Homer and the Illiad

The Illiad is an ancient epic poem. The author is believed to have been a blind poet named Homer. However there is much contrversary over whether Homer really wrote the poem and whether he even existed in the first place. The poems regardless of who wrote them were believed to be composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime in the 9th century BC.

The Iliad is set in the final year of the Trojan War, which forms the background for its central plot, the story of the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles. Insulted by his commander in chief Agamemnon, the young warrior Achilles withdraws from the war, leaving his fellow Greeks to suffer terrible defeats at the hands of the Trojans. Achilles rejects the Greeks' attempts at reconciliation, but he finally relents to some extent, allowing his companion Patroclus to lead his troops in his place.

Patroclus is slain, and Achilles, filled with fury and remorse, turns his wrath against the Trojans, whose leader, Hector (son of King Priam), he kills in single combat. The poem closes as Achilles surrenders the corpse of Hector to Priam for burial, recognizing a certain kinship with the Trojan king as they both face the tragedies of mortality and bereavement.

The Illiad is a Greek epic poem and therefore it was written in Greek.

In order to be able to fully understand what happens in the Greek epics, one must first understand what an epic is.

Oral poetry was an important genre that led to the ultimate creation of the epic.

Recited in a culture without an alphabet or a system of writing (the tools with which a literate culture preserves information), oral literature emerges in verse, simply because the devices associated with poetry -- rhyme, rhythmic stress, repetition -- facilitate memory. Thus oral poetry gives the recorded events great immediacy. Each repetition of oral poetry -- out loud, in front of an audience -- recreates its subject matter, involving the listeners as if the events described were happening anew.

Modern scholars recognize certain features common to oral poetry that often seem strange to readers. The key to all these so-called formulas is repetition, that indispensable prod to memory.

The Epic

The generic label "epic" comes from the Greek "epos," which means "word," referring to the feeling and ethical intent of the speaker rather than to form or subject matter. An epic poem tells a story of deep feeling and ethical significance.

An epic poem is typically a long poem dealing with events that are

legendary, historical, mythical or a combination. It typically involves a struggle of some description

COMMON FEATURES OF THE EPIC

The heroes come from the heroic era.
The heroes are bound by a code of honor.
The form of the epic is verse -- hexameters.
The language of epic is often formulaic.
The material of epic is elevated and does not dwell on the banal details of life.
Catalogues are long.
Speeches are frequent

· The central figure of ancient epic is the hero

Ex. Trojan Aeneas in the Aeneid

To speak of "Dawn with finger tips of rose," as Homer often does, instead of saying, "the sun came up," charges the natural world with personality, suggesting its involvement in human affairs.

ITS IMPORTANCE TO LITERATURE AND HISTORY

Speeches make up so much of epic poems that Plato called epic a mixture of dramatic and narrative literature, according to Albin Lesky, who says the speeches might be a throwback to the oral tradition of epic, where the epic story was passed down, from master storyteller to pupil, possibly within a family.

Summary chapter by chapter of the Illiad

http://oldweb.uwp.edu/academic/english/canary/iliad.html

Descriptions of characters and gods in the Iliad

http://home.speedsite.com/videoc/Iliad/Iliad.html

http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Greeklife.html

website about what is was like to be Greek

Info on the historical facts on the Trojan War and the mythological information

http://www.enl.umassd.edu/InteractiveCourse/Homer/homer.html

Info on the Greek language itself and the Greek alphabet

http://www.crystalinks.com/greeklanguage.html

http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Greeklife.html

website about what is was like to be Greek

http://www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/iliad.html#b8

English translation of the Iliad

http://www.homerhickam.com/new1.htm

modern Homer author

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/iliad/iliadstart3.htm

an iliad game