Transcript Document 7380228

The Iliad
It’s My Achilles’ Heel
Introduction: The Greeks & Homer
• The Greeks were an oral society in the prehistoric period that is the
setting for the Homeric poems
• After they invented the alphabet around 800 B.C.E. (Before the
Common Era), they preserved their culture through the unwritten
word.
• Greek tragedies and comedies took on taboo or deeply personal
issues, like child murder, incest, unjust treatment by the gods,
brutality in war, and how unfair life really is.
• Before Greece had tragedy, comedy, history, or even formal schools,
there was Homer.
• Greeks, young and old, learned about the realities of life by hearing
separate episodes from Homer sung at public festivals, and then
remembering the stories through the power of song.
The Power of Song…
• The very Greek word for truth – alethes – says
that something ‘cannot escape notice, cannot be
forgotten.’ What they remembered was what
mattered most.
• The epics worked then like modern folk songs.
• They offered bluntly honest views of life.
• Remember that as you are listening to Stanley
Lombardo.
What young men going to war
needed to know…
• The Iliad Begins in the 10th year of the battle of Troy with
an egotistical and incompetent Spartan commander-inchief disregarding the well-being of his troops and
publicly disgracing and alienating his best field
commander (Achilles).
• The Odyssey closes with a returning veteran (Odysseus)
slaughtering the men back home who dishonored his
wife and son during his absence.
• Young men who went to war needed to know these hard,
pragmatic lessons.
• Homer was their teacher.
– (Tom Palima, Prof. of Classics, Univ. of TX at Austin)
What’s the Story, Wishbone?
“SING, O GODDESS, THE ANGER OF ACHILLES, SON
OF PELEUS, THAT BROUGHT COUNTLESS ILLS
UPON THE ACHAEANS.
MANY A BRAVE SOUL DID IT SEND HURRYING
DOWN TO HADES, AND MANY A HERO DID IT
YIELD A PREY TO DOGS AND VULTURES,
FOR SO WERE THE COUNSELS OF ZEUS FULFILLED
FROM THE DAY ON WHICH THE SON OF ATREUS,
KING OF MEN, AND GREAT ACHILLES, FIRST FELL
OUT WITH ONE ANOTHER.”
The Stanley Lombardo Translation
Rage:
Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades’ dark,
And left their bodies to rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus’ will was done.
Begin with the clash between AgamemnonThe Greek warlord- and godlike Achilles.
Two Kingdoms, Two Husbands,
Three Women, Countless Ills,
Scores of Warrior Heroes, and the
Anger of Achilles…
The Iliad!
Coming soon - to a Mythology classroom near you.
Troy - Trash or Treasure?
.
Anticipation, Anticipation is Making Me Wait…
• The Trojan War might be the most famous event in classical
mythology. What knowledge or impressions do you already
have of the Trojan War? Where did you get this information?
• Most mythologies are filled with tales of conflict and war. What
is a good reason for going to war? Historians sometimes
discuss the “three G’s” of war – God, gold, and glory. Would
you be willing to go to war for the right reason?
• Eris, the goddess of discord, played a crucial role in starting the
Trojan War. What is discord? Have you ever experienced
discord?
Eris…
• Eris, the Goddess of Discord, was not popular among
the gods. She would not have been invited to
weddings, as you can probably understand. When
Eris was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and
Thetis, Achilles’ parents, she made trouble by tossing
an apple which was engraved with the words, For the
Fairest. Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all believed that
the apple was for them.
• What kinds of problems may this have caused? Why
did Zeus stay out of the decision of awarding the
apple?
Thetis and Achilles…
• Thetis wasn’t happy to be
married to a mortal. She
knew that her children
would die and she would
not. She dipped Achilles in
the waters of the river Styx to
make him invulnerable
(except for his heel) and
disguised him as a girl to
keep him out of the war.
Neither ploy worked. Why
not? What does this tell us
about the beliefs of the
Greeks?
•
Thetis and Achilles
Paris must decide …
• Zeus sent the goddesses to a
shepherd, who was really the son of
King Priam of Troy. Paris was
known for his honesty, but he had
never encountered the beauty of
goddesses before. He couldn’t
decide which was the fairest, so he
had to be bribed. Hera offered
him dominion over Europe and
Asia, Athena offered him victory in
all his battles, and Aphrodite
offered him the most beautiful
woman in the world.
• Which choice would you make?
Why?
Paris
It’s Keeping Me Waiting…
• Helen was an astonishingly beautiful young woman. When her
earthly father, Tyndareus, reviewed her suitors, he was afraid
things might get out of hand because all of the powerful princes
of Greece were presented as bachelors. To keep the rejected
suitors from seizing Helen, he made all the princes promise to
honor her decision and to attack anyone who did not.
• In other words, he made an alliance.
• What are the advantages of alliances? What are the
disadvantages? Do you belong to any kind of alliance?
Paris and Helen …
• Paris, having been given
Helen, traveled to Sparta
where Helen and Menelaus,
her husband, entertained
him. He then left with Helen
(Some say he abducted
Helen, and some say she
went willingly). He was also
warned by his brother and
sister, the twins Helenus and
Cassandra, not to pursue
Helen. What ancient
unspoken law did Paris
violate? Did he have any
justification for what he did?
Did he even have a choice?
•
Paris and Helen
Helen of Troy
• Helen was so beautiful
that her face was said to
have “launched a
thousand ships.” What
does this saying mean?
Could the abduction of
one woman really spark
a war?
• Helen
Agamemnon…
• Strong winds from the north kept
the Greek fleet from departing for
Troy. Agamemnon was blamed
for the bad weather because of a
boast he had made against
Artemis. Agamemnon agreed to
sacrifice Iphigenia, his daughter, to
appease Artemis. In some
versions she dies and in other
versions she become a priestess of
Artemis after Artemis replaces her
on the altar with a stag. Would the
sacrifice of a child ever be a means
to an end?
• .
• Agamemnon
disenfranchised his wife,
Clytemnestra, and
Achilles by his actions.
What do his actions and
their consequences tell
us about Agamemnon?
• .