Questions for Oral Answers: Iliad, Books 17-24
1. Book 17 features a famous “arming scene.” Who is putting on whose armor? Why
might this be significant?
2. In Book 18, we see Achilles’ reacting to the news of Patroclus. How does he react?
Who does he blame? On what grounds?
3. What does Thetis decide to do for her son? What do the Thetis-Achilles and
Hecuba-Hector relationships suggest about the relation between maternal love and
heroic achievement?
4. Book 18 features a long description of Achilles’ shield. What is notable about the
description?
5. In Book 19, Achilles and Agamemnon have an exchange. How does the exchange
go?
6. Book 20: Achilles and Hector finally meet. What do they say to each other? Is it
what you might have expected, or not?
7. What is the significance of Achilles’ fight with the river in Book 21? What makes
the river calm down? What role do Hera and Zeus play in all this? In the same book,
what do you think about the view of human beings that Apollo expresses? Is there
something comic about fighting between the gods? If so, what makes it comic?
8. How does Priam describe war at the beginning of Book 22? How does Homer
prepare us for Hector’s death? How would you describe Hector’s attitude toward
his death? What is Andromache doing when she hears about Hector’s death? How
does she react?
9. How do the Greeks honor Patroclus in Book 23? What does this tell us about the
Greeks?
10. Save energy for Book 24. (I know it’s a lot of reading—but epics are long and
time is short!) Be prepared to speak about the following:
—what Achilles is doing to Hector at the beginning of the book
—Priam’s condition when Iris comes to him
—Priam’s appeal to Achilles
—the exchange between Achilees and Priam.
—the role of food in Achilles’ display of hospitality?
—what Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen say in their final laments for Hector