Iliad Scholarship Flashcards
Heroic power can lead to excessive anger, violence, cruelty, recklessness, and egotism
Allan
Homer sees war as a human necessity, but one that the gods have decreed, not a glorious opportunity for heroism.
Edwards
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
Scott
Characters are driven by fear of losing kleos
Jones
The meeting of Glaucus and Diomedes is widely regarded as an oasis of common decency
Harries
Hector’s family loved and respected him for his non-military virtues
Farron
Hector’s closet ties are with his family, not with other soldiers
Farron
The kiss of Hector in book 6 is the “only loving kiss in the Iliad” (as opposed to books 8 & 24)
Graziosi & Haubold
For a hero to be pitied by a god is a great compliment
Silk
Thetis is humanised into a loving and suffering mother
Griffin
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
Graziosi
The gods are a chief source of comedy
Redfield
Agamemnon is a leader at odds with the will of the community
Barker
Achilles is an uncomfortable and even destructive presence in the heroic world
Silk
The need to mourn Patroclus is the background of book 23, but the return to normal life & community is what the events must convey
Scott
Fate is just a literary device, gods and mortals are both 100% responsible for their actions
Jones
The poem delights in battlefield prowess, even as it foregrounds the misery and loss of war
Allan
Characters show no capacity for development- character is completely static
Silk
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
Greensmith
Achilles has an intense preoccupation with what he sees as his own honour
Camps
In book 19, Achilles says that he wishes Artemis had killed Briseis, providing rhetorical emphasis to Achilles’ regret for having given into his wrath
Schmiel
Although Homer was Greek, he presents them as more unpleasant than the Trojans
Eliot
