First, a literary analysis from a moderately informed modern. It is an epic poem, with 24 chapters, based on the attack on troy by the mycenaeans. The thematic, narrative, and linguistic differences between book 10 and other books in the poem have sparked debate about its authorship since ancient times. Here youll find an approximately onepage summary of each book, a description of the major characters and sometimes places, and an english translation. He further introduces in the word rage one of the human qualities, along with pride and honor, that will make up a.
In book 21, achilles continues his killing spree and the. On the greek side, odysseus and diomedes go out to spy on the trojans, who are camped out nearby. The iliad, an epic poem attributed to homer and the oldest extant piece of european literature, is conventionally divided into 24 books. The consensus is that the iliad and the odyssey date from around the 8th century bc, the iliad being composed before the odyssey, perhaps by some decades, 5 i. If that sounds too circular, then just bear in mind that the iliad is an extremely long narrative poem, which deals with the heroic actions of mortals, gods, and demigods. He gets up and looks with horror at the fires of the trojan camps. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 10 summary.
Sing, o goddess, the anger of achilles son of peleus, that broughtcountless ills upon the achaeans. In the book, there are many moments were homer tells the reader. Synonyms for summary at with free online thesaurus, antonyms, and definitions. The endless carnage and cruelty of the poem dehumanizes many of the men of the iliad, and homer never shirks from depicting the brutality of battle. Many a brave soul did it sendhurrying down to hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogsand vultures, for so were the counsels of jove fulfilled from theday on which the son of atreus, king.
A sampling of comments on iliad rhapsody 11 classical. Well, the first place you could look is the enotes summary on homers iliad. This contains a book by book summary and analysis of homers epic poem. They agree that they need a plan to save the achaians. The homeric poems the iliad and the odyssey are epic, because our concept of epic comes from homeric poems. This is a long and complex book but the key chapters for the action are 1, 6, 9, 16, 18, 22, and 24. Themes the glory of war one can make a strong argument that the iliad seems to celebrate war. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to hades, and many a hero did it. Gill is a freelance classics and ancient history writer. Learn iliad iliad book 1 with free interactive flashcards.
Greeks who crossed the sea to lay siege to troy, a city in modern turkey. To repay the indignity chryses has suffered, apollo, the mouse god, rains arrows of plague on the greek forces for 9 days. The title, the iliad, is likely a word your students havent heard before. This lesson will summarize the action in book 10 of homers the iliad. Book 10 involves both the greek and trojan sides sending out spies during the night. The achaians hope to learn where various groups of trojans will attack and where they are vulnerable. The iliad meaning a song about ilium and the odyssey are greek epic poems, conventionally attributed to a singularly talented poet named homer, who lived in the east greek region of ionia in the 8 th century b. The traditional arming sequence is extended to focus on a detailed description of agamemnons arms and armor. He is insulted and sent away, and apollo sends a plague on the greeks. Homer invokes the muse goddess of epic poetry to aid him in telling the story of achilles anger and the great war for helen and troy. Like other ancient epic poems, the iliad presents its subject clearly from the outset. The iliad homer book 1 ragegoddess, sing the rage of peleus son achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the achaeans countless losses hurling down to the house of death so many sturdy souls, great fighters souls, but made their bodies carrion feats for the dogs and birds and the will of zeus was moving towards its. Most scholars today, however, question the idea that one singerpoet composed either or both poems, at least not as we would imagine a poet composing today. When nestor proposes someone use the remaining darkness to learn the trojanss plans, diomedes quickly volunteers and selects odysseus to go with him.
Although the trojan war as a whole figures prominently in the work, this larger conflict ultimately provides the text with background rather than. Several scholars, on the other hand, have noted thematic parallels between the speech of phoenix, the ninth book and, indeed, the epic as a whole. The last thing the iliad is about is the horrors of war. Dolon asks to be taken alive, and the achaeans use the opportunity to gather information from him. Download the free study guide and infographic for homers epic. He goes to nestor and runs into menelaus who is also unable to sleep. Book 20 robert fagles translation analysis segue from previous book and to the next book in book 19, achilles is still grieving over the death of patroclus and still refuses to eat. He weeps and beats the ground with his fists and covers his face with dirt. The iliad is the oldest surviving work of greek literature, written by homer in the 8th century bc. When antilochus brings word to achilles of patrocluss death, achilles loses control of himself. The iliad takes place in the tenth year of the trojan war. The iliad is an epic poem, written by homer, that covers the quarrels and fighting near the end of the trojan war.
Although homer glorifies warriors, the iliad is full of an unmistakable love for peace. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the iliad. Dolon passes by the hiding diomedes and odysseus, and the pair spring upon him, chasing him down. The brothers speak and agamemnon tells menelaus to go and wake ajax telamon. First, a literary analysis from a moderately informed modern viewpoint. This paper will attempt to give a more complete analysis of the thematic and verbal connections between phoenix speech and the rest of the. The first scene of the iliad finds chryses, the priest of apollo god of the sun and a whole lot of other stuff, approaching the achaian camp to ask for his daughter back. Agamemnon and menelaus cant sleep with the trojans camped so near, so they rouse the other commanders for a council. On the other side, the trojans send dolon to try to spy on the greeks. Indeed, the poem names its focus in its opening word. Chryses, priest of apollo, comes to the greek camp to ransom his daughter, chryseis, held captive by agamemnon. First, the priest chryses comes to ask their leader, king agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom agamemnon was holding captive. 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.
