The Iliad By Homer And With The Old Breed

In the Iliad is a very interesting epic with features two main central characters that are similar in some ways but totally different in other ways. In this epic you will be introduced to Hector and Achilles. Two men from each side in the great Trojan-Greek war. They were both heroes to their people despite their clearly different contrast in their personalities. In this paper I will highlight the life of both of these two leaders of the Greek and Trojans in this epic the Iliad. Also a little will be shed of how Homer portrays the characters deeper then an average thought. I will attempt to show the complexity of his thought process in forming the climax of these two characters coming to battle.

Nietzsche interprets Iliad as a demonstration of a single nature of “power” among the Greeks that leads to the brutal war. Simone Weil disagrees with Nietzsche and believes Iliad to be a representation of two forces, “might” and courtesy, which she calls “gravity” and “grace” (Simone Weil Handout, passage # 2, pg 2). Nietzsche considers only one perspective of the Iliad, the cruelty of “power,” in contrast, Weil examines both the good and the brutality shown in Homer’s epic. Weil thinks of Homer’s epic to be exhibiting the misery of the war, along with some sparks of “grace” (IC 48). Overall, Nietzsche thinks of Homer’s Iliad only to be a celebration of competition derived by the “will to power,” whereas Weil considers Iliad as not just a representation of the rule by “might,” but also showing moments of courtesy through the savagery of war (NR 355).

Is a hero only characterized by their success? If a leader’s last actions carry them to victory, are their flaws unimportant? The Odyssey by Homer narrates the ancient myth of a leader coming home from war in Troy who faces many trials, and despite returning home alone without any of his crew, he is looked upon as a hero for having survived. His ultimately sole success continues to define him, although the bitter truth being that he was the leader of his men when they all perished. As flaws of the all-mighty Odysseus and his crew are presented through their responses to the challenges they experience on their journey, people of the modern world may begin to understand that there exist several flaws that plague all men, whether they live now or lived thousands of years ago, and whether they are leaders or followers. The Odyssey is important in its characters’ responses’ to their trials ability to evoke emotional reactions that cause the reader to ponder their own tendencies by revealing the human nature of pride to be the fuel of the impulsiveness that oscillates fate.

Homer’s “The Odyssey” takes place ten years after the events in “The Iliad”, to which the Odyssey is an indirect sequel, and the fall of Troy; even though the story is believed to have been composed some time during the eight century B.C.E. it is estimated to be set sometime between 1300 and 1000 B.C.E. in Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze age. In this novel all Greek heroes have returned home after the fall of Troy, except for Odysseus who after a three year journey has been held captive by the goddess Calypso, who has fallen in love with him, on her island, Ogygia. After the ten years have passed Odysseus is presumed dead, his wife Penelope is courted, and his estate is auctioned off by the Suitors, the young men of Ithaca who attempt to win Penelope’s favor and hand in marriage.

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus is described as cunning. His thoughts are always working towards the best outcome for himself and like a good chess play, he always remains one move ahead. Odysseus’ cunning can be observed through his interactions with the nymph Calypso in Book Five and the Phaeacian Princess Nausicaa in Book Six. During these interactions, Odysseus flatters the females and evokes pity for his suffering in order for the situation to work to his advantage. He is not always honest, but his command of language allows him to win people over with his lies. Odysseus wishes to get home as quickly as possible and is willing to lie and flatter to complete the journey.

In Homer’s The Odyssey, while Odysseus was away from home, there were suitors who lounged around his house and wanted Penelope’s hand in marriage. When Odysseus finally arrived home, he was outraged and eventually killed the suitors and the servants who were disloyal to Odysseus’s family. Some people might believe Odysseus was inhumane for killing the suitors, but Odysseus had a reason for everything he did. Odysseus killed the suitors and most of his servants in order to protect himself and his family, assert his title as King of Ithaka, and to enact his revenge for betrayal. This teaches us that Odysseus knew what he was doing and that he had a reason why he chose to do those actions.

In the epic, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus proves to be a very respected and admirable leader. Before he leaves for the Trojan War, Odysseus is king of Ithaca, an island home to his dear wife and son. He is respected by his people and known for being a very powerful and intelligent man. In Troy, Odysseus leads his men to victory with his cunning and power, destroying their city. It has now been ten years since he saw his family, and returning home safely alongside his crew is his highest priority. However, he and his men are faced with trials like they have never seen, and Odysseus must take charge and command them using the skills he is most known for: his bravery, his genius, and his unwavering resolve.

The Iliad: Book VI is about the continued war for Troy but Homer focuses a lot of the book on Hector, Prince of Troy. The Achaeans were overwhelming the Trojans so they were forced back into their city. The Trojans were weakened so the Achaeans took full advantage and slaughtered as many as they could. However, the Trojans anticipated this weakness and Hector asked his mother to pray to Athena for the army. Meanwhile Paris, Hector’s brother, had withdrawn from battle because of the grief he caused. But his soon to be wife Helen and Hector convince him to return to battle. Just before they head into battle Hector pays a visit to his wife and child to say goodbye for maybe the last time. His wife is convinced that he is near his death and mourns. Hector then meets Paris on the way to the city gate and they prepare to fight.

