The cleansing process would take place the seventh day of each month and that was because the seventh day was special to Apollo-it was his day of birth. The first step in the cleansing process was for the oracle to bathe in the Castalian spring. After this bathing she would return to the temple and begin to make an offering to Apollo. This offering consisted of burning of laurel leaves and barley meat and possibly some sort of spoken homage (Scott 15). However, during this time the priests would be performing rituals of their own. The first was to find out if today was a good day for them to consult the greek god. The priests would do this by bringing a pure goat to the temple and sprinkle cold water on the goat. If the goat had shuddered, …show more content…
The Iliad is an Ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer. We owe much of our development and knowledge of the ancient Greek society because of the study of these epic poems. The Iliad is one story where Apollo plays a crucial role and is mentioned many times, second only to Zeus. The part of the story that truly shows Apollo’s character begins when the Greeks take the daughter of one of Apollo’s priests, Chryseis. The priest enters the camp of the Greeks asking Agamemnon, King of Argos, for the return of his daughter. The king refuses to give her back, as she lay in his bed, and not only were the priest’s status but father hood violated. After this the priest traveled down the lonely shore and while walking he prayed to his god Apollo Smintheus. Apollo heard his prayer and homer explains the burning passion and fire in his heart: “Down he went from Olympus’ peaks, fury in his heart, on his shoulder a bow and arrow case, and the arrows rattled on the shoulders of the angry god while he moved. And he arrived like the night.” (Fritz, 1). This truly shows the passion and close relationship the priest had with the deity. To move the god so much as that as soon as he heard the prayer, Apollo obtained his gear and went to the man’s aide. Upon his arrival, Apollo began to shoot arrows of plague and death into their encampment. The death and illness began to kill dogs and mules at first, and later …show more content…
Being a god one expects him to have many stories and know of tales of romance and beauty but being a Greek story, we find that to not be the case. His first approach to love is with a nymph who was known as Cyrene. Now she was no ordinary girl because instead of staying at home and making wool, she was the protector of her father’s flock. This interested Apollo and curiosity set in with him. It was not until the moment of watching her wrestle a mighty lion that he fell in love, as a matter a fact he married her
Throughout the book, Apollo only wanted to gain his powers as a god again and go back to Mount. Olympus, cared for only his own troubles, and concern for only himself (only in the beginning though). This all proves
There are many lessons that can be learned from reading Homer's The Iliad. One of which is understanding the stages of grief. One can literally watch Achilles go through all five stages when he morns the death of his comrade Patroclus. Achilles moves through Denial and Isolation, Depression, Anger, Bargaining and Acceptance in the short time after his close friends death.
beset by a plague, and a delegation was sent to Apollo, the Greek God of
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
Throughout history, people evaluated themselves and others based on moral judgements. The basis of those evaluations changed over time. In the Homeric period, from approximately 1200-800 BCE, people practiced “warrior ethics.” Warrior ethics were based on teleology, meaning all things had a purpose/function in society. The concept of good/bad was directly related to how well the function was performed. For example, a warrior was considered good when he was an excellent warrior and bad if he performed poorly. In Homeric times, excellence was considered god-like.
The Iliad and the Fate Of Patroclus Throughout The Iliad Of Homer, the constant theme of death is inherently. apparent. The snares are not. Each main character, either by a spear or merely a scratch from an arrow, was wounded or killed during the progression of the story. For Zeus' son, a king.
of Apollo: "A prophet? Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in
Change, in The Iliad, appears in many forms, but most originate from the actions of others. It is human nature for men to follow their will almost without any regard for those around them. This unwavering willpower brings change upon the weaker wills of other men. Faced with change, the weaker man’s path is altered either slightly or drastically. From this alteration, man is given choices or must make it himself. Through these experiences, they become more aware or more confused with what goes on around them. Regardless of whether they deal with it or not, they accept that change is inevitable and will continue forward. Knowing their lives are comparatively ephemeral to the immortals, they have the tendency of seizing the day. It almost sounds humbling when they say, “no man can turn aside nor escape…let us go on and win glory
Throughout The Iliad, the heroic characters make decisions based on a definite set of principles, which are referred to as the "code of honor." The heroic code that Homer presents to the reader is an underlying cause for many of the events that take place, but many of the characters have different perceptions of how highly the code should be regarded. Hektor, the greatest of the Trojan warriors, begins the poem as the model of a Homeric hero. His dedication and strict belief in the code of honor is illustrated many times throughout the course of The Iliad. An example of this is presented in book three of the poem, where Hektor reprimands Paris for refusing to fight.
