NAMES AND PLACES

Greeks (Achaians, Argives, Danaans)

Achilleus, son of Peleus (human) and Thetis (divine), from PhythiaAgamamnon, Atreus' eldest son, Atreides, from Argos

Menelaus, Atreus' son, Agamemnon's brother, Helen's Greek husband

Nestor, senior adviser, from Pylos

Trojans (from Ilion, Priam's city)

Paris, Priam's son, Helen's Trojan husband

Hektor, Priam's eldest son, Troy's main warrior/leader

Gods and Goddesses

Zeus, son of Kronos, husband/brother of Hera, brother of Poseidon (sea), father of Apollo (by Leto) and Athena.

Apollo, god of health (medicine, plague), distant archer

Hephaistos (artificer, smithy), son of Hera

Book I

1. Who is responsible for the anger of Achilleus?

2. Why do you suppose the Iliad begins NOT with the start of the Trojan War, or even the abduction of Helen, but with a relatively minor incident during a pause in the fighting?

3. What seem to be the shared values of the Achaians that you meet in Book I? Which of these values are violated by either Agamemnon or Achilleus?

4. What does Athena's intervention (194) tell us about the role of the gods and goddesses in the Iliad?

5. Are the gods in the Iliad what you expected them to be? (493-610) How do they surprise you?

6. If gods are presented as irresponsible (as Homer's gods seem to be), do you you think that encourages the people who worship them to be more responsible or less responsible? Why?

7. If the Greek gods are presented as very powerful, what does that do to the conception of freedom? Do the Greek heroes of the Iliad seem free? Do they seem to value freedom? What do you think they mean by freedom?

8. Would the Grand Inquisitor consider Homer's heroes more free or less free than the people he describes as wanting to give up their freedom? Explain

II

1. Why do you think Homer repeats almost verbatim the same 5 lines 3 times within the first 70 lines of Book II? (12-16; 32-37; 76-82: all describing Zeus encouraging Agamemnon to attack the Trojans)

2. What does it add for Homer to compare the Achaian forces to bees? (102-109) This is the first of many epic similes in the Iliad.

3. Why does Agamemnon counsel his troops to flee? What does he expect to happen? (129-165)

4. Why is Odysseus so hard on Thersites? (245-325)

5. What Greek values is Nestor especially good at articulating? (398-439)

6. How do the similes of fire and crashing surf (539-555) change the emphasis from that of the

bees? (102-109) What does the image of the flies add? (555-559)

III

1. Do you think Hector is too hard on Paris? (42-68)

2. Why do you think Homer begins by describing both armies rushing into combat, only to interrupt the process with Paris and Menelaus in hand to hand combat? (93-111)

3. What seems to be Homer's attitude toward Helen, the cause of all this conflict? (145-291)

4. How are we supposed to interpret the broken chin-strap that saves Paris? (428-441) Is this evidence that the gods (in this case Aphrodite) control human life?

5. What are we supposed to think of the relationship between Helen and Paris? Why are they together? (442-528)

IV

1. Why is Athene compared to a mother caring for her child, when she brushes away Panderos' arrow meant for Menelaos? (130-1) Why is Menelaos' blood then compared to the dye on a "cheek-piece for horses"? (141-147)

2. Why do you think Homer waits until Book IV, line 446, to present actual combat between the Achaians and the Trojans?

3. Do you think Homer's descriptions of the first casualties glorify war? (457-472)

4. Can you tell from Homer's descriptions of people dying whether he is pro- or anti- war?

Pro- or anti- Greek or Trojan? (473-543)

VI

1. Do you think Hektor really wants Paris dead? (284-5)

2. What seems to be Helen's attitude toward herself and toward Paris? (343-358)

3. What do we learn about Greek domestic values from the encounter between Hektor and his wife and child? (390-493)

4. If Hektor is fated to die, why is he so eager to defend his city? Why doesn't he kick back and enjoy life? (486-493)

IX-XII

1. In Achilleus' answer to Odysseus' request that he take Agamemnon's offer and come back to the fight, do you see him rejecting the very heroic values that have been the basis of his life? (IX, 307-429)

2. What has Phoenix's story of Oineus and Melagros got to do with Achilleus? (IX, 529-599) Summary: Melagros killed the boar that was tearing up the orchards of Oineus, but he also angered his mother by killing her brother (567) in a fight over the boar spoils and thus retreated from the ongoing war between the Kouretes and the Aotolians (Oineus' troops). All kinds of people beg Melagros to return to the fighting, but none succeed except his wife, Kleopatra (590), even though he never does get the spoils promised him for killing the boar (598-600)

3. Why do you think Homer inserts the story of Dolon? (X, 313-469)

4. In the dispute between Hector and Poulydamas, interpreting the significance of the eagle and the snake (XII, 200-207), who is right?

5. What does Sarpedon's speech to Glaucas (XII, 310-328) tell us about the "good life" as the Greeks envisioned it?

XVIII

1. Has Achilleus come to terms with his anger? (97-113)

2. From the new shield of Achilleus, what do we learn about the Iliad's vision of the "good life?" (483-607)

XIX-XX

1. If Agamemnon was deluded by Ate when he took Achilleus' prize, was he, or was he not,

responsible for his action? (line 86)

2. What makes Odysseus so persuasive when he speaks to Achilleus and Agamemnon? (154-186)

3. Compare and contrast the two similes of fire describing Achilleus: XIX, 375-380; XX, 490-494.

XXI

1. In what sense is Lykaon, about to be killed by Achilleus, his friend? (105-110)

2. Why do you think Homer has Achilleus do battle with a river? (233-283)

3. What do you make of the strange battle among the gods? (385-520)