The narrative begins nine years after the start of the war, as the achaeans sack a trojanallied town and capture two beautiful maidens, chryseis and briseis. Further study books 5 6 quiz further study books 5 6 quiz. Heres where youll find analysis about the poem as a whole. They regard the battle between the greeks and trojans much as a group of americans would regard the. The iliad quizzes about important details and events in every section of the book. First, the priest chryses comes to ask their leader, king agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom agamemnon was holding captive. Zeus argues that menelaus has won the duel and that the war should end as the mortals had agreed. There follow some more gory descriptions of combat. When agamemnon refuses, the priest prays to the god apollo to send a. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods. As the battle rages, pandarus wounds the achaean hero diomedes. Achilles, one of the achaeans most valuable warriors, claims briseis.
Diomedes prays to athena for revenge, and the goddess endows him with superhuman. Read an overview of the entire poem or a line by line summary and analysis. In the tenth year of the trojan war, tensions are running high among the achaians a superancient name for the ancient greeks. But hera, who has invested much in the achaean cause, wants nothing less than the complete destruction of troy. Access free textbook solutions and ask 5 free questions to expert tutors 247. The poem has already established the characters of agamemnon, proud and headstrong, and achilles, mighty but. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods, including achilles, hector, odysseus, athena, ares, paris. About iliad iliad summary character list themes books 1 4 books 5 8 books 912 books 16 books 1720 books 2124 related links quiz 1 quiz 2 citations. The iliad is an ancient greek epic poem by homer that was first published in 762 bc. Greek audiences would have been familiar with the background of the story, and here a brief summary of events is.
See a complete list of the characters in the iliad and indepth analyses of achilles, agamemnon, and hector. Hector, pariss brother and the leader of the trojan forces, chastises paris for his. The battle narratives in books 5 and 6 and the very end of book 4 constitute the epics first descriptions of warfare, and, within the war as a whole, the first battles in which the sulking achilles has not fought. They plan a duel to stop the present bout of fighting. The other trojan characters emerge much more sympathetically, and the poem presents its first mortal female character, helen, in a warm light. Agamemnon, commanderinchief of the achaean army, takes chryseis as his prize. Check out our revolutionary sideby side summary and analysis.
Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis. He also lets him know that achilleus isnt fighting for the achaians. The iliad begins with the trojan war already in progress. Book 4 of the iliad shows us the aloof and disdainful gods playing with the lives of mortals. By the end of book 2, homer has introduced all of the iliad s major characters on the greek sidehis catalog of the trojan troops at the end of book 2 leads naturally into an introduction of the trojan leadership in book 3. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the iliad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Hector approaches the achaean line and offers himself to anyone who will fight him.
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