Week Four Reading Notes Part A - Homer's Iliad

Source story: The Iliad by Homer (retold by Alfred J. Church)

• "How the War with Troy Began"
• The king of Sparta had a beautiful daughter named Helen, who married Menelaus. Menelaus became king, and Paris, prince of Troy, carried off Helen and quite a bit of treasure. All the men of Sparta had agreed before Helen had married that, whomever she married, they would come together to get her back should this exact situation arise. So for nine years they attacked Troy but could not get through the walls, and they began to pillage nearby cities.
• "The Quarrel"
• The god Apollo rains death upon the Greeks because they stole a daughter of his priest for Agamemnon, and refused to return her. A prophet tells Agamemnon he must not only return her, but give up some of his spoils as well. He refuses, and he and Achilles get into an argument about it. Achilles threatens to leave, and Agamemnon bids him go, but says he will take Achilles' portion of the spoils as his own. Achilles prepares to slay him, but Athena stays his hand, telling him to wait and Agamemnon's actions will bring their own consequences. So he says his final words and lets it be.
• "The Quarrel (cont.)"
• Agamemnon takes the girl who was given to Achilles to replace the girl he had to return to the priest (who prays and stops the plague). Achilles is kind to the heralds who unwillingly come to fetch her, and she goes to Agamemnon against her will. Then Thetis (daughter of the sea) hears Achilles weeping and agrees to go to Zeus for him when Zeus returns from a feast and convince Zeus to make the Greeks flee before the Trojans, so that Agamemnon will miss Achilles's help and realize that he has wronged him.
• "What Thetis Did for her Son"
• Thetis convinces Zeus (against his better judgment and much to the anger of Hera) to make the Trojans beat the Greeks in battle at least for awhile to do honor to Achilles. So Zeus sends a Dream to Agamemnon to convince him to go into battle against the Trojans right away without Achilles.
• "Hector and Andromache"
• Prince Hector of Troy comes in from the battle to convince Paris to come fight. He asks his mother to make an offering to Athena to ask for her help, but Athena rejects them. Paris agrees to come to the fight, and Hector goes to search for his wife and child to say goodbye to them in case he dies.
• "Hector and Andromache (cont.)"
• Hector and Andromache talk about what will become of them; he tries to comfort her, for she says that Achilles has killed all her family, so Hector is the only family she has now. Hector prays that his son will grow up to be a great warrior, then tells Andromache not to worry, because he will only die if it his fate, and no one can escape fate anyway. Then he and Paris rejoin the war.
• "Embassy to Achilles"
• Ulysses, Phoenix, and Ajax visit Achilles to try to convince him to come back and help, because without him the Greeks are losing. They feast together. Agamemnon has sent with them all kinds of gifts as an apology for his behavior, and Ulysses accuses Achilles of being too proud and being the reason for so many Greek men dying.
• "Embassy to Achilles (cont.)"
• Achilles rejects Agamemnon's gifts and says he will not help him. Instead, he plans to return to his own country and settle down with a wife. He tells that his mother Thetis told him to choose between life (if he returns to Phthia, he will grow old but not be famous) and fame (if he attacks Troy, he will die). He asks Phoenix to join him and encourages Ulysses and Ajax to go to their own homes and avoid Troy, because it is "dear to Zeus."
• "The Deeds and Death of Patroclus"
• Patroclus, Achilles's companion, convinces Achilles to allow him to lead Achilles's people into battle in his stead, wearing his armor, so that the Trojans will retreat a little and give the Greeks some breathing room. Achilles relents, but tells Patroclus not to get cocky and approach the wall, but to stop fighting after saving the ships from burning.
• "The Deeds and Death of Patroclus (cont.)"
• Patroclus stops the burning of the ships but (shockingly!) forgets Achilles's warning and pushes towards the wall of Troy, slaying Trojans as he goes. He kills the Trojan hero Sarpedon, who calls out with his dying breath to Glaucus, asking him not to let the Greeks take his body.
• "The Deeds and Death of Patroclus (end)"
• Patroclus tries to overtake the city but Apollo pushes him back, saying it is not for him or Achilles to do this. Hector fights Patrolus and wins, destroying the armor of Achilles and killing Patroclus.

"Achilles Against Hector" - From Nikos Karakasidis on Flickr