Homer’s
The Abduction of Helen By: Luca Giordana

The poet prays to the muse. (Like
a prophet)
 He wants to know about
Achilles’s rage
We start with the fight
between Achilles and
Agamemnon.
Confused yet? Don't worry.
You're supposed to be.

Agamemnon- the most
powerful King of the
Achaeans

Achilles- his best
warrior

Chryses, the priest of
Apollo, approaches the
Achaean camp to ask for
his daughter

His daughter is held by
Agamemnon. He wants
her as his personal
possession.

Other Achaeans say, “let her go”!
 But Agamemnon says, “no way Jose”!
Thing is, being a priest of Apollo, Chryses has
another trick up his sleeve – that is, er, robe…
He prays to the god to punish the Achaeans.
Apollo comes and saves the day… Well sort of!

The plague rages for nine days.

Achilles gets angry. Very angry. Calls a truce on the
tenth day. He asks for a soothsayer, Kalchas. (Or
fortune teller)

Says Agamemnon must give Chryseis back.
 Agamemnon says yes, only if he gets something in
return! (Wow, great guy)

Achilles says, "Tough luck.”
 So Agamemnon says “No way then.”
 Achilles gets furious…. (here comes the
raaaaagggeee.)
Agamemnon now asks for Achilles’s girl, Briseis.
Achilles snaps!
Now we get involvement from Athena and Nestor,
plus some anger and frustration from Achilles.

Achilles says he will
give up Briseis, but if
anyone touches any of
his other things… IT’S
CURTAINS!

Achilles goes back to
his men and Patroclus.

Nestor- the resident old timer in the army and sort
of like a prophet, makes a long rambling speech.

Having established his street-cred, he tells
Agamemnon, “don’t take Briseis” and tells Achilles,
“don’t stand up to the king.”

Great, so nothings settled…

Achilles gives her up.
 He sits at the shore,
with his mom Thetis,
crying.
 He tells her what
happened.

Thetis explains his
prophecy, that will set
off a chain of events.

She will talk to Zeus,
after the god’s come
back from their 12 day
party with the
Aethiopians.

In the meantime… Agamemnon sends Chryseis off
on a ship. Odysseus is in charge.

12 days later the gods are back and Thetis goes to
see them. Thetis asks for Zeus’s help.

Once Thetis leaves, Hera starts nagging him. (What
a couple).
 Once things are settled, the gods have a feast. They
make fun of Hephaistos.



Achilles is mad and
races back to Troy,
over the death of
Patroclus.
Priam and all of Troy
see him coming.
Hector stays outside
the walls awaiting
Achilles.

He thinks of ways to
reason with Achilles.
 “Maybe I’ll give him
free pickings from
our treasures.”
 Achilles arrives.
Hector’s nerves fail
him. He turns pale
and runs.

When and how characters eat is extremely
important to the symbolic texture of the Iliad.
 It becomes extremely important when, after Patroclos's
death, Achilles refuses to eat breakfast with the other
warriors, but instead wants to get to the battle as
quickly as possible.
▪ His possible alienation
▪ Acting in solidarity

The symbolism of eating remains prominent
during Achilles's murderous rampage against the
Trojans.
 He tells Hector that he wishes he were angry enough to
"hack [his] meat away and eat it raw," this symbolizes
his loss of humanity. (Cannibalism is generally
considered anti-social.)
 When Achilles rejoins humanity through his connection
with Priam, this moment is emphasized by the meal
they share together.

Hector and Achilles run
three times around the
walls of Troy.
 “You can’t catch me.”
 Gods try to decide
what to do.
▪ (Let Hector live or die
as is his fate)

But Athena explodes on him, saying, "What are you
talking about? No way! This is his fate. You can't let
him out of it.“
 "Relax, I was only kidding," Zeus says. "Do whatever you
want.“
 Meanwhile, both warriors continue to run around
the walls. (Is this some sick joke? Is it a nightmare?)

The fourth time around, however, Zeus lifts up the
golden scales of fate, just as he did with his son
Sarpedon back in Book 16.
 He puts each warrior's fate in the scales. Hector's
heavier fate sinks down towards the underworld.
 Sarpedon became one of the greatest allies of
the Trojan army. But fell victim to Patroclus in a
battle on the beach by the Greek encampment.

Then we have Athena interrupt the chase.
 She turns into one of Hector’s brothers.
 Hector offers Achilles a pact, but Achilles refuses
saying:
▪ "No pacts are made between humans and
lions.”
▪ The Battle Begins!

Athena appears beside Achilles and tells him that
he's about to be victorious.

Then Achilles throws his spear – but Hector ducks
it.
 Hector thinks he's sitting pretty. The only
problem is, Athena grabs Achilles's spear and
gives it back to him without Hector noticing.

We have spear
throwing. Charging
with swords drawn.

Hector realizes he’s
been tricked.

And that he is doomed.
All the same, he
resolves to go down
fighting.

Hector charges at Achilles with his sword, but
Achilles stabs him in the neck with his spear –
narrowly missing his windpipe.
 This means that, even though he is mortally
wounded, Hector is still able to speak. Why is this
important?
 Hector again asks Achilles to spare his body from
the dogs.

Dying, Achilles refuses. Wishes he was angry
enough to hack off Hector's flesh and eat it raw.
 Hector says that he recognizes Achilles won't be
won over. But then he predicts that, some day
soon, Apollo and Paris will kill him outside the
Skaian Gates. What literary device is this?
 Hector dies and Achilles taunts him. Achaeans
stab his body.

Achilles does something outrageous: pierces the
tendons at back of Hector's feet and threads
rawhide cords through the holes. Attaches these
cords to the back of his chariot, and starts dragging
Hector's dead body over the plain.

Hector's father, Priam, has to be forcibly restrained
from running out of the walls and begging Achilles
to give his son back.

Everyone in Troy is terrified
and saddened.

Hector’s wife, Andromache,
hears the news and sees
Achilles dragging his body
outside.

She predicts a grim future
for their son without a dad.

Although the Iliad tells a profound and dramatic
story, it is also a poem.

What does the Iliad gain as a result of being told
in poetic form?

How would it be different if it were recast in
prose/literature?

How would you have altered this scene?