Bob Linn is a high school teacher in Georgia and has a Ph.D.
Sample Chapter
Chronicling the deeds of great heroes from the past who helped form a society, the Iliad is an epic poem. As
such the epic stands as a bridge between history and literature. As was the tradition in epic poetry, the Iliad
opens in medias res, meaning "in the middle of things," although the action is always preceded by the
poet's invocation to the muse (the goddess) of poetry. In this invocation, Homer states his theme -- the wrath,
or the anger, of Achilles and its effects -- and requests the aid of the muse so that he can properly recount the
story. The reader is then carried to the point where the trouble originally arose, which is where the story of
the Iliad actually begins: in the middle of war.
During one of the Achaian (Greek) army's many raids on the cities located near Troy, the Achaians captured two
beautiful enemy maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. The troops awarded these girls to Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief
of the army, and to Achilles, the Achaians' greatest warrior.
Chryses, the father of Chryseis, pleads for her return but Agamemnon denies the plea. Consequently, Chryses prays
to Apollo who brings a plague on the Achaian camp. On the tenth day of the plague, Achilles can wait no longer
for King Agamemnon to act to end the plague. Usurping Agamemnon's authority, Achilles calls an assembly of the
army, and he suggests that a soothsayer be called upon to determine the cause of Apollo's anger. Kalchas, an Achaian
soothsayer, volunteers to explain the cause of the pestilence, but only if he is guaranteed personal protection.
Achilles agrees to this condition.
When the soothsayer reveals that the plague is the result of Agamemnon's refusal to return Chryseis to her father,
Agamemnon is furious that he has been publicly named as being responsible for the plague. He insists that if he
is forced to surrender Chryseis, his rightful war prize, then he must be repaid with Achilles' war prize, Briseis.
However, Achilles is stunned by the public disgrace of having Agamemnon demand Briseis, and he refuses to accept
the indignity that he feels Agamemnon has made him undergo in full view of all the soldiers. Thus, he announces
that he is withdrawing all of his troops from battle. He will not fight, and, furthermore, he and his men will
return to their own country as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, Agamemnon decides to appease Apollo; he will return Chryseis, his war prize. He sends her safely
aboard a ship heading home, and then he sends his heralds to collect Briseis (Achilles' war prize) for him. Surprisingly,
Achilles surrenders the girl without any difficulty.
Achilles, in despair, prays to his mother, Thetis, the sea-goddess asking her to use her influence with Zeus to
ensure that the Trojan armies defeat his fellow Achaian soldiers. Achilles hopes that this result will cause disgrace
for Agamemnon and so repay the wrong that the King did to Achilles.
Thetis visits Zeus on Olympos, and the king of the gods agrees to aid the Trojans, although he expresses a fear
that his wife, Hera, will be annoyed because she is jealous of Thetis and hates the Trojans and hence cannot bear
to see them win the war. Readers discover that Hera does indeed hate the Trojans, but she fears Zeus' wrath even
more, and so she quiets her protests. The first book ends with a banquet of the gods in Zeus' palace.
Commentary
In Book I, the initial quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, mediated by Nestor, is paralleled at the end of
the book by the quarrel between Zeus and Hera, mediated by Hephaistos. The quarrel among the gods breaks down into
a humorous scene that ironically accentuates the seriousness of the human quarrel. Homer's technique of repeating
an earlier scene with a later one is used throughout the Iliad. In fact, this structural technique is a basis for
the entire work. However, Book I essentially sets up the tension for the rest of the poem. The wrath of Achilles
seems justified from Book I to Book IX. Achilles' wrath is held up for criticism from Book IX to Book XVIII. And
finally there is reconciliation in Books XVIII and XIX. This pattern repeats in Books XIX through XXIV. Achilles
wrath is justifiable in Book XIX to Book XXII. His wrath is criticized in Books XXII to Book XXIV. And finally,
there is reconciliation in Book XXIV when Achilles and Priam meet.
Book I opens with the words, "Rage -- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles." Homer invokes
the muse ("Goddess") of epic poetry to aid him in telling the story of Achilles' anger and the great
war for Helen and Troy. He further introduces in the word "rage" one of the human qualities, along with
pride and honor, that will make up a major theme of the work as a whole. Initially, Achilles' anger seems a reasonable
response to the arrogance of Agamemnon, but as the poem progresses, it becomes clear that righteous anger can degenerate
into petty resentment or escalate into uncontrollable rage. The necessity for reason and self-control over emotions
becomes an overriding idea in the Iliad.
