Fay Blakley
English 2030 – W4
Prof. Dr. Atkinson
24 September 2015
Humanization of The Iliad The eruption of the Trojan War might stand as one of the most relevant events in Greek mythology. A raging war between kings and gods alike shed blood bath, eventually bringing Troy to a crumble. Was the war intended to be a battle between the mortals? Throughout the epic of Homer’s The Iliad, the gods take on human characteristics, allowing their feelings guide them, intervening, through the war. Before the war began, there was a wedding feast to honor Thetis and Peleus, Achilles’ parents. The goddess Eris was not invited to the wedding. Eris was angry and threw a golden apple inscribed for the fairest and threw it into the banquet hall. All the goddesses claimed the apple, but Zeus delegates the decision to Paris, a prince in Troy. The goddesses all tried to bribe Paris. Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta as his wife. The problem was Helen was already married to Menelaus. Paris went to Sparta and met Helen and fell in love with her, taking her back with him. Menelaus demanded her back, but Paris would not oblige. As a result, Menelaus persuaded his brother Agamemnon, a general for the Greeks, to form a coalition against the Trojans (Norton, 123). The gods and their relationships with the men play a significant role in the story of The Iliad.
The intervention of the gods started the war between the Trojanas and Achaeans, and
Homer’s The Iliad: Book XX features a battle between the Trojans and Achaians, shortly after Patroklus’ death (Lattimore Book XVI), where the gods must intervene in order to restrain Achilleus’ destructive nature that becomes amplified due to the grief and wrath as a result of the loss of his cousin/lover. The divine foresaw an early
The Trojan War is known as a significant event in Greek mythology. According to Homer the Trojan War was a battle at Troy between Paris of Troy and the Spartans because Paris stole Helen from her husband Menelaus who was the king Sparta. The battle raged on for 10 years until finally the Spartans were victorious due to the Trojan horse battle strategy causing the fall of Troy. Evidence of this battle comes throughout Homers works of Greek literature ‘lliad’ and ‘odyssey’. But were Homers stories the actual reason of one of history’s most talked about wars? Was his story’s a recount of a different battle? Was a woman really the reason to start a war over? Did Troy actually exist? Was there more too it, did geographical Location and trade a major issue?
The contest was for a golden apple awarded to whoever was the most beautiful. The story began at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. All of the gods where invited . All gods but Eris who is the goddess of discord. When she went to the party they they made her leave. Being angered she put in front of the goddess an golden apple addressed to the fairest. The three goddesses claimed it as theirs and Zeus was asked to mediate. He in then turned to Hermes and asked him to take them to Paris of troy to decide. Each of the goddess offered him a favor in order to be chosen. Of course he chose Aphrodite with her promise to give him Helen of troy. She was the most beautiful of all. The abduction of Helen of course led to the Trojan war. Athena a part in starting the war as you can tell. She also have a part in the destruction of troy. She had told Odysseus to build a large and hallow wood horse. That he should hide some soldiers inside the horse and make the Greeks think that the rest of the soldiers had sailed away. They had left behind one man who would tell the Trojans that the Greeks had left. To tell them that the horse was a peace offering and said that it will protect the city. Then that night they snuck out of the horse and open the gates of the city to let the army’s in to destroy the city and killed its people. Athena was the patron god of Athens. She was in
The poem tells how Achilles, the greatest Greek hero and the son of goddess, becomes rage against the Greeks and shifts into an inhuman aggression against the Trojans, and how he is at last willing to return to the human world” (Homer, 123). The Greeks outsmart the Trojans and burned down their homeland. People felt that they had strong connections with the gods and believed that all their actions and activities were all bound by the gods. They felt that Gods and Goddess determined the winners during the Trojan War. In Greek society the Gods were thought to determine who would be the heroes of the war.
Conflict is a natural, recurring problem throughout history. Wars span thousands of years, with conqueror after conqueror trying to overpower the other or gain control over the entire world; however, there is always a reason behind this brutal madness. Greek society and many other cultures have designated certain objects or philosophies that cause mankind to be involved in war, including Homer, who was one of the earliest writers to pinpoint the beginning of conflict. Through the use of similes and imagery, Homer’s Iliad depicts the idea that women, the gods, fate, and vengeance generate conflict with unyielding consequences. The choice of setting in the Iliad also supports his ideas that women cause conflict, by beginning the Trojan War.
