1. Epic: Iliad vs. Star Wars

2. Important Terms
Hero
Epic
Iliad
Odyssey

3. Epic Scenes and Features
invocation
in medias res
grand assemblies
arming scenes
embassy scenes
battle scenes
epithets
similes
elaborate descriptions
an epic catalogue or list
divine machinery
epic games or contests
funeral scene
a trip to the Underworld
a vision of the future

4. Invocations rhapsode Muse Prayer Request for inspiration
Summary/introduction

5. Invocation in the Iliad
Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus— that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans to countless agonies and hurled many warrior souls deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies carrion food for dogs and birds— all in fulfillment of the will of Zeus.
Start at the point where Agamemnon, son of Atreus, that king of men, quarreled with noble Achilles. Which of the gods drove these two men to fight?
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν 5 οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Διὸς δ᾽ ἐτελείετο βουλή, ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς τίς τ᾽ ἄρ σφωε θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι; Λητοῦς καὶ Διὸς υἱός: ὃ γὰρ βασιλῆϊ χολωθεὶς 10 νοῦσον ἀνὰ στρατὸν ὄρσε κακήν, ὀλέκοντο δὲ λαοί, Iliad I.1-10
Compare: Invocation in Star Wars: New Hope 1

6. In medias res landing at Troy
nine years of indecisive warfare, including raids by the Achaeans on Troy's allies
The Iliad
quarrel between Achilles & Agamemnon

7. In medias res in Star Wars
IV New Hope
V Empire Strikes Back
VI Return of the Jedi
I Phantom Menace
II Attack of the Clones
Revenge of the Sith

8. Homer and Oral Tradition: The Type-Scene Mark W
Homer and Oral Tradition: The Type-Scene Mark W. Edwards in Oral Tradition 7/2 (1992):
PLAN
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Terminology and Definitions 1.2 Characteristics of Homeric Type-Scenes
1.3 A Short History of Research
2. BATTLE 2.1 General
2.2 Structure of battle descriptions
2.3 Aristeiai and duels
2.4 Arming 2.5 Catalogues, androktasiai, and anecdotes 2.6 Battle speeches
3. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE 3.1 Hospitality in General
3.1.1 Arrival and Reception of a Guest
3.1.2 Bathing Meals
3.1.4 Recognition and Entertainment Retiring for the night
3.1.6 Departure and Gift-giving
3.2 Messengers
3.3 Dreams
3.4 Divine Visit
3.5 Conference, Conversation, and Greeting
3.6 Assembly and Dismissal
3.7 Supplication
3.8 Dressing and Adornment
3.9 Allurement and Seduction
4. TRAVEL
4.1 Travel by Sea Putting to Sea Journey by Sea Arrival after Sea-journey 4.2 Travel by Land
5. RITUAL 5.1 Sacrifice 5.2 Prayer
5.3 Funeral Rites
5.4 Omens
5.5 Libation
5.6 Oath-taking
5.7 Purification 6. SPEECHES AND DELIBERATION
6.1 General
6.2 Deliberation and Monologues
6.3 Testing of a Stranger
6.4 Laments
6.5 Persuasion
6.6 Consolation

9. Grand Assembly Iliad 1: Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( )

10. William Page Quarrel of Achilles and Agamemnon, ca. 1832

11. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)

12. Grand Assembly in Star Wars
Phantom Menace 28: Jedi Council

13. Arming Scene Iliad 18: New Arms for Achilles
Two-handled jar (neck-amphora) depicting the arming of Achilles. Archaic Period, about 550 B.C. By the Camtar Painter. Attic ceramic, Black Figure. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Inscriptions: "Achilleus," "Thetis”

14. Hephaistos and Thetis, tondo, Attic Red-figure cup by the Foundry Painter, from Vulci, ca BCE

15. Thetis at Hephaestus' forge waiting to receive Achilles' new weapons
Thetis at Hephaestus' forge waiting to receive Achilles' new weapons. From the triclinium of House IX.I.7, Pompeii.

