Week 3 Response

     I was honestly not looking forward to reading the epic poem The Iliad by Homer. I thought it was just another ancient story that was irrelevant to me. However, I was actually entertained while reading/listening to it. Homer’s descriptive imagery is almost breathtaking, but the poem is much more than a bunch of detailed mental pictures. The poem really captured the contrasting societies of the Greeks and Trojans. The Greeks were war-driven barbarians, while the Trojans were rather peaceful citizens.

     The aforementioned contrast is showed in the interactions that Achilles and Hector have with their respective families. Achilles only goes to his mother, Thetis, when he needs something (i.e. Greeks to start losing and new armor). On the other hand, his foil character, Hector, cares about his family. He worries about and fights for their safety. Before he heads to battle, he finds his wife and child so that he may speak to them again before he goes. In that conversation, Hector tells his wife “No, no, let the earth come piling over my dead body before I hear your cries, I hear you dragged away!” (211). This reminded me of the bible verse John 15:13 which says “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (New Living Translation). Hector's devotion to fighting for his family until his foreshadowed death shows his immense love for them.

     Another distinction between the Greeks and Trojans is the motivation and justification for the war. The Greeks attacked Troy because Helen left her husband Menelaus (the Spartan king) for Paris (the Trojan prince). So because of the actions of a few people, the Greek city-states united to besiege Troy. To me personally, this does not seem like a very valid reason to wage war on another city for over nine years. This makes me think that the Greeks enjoyed fighting and were looking for an excuse to start fighting. The reasoning for the Trojans fighting can be best summarized when Helenus (son of Priam) declares “hard-hit as we are -necessity drives us on” (198). They did not choose to fight, but rather feel obligated to protect their city from savage invaders.

     A third situation where the Greek and Trojan societies are shown to be polar is in the treatment of Hector’s dead body. Achilles tied the body to his chariot and dragged it across the battlefield several times in a brutal display of power. The Trojan king, Priam, peacefully comes to Achilles to beg for his son’s body so that there may be a proper funeral. The savage nature that Achilles reveals in his attempt to mutilate Hector’s body reminded me of the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In that story, two tribes of boys form. The tribe led by Jack is rather savage and thrives on brutal acts of power (like the Greeks). Ralph’s tribe tries to hold to morals and values that they hold to (like the Trojans). In both stories, the uncivilized group overpowers the civilized group.

     So what does this all mean? While The Iliad is an entertaining story, it actually is a vessel that delivers information about two ancient societies. Like I mentioned in my blog post from last week, the entertaining plot of this work preserved it throughout thousands of years. Now we get to learn about the nature of the Greek city-states and the city of Troy.