Pivotal is the story that patroklos hears from the old hero nestor. The iliad book 1 by homertranslated by alexander pope 2. Like the barnes and noble nook, sony reader or amazon kindle, the iliad made use of an electronic paper display. Apollos priest chryses comes to the achaian camp and asks to ransom back his daughter chryseis, who has been captured. In the very first line of the iliad, the poet addresses the muse, who inspires him with song, and asks her to sing through him the story of the wrath of the son of peleus, aka achilles. That wrath which hurld to plutos gloomy reign the souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain. Dolon is sent by the trojans to spy on the achaian camp. Agamemnon sends him rudely away, and chryses prays to apollo to punish the greeks.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The events in book x are still violent, but there is no honor or nobility to offset the brutality. Agamemnon tells menelaos to go call together the leading chieftains. Diomedes chooses odysseus for his strength and fighting ability. The iliad begins with the poet calling on the muse to sing of the wrath of achilleus and its consequences. Homer calls upon the goddess of poetry and inspiration the muse to sing of achilleus anger. Book i opens with the words, rage goddess, sing the rage of peleus son achilles.
A sampling of comments on iliad rhapsody 11 classical inquiries. Specifically, the iliad concerns itself with the rage of achilleshow it begins, how it cripples the achaean army, and how it finally becomes redirected toward the trojans. For modern scholars the date of homer refers not to an individual, but to the period when the epics were created. In the tenth year of the trojan war, tensions are running high among the achaians a superancient name for the ancient greeks. Homers iliad books 12 provided by the internet classics archive. Later in the middle ages, dante noted this aspect of the passage and placed diomedes and odysseus in the 8th circle of hell, bolgia, the evil counselors. This was my literary analysis for the second assignment, it looks at parallels between the arguments between achillesagamemnon and zeushera at the beginning and end of the first book. Instead, it examines the murkier realm of spying and psychological. Homers book, the iliad, can be seen as historys first piece of antiwar propaganda because of the way it looks at war. Information on the first book of the iliad of homer. It comes from the greek word for troy ilios or ilion. Agamemnon tells his brother, tactics, my noble menelaus. Sep 27, 2016 pivotal is the story that patroklos hears from the old hero nestor.
Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of homers epic poem the iliad. My comments here on iliad 11 work around nestors story at i. Iliad 10s status as the epics most doubted book with iliad 2 as a close rival, the book least likely to be judged homeric, and the one most frequently avoided among contemporary scholars, makes it particularly revealing of some of the central disagreements and developments in homeric scholarship over the last two centuries. English twentiethcentury translations of homer, translators tend to go in one of two directions. The trojan war, as youll know from the backstory section of our summary of book 1, involved a massive army of achaians a. Book 1 achilles wrath, to greece the direful spring of woes unnumberd, heavenly goddess, sing. The point is, now that you know what the things are, its high time we jumped into the middle of them. Book i sing, o goddess, the anger of achilles son of peleus, that brought countless ills upon the achaeans. Good translations abound but robert fitzgeralds in the oxford world classics series is a good read with handy notes and maps. The two warriors get ready and run outside, where they run into each other. The story opens nine years into the war, which basically started because paris.
Book 10 takes a break from the simple if chaotic headon battles described in the rest of the poem. She has a masters degree in linguistics and is a former latin teacher. Now the other princes of the achaeans slept soundly the whole night through, but agamemnon son of atreus was troubled, so that he could get no rest. Now the other princes of the achaeans slept soundly the wholenight through but agamemnon son of atreus was troubled so that hecould get no rest. Themes and colors key litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the iliad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Rossi, in iliad, i, there is word end at position 1. Agamemnon dons a lions hide and menelaus sports a leopard skin in a book of the iliad containing much animal imagery.
Dolon tells the two all about the trojan position, letting them know the best place to attack. Choose from 500 different sets of iliad iliad book 1 flashcards on quizlet. Sing, o goddess, the anger of achilles son of peleus, that brought countless ills upon the achaeans. Diomedes is the first to volunteer to spy on the trojans. Book 10 of the iliad follows the nighttime spying exploits of the greeks and the trojans.
Rodents do spread plague, so the association between a divine mouse function and delivering plague makes sense, even if the greeks werent completely aware of the connection. As when fair junos lord flashes his lightning in token of great rain or hail or snow when the snowflakes whiten the ground, or again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws of hungry war, even so did agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh, for his. Antiwar propaganda has been around for many years, but what makes the iliad special is that it is arguably the oldest piece of antiwar propaganda. In 2010, sales of the iliad ended when its parent company, irex, filed for bankruptcy. Was it composed by homer to show a different aspect of war or added by a later contributor. Analysis book 11 begins with agamemnon s aristeia, or best work in the poem, a passage in which he dominates the fighting and cannot be opposed. Agamemnon roughly rejects the ransom and dismisses the priest. The foray of diomedes and odysseus is a foray behind enemy lines by men without scruples. The first book of the iliad begins with an invocation of achilles rage, the rage that will ultimately cause his own people so much grief and is.