evolution of what people consider honorable and brave is evident, for The Iliad has conserved past views that can be juxtaposed with more modern
Homer progressively subjects his characters to a choice between loved ones, and war quest with heroic personalities is invariably choosing the latter. The gravity of decisions made in the text emphasizes more on knowing about fate ahead of time. Characters prize ancient Greek martial values such as honor, nobility, bravery, and glory with the will to sacrifice chances of long life for the loved ones. In portraying an ideal epic world, the text recognizes about the creation of mortals and the glory of man that does not live in constructions.
Throughout the Iliad, Homer portraits the extent to which honor plays a role in the lives of Greeks and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice in order to reach their goals. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, a particularly long and bloody war, fought not over boundary disagreements, and not over political conflicts, and not to protect the nation. Rather, it was a war fought to defend the personal honor. The possession of women was important to a man’s standing and honor. Paris’ theft of Helen struck a huge blow to the honor of Menelaus and becomes the initial cause of the Trojan War. Consequently, Menelaus, the Spartan ruler, called upon his brother Agamemnon to gather the Greek forces to launch the war against Paris demanding the return of Helen and reinstating the honor for the king. The war lasted for ten years and cost innumerable Greeks’ lives and brought incurable pain upon their families. To Greek heroes, honor is more important than their life as much as that life would be meaningless without it, and they even willingly sacrifice their lives in order...
In The Iliad, written in a 3rd person omniscient point of view, Homer gives a very serious account of the tenth and last year of the Trojan War. It was in Homer's account that the very idea of becoming a legendary hero reached its pinnacle; the choice of the better hero was not decided on the events they participated in, but rather by their characteristics. The ancient Greeks had strict criteria for individuals to follow if they were to be seen as heroes. Above all, a man needed to be a skilled warrior, but this was not the only requirement. To be a hero, a warrior had to respect authority, both governmental and religious. The Greeks gave heroes no room for pride. These men were to be modest, not only giving credit to their culture and the gods for any great deeds they had done, but also accepting everything that happened as Fate, not scenarios they had created for themselves. In other words, they did not make themselves what they were; rather, they had been predestined to become it. The final requirement of being a hero was coolness. Heroes were not permitted to be blinded by rage or have mood swings. In The Iliad, two Greeks are presented to the reader as heroes. They are Achilles and Diomedes. Although they are both good contenders for the title of hero, Diomedes is by far the better of the two. Diomedes is one of the finest and bravest of the Greek warriors. He is respectful to all authority figures and has little or no pride. Always wise and reasonable, he may be the vision of the perfect nobleman.
The Iliad is an epic tale of war and hero’s within the Greek way of life. A
The ethical values reflected in the Iliad should be taken seriously because they are not only plausible, but also congruent with the time and place. Homer is narrating tales of a society where men expect to fight and likely die in battle, where courage is demanded of all men, and where honor and glory are seen as steps toward achieving excellence. What makes the Iliad a masterpiece of Western civilization is not just the stirring story, but most of all Homer’s even-handed portrayal of the Homeric world, for the Trojans are never depicted as being less than the Greeks. The Greeks, even their greatest military heroes, are seen as flawed human beings. In conclusion, what Homer presents in the Iliad is a worldview rather than the local perspective of a distant war. In the end, Homer seems to be saying that all men may aspire to virtue.
Throughout the Iliad, heroic characters make decisions based on a specific set of principles, which are referred to as the “code of honor.” The heroic code that Homer presents to readers is easy to recognize because the heroic code is the cause for many of the events that take place, but many of the characters have different perceptions of how highly the code should be regarded. Hector, the greatest of the Trojan warriors, begins the poem as a model for a hero. His dedication and firm belief in the code of honor is described many times throughout the course of the Iliad. As a reward for heroic traits in battle, prizes were sometimes awarded to victors of war. In Book 1 Achilles receives Chryseis as a prize and a symbol of honor. Heroism had its rewards and its setbacks which ultimately was the backbone of the Illiad in the case of Achilles prize. Hector, arguably the greatest Trojan warrior or even the bravest of the Homeric heroes is very fierce and fights for what he believes is his destiny. In book VI Hector expresses his bravery when Andromache pleads with Hector not to fight when Hector says, “But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and the Trojan woman trailing their long robes if I would shrink from battle now, a coward. Nor does the sprit urge me on that way. I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself” (VI, 387).
