More handpicked essays just for you.
Female influence in greek mythology
Female influence in greek mythology
Athena and her importance in the Odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Female influence in greek mythology
In Book I of The Iliad we see various instances in which a god or goddess interferes in influencing a particular choice facing a human character. For instance, when Achilles and Agamemnon are having a dispute over Agamemnon wanting to take Achilles’ war prize “Briseis,” goddess of wisdom Athena, sent by Hera her mother, appears to Achilles right when he is about to snap and kill Agamemnon. Athena persuades him to standoff and give Agamemnon what he wants. She promises Achilles that in doing so more will be given to him. Goddess Athena uses a clever method of persuasion with Achilles by appealing to one of his weakness which is the great desire that Achilles has to be appreciated and honored with prizes for his magnificent skills of great warrior. …show more content…
Achilles complains due to that now that he has finally been given a “good” prize Agamemnon wants to take it from him. Achilles himself states “And now you’re threatening to take away the prize that I sweated for...I never get a prize equal to yours...No, I do all the dirty work with my own hands, And when the battle’s over...You get the lion’s share and I go back to my ships With some pitiful little thing, so worn out from fighting I don’t have the strength left even to complain...Far better To head home...than stay here, Unhonored myself and piling up a fortune for you” (Homer, 133 172-178). Achilles’ argument not only shows his rageous hatred and anger towards Agamemnon, but it also shows that he feels unhonored for his work by mentioning that Agamemnon always takes the best of the victories and just gives him the remainings of what he did not want when Achilles is the one that does all the
Agamemnon is trying to bribe Achilles with gifts but Achilles is not hearing it. From these lines we see that Achilles is being somewhat selfish he is not willing to accept anything Agamemnon gives him regardless of how much it is even if what he gives him is more than what Agamemnon has himself. Achilles will not take anything from him until he is willing to pay for all the grief he has caused which is pretty much impossible to do. The gifts that Agamemnon will offer are not enough to satisfy Achilles it will not convince him to change his decision about the war or mean enough to him
Achilles, never receiving a proper apology from Agamemnon, has no incentive to accept the gifts proffered to him. He makes it plain that he holds his honor and life above anything that Agamemnon could offer, claiming that “Nothing is worth my life, not all the riches They say Troy held before the Greeks came” (Homer’s Iliad 9.415-416). Additionally, he knows that honor can be stolen and replaced, “But a man’s life cannot be won back” (Homer’s Iliad 9.421). Phoenix doesn 't acknowledge these concerns, thinking that Achilles cares only about the prizes he has lost in addition to a more visceral honor than Achilles holds. Achilles believes that his “ honor comes from Zeus, and I will have it among these beaked ships as long as my breath still remains and my knees still move” (Homer’s Iliad 9.624-627) whereas Phoenix thinks of his honor as something tangible and bestowed to him by the Achaeans (Homer’s Iliad 9.619). This discrepancy proves irreparable in convincing Achilles, and highlights yet more flaws in the execution of Phoenix’s plan. For instance, Phoenix relies heavily on the aspects of Meleager’s story pertaining to the Aetolians to show the consequences the Greeks may face if Achilles did not fight (Homer’s Iliad 9. 609-622). Phoenix overestimates the value of this sentiment in his argument. Seeing as Achilles did not have any particular qualms about the Greeks’ faith beforehand, it can be
At this height of the epic we see that Achilles is still very much concerned with wealth and honor, the question now is "how to accomplish his goal". Achilles is aware of a few things and this puts him at an advantage over the rest. He knows that he will eventually be honored and that Agamemnon's debt to him will eventually be paid; he knows this because Athena had promised it to him if he didn't kill Agamemnon.
He feels that his honor was besmirched when Agamemnon demands that Achilles relinquish his war prize, Brises "Are you ordering to give this girl back? Either the great hearted Achaians shall give me a new prize chosen according to my desires to atone for the girl loss, or else if they will not hive me I myself shall take her, your own prize?(Homer 1.134).
