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Homer's depiction of war in the iliad
Homer's depiction of war in the iliad
Homer's depiction of war in the iliad
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Lying in the cover of wheat-yellow shrub, a cheetah waits patiently for its prey; in contrast, a herd of gazelles peacefully drink from a water hole. The cheetah tenses, ready to make its move; the gazelles tense up, fear in their eyes. In the blink of an eye the cheetah launches after the herd; a chase, albeit a short one, ensues. The cheetah reaches its chosen prey, and the kill is complete. From an ecological perspective, the hunt can be seen as a battle––a conquest between the weak and the strong in which those who win survive. In the Iliad, similes are frequently utilized to showcase the violence in the text as natural, highlighting the characters’ lack of decision making––be it because of the primitive nature of war, or the gods’ influence––in …show more content…
The aforementioned excerpt starts off with its longest line at the beginning and progressively gets shorter. By shaping this part of the Iliad into an inverted pyramid, Homer emphasizes the ever-decreasing distance between Achilleus and Hektor. The simile’s structure also seems to stress the characters’ humanity and its quick devolution to more basic, animalistic behaviors. In addition, Homer’s use of an extended sentence, instead of brief statements, brings to surface the prolonged nature of both battle and the hunt. By emphasizing the drawn-out nature of the chase, Homer adds some meaning and depth to Achilleus’ actions. The confrontation between Achilleus and Hektor isn’t a random skirmish on the battlefield where two warriors randomly face off––it is purposeful and driven by …show more content…
It is important to note that the Iliad is originally a poem told by many bards and storytellers; by using similes, Homer compliments the spoken word of the Iliad with a visual component. In certain scenes, Homer utilizes similes in the Greeks’ favor, elevating their battle prowess in comparison to the Trojans. Presented to a primarily Greek audience, Homer’s particularity in bolstering the Greek army plays to the bias of the audience––augmenting the atmosphere of the crowd. The implementation of similes throughout the epic is vital to the poem as it provides the Greek audience with a brief respite from the practically nonstop gore of
The Odyssey of Homer was written during Homer’s lifetime during the eighth century BC. The Odyssey is classified as an epic and without a doubt is because it focuses on the main concerns of the genre. The creative form I chose to discuss that is constantly engaged by the Greeks was imagery within tragedy and the epic they have demonstrated their mastery of the device. Imagery within tragedy adds a necessary and otherwise unattainable sub-story to the epic. In this essay, three examples of the imagery of this epic will be examined and contrasted between an online scholar video of the Odyssey retold.
Similes are used by Homer within the Iliad to induce pathos by contrasting the unnatural bestiality of battle with vivid imagery from the natural world. The innocence of nature within the smilies not only allows for a break from the endless grim of war, but also increases the connectability of the epic. Not everyone, even during the historical time period the Iliad was composed in, experienced war. Therefore, the comparison of war to something common, like nature, allows the audience to connect with the work and experience the pathos it induces.
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
The price that heroes pay for the glory they obtain is something readily forgotten if one does not read The Iliad in the context of the times. In the time of the Iliad, glory and honor was even more important than it was now. One can get easily get lost in the descriptive nature of the epic poem, which gives reason to a belief that the Iliad is simply a glorification of combat, however, this is not the case. The Iliad is based on much deeper principles than combat, it glorifies the search for honor and the sacrifices that great men will take to achieve this honor. If Achilleus had not rejoined his comrades, taking pity on them, he would never be remembered even if he still had great prowess in battle, because he did not use it to help help his friends.
The relationships between parents and their sons in the Iliad are not relationships we expect to see in today’s society. The Iliad portrays the relationships between fathers and sons as something more than just physical and emotional. It is based on pride and respect for one another. The expectations of their son are more so to pass on their fathers reputable name and to follow in their father’s footsteps of being noble warriors. These relationships are the driving forces in the Iliad, making each son in the Iliad identifiable first by their father’s name. An outcome of the father–son relationships is ancestral loyalty among the characters which play a prominent role in war. Therefore, not only does the Iliad share a major war story, but the strong relationships among fathers and sons, ancestral loyalty among characters, and relationships between mothers and sons.