War is bloodshed and pain and rust. War is the thunder of feet and the lightning swords hitting swords and shields. Often, humans become tricked into believing that they are more than animals, more than their basic nature. Athens dares to rise above and continue to rise after that, dares to journey out into the unknowable when they are still fighting a war they have yet to win. They’re eyes were set on geras when they should have remained on the battlefield, on the lives lost. Homer also portrays this in The Iliad with Achilles and his menis, the rage that overcomes him so much that he wishes the death of his own soldiers to prove a point, and the price he must pay for his own glory is first the death of a dear friend, and then his own.
Little can be said about Homer, but whatever was thought of Homer’s existence, there are facts that firmly surrounded the composition of the Iliad. In its origin, the Iliad was an oral composition meant to be sung or chanted for an audience. This epic poem dealt with only a small portion of the Trojan War; in fact, it covers only a few months during the tenth year of that war. (Page 223) “Rage,” the opening terminology used indicated that Homer would use war principles in this work. It is evident that through the conceptualized thoughts of Homer, his audience is able to visualize the ethical war principles.
Achilles shows his moral inferiority in book one of The Iliad when Agamemnon supposedly deprives Achilles of his honor by taking his “prize.” Achilles responds to Agamemnon’s action by deciding to not fight in the war and he also prays against the Greeks by asking his mother, Thetis, to go to Zeus. When Thetis goes to Zeus she says “Zeus, out father, if ever I have helped you among the immortals either in word or in something I did, fulfill me this desire. Give honor to my son who, more than others, is born to a quick death. But as it is, now the king of men Agamemnon has not given him honor. He has taken away his prize. He holds it! But give him honor, O Olympian, counselor Zeus. Give power to the Trojans until the Achaeans honor my son and increase his honor” (I. Lines 491-99). When Achilles does this he is showing that he is selfish and only caring about himself. He is showing he does not care for his troops by praying having his mother ask Zeus to give the Trojans power until Achilles gets the honor he believes he deserves. Another reason in which demonstrates that Achilles is a selfish man is later in book seven-teen. Throughout most of the epic poem Achilles chooses not to fight just because Agamemnon didn’t give him the honor he thought he deserved. But finally, in book seven-teen, Achilles decides to join the battle again. But he doesn’t choose to fight because he knows it is the best things to do for his people or country. He fights because he wants his name to be remembered. But that isn’t the main reason. The real reason that Achilles made his decision to fight is because Hector killed his friend, Patroklos. This is proven to be the main reason Achilles decides to fight in book twenty-two when Achilles is telling Hector what he is going to do to him because Hector killed Patroklos. Achilles says “Don’t beg me, you dog, by my knees
Throughout the text, major characters seem to be at constant battle with their different emotions. This inner conflict is mirrored by the everyday conflicts between the gods. Just as Zeus and Hera are constantly at odds with one another, so are the different sides of Achilles: his cultural responsibility, pride, honor, and revenge. No one is completely at peace with his or her conflicting emotions in The Iliad – and therefore, neither are the gods, who represent these emotions. Hector is a prime example of a human who finds himself torn between two forces: his love for his growing family, and his duty as a prince of Troy. He admits to Andromache that he worries about his own mortality, but emphasizes that “I would die of shame to face the men of Troy…if I would shrink from battle now, a coward.” (Homer 6: 523, 525). Hector’s deeply ingrained sense of honor and loyalty to home is clearly established in the beginning of the text. Therefore, when Zeus later grants Hector “power to kill and kill till you cut your way to the benched ships” (Homer 11: 241-242), it is not too much of a stretch to attribute Hector’s dodged perseverance to his upbringing and rigid sense of duty, rather than to the
Throughout history, humanity has always been fascinated with the idea of a hero. Examples include wild west rangers capturing bandits, superheroes defeating villains, and parents saving their children from nightmares. Today, common people who accomplish a great feat are often elevated to the status of a hero. They are worshiped and praised beyond the point most mortal human being experience. The Iliad is the archetype for this theme. It tells stories of Achilles, the Greek hero from the 7-8th century BCE and his heroism in the Trojan War. These stories caught particular interest from the Greek society and have dramatically influenced cultures and societies in art, music, and literature for thousands of years. The Iliad is the stigma for the
In Homer’s The Iliad he tells of the battles and events during the time of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. This was just a small portion of the Trojan War that had lasted ten years. The Iliad shares the ideas of the glory of war, military values over family life, and the impermanence of human life and its creation. One thing that Homer does is characterize the two different warriors Achilles and Hector. These two great warriors both show different kinds of traits that shape the character they become throughout the The Iliad. Achilles is the main hero in The Iliad, but Homer subliminally tries to persuade the reader that Hector is the true hero in this story.