Similarly, the related concepts of pride and honor are introduced in Book I. Both Agamemnon and Achilles believe
that their honor is compromised in the decisions involving the female captives, Chryseis and Briseis. Pride and
honor were important principles to the Greeks, particularly because those traits involved public perception. Agamemnon
thinks that Achilles, by calling the council and demanding that Chryseis be returned to Chryses, has challenged
his leadership and impugned his honor. Likewise, Achilles feels that Agamemnon's decision to take Briseis as a
replacement for Chryseis is an affront to his honor and a public show of disrespect by the Achaian leader. Individual
senses of pride and honor here blind the two warriors to the greater good. Their hubris -- overweening pride --
requires them to react in foolish ways, Agamemnon in taking Achilles' captive Briseis and Achilles in withdrawing
himself and his troops from battle. Homer once again shows that a noble human trait can be subverted by emotion
into pettiness and irrationality.
However, Achilles' decision to withdraw appears much more reasonable in Book I than it will later in the poem.
From Book I to Book IX, Achilles' anger and withdrawal from battle seem to have some justification. He retains
the reader's sympathy even though his decisions seem to be overreactions.
A second theme introduced in Book I is the nature of the relationship between the gods and men. When Agamemnon
refuses to give up Chryseis, Chryses prays to Apollo, who comes down to devastate the Achaians with his arrows,
a symbolic representation of plague. Later, angered by Agamemnon, Achilles starts to draw his sword to kill the
Achaian leader. Athena intervenes and calms the overwrought Achilles, a symbolic representation of reason controlling
the will. Finally, Thetis, Achilles' goddess mother, goes to Zeus to ask for punishment on Agamemnon and the Achaians
for their actions against her son. Zeus nods in agreement, thereby initiating the series of Trojan triumphs that
make up much of the first half of the work. Zeus' decision leads to a quarrel among the gods that humorously reflects
the quarrel among the Greeks.
Homer shows the gods in a variety of relationships with humans. First, in the instances of the destruction caused
by Apollo and the forbearance produced by Athena, Homer is using the gods as dramatic, almost allegoric causes
for natural events and actions. Second, just as clearly, he also shows that the gods take an active role in human
affairs. Apollo and Zeus both mete out a kind of rough justice, a justice that seems in both cases much harsher
than the offense warranted. Third, the intervention of the gods also suggests an interrelationship between humans
and gods that is related to the fate of humans. At times, characters such as Achilles seem to have free will. At
other times, the gods seem to control the destiny of humans. And, at other times, neither gods nor men seem to
be in control of human fate -- it simply is what it is.
In the past few decades, some psychological studies have suggested a different approach to the god/human relationships
in the Iliad. An entirely different approach to the god and human relationship has been offered by psychologist
Julian Jaynes in The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Houghton Mifflin, 1990). Jaynes
presents the idea that modern consciousness is of relatively recent origin and that earlier man had a bicameral
mind, one chamber of which literally spoke to the other when decisions or thoughtful action was needed. Jaynes
sees the Iliad as a book dealing with pre-modern minds. Therefore, when Athena tells Achilles not to draw his sword
to kill Agamemnon, the speaker is actually one side of Achilles' brain. Jaynes idea accounts for the intervention
of the gods as a way in which these early men accounted for the voices they heard within their own brains.
Glossary Kalchas Greek prophet or seer. Originally told Agamemnon that he must sacrifice Iphigeneia for Greeks
to be able to sail to Troy. Tells Agamemnon that Chryseis must be returned to her father.
Hephaistos Greek God of Fire and Forge; compare to Vulcan in Roman mythology.
Muses nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus, who preside over various art forms. Homer invokes the Muse
of Epic Poetry.
Ocean River the Greeks conceived of the ocean as a river rising in the west and encircling the world.
Peleus father of Achilles; King of the Myrmidons.
Phoebus One of several names of Apollo.
scepter a rod or staff, highly ornamented, held by rulers on ceremonial occasions as a symbol of
sovereignty. The passing of the scepter to a person by the herald indicated permission to speak.
Smintheus another name, or epithet, for Apollo. This title is often translated as "Mouse God"
and relates to Apollo's role in the plague in Book I.
Thetis sea goddess, daughter of Nereus; immortal mother of Achilles.
Summary
One of the most important poems of all time, The Iliad is an epic that deals with a sliver of the Trojan War,
its tenth year. From this poem we derive much of our understanding of the ancient world. It also sets a standard
of literature that is rarely matched.
Table of Contents
Life and Background of the Poet.
Introduction to the Poem.
Critical Commentaries.
Book I.
Book II.
Book III.
Book IV.
Book V.
Book VI.
Book VII and Book VIII.
Book IX.
Book X.
Book XI.
Books XII to XV.
Book XVI.
Book XVII.
Book XVIII.
Book XIX.
Book XX.
Book XXI.
Book XXII.
Book XXIII.
Book XXIV.
Character Analyses.
Critical Essays.
CliffsNotes Review.
CliffsNotes Resource Center.
Index.