Iliad Scholarship

Question 1

Heroic power can lead to excessive anger, violence, cruelty, recklessness, and egotism

Answer 1

Allan

Question 2

Homer sees war as a human necessity, but one that the gods have decreed, not a glorious opportunity for heroism.

Answer 2

Edwards

Question 3

Agamemnon’s failure to enforce the heroic code of conduct begins the conflict, but it is partially closed when Achilles re-establishes that code in book 23

Answer 3

Scott

Question 4

Characters are driven by fear of losing kleos

Answer 4

Jones

Question 5

The meeting of Glaucus and Diomedes is widely regarded as an oasis of common decency

Answer 5

Harries

Question 6

Hector’s family loved and respected him for his non-military virtues

Answer 6

Farron

Question 7

Hector’s closet ties are with his family, not with other soldiers

Answer 7

Farron

Question 8

The kiss of Hector in book 6 is the “only loving kiss in the Iliad” (as opposed to books 8 & 24)

Answer 8

Graziosi & Haubold

Question 9

For a hero to be pitied by a god is a great compliment

Answer 9

Silk

Question 10

Thetis is humanised into a loving and suffering mother

Answer 10

Griffin

Question 11

There is no ‘unknown soldier’ in Homer, we are made painfully aware that every death is the loss of a man that there would be more to know about

Answer 11

Graziosi

Question 12

The gods are a chief source of comedy

Answer 12

Redfield

Question 13

Agamemnon is a leader at odds with the will of the community

Answer 13

Barker

Question 14

Achilles is an uncomfortable and even destructive presence in the heroic world

Answer 14

Silk

Question 15

The need to mourn Patroclus is the background of book 23, but the return to normal life & community is what the events must convey

Answer 15

Scott

Question 16

Fate is just a literary device, gods and mortals are both 100% responsible for their actions

Answer 16

Jones

Question 17

The poem delights in battlefield prowess, even as it foregrounds the misery and loss of war

Answer 17

Allan

Question 18

Characters show no capacity for development- character is completely static

Answer 18

Silk

Question 19

Hecabe reinforces Hector’s humanity by showing his vulnerability, reminding us that whilst he is still a formidable warrior, he is still a child in his mother’s eyes

Answer 19

Greensmith

Question 20

Achilles has an intense preoccupation with what he sees as his own honour

Answer 20

Camps

Question 21

In book 19, Achilles says that he wishes Artemis had killed Briseis, providing rhetorical emphasis to Achilles’ regret for having given into his wrath

Answer 21

Schmiel

Question 22

Although Homer was Greek, he presents them as more unpleasant than the Trojans

Answer 22

Eliot