The Illiad Book 24

Priam kissing the hands of Achilles

1. My opinion of Achilles has not really changed as a result of his reception of Priam.  I still think he's a selfish, egotistical, jerk, only now I see that Achilles does indeed have a soft spot. When Priam asks for pity he asks Achilles to remember Peleus, Achilles father.  Priam and Achilles cry for their losses, Achilles for Patroclus and Priam for Hector. Achilles shows Priam hospitality to Priam by giving Priam food and a bed; he also has Hector's body cleaned and anointed before letting Priam see it. Besides returning the body of Hector to Priam Achilles also agrees to hold off from fighting for twelve days or as long as the funeral process would take.

2.  I feel more sympathetic towards Priam, because he has to beg Achilles for his son's body back and kiss Achilles' hands, the hands by which the spear that killed his son was thrust into Hector's throat, killing him. 

3. Achilles' human emotions are shown with his episode with Priam.  He shows compassion towards Priam and love for his father.  He shows kindness and concern towards Priam by providing Priam with food and a bed, also he's concerned for Priam's safety if Priam makes him mad.

4. I know that the Greek's view fate as something that can't be changed; they're born with it and they just have to accept it.  That's all I know though, I'm not sure what the passage where Zeus is talking about jars means.

7. I believe that "The Illiad" does have a theme that relates to life today.  One theme is that even in war against your worst enemy, the utmost respect should be shown toward the dead. By returning Hector's body to Priam, Achilles is showing great respect toward not necessarily Hector, but Priam. I think this still applies today, with prisoners of war.  Prisoners of war should be returned, dead or alive to their country, preferably alive, but you can't get everything you want.

Book 22 of The Illiad

 

The Death of Hector

1.  Achilles insults Hector by refusing to give his body back to the Trojans if Hector dies; Achilles refuses to give Hector an honorable funeral.

2.  Hector's character in this excerpt shows his flaws.  He runs away from Achilles, he shows fear, a natural human emotion. On the other hand Hector also stays out of the city walls and faces Achilles, which shows either his bravery or insanity.  He is also persuaded and deceived by Athena, who was disguised as one of Hector's allies, to stop running and fight Achilles. He is tricked; this is very human like.

3.  The gods can completely control human life, they can even possibly change fate if they desire.  In the excerpt Zeus was pondering whether or not he should save Hector's life, changing his fate.  Athena convinces her father, Zeus, not to change fate for whatever reason.  Her words in the end change Hector's life, he dies basically because of her.  Apollo on the other hand helps Hector; he helps Hector to run away from Achilles, trying to save Hector's life.

4.  No I definitely do not think the ways Achilles treated Hector's corpse was justified at all.  Hector promised to treat Achilles corpse with respect and return it to the Greeks, the least Achilles could do would be the same and respect Hector.   Achilles had no reason to tie up and drag Hector's corpse across town.

5.  I believe that Homer (as much as I dislike him right now) included Priam's and Hecuba's reactions to Achilles' treatment of their son's body to show how much Hector's parents cared about him and to add more sorrow to the poem.

The Illiad Book Six

 

 Hector being dragged through Troy

1.   Hector is determined to keep fighting because of his pride; he doesn't want to be seen as a coward for not going out and fighting like the rest of the men of Troy.

2.  Hector thinks his wife's future will be horrible; she'll be taken as a slave and resent every second of it.  She'll be miserable without her freedom.

3.  Hector's attitude towards fate is that he accepts it as it is; he believes that everyone's fate is determined at birth and there's nothing anyone can do to change that so why not just accept it.  Hector tries to explain that if it's meant to happen, it's going to happen and there's simply nothing he can do to change that.

4.  I learn that as a husband Hector is kind and loving, as a father he simply wants his son to be great, greater than him and achieve more, and as a warrior he is strong, brave, and he values his pride.

