Iliad Book 1

Niaja Nolan
Aug 28, 2017 · 11 min read
  1. What seems to be most important to Achilles? What is most important to Agamemnon? What specific passages reveal their values to you? Record your answers in your weekly journal.

A: Initially Achilles seems to be more concerned about helping the community being relieved of the wrath of Apollo. However, once Agamemnon expresses his reluctance of giving up Chrysesis and that as a result of giving up his prize that he would take Achilles, Briseis, Achillies fills with menis. In lines 181–187 Agamemnon says, “I care nothing about you. I take no account of your anger. But here is my threat to you. Even as Phoibos Apollo is taking away my Chryseis. I shall convey her back in my own ship, with my own followers; but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis, your prize, I myself going to your shelter, that you may learn well how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink back from likening himself to me and contending against me.” So not only did Agamemnon threaten to take Apollo’s prize, but he also went further to disrespect Achilles staus as a demigod as well as his status as the best warrior. As a result of Agamemnon’s arrogance, Achilles focus was altered to getting vengeance on Agamemnon and the community. He wanted to see Agamemnon humbled, which is why he turned to his mother for help. She then turned to Zeus asking, “ I did you favour among the immortals, now grant what I ask for. Now give honour to my son short-lived beyond all other mortals. Since even now the lord of men Agamemnon dishonours him, who has taken away his prize and keeps it.” Zeus eventually agrees to help.

2. How do Achilles and Agamemnon see their own identity? What I mean is, if you asked either one of them this question, “What kind of person are you?”, what do you think their answer would be an why?

A: I believe that Achilles identifies himself as the most elite warrior. In fact when Achilles was confiding in his mother he said that she bore him to be “a man with a short life.” He feels that he is alive to fight and be remembered for his war tactics and strength. I think that he perceives himself this way because of his reputation as a warrior, along with his blatant explanation of his out look on his life to his mother. He also initially shows concern for the community and the best tactic to end their suffering and protect them. Whereas Agamemnon would identify himself as a strong, powerful, and smart king. His actions and words reflect his superior swagger. He feels above Achilles, who is a demigod, and shows no fear in disrespecting Achilles. Agamemnon also sees his selfish decisions as rightful and just simply because he king, as if being king automatically makes him incapable of error.

Iliad, Books 2–4

The works of art that stood out to me while I was at the National Gallery of Art were: Auguste Rodin’s The Lovers (French, 1840–1917), Claude Joseph Vernet’s The Shipwreck (French, 1714–1789), Perino Del Vaga’s The Nativity (Italian, 1501–1547), Giovanni Bellini and Titian’s The Feast of the Gods (Venetian, 1427–1516). I felt that these pieces represent different types of love, but all highlight the power of love.

Claude Joseph Vernet “The Shipwreck” (French, 1714–1789).

I felt that because of all the chaos in The Shipwreck, the people in this painting were selflessly trying to help save other people. I would identify this love as storge, because the people are sacrificing themselves without any exceptions or concern for their own safety. In this case, love conquers fear.

Giovanni Bellini and Titian “The Feast of the Gods” (Venetian, 1427–1516).

The Feast of the Gods illustrate the gods enjoying beauty, wine, and nature. An aspect of love is the ability to appreciate the world around you. With the gods being conceded, it is safe to say that they were also appreicating how beauty and great they were. Love has the power to fill life with bliss and conquer any traces of imperfection.

Perino Del Vaga “The Nativity” (Italian, 1501–1547).

The Nativity is the scene of when Jesus was born. This painting shows the adoration of Jesus’ mother, father, men, angels and even God Himself. The love that they have for Him reflects agape because their love is pure and love in the ultimate form. Here I think that the love they have for Him brings about peace.

Auguste Rodin “The Lovers” (French, 1840–1917).

The Lovers is a piece that reflects the sterotypical idolized idea of love. In this sculpture lies a man and woman frozen and holding each other. This work captivates potentially various forms of love: eros (erotic love), lupus (playful love), mania (obsessive love), pragma (enduring love), or quite possibly agape (selfless love). I think this work has the power to give hope for the everlasting love that society advertises. This art piece has the ablility to conquer the doubt that you will end up alone. It almost sends a message that everyone has their soulmate.