The Iliad: Book I, is about the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the beginning of the Trojan War. It shows how vigorous Achilles’ rage was and that he is no one to mess with. The book states “Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed”. This shows his fury in just a few words. Achilles was a Greek hero who was the son of a Goddess named Thetis. He was an incredible solder; brave, violent and godlike. However, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaean Army. He was greedy, aggressive and selfish. He was described as “the most grasping man alive”. He absolutely hated Achilles. I feel that he was jealous of how respected Achilles was among the ranks in the army because of his superior skills in the field of battle. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis as his prize, after sacking a Trojan town. Chryseis was a daughter of a Priest of Apollo, Chryses. He offered an enormous ransom to get his daughter back. At first Agamemnon didn’t want it but the people round him persuaded him that it would be best to let her go so they could be released from the plague that Apollo put on them. Agamemnon then poised to Achilles that he is going to steal Achilles prize, Briseis. This is when Achilles’ rage shows at its best. He nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but he is stopped by the goddess, Athena.

In her essay, The Iliad or The Poem of Force, Simone Weil argues, “The true hero,

Although written a millennium apart, the Iliad and the Aeneid both focus on the battle between the Trojans and the Greeks or Romans. Both stories have two great warriors; Homer writes of Achilles and Hector whereas Virgil writes of Turnus and Aeneas. In the ensuing books, both writers depict the gruesome reality of wars through massive destruction and death. Homer writes in a more mythologized manner, focusing on the celebratory aspect of war. Virgil, on the other hand, writes of the brutal reality of war and the accompanied war frenzy. At the conclusion of both epic poems, the protagonist kills his foe, allowing him to fulfill his fate. In both the Iliad, and the Aeneid, the final battle consists of running, the confrontation, and the death. Although the battles have similar structures, the different writing styles and values of Homer and Virgil lead to different endings for both the hero and enemy.

The Odyssey by Homer and the Old Testaments: King James Version are two of the most read and most sophisticated pieces of literature that have transcended through generations. While they share similar qualities; both greatly differ as well, especially when it comes to the women characters. Classical historian and professor of classical studies at Wellesley College, Mary Lefkowitz, makes a significant contrast between these two famous writings. She believes that a major difference between the women of each story differ dramatically when it comes to their personality and actions. “[Although] the notion... that a man should be active and aggressive, a women passive and subjected to the control of the men in her family, are expressed in virtually every Greek myth, even the ones in which the women seek to gain control over their own live.…[so] that it is possible to show that the Greeks at least attributed to women a capacity for understanding that we do not alway find in the other great mythological tradition that has influenced Western thought, namely, the Old and New Testaments." (Women in Greek Myth, Mary Lefkowitz). I completely agree with Lefkowitz statement on these characters, it’s very clear that most of the women in the Old Testament are very flat while the Odyssey is full of well rounded characters especially when it comes to Jacob’s wife Rachel and Odysseus 's wife Penelope.

Throughout most of The Iliad of Homer, the reader can notice the constant use of the tradition of polemos (greek for fight, battle, Daemon of war), in other words, the epic is full of detailed description of several scenes of open warfare in which one of the central subjects is the hero’s aristeia. This fact can be illustrated by the most prototypical example: the moment in which Achilleus decided to rejoin the war in Books 19 through 21. However, in Book 10 of The Iliad, often called Doloneia, the whole environment changes drastically. For the first time in the epic, the Homeric tradition of polemos is not in place, instead, Homer adopted another ancient greek literary tradition - the lokhos (ancient greek for ambush). In this tradition, the action does not happening in battlefields, but in the backstages of war instead. This notable change leads the reader to wonder whether Book 10 integrally fits The Iliad.

Homer’s epic The Iliad, is a great tale of war and glory. It takes place during the last year of the ten year Greek-Trojan war. The Greeks have been fighting with the Trojans for quite some time, and just when peace seemed like a possibility, the youngest prince of Troy, Paris, acts out selfishly and steals the beautiful wife of Menelaus, Helen. This instigates the fighting again. Throughout The Iliad, Homer tells of two heroes, both similar, but also very different in their character; the great and powerful Greek, Achilles, and the strong, loving father, Prince Hector of Troy. In Homer’s The Iliad, Hector and Achilles differ as heroes in regards to pride, duty, and family love, the latter being self-centered and prideful, while the

Homer’s The Iliad describes majority of the war that went on between the Greek and Trojan, which included the warriors Achilles and Hector. Throughout the poem the similarities and the differences became evident between the main characters, Achilles and Hector. Although Achilles and Hector are considered two different types of heroes, they had their similarities as much as they had their differences. Both Achilles and Hector were the greatest warriors of their armies, and both are very stubborn when it comes to their honor. The differences between the two of them is that Hector is a family man, while Achilles never married nor had children, and the two are fighting for purely two different reasons, Achilles is fighting for his blood thirst and glory, while Hector fights to defend his people and family.