The Age Of Homer 's Iliad

Further controversy about authorship springs from the differing styles of the two long narrative poems, indicating they were composed a century apart, while other historians claim only decades –the more formal structure of The Iliad is attributed to a poet at the height of his powers, whereas the more colloquial, novelistic approach in The Odyssey is attributed to an elderly Homer.

Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae

Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, many techniques are used to compare characters and emphasize the importance of leadership and honorability. The main character of the poem, Achilles, is a beloved warrior of the Greek army who struggles to contain his anger, especially against Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek Army. The Trojan War takes a toll on the people of the two cities, leading to numerous poor decisions made among the soldiers. Homer’s use of parallelism in The Iliad draws attention to Achilles as a character, more specifically to his fall from grace and ultimate redemption.

Throughout The Iliad, Homer offers us a glimpse into the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and their beliefs. They are a very spiritual and in many ways superstitious people. The main thing to note throughout The Iliad is the interaction between the gods and the humans. Any way one looks at the situation, they can immediately see that humans are mere pawns to the gods in their game of chess. The success and failures of the humans depends on what god would be helping which group and at what particular time. This essay will explain the three main reasons the gods in The Iliad intervened with humans: Firstly, gods who act on their own personal motives, secondly, gods who act as favors to other gods, and finally gods who act as favors to

The influential feminine strain in the Odyssey also has important effects upon the whole flavor of the poem. Many other early epics are characterized by coldness, morbidity, and brutality, caused by the subjects with which they deal. The virtues, such as courage and martial prowess, which are seen in the Iliad are impressive, but they are undistinguished and limited, for they exist in a world of mas-culine competition and warfare. It is only in the Odyssey, among early Greek works, that such familiar ideas as love, family loyalty, and devotion, and other such important ethical attitudes, are both illustrated and advocated. It is the presence of these unconscious moral lessons that makes the Odyssey so unique in its genre and produces its humanitarian and optimistic outlook.

For many years, Greek culture based their social status on prominence and rank in their colony. This prepotency over the culture is shown in the epic poem, The Iliad of Homer. Great vitality is exhibited by the characters in the poem. The need for glory, honor, and eternal remembrance is mentioned numerous times from beginning to end in this composition. Glory and honor comes with great responsibility and wisdom. Homer presents this idea in various ways. This fortitude is passed throughout The Iliad showing the foundation of dignified heroes and self-glorification.

Being part of the oldest surviving pieces of literature, displays its importance of being saved and handed down throughout time and suggests one of the reasons why it is considered canonical. It has gained status from many generations of readers. Homer was “one of the most translated authors of the late twentieth century.” (Robson, 2014, p.240) and Homer holds authority still today, through frequent study and reworks of Homeric poetry, Robson suggests “The regard that previous generations, as well as our own, have had for the Iliad provides a compelling reason to believe that it is an important work of art.” (Robson, 2014,

The true history of Troy has been shrouded in mystery and has, to a certain extent, been lost. In the middle of the 18th century, the site of Ilios was the most sought after archaeological mystery. In the years between Achilles and Hector and modern time, the location of Troy had been lost. Only echoes of the ancient city remained in texts found elsewhere in the Anatolian peninsula and mainland Greece, and even though Homer’s epic poems ignited the passion to find Troy, they did little to reveal the exact location of his famous city. The one who found Troy would once and for all answer the Homeric Question: were the Iliad and Odyssey based on historical fact?

Regardless of the time frame, Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s epic the Iliad share both a copious amount of similarities and differences. For example, many common themes such as heroism, fate, and destiny are apparent in both works. Within the Aeneid and the Iliad, it is seen that the wars going on during that time were glorious that is why the role of gods were significant in leading both Aeneas and Achilles and influencing fate. In both texts, it is clear from the beginning that the role of the gods is to make Aeneas and Achilles fulfill their journey The Iliad focuses on the end of the Trojan War and the damaging power, while the Aeneid is focused during the aftermath of the war and underlies the foundation for the new civilization. This paper will address and argue the comparison of the role of gods and how each of the authors representation of the gods have influence on the lives of mortals.

Homer’s famous poem, the “Iliad,” is one of the most powerful pieces of literature which narrates the Trojan War from beginning to end. Moreover, this essay will focus on analyzing Homer’s ancient stories about the Trojan War and how movies, such as, “Troy,” have mercilessly altered and wrecked the essence of the epic poem. It will be argued that the film depicts a severely inaccurate chronological sequence and imprecise setting. Besides the mentioned, this writing will begin by scrutinizing the events in both the movie and the poem, and mentioning various archaeological evidences to testify their existence. Summarizing, there will be supported statements that will unveil the truth about Troy.

The proof for such a theory comes from the diversity of narrative style, ethics, vocabulary, theology, geographical perspective, and written construction across the two epics, yet there is still much mystery to this day. My informed viewpoint on Homer and the epics written is that “Homer” was likely a few people, 2 – 3, who over time wrote down the stories they heard and made them fit together and passed it on. Then the last person gathered up all the previous peoples works formed two large epic poems, made up of both fact and fiction.

The poet Homer’s 8th-century BC epics, the Iliad

The Iliad focuses on the behavior of warriors in time of turmoil. It also focuses on what each seems to owe to their people and their selves. The values demonstrated in the Iliad compare to the values we all hold today. Honor, pride, revenge, fame, and dignity are still a part of todays society. “Homers characters remain vitally alive. As we watch them react to the problems in their lives, we realize that people have remained basically the same throughout the history of humanity” (Rosenberg 118). I will compare the ways we express these values to how people in the Iliad did.

The epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer have been thought of as works of fiction, but there has been data proving otherwise. What if these epics could be scientifically proven to have actually happened? The epics take place near Greece during 12th century BC, following the hero named Odysseus as he fights in the Trojan War, and journeys home. Although the piece of literature features mythical creatures, magic, and unrealistic circumstances, we shouldn’t immediately disregard the idea of the literature being completely non-fiction. Archaeological evidence proves events in Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey occurred.

With this personal narrative, I will analyze two themes from Homer’s epic’s pertaining to the Iliad and the Odyssey. I have chosen hospitality (Xenia) and shame (Aidos) as the subject of interest, and will focus on these as a main source of the topic.