The Illiad : The Historical Causes Of The Iliad

In almost all instances of war the cause has been related to greed, or the gaining of land and possessions. Greed is presented in the very first book of Homer’s “The Iliad.” It isn’t displayed by the cowards, but the “heroes” of the war such as Agamemnon, Achilles, and Pandarus. The entire cause of the Trojan War is the result of the greedy and cowardly behavior of Paris. There are many factors that had sparked the war, including the interference of the gods; however, the main factor to be blamed for the war is greed.

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies” (6.146-50)

The first book of the Iliad begins with the beginning of Achilles’ rage, the rage that will eventually cause his own people so much grief and is also the force for Homer’s version of the story of the Trojan War. Whereas the taking of Helen is the focus of the larger, traditional story, the feud between Agamemnon and the hero Achilles over a kidnapped girl defines the Iliad. Both feature a conflict over a woman, Helen and Chryses’ daughter, and a need for resolution as well as a breach of social contract: Paris steals the wife of Agamemnon, ruining the bonds of the guest relationship, while Agamemnon denies Chryse his right to ransom and invokes the wrath of the gods in the form of a plague. In both cases, however, it becomes clear that the conflict will not be resolved quickly, but will continue through the very heart of the story. By “singing of Achilles’ rage” from the first line, the narrator is clearly showing the audience that this Trojan war is not the war of Hector or Paris or Helen, but of the proud Achilles and his hero-sized enemy.

The Trojan war was a ten year siege on the city of the city of Troy at the hands of the Greek forces led by a psychopathic king, Agamemnon. This conflict, which took place about 1200 B.C has become one of the most well known Greek mythology events in history. In the 13th century B.C, Troy and Sparta had stopped their wars and become allies, this was until Paris the youngest prince of Troy seduced Helen, the Queen of Sparta and left with her back to Troy. When Menelaos (The King of Sparta) found out what had happened, he vowed

Throughout The Iliad, an epic poem written by Homer, there were numerous warriors and other characters that could be looked upon as heroes; some of these heroes included Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes, Hector, and Glaucus. All of these individuals were heroes because of their remarkable mental and physical strength: they were courageous and were better fighters in war than other ordinary men. The trade of battle was a way of life to the Greeks back in Homer’s time. Children were raised to become great servicemen to their country, and warriors lived to fight for and defend their nation with pride and valor. The heroic code was a strict morality that dealt with matters relating to honor and integrity in battle.

Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, first started as an oral storytelling tradition dating from about 1100 BC, after the Trojan war.

Homer’s epic, The Iliad, highlights the influence and jurisdiction that beauty provides. The prizes and glory a man accumulates from war measure his power, while beauty measures a woman’s power. Since conquering a woman is the ultimate prize to a man, her beauty represents ultimate power. Though the beauty of mortal women has the power to turn men against each other, mortal women have no influence over this power and are instead objectified by men. Immortal women, however, have authority over their beauty and are able to control men with their power. Helen, on the other hand, though mortal, has the beauty of a goddess. Yet, Helen is bound by her fate to Paris, making her power obsolete. By presenting Helen’s hopeless power and supplying the reader with insight on her suffering through her thoughts, Helen is portrayed as a tragic hero.

The Iliad was an epic poem written in the 8th century BCE by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is considered to be the earliest work in Western literature, and is one of the most well-known and respected stories ever written. The Iliad covers the events of the last couple weeks of the ten years that the Trojan War took place. The Iliad is an epic that has many underline themes such as love, war, hate and forgiveness. The poem greatly covers Achilles roll in the Trojan War and how the gods and goddess were constantly intervening with the outcome of the war. The Iliad also vastly covers Achilles and Hectors relationship thought the last weeks of the Trojan War.

One significant difference between the Iliad and Troy is the timespan. The Iliad is not a story of a Trojan war, but a story of a hero’s wrath. The time span it covers is only a few weeks in the tenth year of the siege of Troy. Homer chooses to focus on events that occurred during a quarrel of King Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, and Achilles, the most powerful warrior of the Achaean army. Homer doesn’t go into detail about other events and battles, as the story of the Trojan War was well-known to the Greek society because it has been told and retold by bards for numerous times and the general plot was still fresh in the minds of the Greeks. For his poem to stand out, Homer had to be original, so he didn't tell his audience about the war as a whole, but rather spotlighted the wrath of an individual hero, Achilles. Troy,

The Iliad is an epic tale of war and hero's within the Greek way of life. A

The story of The Iliad takes place in towards the very tail end of the Trojan War, the most famous war between the city of Troy and the Greeks. Wars form due to people feeling the need to protect and honor something they care lots about. The war brings out not only the pride soldiers for what it is they are fighting for, but also the pride and honor they have for themselves. Self-honor is demonstrated perfectly in book 1 of The Iliad. Agamemonn, the commander-in-chief of the Achaean army and one of his best solider, Achilles, get into an altercation.

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

In ancient times, people thought that the great War of Troy was just a myth of Homer's. Then in the mid 19th century, a German businessman, Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), discovered Troy. Heinrich had always loved Homer's poem. Since his childhood he had believed that the story of Homer was truth and not a myth. He absorbed the beauty of the epics, but his practical mind also caused him to analyze the facts behind the poetic fiction. He became convinced that the Greeks were right; the War of Troy was not a myth but historical reality. He carried on his excavations from 1870 to 1873, 1878 to 1879, and in 1881. The results were fantastic. Nine cities that had been successively destroyed emerged from the excavations. According to the archeologists' studies, Priam had ruled Troy. Priam was one of the kings who ruled Troy

Central to any study of the humanities is the human condition – our nature, which has historically shown that it is equally capable of both good and evil deeds – and the problem that arises from it; specifically, why do humans suffer? Many philosophies and religions have their own account for this aspect of humanity, and we find that what the accounts have in common is each explains the human condition in terms that are similar to how that institution of thought explains the true nature of reality.

The Iliad ranks as one of the most important and most influential works in terms of world literatures since its establishment. Between the underlying standard to which the Iliad offers us as audience members, along with the plethora of writers that have followed in the footsteps to which Homer’s Iliad paved, the impact that the Iliad has played is remarkable in itself. While the Iliad can be credited for much of present day literature we study today, Hollywood can be created for the plethora of world-class films and replication of iconic works of literature over its time as well. Wolfgang Petersons Troy is a prime example of a world-renowned poetic being transformed into a Hollywood production. While the 2004 American epic adventure war film, Troy was a huge hit in the box office, and full of world-class actors such as Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom; it does lack many critical events and characters that play a key role in Homer’s Iliad.