THE ILIAD A brief-ish summary

Homer Known a considered the greatest epic poet in ancient Greece Know as the father of Mythology Although it is unknown, Homer is said to have lived around the time of the Trojan War, which is the event the Iliad is centered around Wrote in Ionic Greek A mixture of Aeolic Greek and Dactylic Hexameter Also known for the Odyssey

Characters in ILIAD (The Greeks) Agamemnon: son of Atreus; older brother of Menelaus; king of Mycenae; commander of all the Greek forces; husband of Clytemnestra; father of Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes. Clytemnestra: daughter of King Tyndareus and Queen Leda of Sparta; wife of Agamemnon; queen of Mycenae; mother of Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes. Menelaus: son of Atreus; younger brother of Agamemnon; king of Sparta; husband of Helen Helen: daughter of Zeus and the goddess Nemesis; reared by King Tyndareus and Queen Leda of Sparta; wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta until abducted by paris and taken to Troy Nestor: King of Pylos; old, wise Greek leader Achilles: son of the hero Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis; leader of the Myrmidons; greatest Greek warrior Patroclus: best friend of Achilles Ajax: son of the hero /telamon; second greatest Greek warrior Odysseus: son of the hero Laertes; king of Ithaca; master of strategies Calchas: chief prophet of the Greeks

Summary Set 9 years after the beginning of the Trojan War The Achaeans capture two Trojan maids, Chryseis and Briseis. Agamemnon takes Chryseis, leaving Achilles, the Achaeans’ greatest warrior, the maid Briseis. Chryseis’ father, Chryses, who has strong connections to Apollo, prays to the god to send a plague on the Achaeans so as to get his daughter back.

Agamemnon returns Chryseis after the plague diminishes his army greatly. He then demands Briseis from Achilles, which enrages the war hero. An offended Achilles refuses to fight in the war, leaving the Achaeans without a hero. Vengefully, Achilles asks his mother, a sea-nymph, to ask Zeus help the Trojans destroy the Achaeans. Zeus agrees, and although the Achaeans had great warriors, without Achilles, they suffered significant casualties. Achilles gives his armor to his friend Patroclus to fight in his place, but Apollo knocks Patroclus’ armor off during battle and Hector kills him. Thetis, Achilles’ mother, pleads Hephaestus to make Achilles new armor so that he might return to battle and avenge his friend’s death. Hephaestus agrees Back in battle, Achilles kills Hector and drags his body around for nine days until Hector’s father, King Priam of Troy, pleads with Achilles to release the body for proper burial. Achilles agrees and there is a temporary cease-fire. Summary

Something to Ponder When Patroclus dies Achilles seems very personal about it made us wonder if it was part of the culture to love your bestfriend so much or if Patroclus is more of a lover to Achilles then a friend?