The goddesses tried bribe him with many offers in order to win. Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman to Paris in which he chose Aphrodite as the winner. The woman was named Helen, a Greek woman who was married to Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris took Helen to the city of Troy, and when the city of Troy refused to return her back the Achaeans (Greeks) declared a war against the city of Troy. And so the Trojan War began, and went on for ten years.
It all started with an envious goddess, Eris the goddess of discord. She had caused a problem between three Olympians, the goddesses Hera, queen of the heavens, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. They were fighting over a golden apple with the message “to the fairest” inscribed on the fruit. They had gone to a young man who was the prince of Troy, yet he didn’t know. He had chosen Aphrodite because she had offered the most beautiful woman to be his wife.
The Trojan war is a standout amongst the most imperative occasions in Greek folklore. The war was done against the city of Troy by the Greeks after Paris of Troy took Helen from her better half the King of Sparta otherwise called Menelaus. The war started after a debate between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. Eris the goddess of disagreement and strife gave them a brilliant apple otherwise called the Apple of Discord whom the "most attractive" was to guarantee.
The Trojan War was a war between Greece and Troy, which is now the coast of Anatolia, and lasted for ten years. During the wedding feast of Thetis the sea nymph and King Peleus of Phtia, Eris, a goddess, was angry since she was the only god not invited. She sent an apple to the feast “for the most beautiful.” The goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite got into an arguement about who the apple was for. Paris was chosen to award the apple. The goddesses tried to bribe Paris, and Paris took Aphrodite’s offer, the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Paris found out he was the Prince of Troy, and he went to Sparta to get Helen, who was currently married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris took Helen and fled to Troy. Menelaus, along
The Trojan War has been one story that has helped shape the way we have viewed Greek culture. One of the main sources of this battle is Homer’s Iliad which questions if The Trojan War and the famous Trojan horse are myth or a part of history. It is believed that a conflict did occur between Mycenaean and Hittites but because of Homer’s Iliad, it can be concluded that the Trojan Horse was just a myth to help shape the culture.
More than eight centuries ago, Gods and Goddesses lived among mortals, controlling every aspect of life. For every act of nature, rain or sun, war or peace, there was a God who was responsible. In the early centuries, religion was often considered the most important aspect of life. Mycenaean Greeks (Spartans) and the Trojans believed that the gods they prayed to were at war and because of this, they were at war too; this lasted for ten bloody years. In brief, the Trojan War began when the Supreme God of the Olympians, Zeus was asked to
At the time of Homer, it was normal for gods to meddle in human affairs, and he shows this in The Iliad. A vast majority of the Greek gods play some role in how the Trojan wars turns out, which is what the poem is all about. Homer uses the gods to deviate from how normal wars are played out. The head god, Zeus, will be the focus as I go through what he did and how it affected the War as well as The Iliad. Zeus tried to stay out of the Trojan War for egotistic motives and was viewed as a father figure, not being biased to either side of the conflict. He likes to keep tabs on the other god’s dealings in the war. If he had not been involved as the top dog of Olympus, the Trojan War would have been much more hectic, and probably an arena for
Heroes, gods and goddesses, bloody battles, and large wooden horses are just a few components of Homer’s famous epic tales. These tales show the story of the Trojan War from his perspective, and describe what he believed happened. As he was alive during these times, Homer’s epics provide insight into the history of ancient Greece and the Trojan War.
In the epic poem The Iliad by Homer it talks about the events that occurred in the Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans, and also about their warriors, kings, and other people. But there are really important characters that play an important role in this poem, and there are the Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Greece. The gods and goddesses role in this poem is of controlling the lives of the Trojans and Greeks, intervening in their fates and destinies daily for their own good, provoking mass destructions and death in the Trojan and Greek land, and tricking them in what things they should do. Even though the warrior want to change their fate and destiny, it won’t work because at the end the gods will control them and make them what they really want.
Although the people have control of what happens in the war, the gods are the ones with the final say on who wins the war. Even though the gods are supposed to be neutral in the affairs of man, in this war the gods broke the trust and intervened in the affairs of man. Although the Trojans had some gods protecting them from