War And Violence In Homer's Iliad

Thousands of people join our military and risk their lives to fight for their country. After many years of fighting in war, soldiers are no longer who they used to be. When they return home, they are looked down upon, treated badly, and aren’t given the treatment needed to recover. The struggles and obstacles these veterans face on their journey home and once they arrive forever face. In the epic poem, Odyssey by Homer, it shows the obstacles a soldier has to face on their journey.

How are the people of Ancient Greece similar to the people of modern day? Modern day people actually have more in common with the ancient greeks than one would think. In the articles “ Psychiatrist Who Counsels Vets Wins Genius Grant” by Joseph Shapiro and “Back From War but Not Really Home” by Caroline Alexander, talks about veterans who have post traumatic stress disorder, and how the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey help treat them. The Epic poems expose the struggles of Modern day veterans by revealing what kind of trauma they experienced, yet it also helps them for proving how they are not the only ones to feel this way. Veterans connect with the poems, because they understand what war is like.

A Champion Arms for Battle, from Book 19 of the Iliad by Homer, is flooded with figurative language and diction, which depict both the horrors and glories of war. The poem tells the tale of the mythical Greek hero, Achilles, as he and his fellow soldiers prepare to enter one of the last battles of the Trojan War. Homer communicates the enormous size of the Greek army with a simile comparing the men to a swirling snowstorm from Zeus above. Threatening diction is presented in this first sentence through the words “thick-and fast,” “frozen sharp,” and “blasts.” The word choice presents the theme of war.

Achilles is the mortal son of the Queen of the gods Hera. He is the Chin up full armor, shield and sword soldier in the Greek army. It also follows the other sides of the war and it demonstrates exactly how much the gods actually have impact on the people aside from the fact that the gods have very specific understanding to not intervene or change the fate of what is bound to happen like the death of Patroklus no matter the fondness that Zeus carried for one of his own children. You can see in The Iliad exactly how glorified war is among the

In conclusion, the Iliad presents readers a mystical world with double duality through the god's intervention in the Trojan War. The inner layer is the conflicts between Achaians and Trojans, while the outer layer is the opposition between mortals and immortals. The duality of gods and humans gives the readers a new perspective of considering the world of the Iliad, in which human beings, regardless their nationality, can be seen as an entity. The new perspective places mortal's value system in an equivalent position with god's will when mortal decides their active movement. The intervention also transforms the reader's attitudes towards heroes, especially Achilles, Hektor, and Diomedes, who reveal their persistence in either moral value or

Achilles is only able to regain control of himself after realizing the man whose son killed his beloved Patroklos suffered the same as he and seeking solace with him. Moved by Priam’s supplication, Achilles tells him, “… You and I will even let our sorrows lie still in the heart for all our grieving. There is not any advantage to be won from grim lamentation. Such is the way the gods spun life for unfortunate mortals, that we live in unhappiness, but the gods themselves have no sorrows.” (454) Apollo was the only one acting humanly while Achilles abused the broken body of poor Hektor.

Homer uses this not only to foreshadow what is going to happen in the poem but also to show that the desires of the gods will be predominant and there is no doubt that they will have an active role in the war. The audience is told that the poem will focus on the anger of Achilles and his fury will lead to the gory, unrelenting, and painful death of countless men. Although the overall message of this opening tends to focus on human emotion and the impact of human emotion, through analysis of the final line one can see that the tragic outcome is all the doing of the almighty Zeus. Regardless of the common notion that an individual makes his or her own choices and ultimately they should take responsibility for their actions, in the Iliad, Homer

The war ended when Achilles slayed Hector outside the gates of Troy, the gods are again at peace and hector is returned to his family and given a proper burial. The Iliad provides researchers today with a look into the time of the trojan war and provides us a way to research war in ancient times. The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ ten year journey home after the events of the trojan war. Odysseus left his home island of Ithaca in order to participate in this war and while his side wins he is unable to find his way home. The story is much like many modern stories of similar

Achilles is maddened and appeals to his goddess mother saying, “If I am to die soon, shouldn’t I have what I want?” Feeling only sorrow for her son, Thetis requests Zeus to cause to Greeks to lose until Achilles fights again. Slowly the Greeks are pushed back farther and Agamemnon pleads with Achilles, offering Briseis back. Achilles declines due to his pride and the Trojans come close to burn the Greek ships. Even when a ship was burning, Achilles refused to fight and instead sends out Patroclus.

It can sometimes seem disorienting to walk into a bookshop with the intention of checking out a copy of the Iliad only to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of translations of the single epic. While each translation of Homer’s epic follows the same storyline, the battle between the Achaeans and Trojans over Helen, the siege of Troy, and the fateful death of Hector by Achilles’ hand, the Iliad is much more than just its intriguing plot. Originally written in ancient Greek, the Iliad includes many colloquialisms from that time period, such as epithets and unrhymed dactylic hexameter, so it can be translated quite differently depending on the background and style of each translator. This can result in each translation connoting different perceptions

The tension between Greeks and Trojans in the story of Iliad changes several times. Nowhere is this more obvious than the character of Achilles in response to Patroclus’ death in particular. This quoted passage is from Book Twenty-One when Achilles gives a speech to Trojan prince Lycaon rejecting Lycaon’s plea for pity after Achilles returns to the battlefield and captures Lycaon. In this excerpt, Achilles contrasts the former and the present way he treats the Trojans, changing from saving their lives to killing them all.

The Iliad tells how the pride and greed in one person’s heart can become the downfall of an entire army, and bring a great deal of grief to many. The poem opens with Chryses, a priest of Apollo, who comes to beg for his daughter Chrysies, as she was a captive of Agamemnon. When Achellius urges him to give the girl back to her father, Agamemnon says that he will give her back-but he must have Briseis, who was Achellius’ lover, in exchange. It is here that we start to see the rage Achellius holds inside. He refuses to fight and asks his mother--a goddess named Thetis--to ensure that the Achains lose the upcoming battle, and she agrees.

The Iliad The Iliad is more than a story of war it's a story of actions and consequences. Every action or decision taken has a consequence. Each consequences can be good or bad, big or small. The Iliad brings consequences and actions into every scene, showing the true meaning of consequences and how each decision results in a consequence.

Unlike Achilles, Hector does not realize that his own death approaches and this ignorance makes his experience entirely human. Throughout the poem, Homer only alludes to his death through the words of the gods and of the poet himself, thus neither Hector nor his companions know that his death is imminent. Hector never dwells on the thought of his own mortality, only occasionally veering between fear and hope for his success in the war. When Hector finally faces death, Homer has already prepared the reader, which makes the scene when Hector finally realizes that there is no hope for him even more poignant. Comparing the foreshadowing of Achilles' and Hector's deaths, the poet skillfully develops the reader’s emotional involvement for these

Homer underlines that this behavior is foul, for Achilles allows his soldiers to wound the body and then bounds Hector’s feet to his chariot in order to harm the body. Although Hector asked him to give his body to his family, Achilles ignores the last will of the dying Trojan hero because he is still obsessed with his revenge. One should remember that the Greeks believed it was the issue of primary importance to bury a person’s body in a decent way so that their spirit would find the sanctuary. In other words, Achilles takes revenge in the most horrible way