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Archaistic relief showing five divinities: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Apollo

Archaistic relief showing five divinities: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Apollo Roman, 25 B.C.- A.D. 14 (Yale University Art Gallery). So-called Mask of Agamemnon Mycenaean, 16th century BCE National Archaeological Museum (Greece) . Achilles Greets the Ambassadors of Agamemnon

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Archaistic relief showing five divinities: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Apollo

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  1. Archaistic relief showing five divinities: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Apollo Roman, 25 B.C.- A.D. 14 (Yale University Art Gallery)

  2. So-called Mask of Agamemnon Mycenaean, 16th century BCE National Archaeological Museum (Greece)

  3. Achilles Greets the Ambassadors of Agamemnon Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1800 (Ecolenationalesupérieure des beaux-arts, France)

  4. King Priam asks Achilles for the body of his son, Hector. From an archaic Greek bronze relief, ca. 570–560 B.C.E.

  5. Achilles slays Hector. From a red-figured volute-krater (a large ceramic wine decanter), ca. 500–480 B.C.E.

  6. Features of Homeric Epic • Invocation of the muse: “Sing, goddess, Achilles’ rage.” • Heroic Characters, Vast Settings • Verse Form: Dactylic Hexameter • Begins “in medias res” • Epic Similes: • As a serpent in its den upon the mountains, full fed with deadly poisons, waits for the approach of man—he is filled with fury and his eyes glare terribly as he goes writhing round his den—even so Hector leaned his shield against a tower that jutted out from the wall and stood where he was, undaunted (Iliad XXII. 103-110, trans. Samuel Butler, 1889). • Epithets (ἐπίθετον): Stock phrases that describes a character or a setting: “Achilles, the great runner”; “white-armed goddess” (Hera); (Lombardo avoids the clichéd “rosy-fingered dawn” by translating “Dawn came early, a palmetto of rose” [I.506]) • Epic catalogues: of ships, troops, armor, etc.

  7. Topics for Discussion • Compare and contrast the Homeric gods, as they are depicted in the Iliad, with the biblical god and the gods in Gilgamesh. • Discuss the nature of conflict as it occurs between men and men, gods and men, and gods and gods. How do the sources of their conflict differ? How do they resolve conflict? • We know from the opening lines that Iliad is going to be largely about μῆνιν Ἀχιλῆος––“the rage of Achilles.” What are the sources of his rage and how is it characterized in the epic? Can you predict how Achilles’s rage will effect the outcome of the war? • A feature of epic verse, from Homer to Virgil, is that it begins in medias res––in the middle of things. What is the effect of beginning in the midst of the Trojan War without any of the exposition we would expect from, say, a Victorian novel? • Stanley Lombardo’s popular translation renders the dialogue in a refreshingly colloquial manner. Find some examples and describe how his translations choices effect characterization.

  8. Topics for Discussion • Ceremonies and Formalities • Sacrifice: Agamemnon’s men sacrifice to Apollo (I. 485-505) • Insult: Achilles to Agamemnon (I.221) • Supplication: (I.530-541 • Welcome and Hospitality • Genealogy • Glaucus and Diomedes (VI.148-216) pg. 247 • Domestic Life • Paris & Helen pg. 251 • Hector and Andromache (VI. 400-528) • Achilles & Patroclus (IX 186-228) • Similes pg. 255 & 256 • Honor • Diomedes, Achilles, Hector and Agamemnon

  9. Topics for Discussion • Look at the epic similes in Book VI. On how many levels does the comparison work? • Discuss the nature of conflict as it occurs between men and men, gods and men, and gods and gods. How do the sources of their conflict differ? How do they resolve conflict? • We know from the opening lines that Iliad is going to be largely about μῆνιν Ἀχιλῆος––“the rage of Achilles.” What are the sources of his rage and how is it characterized in the epic? Can you predict how Achilles’s rage will effect the outcome of the war? • A feature of epic verse, from Homer to Virgil, is that it begins in medias res––in the middle of things. What is the effect of beginning in the midst of the Trojan War without any of the exposition we would expect from, say, a Victorian novel? • Stanley Lombardo’s popular translation renders the dialogue in a refreshingly colloquial manner. Find some examples and describe how his translations choices effect characterization.

  10. As a serpent in its den upon the mountains, full fed with deadly poisons, waits for the approach of man—he is filled with fury and his eyes glare terribly as he goes writhing round his den—even so Hector leaned his shield against a tower that jutted out from the wall and stood where he was, undaunted (Iliad XXII. 103-110, trans. Samuel Butler, 1889).

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