Lecture Two
Homer, Iliad
Lecturer: Wu Shiyu
Outline
I. Some courses view the Iliad as a work of
history. It has a strong kernel of historical
accuracy and discusses the great events that
led to the sacking of Troy. This course asks
what in the Iliad speaks to us today and how it
is relevant to modern people.
II. The fundamental themes of the Iliad are gods,
fate, and the meaning of life. For Homer, fate
and the gods were means by which a person
could learn more about the meaning of life.
III. The Iliad consists of 15,693 lines, composed
around 800 B.C. by a single creative genius,
Homer.
A. Homer composed the work in Asia Minor, in
what is now Turkey.
B. Iliad means “tale of Ilium,” or Troy.
C. For the Greeks, the Iliad had the same role
that the Bible once had in American life; it was a
guide for moral instruction.
D. In addition, it was a book written in sublime
poetry. Some Greeks even knew it by heart.
E. This narrative poem describes a few days in the
struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans that lasted
more than 10 years.
1. Before the events of the Iliad take place, the story
began with a dispute among the gods. The goddess of
discord brought to a banquet a golden apple to be given
to the fairest goddess. The gods requested that Zeus
decide which one was the fairest, and he delegated the
decision to Paris. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena offered
bribes to Paris, and Paris chose Aphrodite, who offered
him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris
thereby incurred the wrath of Hera and Athena. Helen,
the wife of Menelaus, eloped with Paris.
2. Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus, led the fleet
that was to sail to Troy to retrieve Helen. However, the
ships could not leave because there was no wind. A
soothsayer indicated that the gods were outraged and
would not be satisfied unless Iphigenia, the daughter of
Agamemnon, was sacrificed. The winds came up, and
the fleet sailed to Troy. The struggle lasted 10 years,
during which the Trojans were too bound by honor to
give Helen back and the Greeks were too bound by
honor to return home.
3. What began as an expedition to retrieve
honor became a 10-year war in the Middle East.
4. Homer’s poetic genius was such that he
chose one episode in the war to crystallize all
the great themes.
5. The story of the Iliad begins with the outrage of
Achilles about the wrong done him by Agamemnon.
Achilles believed that he had been dishonored and
refused to fight; after his withdrawal, the Trojans came
near to victory. To save the honor of Greece, Patroclus,
a friend of Achilles, put on the armor of Achilles and died
at the hand of Hector, the noblest of the Trojans.
Achilles, motivated by the death of his friend and driven
by honor and anger, then went into battle and killed
Hector. He finally returned Hector’s body at the request
of Priam, Hector’s father, and the story itself ends with
the funeral of Hector.
IV. Central questions of the Iliad include the
following:
A. Why are we here?
B. Why is war waged?
C. Why do innocents suffer?
V. The Iliad is considered the first great work of
literature. It was the work most revered by the
ancient Greeks.
VI. One theme of the Iliad is the role of the gods.
A. Homer states, “Thus was the will of Zeus
fulfilled.”
B. Who were the gods of Homer?
1. Homer was a polytheist, believing in many
gods.
2. For Homer, these gods were real, not silly
creations of mythology. These real gods
embodied powerful forces.
3. Polytheists define a divinity as a being
capable of rendering supernatural benefits to
the community. These powers could do good or
harm.
4. Mythology is a means of expressing a higher
truth.
5. The god Zeus, the king of gods and men,
represents a seed of development that leads to
an idea of one all-powerful and all-controlling
god.
VII. Zeus can control fate, but men and women
can make conscious decisions about good and
evil.
A. It was the will of Zeus that the Greeks and
Trojans should suffer and that Troy be
destroyed.
B. Fate is what the gods decree for us in their
power and knowledge.
C. People make conscious decisions about
good and evil, and these decisions give
meaning to their lives.
1. Agamemnon’s wife murdered Agamemnon
because he had acquiesced in the sacrifice of
their daughter.
2. Hybris, defined as outrageous arrogance
by which power is used to inflict pain upon the
innocent, is a moral wrong.
3. Acquiescing in this sacrifice represented an
act of hybris.
4. Agamemnon believed his duty was to
conquer Troy and return home in glory. The
gods had made him morally blind. His absence
of moral vision led him to commit hybris.
5. The gods do not forget such outrages. His
judgment would come. Agamemnon might
come home, but he would die.
VIII. One lesson of Homer is that the gods care
about good and evil.
A. Absolute right and absolute wrong exist.
B. The gods ultimately punish what is wrong
and reward what is right.
C. Mortals lack vision to understand what is
good and what is evil until it is too late.
D. Homer believed that people do not
understand the ways of the gods. The Iliad was
a means of beginning to gain wisdom.
1. Homer and the Bible agree that fear of god
is the beginning of wisdom.
2. The omens of the gods should be taken
seriously, because they are the means by which
the gods make their will known.
IX. The Iliad is ultimately a book about the
meaning of life and how to lead that life.
A. It is a story of the education of Achilles. The
mother of Achilles, who was divine, had given
him a choice: He could either live a long life or
live a life of glory and die young. He elected a
life of glory and honor, which gave meaning to
his life. He had a reputation for telling the truth,
keeping his word, seeking vengeance for those
who wronged him, and defending himself and
the weak.
B. The importance of moderation in pursuing
one’s values is an important lesson.
1. Achilles attained wisdom when Priam came
to claim his son; Achilles realized that the
concept of honor could be pushed too far.
2. Each person has an ideal that he or she
prizes and will do anything to hold onto that
concept.
C. We increase our wisdom only by suffering.
1. Achilles learned by suffering, that is, by the
loss of what was dearest to him.
2. Zeus willed that we learn and gain wisdom
only through suffering.
3. All generations must read the same books,
repeat the same errors, and fight the same wars.
X. True wisdom knows when to push a thing so
far that other ordinary mortals will think it
excessive. A truly wise person also must know
how far is too far. Achilles gives us this lesson:
All mortals must die, but how people live their
lives is what matters.
谢 谢！