4/11/13

     I must say the Iliad isn't as hard to understand as I thought it would be. As stated in the course pack, the Iliad takes place in medias res, which means in the middle of things. Medias res is the time period in which the story of the Iliad takes place. According to Homer, the Iliad is about, "the story of raging anger and its human toll." It is about Achilles rage. It is not about the Trojan War, but the war is what holds Homer's work together.

Chris Evans: Achilles

     Achilles is a Greek king who is one of the Greeks greatest warriors. He is angered by what he believes is a lack of respect from Agamemnon. He feels that they are only fighting because Agamemnon commands them to. He also feels cheated by people like Agamemnon who take a great share of the spoils for which Achilles and others have fought to obtain. Achilles believes Agamemnon to be selfish and stupid. He believes Agamemnon has not treated him with the proper respect that he feels he deserves.
     Briseis is a woman who Agamemnon gave to Achilles as a prize. I am unsure if they were married, but I believe they were. Anyway after Achilles decided not to fight in the war, Agamemnon takes her away from him. This troubles both of them since they seemed to really love each other.
     Kleos means glory or fame. It is what others say about you. This was a major issue then and it still is used greatly in our society today because we want everyone to say good things about us. We base our popularity on what others think of us.
     Time represents honor. Their honor is based on physical things like gifts, prizes, etc. When a man was honored back then, the king or people would give them honor by offering them gifts. I believe we still use this today. We honor people in the military by offering them deals for food. Some places give a discount to honor those who served. The discount can be viewed as a gift.

Achilles and Patroclus

     Kleos aphthiton represents glory that goes beyond the grave. In there time, this was the greatest thing to have people honor you after you had died. Many soldiers were honored in death due to them dying for their kings. In our world, this a greatly shown through the founding fathers. They may be dead but we still honor them. Martin Luthor King Jr. is honored in death by us celebrating his birthday every year. It is us thinking about all the good they have done in life so we honor them by remembering them in their deaths.
     I believe the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus from reading was a teacher-student relationship that grew into a kind of friendship. "He sent me to you to you this" is the line that convinced me that Patroclus was his mentor(Iliad Book 9, page 172, line 454). Achilles refuses to fight and Patroclus takes his armor to wear into battle. This in my opinion diminishes the divine nature of Achilles' armor since Patroclus in a normal man. This shows that Achilles divine nature has fallen as well since his armor was taken and stripped from the dead body of Patroclus. It showed that he wasn't as powerful as he thought he was.