Iliad, Book 5

  1. What is your understanding of the term “hero”? What do heroes typically do? What do they look like? What do they wear? What are their values? Has someone ever written a poem about your type of hero? Why or why not?

A: Hero is someone who is idolized for their fearless actions. Heros typically do selfless actions for the better of a person or community. There is a sterotypical image of a hero such as superman or batman. Men with big muscles and a latex suit with a cape. Or a hero can be depicted as a doctor or firefighter. These well known typcial hero figures all similarly have the ability or potential to rescue and save people from life endangering scenarios. As people get older their views on heroic figures can change to be people like family members, warriors, celebrities, historical figures, God, or possibly even themselves. I think the views change as people get older because with maturity comes the ability to grasp reality and truth. So people begin to search for real life heros and people that are selfless, resemble bravery, or inspiring qualities. Those qualities could be being caring, smart, outgoing, timid, having good instinct etc. I think that heros value morality, humanity, and the act of giving or making a change. Heros value positvity and doing for the greater good. I’m sure that many people have written poems about the various heros I’ve described, because people look up to these heroes. These heroes I’ve listed aren’t rare because society is filled with heroes. Anyone can decide who their hero is, so it is common for peoples heroes to be similar. So I am postive that there are thousands of poems about superheroes, mothers, fathers, doctors, teachers, friends, celebrities etc. being their heroes.

2. What does Diomedes do in Book Five that agrees or disagrees with your understanding of the term “hero”?

A: Diomedes goes against basically everything I described as a hero. He fought in a revengeful manner. Nothing is heroic about revenge, especially when it is as relentless as Diomedes was being. He had no regard or mercy for life or at least the rules that were put in place. I can partly understnad him killing so many Trojans because he was fighting them anways. However to attack Ares after being told not to harm any gods but Aphrodite is not honorable at all. It is savage and ungrateful to Athena who gave him the strength and the ability to differentiate man from gods. There is a line between defending a community and killing and attack people and gods out of spite and vengence. Diomedes crossed that line and stepped over to the side of someone who had fallen short from being heroic.

JOURNAL:

Tuesday, August 22, Class 11:10–12:30: We discussed the five great stories of life and whether or not we thought life was similiar to a rubik’s cube. Personally I shared that life could be similar in a general sense of how a person has goals or plans they want to achieve. However, when it comes to how complex life is I don’t think life is like a rubik’s cube because you can’t always predict life and things don’t always go as planned. It was an interesting discussion because I don’t think anyone has ever been asked that question before. It triggered a lot of deep thinking and questions from not only myself, but the entire class. Overall I think the question highlighted that life has the ablilty to be black and white at times, but also have various grey areas. We ended class with a brief talk about what we would be reading. No spoilers were given but it was enough to let us know the main characters, Achilles and Agamemnon, and that they had a conflict involving power and romance.

Tuesday, August 22, 5pm-8pm: I began to read Iliad Book 1 in my dorm room. It was a harder read than I anticipated. I found myself having rewind multiple times and trying to fully understand what was being said and who was speaking at times. I noted the names of people and what I did understand.

Wednesday, August 23, 6:30am–7:30pm: Next morning I was in the locker room and I had an hour and half before my first class so I began to reread. I began to have questions such as: Who is Nester and what is his role? Why does Hera not like the Trojans? Why doesn’t anyone else tell Agamemnon that he is being unreasonable? What is the history between Agamemnon and Achilles? etc. I felt that this time I was able to start to slow down and digest the work more after reading it the first time.

