"The Iliad", an epic tale told by the famous Greek author Homer, is focused primarily on the Trojan War between the Greeks, or Argives, and the Trojans. This war was filled with bloody battles and a massive loss of life. Homer tells stories about a duration of time during this fighting, and not the entire war. He uses his story-telling abilities to focus the audience on the garish and sometimes mundane drudgery of war. Due to his removal from the actual time of these battles, his stories may be embellished or not completely accurate descriptions of what did or did not happen. Overall, however, the Iliad is believed to be mostly true.
Homer was born, most likely, in the 8th Century B.C. He is widely believed to be the best and most popular of the Ionian poets. His birthplace is not known beyond a doubt. Some have even said that he may have been blind. This idea has its share of critics though, since Homer details specific landscape scenes all throughout his works, and most of his writing is focused on the vision of the scene in which he describes.
Homer relies heavily on descriptions to get his points across to the audience. In Homer's time, stories were told orally. Therefore, as a good writer, he attempted to write eloquently to convey to the audience the overall feeling of his stories. William Shakespeare did the same thing in his writing. Shakespeare knew that his work was going to be performed, and that his audience was predominantly illiterate. He knew that if he created a quality story and told it in an interesting way, he would gain greater popularity by allowing those who didn't understand to be entertained anyway. Homer used this to his advantage in his time also through the use of elaborate descriptions of battles and scenes, and with similes and metaphors.
The similes and metaphors of The Iliad, in my opinion, are the real attention-grabbing parts of the story. Homer's descriptions using similes are mostly very detailed and often rather grotesque. The similes in his writing serve to make the audience imagine exactly what is happening in the story. For example:
"They swarmed forth like wasps from a roadside nest " (p.421, 305-308)
Homer could simply say that the army moved forward and swarmed the opposing lines, but by the use of his simile, the audience gets a perfect example of what Homer is trying to convey to us. ...
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...rence-type used in Homer's similes in The Iliad deal with occupations and activities in ancient Greece's day-to-day life. Many similes have some occupation or action in them, which the Greeks performed. For example:
" the ranks pulled closer, tight as a mason packs a good stone wall " (p. 419, 250-251)
This excerpt shows that the ancient Greeks had masons, or men to do the building of structures. Homer also makes references to other known ancient occupations, such as farmers and priests. Nurses and poets are also talked about in The Iliad. If analyzed, it can be seen that once again in ancient Greek culture, women are expected to be the nurturers and men the laborers. Women were most often nurses, housewives, maids, or even teachers. Men were usually masons, farmers, professional warriors, or craftsmen of some sort.
In conclusion, many inferences can be made pertaining to the common, everyday life in ancient Greece through Homer's similes in The Iliad. They describe the landscape, animals, weather, societal roles, and occupations. Along with helping the audience to visualize the scenes in The Iliad, these similes also shed light onto the world in which Homer lived.
The ancient Greeks and Romans made a variety of contributions to western civilization in the field of literature. Both of these ancient cultures produced a variety of literary works which have persevered the test of time and continue to be studied today. One of the biggest contributions of the ancient Greeks to literature came from an author, who still relatively little is known about, Homer. Homer, believed by many to have been blind, is credited with the authorship of two of ancient Greece’s most famous epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. These two epic poems chronicle the final days of the Trojan War and the epic struggle Odysseus underwent on his sea voyage back to his home after the tragic war. These two epics have had a profound impact on western literature and continue to influence literary scholars and authors to this day. The following excerpt from Bio descries the impact of these ancient poems, “The Iliad and The Odyssey have provided not only seeds but fertilizer for almost all the other arts and sciences in Wester...
In The Odyssey by Homer, there are three archetypes from Greek culture that modern readers can still relate to today: Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus revealed himself to his son, and the Sirens. Homer wrote archetypes that still apply to modern teenagers today. Homer wrote great literature with several interesting archetypes, that even today's culture can understand and relate to almost three thousand years later. Homer (approx 850-750 B.C) is credited with writing The Iliad and the Odyssey. For almost three thousand years,these epic poems have captured readers imaginations and inspired countless works of art and literature. An “epic” is a long narrative poem. Modern readers gain insights about ancient Greek
Homer was the ancient Greek poet said to have lived between around the 8th and 9th century B.C. Some believe that he was born on the island of Chios and others say he was in Ionia. He was said to be a court singer and a storyteller. He is famous for the writings of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Iliad is one of the commonly understood pieces as epic that based on the Trojan War in ancient Greek. However, the meaning of the piece goes deeper and reflects more on the ancient Greek. The Iliad is a story about the evolution of Achilles persona and emerges as an epic of the war. Homer puts the elements of anti-war relatively on display portraying the ideal epic world that progresses through elements that defines the coexistence of the society.