Throughout the Iliad the warriors' dream of peace is projected over and over again in elaborate similes developed against a background of violence and death. Homer is able to balance the celebration of war's tragic, heroic values with scenes of battle and those creative values of civilized life that war destroys. The shield of Achilles symbolically represents the two poles of human condition, war and peace, with their corresponding aspects of human nature, the destructive and creative, which are implicit in every situation and statement of the poem and are put before us in something approaching abstract form; its emblem is an image of human life as a whole.
Homer's two central heroes, Odysseus and Achilles, are in many ways differing manifestations of the same themes. While Achilles' character is almost utterly consistent in his rage, pride, and near divinity, Odysseus' character is difficult to pin down to a single moral; though perhaps more human than Achilles, he remains more difficult to understand. Nevertheless, both heroes are defined not by their appearances, nor by the impressions they leave upon the minds of those around them, nor even so much by the words they speak, but almost entirely by their actions. Action is what drives the plot of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and action is what holds the characters together. In this respect, the theme of humanity is revealed in both Odysseus and Achilles: man is a combination of his will, his actions, and his relationship to the divine. This blend allows Homer to divulge all that is human in his characters, and all that is a vehicle for the idyllic aspects of ancient Greek society. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistencies in the characterization of Odysseus can be accounted for by his spiritual distance from the god-like Achilles; Achilles is more coherent because he is the son of a god. This is not to say that Achilles is not at times petty or unimaginative, but that his standards of action are merely more continuous through time. Nevertheless, both of Homer's heroes embody important and admirable facets of ancient Greek culture, though they fracture in the ways they are represented.
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
Change, in The Iliad, appears in many forms, but most originate from the actions of others. It is human nature for men to follow their will almost without any regard for those around them. This unwavering willpower brings change upon the weaker wills of other men. Faced with change, the weaker man’s path is altered either slightly or drastically. From this alteration, man is given choices or must make it himself. Through these experiences, they become more aware or more confused with what goes on around them. Regardless of whether they deal with it or not, they accept that change is inevitable and will continue forward. Knowing their lives are comparatively ephemeral to the immortals, they have the tendency of seizing the day. It almost sounds humbling when they say, “no man can turn aside nor escape…let us go on and win glory
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. Segal, Charles.
Michael Clarke, in his article “Between Lions and Men: Images of the Hero in the Iliad” (1995), explores the true meaning behind Homeric similes, specifically those relating men and beasts. By studying these “beast-similes”, Clarke hopes to reveal their influence on the depiction of heroes throughout the poem, as well as the poem’s theme of heroism. The author begins the article by stating the common idea that the similes of the Iliad are simply adornments made to amplify Homer’s recreation of the heroic age. Upon further analysis of these comparisons, Clarke is able to conclude that the beast-similes Homer strategically uses do much more than merely enhance the heroic depictions throughout the poem; they are symbolic
An Examination of Similes in the Iliad - and how Homer's Use of Them Affected the
The fact that Homer never clears the hazy and supple relationships between these three unique beings can be seen as a way of pointing out the basic mysteriousness of life and its happenings. Homer surely did not have all the answers about how the universe works, and his masterpiece does not attempt to suggest that he does. It is clear that all men are fated to die, but the willingness of these men, such as Achilles, to do so for something bigger than themselves is what makes The Iliad appeal to the basic humanity and sense of heroics in all readers.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
Homer's Iliad is commonly understood as an epic about the Trojan War, but its meaning goes deeper than that. The Iliad is not only a story of the evolution of Achilleus' persona, but at times it is an anti-war epic as well. The final book proposes many questions to the reader. Why not end with the killing of Hektor? Most stories of war conclude with the triumphant victory of good over evil, but in the Iliad, the final thoughts are inclined to the mourning of the defeated Hektor, which accentuates the fact that good has not triumphed over evil, but simply Achilleus triumphed over Hektor. Ending with the mourning of Hektor also brings to center stage for the first time the human side of war and the harsh aftermath of it. We see that war not only brings great glory, but also much suffering and anguish. Homer puts his anti-war views on display.