Lecture 2:
Background
and Nature of
the Illiad
Source: Homer's Iliad, cod. F 205 inf. Late 5th-early 6th
c. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Author and Subject Matter
• Tradition says Homer, the
“blind poet”—8th century B.C.E.
• Broad subject is a 10 year war
waged by chieftains of
Achaean (Greek) warrior
classes against the city of Troy
• Focus: Conflict between
Achaeans’ leader Agamemnon
and its greatest warrior
Achilles in 9th year of that
war—and the consequences
attendant upon that conflict
Bust of Homer,
Source:http://www.greece.org/hellas/0.GIF/
homer.gif
Historical Basis/Cultural Values
•
Iliad Preserves historical memories of Achaean
(Greek) warrior class who ruled the
“Minoan/Mycenaean Civilization (1400-1100)
– Highly developed civilizations in Crete and Greek
mainland
– Banded together to defeat and destroy Troy around
1200 BCE
– Archeological Evidence (Schliemann 1870-1890)
– Collapse of Achaean civilization into “dark ages” after
invasion of the Dorians (1100-800?)
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Real memories turn into “tall tales” during dark
ages: Homer turns a selection of these stories into
the written Iliad and Odyssey
Cultural Values
– Arete: “Heroic Valor”
– The joy of “carnal” life (when not fighting, they’re
feasting)
– Beauty
– Piety towards the gods
– Hospitality
Genre and Structure
•
Genre: Epic
– Definition of Epic: (Handbook of Literary
Terms)
• “A long narrative poem in elevated style
• presenting characters of high position
• in adventures forming an organic whole
through their relation to a central heroic
figure. . . “
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Structure of Iliad (illustrates aspects of
epic)
– Fateful falling out between Agamemnon,
Achaean leader and Achilles its greatest
warrior (“high position)”
– Leading to a downturn of Greek fortunes
after Achilles withdraws
– A restoration of Achaean fortunes after
the return of Achilles (adventures related
to central character)
– The death and humiliation of Hector
– Climax in the meeting and mutual
grieving of Achilles and Troy’s king
Priam—and the restoration of Hector’s
body (all three parts of epic definition)
Content and Structure (cont.)
Organization of an Epic
A
long
narrative
poem
in elevated style
Presenting characters
of high position
In adventures forming an organic whole
through their relation to a central heroic figure
Content and Structure (cont.)
Structure of Illiad
5.Climax in the meeting
and mutual grieving of
Achilles and Troy’s king
Priam and the restoration
of Hector’s body (all three
parts of epic definition)
2. Leading to a
downturn
of Greek fortunes
after Achilles
withdraws
Verse Form
• Written in “Hexameters”
– Each line is a more or less
complete thought and is
divided into 6 rhythmic
“segments” or “feet,”
(Hence “hexa”)
• Translators do not
attempt to reproduce this
verse form but in the
original it reflects “the
surging and the thunder”
of always present sea
(Andrew Lang)
Island of Ithaca
Poetic Style (1): “Clichés” or
Epithets
• “Clichés”: Notice how often a place or person will
be identified with a “tag” phrase
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“Rosy-fingered dawn”
“Wine-dark sea”
Achilles “swift-runner”
Hector “breaker of horses”
• Purpose of Clichés
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“Character tags”
Memory devices for oral poetry
Metrically necessary “filler” (Lattimore)
Emphasizes “unchanging inevitability” of Homeric
world (Lewis)
Style (2) Extended Simile
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Simile is a comparison between two unlike objects using “like” and “as,” or
“so.”
– “My love is like a red, red rose.”
– “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
Homer’s similes tend to be extended as in the following from book XVI of
The Iliad
– As the East and South Winds fight in killer squalls
deep in a mount valley thrashing stands of timber
oak and ash and cornel with bark stretched taut and
hard
and they whip their long sharp branches against each other
a deafening roar goes up, the splintered timber crashing
so Achaeans and Trojans clashed…..
– “As” tips us off that we are in for a simile. But a long journey before we
get to the “so” which completes the comparison.
What extended similes do for the poem:
– Make action vivid
– “Distance us” from the poem
Divine/Human Relations in The
Iliad
• Will of human actors ruled and overruled by that
of the gods
• Human heroism “decorates” but does not
“determine” the action.
– “Nothing great happens without the aid of a divine
power” (Jaeger).
• Gods “rig” everything through
– External intervention
– Internal influence
– Continuous favoritism (or disfavor)
Key Gods and Important Humans
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Zeus “who marshals the storm clouds”: king of the gods
Poseidon: “the earth shaker”: brother of Zeus and god of the sea
Hades: Zeus’s other great brother who rules the underworld
Hera: “the white armed”: his quarrelsome queen
Athena: “the gray-eyed”; goddess of wisdom; Zeus’s daughter
Hermes: “the giant killer” and messenger of gods
Thetis: a minor goddess and Achilles' mother
Paris: his affair with Helen is at the root of all the trouble
Helen: Menelaeus’s wife who deserts her husband and runs off to
Troy
Agamemnon: king of the Achaeans and organizer of expedition
Achilles: “the swift runner”; the Achaean’s greatest warrior
Priam: king of Troy; father of Paris, Deiphobus, and Hector
Hector: “breaker of horses”; Troy’s greatest warrior
Stage Now Set for Summary and
Exposition of Selections from Iliad
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After reading this lectures could
you answer the following
questions?
Differences between Greek and
Hebrew “world view’ and how
these affect the “style” in which
they are written?
Achaeans?
Hexameter?
Epic?
Homeric “cliché” and “extended
simile”—and their importance to
Homer’s style?
Arete? The other major “virtues” of
The Iliad and Odyssey?
The major gods and human
characters of The Iliad and their
role in the poem?
Theatre at Epidauros
Proceed to the Optional Flash Quiz and
see if you can answer the above questions!