Various Perspectives on War in Homer's Iliad Essay

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.

There are many unknowns regarding who Homer was. His date of birth and death are still a mystery to modern day historians, ranging anywhere between the twelfth to eighth century BCE. As to where he was born, no one knows the exact location. Although there are many mysteries revolving around Homer’s life, there is one known fact: his epics changed history forever. Homer’s epics are one of the only few artifacts historians have to learn about Homer, which can reveal a lot if read carefully. After reading the Iliad, it became clear that Homer was an early Humanist, one who possibly shaped or inspired the Humanist movement in Classical Greece during the fifth and fourth century BCE.

In the book, and also you said that people are not 100% sure that Homer himself existed, and if the Trojan war really happened. Even tough in nineteenth Heinrich Schliemann proved that Troy existed, but he said Trojan War might have happened, and also didn’t prove that Homer was a real person. Since Homer wrote it after a long time when the Trojan War happened, does that mean that he collected all the legends and myths about Iliad and Odyssey, or he just made the whole story himself? In book it said that Aphrodite has promised a most beautiful woman for Paris, but why she promised him? And why she sides with him.

The Trojan War was commenced around 3000 BCE marking most memorable period in Greek Mythology. These events were presented in Homer’s lliad through poetry. The war began during the Bronze Age with Greeks and the defenders of the city of Troy fighting in Anatolia. Troy, today known as modern Turkey was in Anatolia i.e. at the eastern Shores of Aegean Sea. The city of Troy was colonized by 5000-10000 Trojans and was attacked many times by 5000 Mycenaeans who had crossed the Aegean Sea in hundred ships. Around 1200 BCE the city was destroyed by Mycenaean Greeks. The war was sophisticated to higher level by tactics and Magnificent Armors. Mycenaean Greece came under attack by both land and sea around 1200 BCE. (Dutton Marchand Harkness 27)

Little can be definitively said about Homer, however Ancient Greek tradition places him to have lived and wrote sometime in the eighth or ninth centuries B.C. Early Greeks insist that there was a single individual named Homer, to whom they accredit the Illiad, Odyssey, and several other minor works. The Illiad begins in media res, Homer recounts an episode near the end of the war between the Trojans, ruled over by King Priam, and the attacking Greeks, led by King Agamemnon of Mycenae. The Greeks, or Achaeans, that Homer writes about, were not people of a unified

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.

blockade of the city Troy by a union of Greek states. The cause of the whole fiasco begins with

Homer is a poet that was born sometime between the 12th and 8th century B.C. in Asia Minor. He wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.Very little is known about Homer as this Biography states“Although very little

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem which is credited to Homer. The story is narrated nine years after the Trojan War. Based on the importance of Homers work, the Trojan War was a dominant and major event of Greek prehistory. To the ancient Greeks The Iliad was a historical interpretation of epic history.

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey have been treasured for centuries as outstanding works of poetry and regarded among the greatest works of Greek literature. The Iliad and Odyssey evoke a sense of wonder at the exploits of the heroes while at the same time serving information for Ancient Greeks who look to Homer’s epics as a source of historical and cultural knowledge. Ancient Greeks most likely regarded the description of the hero’s epic adventures and exploits as representation of the cornerstone of their civilization. Homer’s epics recount the story of the unfolding events in weeks leading to the tenth year of the legendary Trojan War and the siege of the city of Troy. Homer most likely fixed the Iliad and Odyssey from the original oral form

There are many notable characters in the epic that have their own reasons for fighting in the Trojan War. The war started because of the kidnapping of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, and it doesn’t really affect any of the soldiers in any way because they didn’t really lose anything. “But you, great shameless man, we came with you, to please you, to win honour from the Trojans”, (cited fromhttps://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad_title.htm) Achilles said this to Agamemnon to remind him of why he and the others are there for. They are fighting

Action, thriller, romance… these are all the things people are attracted to, and the author Homer knew it. In The Iliad, Homer wrote exactly what the audience would like. In The Iliad, there is war, both between humans and gods alike. The people worship the gods, they use the gods to explain what they can’t explain. Why the crops grow in only some months of the year, and why the sun rises and falls.

Members of the human race can be very petty, able to create huge issues from small things. The Trojan war is an example of such.Through the book Mythology, by Edith Hamilton, and the Iliad, written by the greek poet Homer, war is displayed as bruta, petty, and wicked. The war begun over a dense reason, the kidnapping of a beautiful woman, Helen. The Greek leader, Menelaus wanted her back for himself, so he and his brother, along with a fleet of a thousand ships, went to demand her return. Thus, a bloody war started, leading to the deaths of many great soldiers, and the sacrifices of young children. Through the book Mythology, by Edith Hamilton, and the Iliad, written by the greek poet Homer, war is displayed as brutal and wicked. The story of the Trojan War myth criticizes the horrors and immorality of war.

The Iliad was written by the Greek poet Homer in which he recounts some of the events during the final weeks of the Trojan War. It tells the story of Achilles, and how his anger affected the fighting in the great war. Though the experience of war is personally unfamiliar to a majority of today’s readers, the ancient Greek audience, however, would have been very familiar with all the references Homer makes to past events. Like many epic poems of this time, The Iliad was not meant to be read but rather performed and recited to an audience.

Where the Trojan War now becomes the story of Troy. It is no longer a history lesson but rather a story of fantasy rooted in Greek mythology, as seen through the eyes of Hollywood. The narrating of Greek Mythology and Hollywood’s take on a story line are somewhat similar and they carry the ability to draw box offices hits by captivating an audience with love, romance , war and of course a “Hero”. The only difference between Hollywood and Greek Mythology is the Greeks stay true to their beliefs of their gods while Hollywood blurs the vision of reality/truth and fantasy. Although we cannot definitively point to a specific “Trojan War,” at least not as Homer has described it in the Iliad and the Odyssey, I believe we can conclude there is a historical form of truth of some sort in the underlying notion of Iliad and the Odyssey. This fascination with Greek Mythology not only is present at the box offices but it’s foot print is pressed in our society through the names of the US cities with Troy in them, as well as the names of school mascots, and