Study Guide
Reading
Archetypes:
Hero, journey, quest, task, initiation, wise old man, mother figure, innocent, villain, temptress
List characteristics and an example
Literary devices:
Theme, motif, simile, Homeric/epic simile, metaphor, personification, diction, tone, mood,
epithet, details, foreshadowing, static character, dynamic character, direct characterization, indirect
characterization, details, imagery
Iliad
Themes, motifs, epic simile.—Use your bookmarks!
Achaeans/Argives—usually symbolized with ________________.
Trojans usually symbolized with __________________.
Plot
Characters: Achilles, Agamemnon, Diomedes, Nestor, Great Ajax, Patroclus, Hector, Paris,
Helen, King Priam, Pandarus
10 elements of an epic
10 steps in aristeia
Epic hero
Quote Identification:
“Ah Hector, you criticize me fairly, yes,
nothing unfair, beyond what I deserve.
The heart inside you is always tempered hard,
like an ax that goes through wood when a shipwright
cuts out ship timbers with every ounce of skill
and the blade’s weight drives the man’s stroke.
So the heart inside your chest is never daunted.
Still, don’t fling in my face the lovely gifts of golden Aphrodite.” __________________________
“ You are nothing to me—you and your overweening anger!
But let this be my warning on your way:
since Apollo insists on taking my Chryseis,
I’ll send her back in my own ships with my crew.
But I, I will be there in persons at your tents
to take Briseis in all her beauty, your own prize—
So you can learn just how much greater I am than you…” _______________________________________
“Zeus, all you immortals! Grant this boy, my son,
May be like me, first in glory among the Trojans,
strong and brave like me, and rule all Troy in power
And one day let them say. ‘He is a better man than his father!’ _________________________________
“No, deadly fate in league with Apollo killed me.
From the ranks of men, Euphorbus. You came third,
and all you could do was finish off my life…
One more thing—take it to heart, I urge you—
you too, you won’t live long yourself, I swear.
Already I see them looming up beside you—death
and the strong force of fate, to bring you down
at the hands of Aeacus’ great royal son…Achilles!” _____________________________________________
“Will Agamemnon win me over? Not for all the world,
Nor will the rest of Achaea’s armies.
No, what lasting thanks in the long run
For warring with our enemies, on and on, no end?
One and the same lot for the man who hangs back and the man who battles hard. The same honor
waits for the coward and the brave. They both go down to Death,
The fighter who shirts, the one who works to exhaustion.” _____________________________________
Study Questions:
1. What does in medias res mean? How does it apply to the Iliad?
2. What is an epic invocation? (Hint: It involves a muse). Where is it found? What is the purpose
of the invocation?
3. Why does Homer spend time listing names, their fathers, and their homeland of so many figures
in battle?
4. How is Paris portrayed?
5. How is the truce broken between the Greeks and Trojans?
6. Diomedes wounds two gods. Describe the reaction of the gods when they are wounded.
7. Describe Hector’s relationship to his wife and son.
8. Describe the embassy to Achilles. What arguments does each ambassador use?
9. Discuss the role of the gods in the Iliad?
10. Discuss Achilles’ development as a hero in the Iliad.
11.
12.
Writing/Grammar
Appositives
Italics/Quotation Marks
Active/Passive Voice