The Iliad, which is an epic poem written about the Trojan War, was the first thing written in the European tradition. Astonishingly, its quality and appeal have yet to be surpassed. This is a result of Homer's use of idealistic themes, many of which show up in many modern novels. One of the most dominant themes present in The Iliad is the pursuit of honor and glory. Even though the Achaeans and Trojans are in a violent battle with one another, both display a similar attitude: the acquisition of glory is more important than life itself.
“Then the screaming and shouts of triumph rose up together, of men killing and men killed, and the ground ran blood.” From first examination the Iliad seems to be an epic founded on an idealized form of glory, the kind that young boys think about when they want to join the army. A place full of heroism and manliness where glory can be achieved with a few strokes of a sword and then you go home and everything is just lovely. Many people view the Iliad this way, based on it’s many vivid battle descriptions and apparent lack of remorse for the deaths that occur. This, however, is not how war is presented in the Iliad. Homer presents a very practical outlook on war countering the attainment of the glory with the reality of its price and the destruction it causes. He successfully does this by showing the value of the lives of each person that dies and, in a sense, mourning their passing, describing the terror and ugliness of war, and, through the characters of Achilleus and Hector, displaying the high price of glory.
In book one the Iliad begins with the poet, Homer, asking the muse to tell of the rage of Achilles. It begins with Apollo’s priest Chryses going to the Achaean camp to ask if he can pay ransom for his daughter Chryseis who was captured. Agamemnon sends him off rudely and Chryses prays to Apollo asking him to punish the Greeks. Apollo answers this request by bringing a plague upon them. Achilles calls an assembly with a seer and promises the seer immunity so that he can find out why Apollo is angry. Agamemnon agrees to give back Chryseis if he can take Briseis from Achilles. It is this chain of events that ultimately leads to the fued between the two men. Achilles decides to stop fighting in the war to show the Greeks just how valuable he is and he persuades his mother,
Homer's Iliad is commonly understood as an epic about the Trojan War, but its meaning goes deeper than that. The Iliad is not only a story of the evolution of Achilleus' persona, but at times it is an anti-war epic as well. The final book proposes many questions to the reader. Why not end with the killing of Hektor? Most stories of war conclude with the triumphant victory of good over evil, but in the Iliad, the final thoughts are inclined to the mourning of the defeated Hektor, which accentuates the fact that good has not triumphed over evil, but simply Achilleus triumphed over Hektor. Ending with the mourning of Hektor also brings to center stage for the first time the human side of war and the harsh aftermath of it. We see that war not only brings great glory, but also much suffering and anguish. Homer puts his anti-war views on display.
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 fall of Troy caused by the intensified destructive nature of Achilleus, therefore they interfered in the battle to protect a bigger ideal of fate, a fate of a nation, by manipulating smaller ideals of fate, the fates of people’s lives(Lattimore 405). At the beginning of the battle, after the gods descended from Olympus, they decide to sit and just watch how their mortal teams will fend for themselves until Apollo takes form as Lykoan and coerce Aeneias to challenge Achilleus, thus establishing the first act of divine intervention (Lattimore 406-407). When Achilleus is inches away from killing Aeneias, Poseidon takes sympathy upon him and whisks him off to safety (Lattimore 407-411). The last interference occurs during the confrontation between Hektor and Achilleus, where Achilleus is about to murder him and Apollo saves Hektor (Lattimore 416). Hektor’s rescue in this battle is an important event in the Iliad because Achilleus’ and Hektor’s fates are interrelated, further meaning that if Hektor die...
Greek mythology has systematically included the intervention of gods and goddesses in matters of the mortal world, and Homer’s The Iliad is no different. The story is littered with divine intervention, with both positive and negative outcomes for the humans involved.