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English 107

Study Questions: The Iliad

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Organization and structure of the Iliad

Book One:   9 days of Plague, 12 days of divine absence (inert time)

Day 1, Books 2-7, 1st battle (7.475 night falls)

Day 2, Book 8, 2nd battle; Greeks beaten back

Night 2, Book 9, Embassy, Doloneia (Hector warned)

Day 3, Books 11-18, 3rd battle; the big one; mist changes tone at end

Night 3, Book 18, Thetis and Achilles; shield

Day 4, Books 19-22, 19: reconciliation with Agamemnon, 20: Theomachia, 21: River, 22: Death of Hector

Night 4, Book 23, Ghost of Patroclus

Day 5, Book 23, Funeral Games

Book 24, Night 5, 12 days of Hector exposed, Priam visits Achilles, 9 days of mourning (inert time), Hector buried

The Iliad, by Homer (trans. R. Lattimore)


1. As you begin reading, note what elements of the Iliad are unique to epic -- how is it unlike novels, lyric poems, fairy tales, etc.?

2. Study the words and actions of Agamemnon carefully. What is the basis of his authority?
3. In Book 3, the two sides are massed for a mighty conflict, but the poet turns to a single duel between Menelaus and Paris. Why hasn't this duel occurred before? What function does it have in the story?
4. Do the interactions among the gods parallel those among the humans? In what ways? What do the gods do here that the humans do not?

5. Consider the differences between Ares and Athene; they are both war-god/dess, but why have two? 

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1. Book 6: This is Hector's book. Here we see who, what and why he is. How does the narrator seem to feel about Hector? Compare and contrast his heroism with Achilles. Consider his relations with women. Note his self-consciousness about the inevitable fate of Troy and his family (520). What, exactly, motivates him to keep fighting? Do you see anything potentially wrong or self-contradictory with his reasoning? Don't sentimentalize his hopes for his son too much.

2. Book 8: Zeus signals the Greeks' collapse, but still pities (280ff.): is he confused? Given that the proem told us that these events are the will of Zeus, what does Zeus really want?

3. Book 9: An important book. Agamemnon admits his error and sends an embassy to Achilles, consisting of Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax. Consider why these three in particular go. Compare Agamemnon's instructions with what actually happens, focusing in particular on the conduct of Odysseus.

4. Which characters do you feel the most sympathy for and why? Explain.

5. What do you think is the purpose of Diomedes' and Odysseus' excursion?  What do they achieve, both during and as aftermath?

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1. Book 12: Sarpedon and Glaucus (compare this scene with Glaucus and Diomedes in Book 6) give the most complete statement of the heroic code. Why do heroes risk their lives? Note how the awareness of mortality changes everything. Compare their ethos with Achilles' speech in Book 9

2. Look for ways in which this book and the next [12 & 13] set the stage for Hector's fall, as his success makes him progressively more reckless. Look for warnings Polydamas gives Hector, and note where and why he stops listening.

3. Think about the effects anger has on events. What positive and negative effects result from anger? Why do characters get angry? Is their anger justified or not? Explain.

4. What roles do the gods play? Where are they more symbols (of what?) and where are they more like "people"? What is your opinion of these characters as gods?

5. Since the epic is set during a war, obviously martial values are most on display. What other social and personal values are expressed or demonstrated?

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1. Pay particular attention to the scenes in Books 11-16 with Patroklos; what character traits do we see most clearly? How does Patroklos complement Akhilleus?

2.  Patroclus kills Sarpedon, Zeus' son, whom Zeus considers saving. Why doesn't he? What happens to Sarpedon? This is the first important death in the epic, beginning the sequence that leads to Hector's death. Look for changes in the narrative tone and level of elaboration.

3. What happens to Patroclus after killing Sarpedon? Look at the descriptions of his mind and emotions.

4. Is Patroclus diminished in the end? Is Hector's conquest of him glorious. Note that, despite the intention of tricking the Trojans that Achilles has returned, they never think that. Why do you think this is so? What effect would it have had on the story if Hector had bent over the dead Patroclus and said, "It's only Patroclus."

5. Hector says he will give Patroclus' corpse to the vultures; consider the ramifications. And does Hector has a realistic idea of his role in the death of Patroclus?
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1. What do we learn from Thetis' trip to Hephaestus?  How does this episode play into furthering Akhilleus' fate?

2.  The new shield of Achilles allows Homer a delineation of normal human life, of which the heroic is an exceptional part.  Think about the shield and what is represented. What image of life does Homer provide? What does the shield evoke? Can you draw the shield based on Homer's description?
 
3. Which characters do you feel the most sympathy for by this point, and why? Has this changed over the course of the epic? Explain.

4. Critics have always liked the scene between Akhilleus and his horses; what makes it unique and significant?

5. Explain how in Book 20 Homer builds up to the big fight between Hektor and Akhilleus.
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1. How is Achilles' aristeia similar to and different from others?

2. How do you feel about Hector, Achilles, and the other Achaeans during Hector's death and shortly after?  Achilles' vengeance is now complete, but the book has shown us little of his thought and much of Hector's. The plot is now complete, and thus Achilles' continuing rage is stressed even more. Why is Achilles still angry?
3. Read the passage about Patroklos' funeral pyre carefully; why do you think the detail is important?  What symbolic significance might this fire have?

4. Why does Akhilleus return the body?  Consider several possible motives.

5. Are you satisfied with how and where the epic ends? Explain. What, if anything, would you change?


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