Iliad 1-2
Reading Guide to Il. 1-2
Bk. 1
Note that Agamemnon's war-prize is Chryseis; her father is Chryses,
he lives on Chryse, a town not far from Troy. (Briseis is the name of
Achilles' war-prize, captured in another raid, pp. 89 f.). Such
similarities may indicate that the poet has a story pattern in mind and
is just making up names for the principal characters. Why is this
story-pattern of relevance to the main plot of the Iliad?
Apollo is the god of what? Myth handbooks tend to give simple,
one-word answers to such questions, but the identity of Greek gods was
more complex for two important reasons: (a) the same god (or same type of
god) was venerated in different aspects in different places (e.g. Apollo
Smintheus at Chryse: p. 78; see Translator's note on 1.45, p. 621). (b)
The Greeks sometimes bunched together under one god's patronage
activities that we would consider quite distinct. Keep an eye on Apollo
in Il. 1 and distinguish at least 4 different aspects he shows.
The issues of the quarrel are stated by Achilles in his speech at pp.
82-3 and Nestor in his attempt at reconciliation pp. 85 ff. What is the
nature and basis of Agamemnon's power? What is at stake for each?
On what note does Il. 1 end?
Bk. 2
Recent scholarship on the Iliad has seen in its portrtayal of
Agamenon a critique of the dark-age (10th-9th century) monarchies which
in Homer's time had begun to decline into oligarchies. What kind of a
king does Agamemnon appear to be in his entrance at pp. 78 ff. and his
actions in Bk 2?
Compare 2.25-40 and 2.69-83 on pp. 101-2. What's going on here?
Il. 2.572 ff. is Homer's longest direct speech to his Muses. What
may we infer about his view about the nature and role of epic poetry?
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