The Iliad is an epic tale of war and hero’s within the Greek way of life. A
focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Throughout the poem, Homer represents the gods intervening in human affairs and by this changing the destiny of human life. Because of the intervention, the gods start the war between Trojans and Achaeans and the reason of the war leads them to take sides. Homer represents the gods in many aspects; as humanlike, having miraculous actions, super being, controlling, life savers, and disguisers.
Homer's two central heroes, Odysseus and Achilles, are in many ways differing manifestations of the same themes. While Achilles' character is almost utterly consistent in his rage, pride, and near divinity, Odysseus' character is difficult to pin down to a single moral; though perhaps more human than Achilles, he remains more difficult to understand. Nevertheless, both heroes are defined not by their appearances, nor by the impressions they leave upon the minds of those around them, nor even so much by the words they speak, but almost entirely by their actions. Action is what drives the plot of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and action is what holds the characters together. In this respect, the theme of humanity is revealed in both Odysseus and Achilles: man is a combination of his will, his actions, and his relationship to the divine. This blend allows Homer to divulge all that is human in his characters, and all that is a vehicle for the idyllic aspects of ancient Greek society. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistencies in the characterization of Odysseus can be accounted for by his spiritual distance from the god-like Achilles; Achilles is more coherent because he is the son of a god. This is not to say that Achilles is not at times petty or unimaginative, but that his standards of action are merely more continuous through time. Nevertheless, both of Homer's heroes embody important and admirable facets of ancient Greek culture, though they fracture in the ways they are represented.
In this paper I will be looking at Goldman’s definition of sexual desire and discussing why it may be too broad of a definition. I will also suggest ways in which Goldman’s definition could be improved with a little specificity.
Alan Goldman takes the non- tradition point of view in his analysis carefully named “Plain Sex”(Luper). Plain sex is exactly as we read it, sex with no other context or restrictions held by non-moral hierarchy. Goldman asserts sexual acts are a balance between one’s freedom and their personal duties. The interpretation of freedom comes from idea of natural rights, for which we are brought in to the world with including the ability to think, articulate our thoughts and act as we desire. Goldman limits these actions in the context of sexual morality as long as the act does not harm another. As Just...
The Iliad by Homer is an epic poem separated in different books or chapters that shows a fictionalized account of the Trojan War. Book 6: Hector Returns to Troy is the specific portion of the poem that is being covered in this essay. Hector from the Iliad shows a very clear aspect of his personality, a strong sense of loyalty and tenderness for his loved ones and also his people by being on the front lines during the war and showing his people he is willing to fight with them and essentially sacrificing himself for his family. Hector even knows his forgiveness towards his brother, Paris even though Paris is the main reason the Trojan War is in existence.
In the debate of the construction of human sexuality, two extremes make up the boundaries. These extremes are essentialism and constructionism (Harding 6-17). It is most likely that the truth behind the construction of sexuality lies somewhere in between these two ideologies. Understanding the two is critical in determining one’s own theories and beliefs on the subject. Jennifer Harding describes the two ideologies in detail in her essay Investigating Sex: Essentialism and Constructionism.
In the book the Iliad, The Odyssey, and Works and days, there are many things that can be similar when talking about Greek heroes and the world of Greek poetry. The stories and topics are describing similar events during this time of the eighth and seventh century B.C. In the end, however, they do have some differences in some parts when describing or explaining certain situations and ideas. The world of Greek heroes is written like a story; or Epic Poetry. That is what The Iliad and The Odyssey are; Epic Poetries. They are telling a story of a great hero and their adventures. On the other hand, the more realistic Greek World that is being described in Works and days is a Didactic poem, which tells more of a moral or message to the reader.
In these two classic, epic poems told by Homer, the roles of the gods are very important to the characters and their journey throughout the books. It is always a positive or negative effect but the gods’ interference on mortals’ lives makes this an epic journey that has been remembered for thousands of years. The Iliad and the Odyssey are very different from each other in that the Iliad has more gods that effect the war and its outcome whereas the Odyssey only has two major gods that effect two characters.
We know that he wrote two poems about the Greeks and their gods. The Iliad was Homer’s first epic poem, which tells the story of the Trojan War. His second epic is the Odyssey, which tells the story of a great hero Odysseus, and the adventures he embarks on. Tradition has it that he lived in the 12th century BC, around the time of the Trojan War, in an Ionic settlement, either Chios or Smyrna, where he made his living as a court singer and storyteller.
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.