Wednesday, August 23, 5pm-8pm: I finished rereading the Iliad and I answered the questions posted. It took me awhile going back and forth to the text trying to reread and find quotes. I wanted to pick the best passages to reinforce my arguements. Achilles was a somewhat a harder character to find direct quotes for because his character is most defined by who he is opposed to what says for the most part. Whereas Agamemnon was a little little easier because a lot of what highlights his character is the way acts and what he says. I do though wonder why after Agamemnon disrespected Achillies why the gods and the people didn’t punish him in some way in that very moment. Why did Achilles have to turn to his mother to ask for help from the gods? Shouldn’t the gods automatically come to Achilles’ defense? I understand that Achilles is just a demigod but I thought the gods would be tighter knit than that. I then read books 2–4.

Thursday, August 24, 11:10am-12:30pm: In class I took notes and asked various questions about the characters and was going on towards the middle end. I felt that my understanding of the Iliad was improved through my questions being answered and from the overall discussion of the text. I realized the significance of characters such as Nester and Hera. I do though still not understand why Hera doesn’t like the Trojans so much until Dr. S explained the story of the apple of disregard. It was interesting that because of that one instance with Paris that she hated Trojans altogether. Dr. S later on explained the concept of how wrath work with the gods. He explained that once one person upsets them, the entire group suffers essentially.

Friday, August 25, 5pm-9pm: I read book 5 of the Iliad and answered the questions. I spent time in my dorm reviewing my notes and translating them into my journal. I began to realize that to understand this story it is very importnant to nderstand the background and history of the Greeks people and the gods because it helps make the story make more sense. Think I am getting the hang of it of the process of what works best for me just based off of this first week. I think time management is going to be important because it feels like it takes longer for me to accomplish reading, answering questions, or reviewing notes than it should. I think because the Iliad is poetry that has a lot to do with why it takes me awhile to digest and understand what is being said and what is really going on. It is most definitely a challenging but good read.

NOTES:

People to know:

  • Agamemnon- king
  • Achilles- demi god
  • Chrysesis- daughter of priest, Agamemnon’s prize
  • Chryses- priest
  • Apollo- god of reason, light
  • Athena- goddess of warfare and strategy
  • Nester- old guy, experienced, mediator
  • Breiseis- Achilles’ prize
  • Thetis- Achilles’ mother, goddess (Achilles asks for supplication. Wants Zeus to send an army to kill Agamemnon’s men to make him look bad and to force him to in turn humble himself to Achilles. Zeus eventually agrees.)
  • Hera- wife/sister of Zeus (Hera objects to giving Trojans the favor; does not like Trojans.)

HISTORY:

Homers Iliad, c. 650 BCE

Trojan War, c. 1150 BCE

  • Marriage of Peleus and Thetis: All the gods attend the wedding and Eris, goddess of arguing, is the only immortal not invited, so she drops amongst the wedding guests a golden apple with an inscription “To The Fairest”.
  • The Apple of Disregard: With the apple saying “To The Fairest” the gods argued about who it was because they are all so vain. Ultimately it is Athena (goddess of warcraft), Hera (goddess of marriage and family), and Aphrodite (goddess of love, beauty, pleasure) who think that it belongs to them. So they turn to Paris of Troy.
  • The Judgement of Paris: Paris is the judge of who is the fairest out of the three goddess and of course the goddess offer bribes to try to win. Athena offers warcraft, Hera offers power, and Aphrodite offers Helen. Paris chooses Helen.

TERMS AND SIDE NOTES:

  • Iliad ends w/ the ransoming of Hector
  • relationships b/w gods and mortals are contractual (treated like a contract)
  • greeks = hellenes
  • pan (all) = hellenic
  • Ate = folly (even a sensible person can mess up when the gods put folly into their heart)
  • muse — thea

“SING, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilles…”

sing — tell me about the “history”

> muse is speaking THROUGH Homer

Menis:

  • what gods feel when some huge religious or moral thing is done
  • wrath or divine sauction
  • Indiscriminate vengeance = all for one and one for all rage(results in self policing community out of fear of the gods)

>> Agamemnon gets Achilles menis by:

  • taking his prize
  • disrespecting his status of an aristos warrior and also a demigod

Geras = prizes that confers honor

Kleos = glory

Aristos (the best) << Achilles sees himself as the best

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