The Iliad ANCIENT MYTH ALIVE TODAY

1. The IliadANCIENT MYTH ALIVE TODAY AENEAS FLEEING TROY

2. HE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST POETS IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION. ENIGMATICALLY, LITTLE CAN BE SAID ABOUT HIM. HE PROBABLY LIVED AND WROTE IN THE EIGHTH OR NINTH CENTURIES B.C.E. NO ONE IS CERTAIN OF THIS DATE. HE DID WRITE IN THE DIALECT OF THE ASIAN GREEKS. HOMER

3. HOMER HAS BEEN VISUALIZED AS BLIND. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR SUCH AN ASSERTION. THIS IDEA IS BASED UPON A BLIND MINISTREL IN THE ODYSSEY WHO SINGS OF THE FALL OF TROY. WE REALLY DON’T KNOW. SPECULATION HAS SUGGESTED THAT HOMER NEVER EXISTED. HOMERIC TRADITION

4. THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY, IS BELIEVED BY MOST MODERN SCHOLARS TO BE COMPOSED IN A CONSISTENCY OF STYLE AND OUTLOOK THAT INDICATES THAT THEY ARE THE WORKS OF ONE AUTHOR. DESPITE THE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE POET THE WORKS REMAIN CLASSICALLY ENDEARING. CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP

5. MYTH AND IDEA IN THE ILIAD THETIS IMPLORING ZEUS TO HELP ACHILLEUS

6. “MYTHOS” FROM THE GREEK MEANING AN UNDERLYING ARCHETYPAL “TRUTH” TOLD IN STORY FORM. HUMANITY IS A MYTH MAKER. WHILE MYTHS ARE NOT SCIENTIFICALLY “TRUE,” STILL THEY REVEAL A POETIC OR PHILOSOPHICAL DIMENSION OF TRUTH TO HUMANITY THAT MAY ULTIMATELY BE MORE SIGNIFICANT FOR HUMAN BEINGS OTHER THAN SCIENTIFIC TRUTH, A POWERFUL DIMENSIONAL FIELD IN ITSELF. MYTHICAL STRUCTURE

7. CLASSICAL BEAUTY THAT BEGAN THE TROJAN WAR

8. THREE GODDESSES • THREE OPINIONS • THREE OPTIONS • MORE THAN ONE INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN THE CLIMAX • ONE CONTEST SOLUTION

9. TODAY, AS IN HOMER’S AGE, MANY EXPERIENCES REMAIN UNEXPLAINED. THE “TRUE” ORIGINS OF THE TROJAN WAR ARE UNKNOWN AND A MYSTERY. A MYTHICAL BEAUTY CONTEST WAS CREATED BETWEEN THE THREE GREAT GODDESSES THAT PARIS WOULD JUDGE. HERA ATHENA APHRODITE FOR EXAMPLE

10. FIGHTS ON THE GREEK SIDE MOST FANATICAL OF ALL THE OLYMPIANS: WILLING TO GO TO ANY LENGTHS, INCLUDING THE DECEPTION OF HER HUSBAND FOR THE DEFEAT OF TROY. HERA, SISTER AND WIFE OF ZEUS

11. ATHENA GODDESS OF WISDOM SHE FIGHTS ON THE GREEK SIDE DAUGHTER OF ZEUS

12. WITH HER CONSORT ARES, GOD OF WAR SHE IS CONSTANT IN HER AFFECTIONS FOR ANY SIDE APHRODITE GODDESS OF LOVE

13. THE THREE GODDESSES OFFERED PARIS THREE DIFFERENT REWARDS • HERA OFFERS PARIS RULE OF ASIA • ATHENA OFFERS FAME IN WAR • POWER AND GLORY THE TWO • MOST TANTALIZING IDEALS OF THE PERIOD • APHRODITE OFFERS THE LOVE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD • HELEN, WIFE OF MENELAUS, KING OF SPARTA • PARIS ACCEPTS BEAUTY AND LOVE • IN AN AGE DOMINATED BY A CODE OF HONOR • THIS DECISION LEADS TO WAR

