The Iliad by HomerHonors English IVMr. Wardlow

About the Author

Homer

• Very little is known about Homer• Homer may actually be a name for a group of

writers who composed these two epics• The Iliad is attributed to him• Some scholars believe he was blind• The Iliad was composed in the eighth century B.C.• Wrote The Odyssey, an epic about Odysseus’s ten-

year journey home at the end of the Trojan War

Setting

• The Setting of The Iliad is during the time of the Trojan War

• The Trojan War is a conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans (of the city of Troy, in modern day Turkey)

• Scholars are unsure if there even was a Trojan War. If it did occur, it happened around 1200 B.C.

Ancient Troy

Ruins of Ancient Troy

The Trojan War—Beginnings

• Paris—Prince of Troy—kidnapped Helen from her Greek home

• She was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world

The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships

• Helen’s husband Menelaus gathered an army (Greek) to invade Troy and bring her home, thus the face that launched a thousand ships

The war rages on …

•Menelaus’s brother Agamemnon helped lead the Greeks in their siege.

The war draws to a close

• The war lasted for ten years with neither side gaining an advantage

• The Greeks tricked the Trojans

• They offered a wooden horse as a peace offering. Instead Greek soldiers were hidden inside

• The horse was led inside the gates of Troy

Trojan Horse* interlude

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts or gifts bearing Greeks

*The Trojan horse episode is actually found in The Aeneid by Virgil. The events in that story take place between The Iliad and The Odyssey .

THE ILIAD Cast of Characters

Achilles

• Hero of The Iliad• Flawed hero• The Wrath of

Achilles• Swift runner• Mother is a goddess

Legends of Achilles

• Achilles mother is Thetis, a sea goddess (immortal)

• Achilles’s mother bathed him in the river Styx thus making him invulnerable; however, she held him by the ankle, so the waters did not touch him there. As a result, his only weakness was his ankle

Your Achilles tendon

Priam

• King of Troy• Wife: Hecuba• Father of Hector

and Paris• Was too old to

fight in the Trojan War

Paris

• Son of Priam• Brother of Hector• An archer• Killed Achilles in

The Iliad with an arrow

Hector

• Oldest son of Priam and Hecuba

• Although a prince, Hector held the real power in Troy

• Directed the war efforts

• Was killed by Achilles

Hector v. Achilles

Hector v. Achilles

• Achilles slays one of Hector’s brothers

• Hector tries to avenge his brother’s death but flees from Achilles

• The goddess Athena persuades Hector to fight

• Hector was fated to die at the hands of Achilles

Hector v. Achilles, 2d ed.

• While Achilles is off the battlefield, Hector kills Achilles’s best friend, Patroclus

• During his grief, Achilles swears that he will kill Hector

Achilles slays Hector

• Hector asks Achilles to turn his body over to Priam at his death

• Achilles refuses• Achilles drags

Hector’s body behind a chariot for all the Trojans to see, including his father, Priam

The Immortal Shield—ll. 1-71, pp. 67-69

• Thetis tries to consol her son Achilles after his best friend is killed by Hector

• Achilles distraught, suicidal; his wrath evident, wants to kill Hector

• Thetis’s prediction to her son• Achilles shows he can keep his anger under control

(even though he blames Agamemnon)• In Zeus’s hands• Achilles—widow maker!

Desolation before Troy—ll. 72-282, pp. 70-75

• Hector’s request of Achilles• Achilles refuses (his anger blinds him!)• Their fight begins; Achilles strikes first• Hector realizes his fate by the gods has been sealed• Achilles strikes a mortal blow; Hector again asks him to

return his body for a proper burial but Achilles refuses• Before he dies, Hector understands the wrath of Achilles• Achilles desecrates the body of Hector• Priam to speak to Achilles

A Grace Given in Sorrow—ll. 284-458, pp. 76-80

• Priam meets Achilles to ask for Hector’s body• Achilles is able to control his wrath• Achilles agrees to hand over the body for a proper

burial• Priam and Achilles agree to an eleven-day truce of the

fighting