For many people nowadays, life in ancient civilizations could be described in just three words— violent, unfair, and intriguing. Constant wars, brutal betrayals, and the never-ending drama surrounding the throne, still remain a crucial part of the ancient history as it is known today. Myths, fables, and other works of literature have been passed on through many generations; and while certain changes and additions to these works have occurred during these years, the messages remain largely unchanged. One of the greatest works of literature of all time remain to be Homer’s Iliad. This ancient Greek epic integrates all the aspects of the Greek society and its moral values into the vivid and intriguing plot. When reading the Iliad closely and focusing …show more content…
The point of her existence is social status, and “the man who gets her has more status.” When looking at Briseis from this perspective, the argument that arises between Agamemnon and Achilles is understandable. In lines 184-186 of the first chapter of the Iliad, Agamemnon threatens to go to Achilles and take “the fair-cheeked Briseis.” He clarifies that the reason for his action would be simple— to show Achilles “how much greater [Agamemnon is].” The King’s words clearly show how Briseis is treated. For the warriors, she is simply a trophy which can be traded, taken away, or played with. Men treat these trophies as their property, and consider that as the owners, they can do whatever they desire. According to an unsigned article titled as “Briseis, Slave of Achilles,” Briseis’ beauty was what saved her life; however, it was also a curse— one that made her the “slave of Achilles.” The warrior thought of the former queen as a “valuable possession” as well as a “sex object.” According to Dué, Briseis was a “captive of war,” and beautiful women captured during the war had only one future— slavery and total obedience to their masters. According to an unsigned article titled as “Briseis” from maicar.com, the day the city of Lyrnessus was captured was “a sad day for the girl.” Not only did she lose her country and family, but she knew what her future was going to be. Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend, comforted the former queen. Promising to make her the wife of Achilles, he somewhat eased her pain and suffering. However, when first introduced to Achilles, Briseis is just an ordinary slave girl; she represents nothing special for him. Despite this attitude toward his new concubine, Briseis’ beauty does not leave Achilles and even Agamemnon
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
But I want another prize ready for me right away. / I’m not going to be the only Greek without a prize,” (1.124-127). Sadly, the prize Agamemnon ended up taking was Briseis, and she originally belonged to Achilles. Because Agamemnon took Briseis, Achilles was angry and went to Thetis, his sea nymph mother, saying “And heralds led away my girl, Briseis, / Whom the army had given to me.
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.
Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
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.
Briseis, whom Agame mnon and Achilles argue over in Book I). We saw them in their normal social roles as mothers and wives
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.
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
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...
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. Segal, Charles.
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.
I have heard countless times that the love story between Achilles and Briseis is weak or none existing in the Iliad. I have heard countless times that Briseis is not an important character in the Iliad. Even though she is hardly present on stage, Briseis is the reason of the death of many Danaans, is the cause of the death of Patroklos, Hector, Achilles, and eventually the destruction of the house of Priam. All of those disasters happen because of Achilles anger for his loss of her. Homer did not put this fact in the Iliad if Briseis did not have a value to Achilles. Achilles abandons his comrades and his dear friend Patroklos because of this woman. He states several times in the Iliad that he loves her or that she is dear to him, so how can that be ignored? "As in my heart I loved Briseis, though I won her by the spear."(9.418-419 Iliad) It could be argued that he abandoned his comrades because he was too proud but that could not be the only reason, it is part of the story though. Achilles became angry when his prize was taken from him and his pride forced him to reject to take her back home "he holds my bride, dear to my heart.
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.
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