Things to Consider:

• History, especially of Athens & Sparta
• Theology: Greek vs. Hebrew vs. Egyptian
• Relationships between:
• Love/Sex and War (Which is more rewarding?)
• Emotions and Violence
• War and Peace
• Gods and Humans (Which Gods/Goddesses favor which side in war?)
• Gods and Goddesses
• Agamemnon & Gilgamesh
• Achilles & Gilgamesh
• Parents to Children
• Homoeroticism (?) and Images of War
• Repetition of Images/Language
• Women as "prizes" vs. Women as "wives"
• Men as Husbands vs Men as "Winners" of Prizes
• Character of Helen of Troy (See Essay )
• "Daughter of Zeus by Leda [to whom he appeared in the form of a swan] . . . . Helen grew into the most beautiful woman in the world, and her many suitors agreed among themselves that whoever eventually married her would be defended by the others.  She married Menelaus, and when Paris carried her off to Troy, the Greek leaders organized the expedition against Troy"  (WW97).
• At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (eventual parents to Achilles), Eris, the goddess of Discord and Strife, is the only one not invited, but crashes the party and throws on the floor a golden apple, on which is written, "To the most beautiful."  Three goddesses--Hera, goddess of marriage; Aphrodite, goddess of Love; and Athena, goddess of wisdom and battles-- all claim it.  To settle the dispute, the gods ask Paris, a Trojan traveller, to decide who should get the apple.  Each goddess promises him a reward to decide in her favor--Hera promises him power, Athena offers wisdom, and Aphrodite promises him the love of Helen.  Aphrodite wins. (See Ch. 27 of Bulfinch text )

Convention:  Poem opens by stating theme, invoking Muse.

Epic/Homeric Simile: more involved or ornate comparison, in which the secondary object is very fully developed, and for the moment upstages the primary object.

Achilles: Warrior Identity
Hector: Associated with civilized life

** Homework Questions ** (See Part Two Questions )
Book One:

• What kind of king is Agamemnon? Compared to Gilgamesh? Explain.

• Why does Apollo shoot arrows for nine days at the Greeks? (See 1.50-64)

• What does it involve for the Greeks to make a sacrifice? (See I.545-67)

• Describe the relationship between Zeus (Jove) and Hera (Juno). (See 1.587-735)
• Who is Vulcan (Hephaestus)?

• What eventually causes Achilles to fight?
• Explain: "Swift comes thy destiny as thou hast said, / For after Hector's death thine next ensues." (see also )
• Why does he need a new shield to do so?

• Explain Thetis's complaint in 18.503-7.  Why is she a "Goddess with such load of sorrow press'd / As, in peculiar, Jove assigns to me?"

• What is significant about the images Vulcan puts on the Shield of Achilles?

• Who are the 12 Olympians? (*See also page 723)
• Who is Cronus?  Who is Zeus?
• Who is Prometheus? Who is Epimetheus?

• Who is Pandora?
• When was the age of lyric poetry?
• What are the 8 conventions of epic poetry?
• What was the Pelopponesian War?

• What does "unity of time and place" mean?

• What is a Sophist?

• What function does Minerva serve here?

• What function does Nestor serve here?

• What is a hecatomb?

• What service has Thetis earlier performed for Zeus?

• What literary technique is used in the description of the lion who has lost his cubs?

• Why is Vulcan (Hephaestus) in Thetis's debt?

• Find and explain an example of an epic simile in Book 22 or 24.
• Find an example of the gods' intervention in the events of Humans in Book 22 or 24. Explain their actions.

• Explain Apollo's comment to Achilles:  "Wherefore, thyself mortal, pursuest thou me / Immortal? oh, Achilles! blind with rage, / Thou know'st not yet, that thou pursuest a God" (22.9-11).

• Explain the significance of the "golden scales."

• Why does Hector stop running from Achilles?

• Explain the Greeks' treatment of Hector in 22.433-41.

• Why isn't Hector's body damaged when Achilles drags it?
• Why do Minerva and Juno hold "fast their hate / Of sacred Troy" (24.33-34)?  Why do they hate Troy in the first place?

• Why would Priam trade his remaining nine sons for Hector?

• Explain the interaction between Priam and Achilles in 24.740-50:
Dardanian Priam, wond'ring at his bulk
And beauty (for he seem'd some God from heaven)
Gazed on Achilles, while Achilles held
Not less in admiration of his looks
Benign, and of his gentle converse wise,
Gazed on Dardanian Priam.

• Why does Hecuba expose her breast to Hector?

• What does it mean to be slain "womanlike"?

• How is the simile "as a mother tends her son" ironic in reference to Achilles' behavior?

• Why does Achilles agree to accept a ransom for Hector's body?

• Is Hector indeed "guiltless of flight"?  Explain.

• Why does Zeus (Jove) send an eagle to Troy?

• Why is Mercury (Hermes) called the Argicide? 

• How many children does Priam have? How does he have so many?

• Does Achilles have the authority to promise an eleven-day respite from fighting?  Explain.

• Why is Helen particularly upset by Hector's death?