1. The Iliad by Homer
Mrs. Kercher

2. The Iliad’s History An epic written 8th century BCE.
It was attributed to the poet Homer. Theories contradict this stating that more than one person had to have written it.
It was commonly paired with the Odyssey.
It takes place throughout Greece and Troy, a city in Northwest Turkey.
Important Names, Dates and Terminology
8th century BCE: when the text of the Iliad was composed/written down
1184 BCE: supposed date of the fall of Troy as chronicled in Homeric text
Homer: poet to whom the Iliad and the Odyssey are attributed
Epic: a long poem (in dactylic hexameter) that discusses a world-view in the past and invokes distance between the world of the poem and the world of the reader
Oral tradition: responsible for some of the stylistic repetition in the text, the PATRONYMICS, the syntax of the poem

3. The Story Before the Story
Legend of Paris and Helen
Read the short story and the view the video.
Identify similarities and differences between the two versions.
* What do you think really happened to Helen?
* Do you think the Trojan War was just a dispute
among men or a desire of the gods?

5. Homer in Ancient Greece
Earliest Greek Literature
Written c. 750 BCE from oral trad. (c BCE)
Recited by Rhapsodes
Epic = dactylic hexameter or long poem on war/myth
Cultural Importance for Greeks
Taken as History
Hellenic Unity
Educational Texts
Although length and complexity are hallmarks of the epic poem, the most important element is the hero. The hero is a human being with characteristics a society admires and often wishes to emulate. The hero is male, attractive, and unusually strong and able. He is a trained soldier or warrior and follows a code of honor.
Rhapsodes – were professional performers of Greek poetry; often depicted wearing a cloak and carrying a staff.

6. Greece and the Trojan War

7. Themes and Elements of Text
CHOICE and PERSUASION
THE HEROIC CODE
LEADERSHIP
TRIANGULAR RELATIONSHIPS
SIMILES
THE GODS

8. DO NOT Reduce The Iliad to:
PRIDE OR
FATE

9. Persons in The Iliad Acheans Trojans Gods Achilles & Patrocles
Agamemnon & Menalaos
Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix
Trojans
Hector & Alexandros
Priam, Helen, Andromache
Gods
Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite
Athena, Hera, Thetis

10. Characteristics of Homeric Text
Beginning in medias res
Cinematic presentation of events and of warfare
Look for sense imagery in the text
Use of SIMILES
Use of PARALLELISM when discussing events, characters and gods
This epic is not specifically about the Trojan War; it is about a PORTION of the Trojan War.
Homer had the rest of the Homeric cycle to fill in the gaps for his audience. He can start mid-stream and still have this work make sense.
We will evaluate where he starts and how his beginning echoes some mythological tensions when we look at the first two pages of the epic.

11. Homeric Cycle Series of texts about Troy
Some tell the same stories as the Homeric epics
Many tell entirely different stories
What still exists contains only a part of the entire story of the Trojan War
The Epic Cycle were a set of twelve archaic epic poems, known to every educated Greek. The best-known were Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which are also the only epics that have survived.
The epic cycle tells the story of the world from the Creation to the return of the heroes of the Trojan War. The way the poems were composed is a matter of conjecture, although it seems that the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer, are the oldest poems.
The poems may originally have been meant as independent works of art, but were, in their final form, meant to supplement each other.

12. The Iliad in Greek Society
One of the most revered books in ancient Greek life. Referred to as the, “Greek Bible.”
One epic was performed in 3-4 days by traveling entertainers.
It was enjoyed more than the Odyssey because of the Greek’s love for valiant war heroes.

13. The Iliad in Education Ancient Greece
Almost all Greek children knew the story and males were required to memorize it in school.
It was often performed.
It was often quoted to prove a point.
American
The story is required in most high school programs today.
A knowledge of Homeric similes is required and used by teachers and professors.

14. Features of Homer’s Text
Special formulaic language of the aoidos such as fixed and recurring epithets and type scenes
Exaggerated, leisurely pace of story-telling
Dislike of suspense
Fondness for lists (genealogies, catalogues), may derive from an oral way of organizing information
Similes - far more common in the Iliad than the Odyssey; a way of stopping the action, commenting on it, enriching or judging it.

15. Homeric Similes

16. Questions about The Iliad
What are the chief motivations for war or conflict in the Iliad?
Compare/Contrast Achilles and Hector as representing heroic ideals.
Does the character of Achilles develop over the course of the Iliad?
If the Iliad is about the wrath of Achilles, what is the lesson to be learned, if any?
What relevance, if any, does the Iliad have for us now?