The gods of The Iliad are shown to have tremendous power beyond the realm of human ability. However, this power is not without its limits. In The Iliad, Homer depicts a pantheon of Greek gods with human-like limitations, both in their interactions with humans and each other, and in their dealings with fate. This serves to expose the human condition, by showing that the origin of life is not unlike life itself.
Agamemnon demands, the "Argives will give me a prize, a match for my desires, equal to what I have lost, well and good. But if they give me nothing I will take a prize myself (1.159-62)." When Achilles confronts Agamemnon about this, Agamemnon responds, "You are nothing to me--you and your overweening anger! ...
The facts of this conflict are all pretty straight forward and by recounting the facts I hope to bring to light the truths that justify Achilles' anger. First off Agamemnon had distributed the booty fairly and all the more powerful Achaeans had gotten a concubine, Agamemnon just happened to choose the daughter of one of Apollo's priest. When Apollo sends a plague to the Achaean camp Achilles' concern for his comrades leads him to call an assembly with the purpose of interpreting the plague and taking necessary action. Agamemnon reluctantly agrees to return his concubine to her father if he is repaid another concubine by one of the other powerful Achaeans. At this Achilles stands up for himself and the other Achaeans, he insults Agamemnon by saying that Agamemnon claims his greatness. When Agamemnon takes Achilles' concubine, Achilles probably expected the other Achaeans to stand up for him as he had done for them earlier. But he is left alone. His honor insulted by a man that he had served loyally. Humiliated, by a group of people to whom he owed nothing. A great sense of betrayal overcame Achilles.
The gods in the Iliad do a great job in messing and speaking with humans. They do it by granting them their wishes and giving them their support if it is very well needed. Apollo and Chryses are both the best example I can come up with because they show how they both look after eachother. Also Zeus with Achilles, even though he owed his mom a favor. Both of these examples are very important to the story because of how they add more to the war that is going on. It also gives you more information about the character's persona and how it affects the situations that are brought into the
While fighting the Trojans, Achilles and Agamemnon came to blows in a show of superiority. Agamemnon, the Greek warlord, put Achilles in his place by reminding him that he controlled what actually went on and took Briseis, Achilles’ war prize, for himself. This angered Achilles and from that point he no longer would fight alongside his fellow countrymen against the Trojans and even to pout as a child would (Puchner, , and et al 238-239). During this act Achilles showed that if he could have his toys then he would no longer play with his friends. His refusal to participate in the war hurt the Greeks horribly and many men were lost. Achilles could have cared less about the loss of his p...
The Greek commander Agamemnon betrays Achilles by insulting him and taking his war prize, the girl Briseis. The Greek army as a whole, betrays him by acting inactively to Agamemnon’s insults and failing to defend him. As seen in Richard Blucher’s article book discussion, “In the Iliad, Achilles has his war prize, the captive woman Briseis, stolen from him by his Commander-in-Chief, King Agamemnon. Shay explains: We must understand the cultural context to see that this episode is more than a personal squabble between two soldiers over a woman [...] The prize of honor was voted by the troops for Achilles’ valor in combat. A modern equivalent might be a commander telling a soldier, ‘I’ll take that Congressional Medal of Honor of yours, because I don’t have one” (Blucher). These betrayals are so traumatic and insulting for Achilles that he withdrew entirely from the war. Also, in Book 21 of The Iliad, Achilles shows another belief that is identified with betrayal. In this book Achilles acts with reckless courage and takes on hundreds of enemy troops without showing any fear or resentment, even when the river god rises to drown him. As he acts so reckless he disregards his own life, and kills all who comes in his path. This is seen through Irwin Kutash’s review of Achilles in Vietnam, as he said, “Achilles is found to have been betrayed by his commander, Agamemnon, who usurps his prize of honor. The betrayal is described
