Homers iliad begins during the tenth year of the trojan war and opens, like most epic poems, with a request for inspiration from the appropriate muse. Joseph campbell condensed his understanding of story into a theory he called monomyth, also known as the heros journey or the. Enter a perseus citation to go to another section or work. Download the free study guide and infographic for homers epic poem the iliad. In another twist of irony, the death of patroclus later motivates achilles to rejoin. Meanwhile, patroclus goes to achilles tent and begs to be allowed to wear achilles armor if achilles still refuses to rejoin the battle himself. I hope they will be useful for people who are reading the iliad as their first introduction to ancient greek literature. Good translations abound but robert fitzgeralds in the oxford world classics series is a good read with handy notes and maps.
Full search options are on the right side and top of the page. Book 16 when telemachus reaches eumaeuss hut, he finds the swineherd talking with a stranger odysseus in disguise. The poet invokes a muse to aid him in telling the story of the rage of achilles, the greatest greek hero to fight in the trojan war. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 6 summary. Find other examples of how homer repeats passages or summarizes parts of the story. Book 1 is one of the most carefully developed pieces of story telling ever. But telemachus is afraid of what the suitors might do to them.
In the tenth year of the trojan war, tensions are running high among the achaians a superancient name for the ancient greeks. Check your knowledge of the plot of book 16 of the iliad by completing this quiz and worksheet. Then, o knight patroclus, with a deep sigh you answered, achilles, son of peleus, foremost champion of the achaeans, do. Summary while the battle around the ships continues, patroklos pleads with. This is a long and complex book but the key chapters for the action are 1, 6, 9, 16, 18, 22, and 24. Do you remember our discussion of the difference between the plot of the iliad and the story of the trojan war. The gods, meanwhile, were gathered with zeus on the golden councilfloor, drinking toasts of nectar from gleaming cups that lovely hebe filled while they gazed down on troy. In the tenth year of the trojan war, achilles, the greatest fighter for the achaeans the greeks and their allies, is enraged. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Read an overview of the entire poem or a line by line summary and analysis. In book 1, achilles asks zeus, via thetis, to punish the achaeans for agamemnons insolence in demanding the maiden briseis.
Greek audiences would have been familiar with the background of the story, and here a brief summary of events is necessary to help the reader to put these events in context. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the iliad. Agamemnon, seeing blood, thinks that his brother has been mortally wounded and begins a long speech of lament and revenge. Zeus begins to taunt hera, mocking her and athena for standing by while aphrodite rescues paris. The iliad summary in the tenth year of the trojan war, tensions are running high among the achaians a superancient name for the ancient greeks. Achilles declines to fight but agrees to the exchange of armor, with the understanding that patroclus will fight only long enough to save the ships. The narrative begins nine years after the start of the war, as the achaeans sack a trojanallied town and capture two beautiful maidens, chryseis and briseis. Achilles tells him he has no reason to grieve, saying that agamemnon s men are repaid for their offenses. It is a sweeping epic poem that seeks to find answers to some of mankinds most fascinating questions, questions which still intrigue and perplex us today. The iliad is an epic poem by homer that tells the story of several weeks in the last year of the decadelong trojan war in the greek camp, agamemnon and achilles, the greeks. He wants her to tell him about the rage of achilleus, and how it hurt the achaians.
Written by harvard students for students, since its. When antilochus brings word to achilles of patroclus s death, achilles loses control of himself. This lesson focuses on book 16 of the iliad by homer. The battle rages on between the trojan and achaean forces, and patroclus devises a scheme to free the achaean ships from the trojans.
The poem was divided according to what could be transcribed onto one scroll without the scroll becoming too long and thus breaking. Often a storys ending depends upon the individual characters and the choices that they make according to. The end of book vi is the famous scene between hector and andromache and their infant son, astyanax. In the warrior society of the iliad, pride is what makes the world go round. Theyre todays most popular study guideswith everything you need to succeed in school. It lays out the basis for the destructive fallingout between the two leading greek heroes. Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis. Homers iliad study guide homers iliad has been captivating audiences for thousands of years. It is a portrait of the warrior at home, war forgotten as he watches his son play and talks with his wife. He asks her to begin with the fight between achilleus and agamemnon. The scene opens on the last year of the trojan war. Find examples of references to other legends in the iliad.
Now, as zeus continues to oblige, helping the trojans, achilles loses his beloved comrade patroclus. Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of book 16 of homers epic poem the iliad. Nearly all of the book s male characters are motivated in some way by considerations of their social standing. Most commentators consider this scene to be the most moving in the iliad. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the iliad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The war had raged for ten years, with the invading greeks fighting against troy. Achilles still chases apollo who turns and tells him that it. Humor in the iliad is most often associated with the gods but does occasionally show up among the humans, most often in connection with nestor. First, ajax son of telamon, tower of strength to the achaeans, broke a phalanx of the trojans, and came to the assistance of his. Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of homers epic poem the iliad. This lesson provides an overview of book 4 of homers the iliad, in which the gods reignite the fighting between the greeks and the trojans. Homers iliad books 12 provided by the internet classics archive. Learn the iliad book 16 with free interactive flashcards. The following are comments that occurred to me while reading english translations of book i of the iliad.
Apollos priest chryses comes to the achaian camp and asks to ransom back his daughter chryseis, who has been captured. We are told from the beginning that the story is going to be about the rage or anger of achilles, the greatest warrior in achaia greece. Eventually comes across a trojan soldier, sarpedon, who is the mortal son of zeus. Please note that these chapter divisions did not exist in the original telling of the story. The story told in the iliad figured prominently in greek culture long before the epic was ever written down.
The iliad and odyssey are both divided into 24 books. Zeus wakes and sees the havoc that hera and poseidon have wreaked while he dozed in his enchanted sleep. Eumaeus recounts odysseuss story and suggests that the stranger stay with telemachus at the palace. Homer, iliad, book 1, line 92 perseus digital library. Willcocks, a companion to the iliad is the way to go. The purpose of the iliad is not to relate the overall story. This study guide consists of approximately 114 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of the iliad. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the iliad and what it means. In book iv, however, agamemnons reaction to menelaos flesh wound is humorous.
What follows is a very brief summary from each book of the iliad. Ilias is an epic poem by the ancient greek poet homer, which recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks of the trojan war and the greek siege of the city of troy which was also known as ilion, ilios or ilium in ancient times. The written version of the iliad presupposes a basic familiarity with the characters and mythological causes and effects of the. Achaeans sack any rich city of the trojans do i receive so good a. Achilles, the most skillful combatant, and agamemnon, the commander of the combined forces of the greeks. The iliad book 1 summary the poet prays to the muse, the goddess of poetic inspiration. The iliad begins with the trojan war already in progress. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the. Euphorbus, the trojan who first speared him, tries to strip him of achilles armor but is killed by menelaus. Download the free study guide and infographic for homers epic. Choose from 500 different sets of the iliad book 16 flashcards on quizlet.
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