Iliad 1-2

Reading Guide to Il. 3, 6, 9



Bk. 3


  • What do the similes describing the marshalling Greeks and Trojans (p. 128, cf. 159-60) suggest about the respective character of the peoples?
  • Paris. He enters at p. 129; is this what you were expecting? In his interchange with a hectoring Hector, what does he mean when he says 'the gifts of the gods are not to be tossed aside'?
  • Helen. She enters on p. 129. What are we to think of her? What is her relation with Aphrodite on pp. 141-2?
  • Helen's scene with Priam 'looking down from the wall' (commonly known by its Greek name the Teikhoskopia ) has a certain dramatic improbability to it: What is it, and how does it weigh against the dramatic function of the scene?
  • The opposition of Hera and Athena to Aphrodite at the beginning of Bk. 4 on p. 145 (cf. p. 178) may be significant in light of Fagles' note on 4.24 on p. 629

    Bk. 6


  • How does the episode of Menelaus and Adrestus (p. 197) bear on other themes of the poem?
  • How does the episode of Glaucus and Diomedes (pp. 199-203) bear on other themes of the poem?
  • What are Hector's reasons for his heroic fighting on pp. 210-212? Compare them with Sarpedon's reasoning on pp. 335-6.
  • What do women do in this book? What is their relation to the world of war?


    Bk. 9

  • When Agamemnon says he was blinded by Zeus (p. 255), what does he mean? Note that it is hard to take this as an attempt to evade responsibility for his disastrous decisions in Bk. 1 if one compares Achilles on p. 264 (see also Agamemnon's later speech on p. 491).
  • The three appeals to Achilles and his separate responses would seem to be fertile ground for considering Homeric characterization. How does each hero's appeal express his interests and motives, and how does the response of Achilles express his relation to each?
  • The tale of Meleager told by Phoenix (pp. 269 ff.) is a striking 'epic within the epic.' It also so deftly parallels without exactly repeating the structure of the Iliad that some scholars have supposed Homer made the myth up just for this scene; in any case, compare it with the plot of the Iliad in terms of (a) the origins of the trouble (b) the cause of the hero's wrath (c) what assuages the hero (d) the role of women.
  • Why does Achilles not accept the offer?

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