The gods in power, like Zeus, exhibit bias, dishonor, betrayal, deception, and many other humanly characteristics. One memorable scene is when Zeus and Poseidon are in conflict with each other over the Achaens versus the Trojans. Zeus controls the battle by “lifting the famous runner Achilles’ glory higher,” (Homer 13: 404). Zeus plays both sides in this scene, acting like a double agent which is dishonorable. Zeus’s bias is prevalent throughout the poem; specifically, he is “bent on wiping out the Argives, down to the last man,” (Homer 12: 81-82). Just like mortals such as Agamemnon and Achilles view each other with suspicion and intolerance, the gods experience identical emotions of wariness, anger, and irritation. This human-like behavior is not restricted to Zeus. Later in the text, Hera lies to Aphrodite to use her powers to manipulate her own husband Zeus. If one looks at Hera as a heavenly entity, her reaction may not make sense, but when it is viewed as a manifestation of human emotion, it become almost reasonable. Her scheming response to Zeus’s meddling with the war is spurred by her support for the Trojans. Hera’s manipulation and Aphrodite’s ego don’t stand alone as examples of this divine humanity. These instances suggest that the deities are being presented in this unique way to help explain behavior of the humans in The
The prize was the daughter of an Apollon priest, Chrysies. The distressed father prays to Apollo who then sets a curse upon the king and townspeople. When Achilles hears that this was the cause of the horrible curse, he demands that Agamemnon return her. Agamemnon declares to Achilles that he must “fetch [him] another prize, and straight off too…” (line 138) to compensate for his loss. This shows how greedy and selfish the king really is and infuriates Achilles. To fetch someone else is a demeaning circumstance. Agamemnon reiterates his problem by griping that his prize is being taken away. By doing this, he tries to persuade and guilt Achilles into feeling bad for him. He wants Achilles to feel remorseful and hand Briseis to him. This conveys that women have no purpose to Agamemnon and are only thought of as objects. Therefore, he should see that the curse was his fault and nobody else’s. Instead, he should put the people before himself. Achilles is the best warrior who was willing to help the king out with his problem. He gestures that “We Achaeans will pay you back, three, four times over” (line 150) illustrating how forgiving Achilles can be in spite of the problem that has approached them. This depicts that he has pride and does not want the people to suffer anymore. He cares about the wellbeing of others. Furthermore,
A large source of Achilles anger started with his fight with Agamemnon. Apollo put a plague on the Achaean soldiers that was killing them off. The only way to stop this from killing them all was to give back a priest’s daughter who had been captured. This girl “belonged” to Agamemnon and he didn’t want to give her up unless he got Achilles girl in return. This would disgrace Achilles honor but he could not let any more soldiers be killed so, he reluctantly let her go. But in return for giving up his girl he withdrew from the battle. Much of Achilles anger is a result of this occasion but the death of Patroklos later overrode his previous anger to Agamemnon.
Homer makes it clear that Achilles is a man mainly driven by his hunger for glory. Achilles has all the traits of a superhuman from his strength to his incredible ability to fight on the battlefield. Even with these great abilities, it is hard for many readers to perceive him as a hero because of the way he acts. Homer takes this brief time period out of this whole ten-year war just to demonstrate how Achilles cannot control himself when he goes into a rage. In todays world Achilles would not last long as a soldier in any army because he would be court marshaled for insubordination. Achilles ye...
The two leader’s characteristics unfold where it seems as though Agamemnon cares more about power and wants something that was supposed to be given to him whereas Achilles is way more likely to choose honour over anything because at the end of the Iliad Achilles did not take the death of his dear friend Patroclus and he was not happy when his friend passed away and found out who did it. Agamemnon views his honour is greater than any army, but Achilles states “wrapped in shamelessness, with your mind forever on profit” (Homer, Iliad 1.149) proving how Agamemnon seems to always think about himself before others . The only aspect that these two leaders agree on is that honour can be received through women. They believe honour can be received through women because it is a sign of power and status. Agamemnon goes out of his way to ask for Brisesis because the lady that he received in war Chryseis was taken away. Honour was a very important factor for both of these men as they made sure that their one source of honour through a maiden was not