Homers Iliad Scope: This lecture deals with the Iliad, beginning with an account of the origins of the

Trojan War as recounted by Homer. We then treat the elements of an epic poem, whose conventions were established for the Western world by Homers two poems, including heroic characters, the participation of gods and goddesses, the grand style (including epic similes , beginning the poem in medias res, and the invocation. !fter a description of a "shame culture,# the way it functions in $oo% &, and a brief recounting of the events of the rest of the poem, we present two ways in which this wor% influenced all subse'uent Western literature( its individualistic notion of heroism and the hero, using both !chilles and Hector as e)amples, and its treatment of the enemy as e'ual in dignity and worth to the protagonists, giving to literature an impersonal order which has enhanced its authority ever since. Outline I. !ccording to Harold $loom, the Hebrew $ible and Homers epics "compete for the consciousness of Western nations# as the most important literary wor%s in history. A. !ccording to the *ree%s themselves, the Trojan War was a &+,year siege of the city by a consolidated force of mainland and island %ings and their armies.

1. The traditional date for the fall of Troy is &&-. $./.0., about the same time the Hebrews were moving into /anaan. 2. It occurred during the 1ycenaean !ge (c. &2++3 &&2+ $./.0. , named after 1ycenae( the largest, wealthiest city on the mainland, ruled by !gamemnon. 3. It was fought because 4aris (or !le)andros , son of 5ing 4riam of Troy, abducted Helen, the wife of 5ing 1enelaus of 6parta. 4. 5ing !gamemnon, 1enelauss brother, led an armada of a thousand blac% ships to Troy to avenge the insult and to retrieve Helen. 5. Homers Iliad does not tell the entire story7 rather, it deals only with about 28 days during the &+th year of the siege. B. 6tories about the Trojan War survived orally for about .++ years until Homer9whoever he was9somewhere around :++ $./.0. wove some of them into an epic poem. The distance shows up in the poem sometimes in such details as Homers unawareness of how chariots were used in battle. II. !n epic9a long narrative poem dealing with large and important characters and events9was defined for the Western world by Homers two poems. A. Homers techni'ues became the conventions of succeeding epic poems in imitation of the Iliad and the ;dyssey.

1. /haracters are larger and stronger than men and women are in contemporary life and are able to achieve great feats of physical strength and courage. 2. *ods and goddesses are more directly involved in human life as well, ma%ing lifes meanings more transparent than they are now. The gods and goddesses are characters in the poems and will later be called the "supernatural machinery# of the epic. 3. The epics style is lofty and avoids vulgarities and collo'uialisms. 4. 0ven its rhetorical devices are on the grand scale, li%e its epic similes, comparisons introduced by "li%e# or "as# which continue on for many lines (e.g., the comparison in $oo% - between fires on the plain before Troy and stars in the s%y . 5. The poem begins with an invocation to the 1use, who sings through the poet, helping him tell a story he was not there to see for himself. 6. The epic begins in medias res, "in the middle of things# (i.e., in the middle of the story , and fills in the necessary bac%ground in flashbac%s. B. Homers subject9warfare9was li%ewise crucial, so that most future epics will be about heroes on the battlefield and the honor they win there. III. The poem begins with a dispute between !gamemnon, the great %ing, and !chilles, the greatest fighter, over a slave girl, leading to the "anger of !chilles,# the announced theme of the poem.

A. The *ree%s lived in what is sometimes called a "shame culture,# an other,directed culture in which ones worth is based on how ones peers value him. 1. ! warriors worth is based on the pri<es awarded him by the army. 2. When !gamemnon strips !chilles of one of his pri<es9the slave girl9!chilles loses face. 3. !gamemnon would lose face by bac%ing down to !chilles before the whole army, which he commands, and so they reach an impasse. 4. !chilles withdraws from the fight and stays in his tent until his best friend, 4atroclus, wearing !chilles armor, is %illed in battle by Hector, the greatest Trojan fighter. 5. Then !chilles, who has been angry with !gamemnon, directs his anger at the Trojans and Hector until he meets Hector in battle, %ills him, and then dishonors the body, refusing to allow it burial. B. The anger of !chilles ends when 4riam, Hectors aged father and the 5ing of Troy, travels alone to !chilles tent to beg the return of his sons body. 1. !chilles and 4riam weep together, and !chilles returns Hectors body. 2. When the anger of !chilles ends, so does the poem7 its final event is the funeral of Hector in Troy. IV. !mong the Iliads myriad legacies, two are especially important for the history of literature.

A. The first enduring legacy is that heroism is defined in the poem as fighting hand,to,hand in battle9li%e the gunfights on 1ain 6treet in later Westerns. 1. /onsiderations for family and community come after that for ones own reputation. 2. Hector, who is a very good man, nevertheless chooses his own dignity and integrity over that of his community and his wife and child. 3. !s 1oses Hadas reminds us, heroism for the ancient *ree%s was an individualistic 'uest, and the heros ultimate loyalty is always to himself, not to his family, nation, or even his gods. B. The second enduring legacy is Homers treatment of the enemy9the Trojans9as e'ual in dignity and humanity to the army of !gamemnon and !chilles. 1. $oth armies spea% the same language, worship the same gods, and live by the same codes. 2. The Trojans can be seen as more sympathetic, since we see them with their families, while the !chaeans are an army on the prowl. 3. =orthrop >rye says that the demonstration in the poem that the fall of an enemy is as tragic as that of a friend or leader gives a disinterested 'uality to this literature which is part of its authority, moving it beyond entertainment, propaganda, or devotion toward "the vision of nature as an impersonal order.# Essential Reading: Homer, the Iliad. Supplementar Reading:

Harold $loom, ed. Homer ($looms 1odern /ritical ?iews . @asper *riffin, Homer (4ast 1asters . 1oses Hadas, Humanism( The *ree% Ideal and Its 6urvival.