Iliad Endings Flashcards
A summary of Iliad Book 21
After the death of Patroclus, Achilles returns to battle and fights with extraordinary ferocity, killing suppliants and clogging up the great river (who is also a god) with those he kills so that it runs with blood and the river god rises up against him, flooding the plain. He kills Lycaon, one of Priam’s (king of Troy) sons.
A summary of Iliad Book 22
Achilles chases Hector repeatedly around the walls of the city. Hector welcomes his death if that is the gods’ wish. He sees honor in dying on the battlefield. Hector asks that if he’s killed by Achilles, Achilles will at least promise him a decent burial, which Achilles refuses.
Summary of Book 24
Priam makes a dangerous journey through the Greek encampment at night to beg for his dead son from the person who killed him. Achilles agrees to let Hector go home with his father, and Hector finally returns to Troy. The poem ends with three songs of lament sung by Andromache (who mentions her fate as a widow), Hecuba (who mentions how he died an honorable death), and Helen (who mentions how he was there for her as a friend).
The idea of fighting gods (Theomachy) is mentioned in the Iliad endings
In Iliad 22, Achilles fights the River God, Xanthos, and the other gods line up to fight each other
What stops or pauses conflict?
Divine intervention
Human institutions: oaths, councils, banquets, games, funerals, mercy
What is supplication?
A special kind of plea, from a weaker character to a stronger one, begging for mercy, invoking the gods and history
Specific gestures include the supplicant kneeling and touching the other character’s knees and beard/chin
6 battlefield supplications in the Iliad. Three of the six are Achilles, who kills 3 Trojan supplicants: Tros, Lycaon, Hector
What are Iliadic Human War norms?
Happens in the day time
Combat between fully-armed and weaponed elite male human warriors, who are named and face off one-on-one
Happens on land
Warriors fight to recover their dead comrades, to bring them back to base for honorable burial
Individual warriors have a phrase of “being the best” (Aristeia) on the battlefield, which entails slaughtering a lot of named opponents one after another
How does Achilles contrast Iliad human war norms?
He combats someone who isn’t fully armed like Lycaon
He does combat on land but also the water in Book 21
What are the Iliad’s three plots?
- How Thetis gets Zeus to delay the destruction of Troy, to honor Achilles
- How Achilles is wrathful, the consequences of his wrath, how his wrath changes, and how it ceases or pauses
- How Hector leaves home and comes back
What changes in Achilles?
Recognition of community/social norms
Accepting inadequate compensation for loss
What changes in Hector?
He recognizes that the gods may not be on his side
He anticipates honor, not shame
He goes home
How does Achilles’ WRATH end? Does it end?
In Book 1, Achilles becomes wrathful to Agamemnon for taking his trophy woman, Briseis, and humiliating him. Achilles refuses to fight, and Thetis/ Zeus agrees to let Hector triumph and the Greeks die in the meantime.
In Book 9, Agamemnon sends the Embassy with the extra gifts. Achilles is STILL WRATHFUL.
In Book 16, Hector kills Patroclus, and in his grief (Book 18) Achilles kinda accepts Agamemnon’s kinda apology, and agrees to return to battle… STILL WRATHFUL but now he’s mad at Hector and the Trojans.
In Book 22, he kills Hector, but that’s not the end: he continues to desecrate him in death. He is STILL WRATHFUL
In Book 24, he gives dead Hector back to Priam and allows for a 12-day pause in the fighting.
3 laments for Hector
Andromache: A future of loss
Hecuba: Honorable death
Helen: Past kindness