14. A UNIVERSAL COSMOLOGY IN ONE WHOLE

15. TO RETURN TO A MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE ANCIENT WORLD THAT HOMER PORTRAYS WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND THAT THEN LIKE TODAY EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE EXISTED IN A CONDITION OF OPPOSITES: HOMER’S MYTHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTDICHTOMIES

16. GOOD-EVIL LOVE-HATE CHAOS-ORDER HOT-COLD WET-DRY BLACK-WHITE STRONG-POWERFUL AND SO ON TO AS MANY OPPOSITES AS THE HUMAN MIND CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE DICHTOMIES

17. EARTH FROM APOLLO WHEN THESE OPPOSITES ARE IN BALANCE THEN THE WORLD IS IN BALANCE. UNBALANCED, CATASTROPHIC RESULTS HAPPEN

18. THE ABDUCTION OF HELEN BY PARIS (OR SEDUCTION, TAKE YOUR PICK) LEADS TO AN UNBALANCE IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE TIME PERIOD, AND IN A WORLD DOMINATED BY THE HONOR CODE, LEADS TO WAR. THIS IS AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE: THE NATURE OF MAN LEADS TO WAR. THE ANCIENT GREEKS EXPRESSED THIS ARCHETYPAL CONCEPT IN THE IDEA OF ERIS—THE GODDESS OF DISCORD. HOWEVER, THERE IS BOTH A GOOD AND A BAD ERIS, RATHER LIKE THE CONCEPT OF YIN AND YANG, WHEREIN ERIS CONTAINS THE ALL OF CREATION, BOTH GOOD AND EVIL. CONSEQUENCES

19. THIS IS THE SAME AGE OLD CONCEPT OF THE ETERNAL BATTLE BETWEEN DARK AND LIGHT THAT RAGES NOT ONLY IN THE SKIES AROUND US, BUT ALSO IN THE SECRET HEART OF US ALL. IN THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY, IT IS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE FALL IN THE Garden of Eden, And the battle Between God And SATAN AN AGES OLD CONFLICT RAMIFICATIONS

20. ANOTHER GOOD ANALOGY FOR UNDERSTANDING THE PRECEDING CONCEPT, BECAUSE IN THE TROJAN WAR, HUMANS ARE PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ERIS EITHER BECAUSE THEY: FAIL TO ADEQUATELY DEAL WITH THE CONCEPT BY REASON AND LAW OR THEY SELF-SUBMIT TO ERIS, CREATING EVEN MORE ERIS AS ACHILLES DOES IN BOOK I OR THEY SUBMIT TO THE IDEA OF GODS OF FATE PARTIALLY AFFECTING HUMAN ACTIVITY HATE, PRIDE, ENVY, REBELLION, PETTINESS

21. HOW DID HUMANS LIVE IN SUCH A UNIVERSE? HOW DID THEY COME TO TERMS WITH THIS WORLD? HOW DID THEY FASHION THEIR LIVES? WE HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF HOW TO RESPOND TO THESE QUESTIONS: ARISTOCRACY OF THE HOMERIC AGE DID THE FIGHTING, THINKING, IDEALIZING (SOUND FAMILIAR?) IN THIS FASHION HUMANS MIGHT FIND SOME MEASURE OF MEANING AND PLEASURE FROM A LARGELY UNCOMPRISING UNIVERSE OF ERIS. EMBEDDED IN AN HONOR CODE, THESE VALUES DEFINED AND GAVE HONOR TO THE ARISTOCRATS OF GREECE AND TROY. MOTIVATING IDEALSIDEALS CONTINUED

22. A MAN WAS NOTHING IF HE DID NOT POSSESS TIME (TEE-MAY), THE ESTEEM OF HIS FELLOW ARTISOCRATS. THE GREATEST WAY TO ACHIEVE TIME WAS TO FIND GLORY (KUDOS). GLORY WAS PRIMARILY ACHIEVED IN WAR, THOUGH ONE COULD ALSO FIND GLORY IN BEING A POET. KEY TO ACHIEVING GLORY WAS THROUGH ARETE (AR-EE-TAY), WHICH IS BEST TRANSLATED AS EXCELLENCE. THIS IS THE STORY OF THE ILIAD. LET US GO THERE. IDEALS CONTINUED