5.  Hector and Achilles are both in their own respect epic heroes, but in my opinion Hector is more heroic than Achilles because Achilles is part god, his god-like qualities make him a hero, there's no telling whether he'd still be as brave or courageous without being part god.  On the other hand Hector is not part god and he's still courageous; he goes to fight even though he knows he's going to die.  Hector is by far more heroic than Achilles. 

The Iliad (p 190-194)

  

Achilles, Agamemnon, and Athena

1. Athena reacts to Achilles anger by telling him to calm down, and leave Agamemnon alone.  Agamemnon on the other hand was mad and ready to fight.  I believe Nestor was angry and thought they were acting like idiots; I'm not entirely sure about him.

2.I think Agamemnon bears the greater share of the blame for their conflict because he decided to fight Troy and tick Achilles off. 

3. I learn that Achilles has a short temper.  I learned this when he goes off on Agamemnon and doesn't obey Athena. I don't know that I learned anything about Agamemnon (I have a really hard  time understanding Homer's story..).

4.Athena tells Achilles to stop because nothing good will come from it.  I believe gods and mortals are very connected and if the gods don't like what they see they will march straight down to Earth and tell the mortals.

5. Achilles words may be foreshadowing the destruction of Agamemnon and his people.

Achilles and Agamemnon --> The Iliad

Achilles 

  Agamemnon

Agamemnon and Achilles were fighting over a girl.  Agamemnon took Chryseis, daughter of Chryses as a war prize.  The god Apollo was mad because Chryses is his priest.  Agamemnon 

agreed to give Chryseis back, but in exchange for Achilles war prize.  That's all I really know, it was rather confusing without Ms. Rokicki explaining.  It was Agamemnon's fault.

Parable of the Prodigal Son

I'm being pardoned from reading this, for I have to write a speech for the 'Lions International Youth Speech Competition.' Yay, go me!

The Book of Ruth

Eli and his wife, Naomi leave Bethlehem with their family due to famine.  They move to Mohab where Eli's sons marry.  Eli and his sons eventually die leaving the women to fend for themselves.  Naomi feels out of place and decides to go back to Bethlehem since the famine is over.  One of Naomi's daughters in law, Ruth, decides to go with her even though she tells Ruth to stay in Mohab.  Ruth takes care of Naomi by getting a job and marrying a distant relative of Eli's to keep the blood line going.  She eventually has a son with this man. The end.

Psalm 104

Yet another Psalm from the Hebrew Bible. As far as I know this psalm praises God as creator of life.

Psalm 23

Basically, what I get out of this psalm is that the author believes God guides us in the 'right' direction if we let him.

Noah and the Flood

In the Hebrew Bible God sent a flood to kill off mankind because God was upset that man had become wicked and evil. God spared Noah because God saw good in him, he "walked with God."  God told Noah to build the ark and bring his family with him along with two of every creature on the Earth.  

Creation and Fall

In the book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible, the Creation and Fall story explains how God created life of all sorts.  God told Adam (first man) not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but he disobey's, Eve (first women) also disobeys and as punishment God gives women labor pains,  make men work for everything, and makes humans mortal, (eventual death).

Adoration of the Disk

This poem, written by King Akhenaten and Princess Nefertiti, praises Ra as the creator of life.  It was written in Ancient Egypt and later translated by Robert Hillyer (at least this version was).

Book of the Dead

The Egyptians believe that Osiris determines whether you're allowed into the afterlife or not.  Every person proior to their death writes a scroll explaining what they want to bring with them to the afterlife and why they should be allowed in.  If Osiris approves he allows them in otherwise they just don't get to go in, simple as that.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh goes on a long journey for immortality. Gilgamesh fears death after his dear friend Enkidu describes the afterlife, prior to dying.  The gods were mad at Gilgamesh for denying one of their daughters and punished him by killing Enkidu.  Along his journey Gilgamesh meets a lot of people, some who help him find his way and some who lead astray.  Eventually Gilgamesh learns to embrace the fact that he's human and will eventually die, and appreciates all that he has and has accomplished.