16. Jan Van Dyck. Thetis Receives the Arms and Armor for Achilles from Hephaestus (Venus at the Forge of Vulcan)

17. Arming Scene in Star Wars
Return of the Sith 47: Darth Vader Awakes

18. Embassy Scene Iliad 9:
Jean-Dominique Ingres, Achilles Greets the Ambassadors of Agamemnon ( )

20. Embassy Scene in Star Wars
Phantom Menace 7-8: Otoh Gunga and Boss Nass

21. Battle Scene Iliad 3: Battle between Menelaus and Paris
Menelaus (centre-left) pursues Paris (centre-right) as Aphrodite (left) and Artemis (right) watch on. Side A from an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 490–460 BC. From Capua. Douris Painter.

22. Battle Scene in Star Wars Phantom Menace 43: Obi Wan vs. Darth Maul

23. Androktasia (Killing Scene)
Hector at death of Patroclus, ca. 500 BC, in Agrigento Iliad 16

24. Death of Hector (Iliad 22)
The Triumph of Achilles by Franz von Matsch. Achilles is seen dragging Hector's lifeless body in front of the Gates of Troy. (From a panoramic fresco on the upper level of the main hall of the Achilleon on Corfu.)

25. Death of Vadar
Return of the Jedi 46

26. Jacques-Louis David The Funeral of Patroclus (1779) Iliad 23
Funeral Scene
Jacques-Louis David The Funeral of Patroclus (1779) Iliad 23

27. Funeral of Hector (Iliad 24)
Hector brought back to Troy. From a Roman sarcophagus of ca. 180–200 AD.

28. Funeral of Vadar
Return of the Jedi 48

29. Epic Language: Epithets
Origin I Home: 'spearmen who lived on the fertile soil of Larisa'
Patronymic: 'Achilles son of Peleus'.
Appearance/State: 'white-armed Andromache; 'fair-haired Menelaus'.
Skill/Art: ‘resourceful Odysseus’; 'swift-footed Achilles' .
Position: Agamemnon, king of men'; 'sacred herald'.
Heroic quality / General: godlike Epeios’; p.2O3 'strong Diomedes’

30. Diomedes Encounters the war-god Ares on the battlefield:
Similes
Diomedes Encounters the war-god Ares on the battlefield:
“Diomedes of the great war cry shivered as he saw him,
and like a man in his helplessness who, crossing a great plain,
stand at the edge of a fast-running river that dashes seaward,
and watches it thundering into while water, and leaps a pace backward, now Tydeus’s son gave back, and spoke to his people:
‘Friends, although we know the wonder of glorious Hektor
to be a fighter with the spear and a bold man of battle,
yet there goes ever some god beside him, who beats off destruction, and now, in the likeness of a man mortal, Ares goes with him.
Come then, keeping your faces turned to the Trojans, give ground
Backward, nor be we eager to fight in strength with divinities’”
(5: ).

31. Elaborate Description
Achilles’ Shield Iliad 18

32. Elaborate Description in Star Wars
More Visual than Verbal

33. Homer's Iliad and the Catalogue of Ships Iliad 2

34. Catalogue in Star Wars http://www.starwars.com/databank/rebel-alliance

35. Vision of the Future in the Iliad Post-Iliad Stories
arrival of the Amazons as Trojan allies
death of Penthesileia, their queen (killed by Achilles)
assistance of the Ethiopians on the Trojan side
death of Memnon king of the Ethiopians8
death of Achilles (shot by an arrow aimed by Paris & Apollo)
contest for the arms of Achilles between Odysseus & Ajax (see Ovid for details)
suicide of Ajax
arrival of Achilles' son Neoptolemus (or Pyrrhus-"red-haired)
successful attempt to get the bow & arrows of Heracles9
death of Paris (killed by Philoctetes with Heracles' bow)
marriage (?) of Helen & Deiphobus, another of Priam,s sons
theft of the palladium (statue of Athene) by Odysseus and Diomedes
strategy of the wooden horse
story of Sinon & death of Laocoon, priest of Poseidon
FALL OF TROY
death of Priam at the altar (killed by Neoptolemus)
escape of Aeneas
rape of Cassandra by lesser Ajax
sacrifice of Polyxena to Achilles' ghost
murder of Astyanax
enslavement of the Trojan women

36. Epic Scenes and Features
invocation
in medias res
grand assemblies
arming scenes
embassy scenes
battle scenes
epithets
similes
elaborate descriptions
an epic catalogue or list
divine machinery
epic games or contests
funeral scene
a trip to the Underworld
a vision of the future