1、1SynopsisAs the poem begins, the Greeks have captured Chrysis, the daughter of Apollos priest Chryses, and given her as a prize to Agamemnon. When Agamemnon threatens Chryses as he attempted to ransom his daughter, Apollo sends a plague against the Greeks. At an assembly called by Achilles, the Gree
2、ks compel Agamemnon to restore Chrysis to her father to stop the sickness. Agamemnon agrees reluctantly but also takes for himself Brisis, whom the Achaeans had given to Achilles as a spoil of war. This causes Achilles, widely seen as the best warrior of the war, to withdraw from the fighting.In cou
3、nterpoint to Achilles pride stands the Trojan prince Hector, son of King Priam, a husband and father who fights to defend his city and his family. With Achilles on the sidelines, Hector leads successful counterattacks against the Greeks, who have built a fortified camp around their ships pulled up o
4、n the Trojan beach. The best remaining Greek fighters, including Odysseus and Diomedes, are wounded, and the gods favor the Trojans. When the Trojans finally threatened the Greek ships with fire, Achilles allows Patroclus, impersonating him by wearing his armor, to lead the Myrmidons back into battl
5、e. The death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector brings Achilles back to the war for revenge, and he slays Hector in single combat. Hectors body is abused for days until his father, King Priam, comes to Achilles alone (but aided by Hermes) to ransom his sons body, and Achilles is moved to pity. The
6、funeral of Hector ends the poem.Book summariesHomer himself didnt name the 24 books of the Iliad, however, many translators have provided their own book titles. The number of books is identical to that of Homers other epic, the Odyssey. Book 1: Nine years into the war, Agamemnon seizes Briseis, the
7、concubine (prize) of Achilles, since he has had to give away his own; Achilles withdraws from the fighting in anger; in Olympus, the gods argue about the outcome of the war Book 2: Agamemnon pretends to order the Greeks home to test their resolve; Odysseus encourages the Greeks to keep fighting; Cat
8、alogue of Ships, Catalogue of Trojans and Allies Book 3: A truce is observed as Paris challenges Menelaus to single combat over Helen while she watches from the walls of Troy with Priam; Paris is quickly overmatched by Menelaus, but is rescued from death by Aphrodite, and Menelaus is seen as the win
9、ner. Book 4: The truce is broken and battle begins Book 5: Diomedes has an aristeia (a period of supremacy in battle) and wounds Aphrodite and Ares with the assistance of Athena 2 Book 6: Glaucus and Diomedes greet each other during the fighting; Hector returns to Troy and speaks to his wife Androma
10、che Iliad, Book 8, lines 245-253, in a Greek manuscript of the late fifth or early sixth century AD Book 7: Hector battles Ajax Book 8: The gods withdraw from the battle Book 9: The Embassy to Achilles. Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to Achilles to obtain his help; his promises of honou
11、r and riches are spurned Book 10: The Doloneia. Diomedes and Odysseus go on a night mission, kill the Trojan Dolon, and ambush a camp of Thracians. Book 11: Paris wounds Diomedes; Achilles sends Patroclus on a mission Book 12: The Greeks retreat to their camp and are besieged by the Trojans Book 13:
12、 Fighting before the ships; Poseidon encourages the Greeks Book 14: Hera helps Poseidon assist the Greeks; Deception of Zeus Book 15: Zeus stops Poseidon from interfering; Hector brings fire to the ships Book 16: Patroclus borrows Achilles armour, enters battle, kills Sarpedon and then is killed by
13、Hector Book 17: The armies fight over the body and armour of Patroclus. Books 16 and 17 are collectively called the Patrocleia. Book 18: Achilles learns of the death of Patroclus and receives a new suit of armour. The Shield of Achilles is described at length Book 19: Achilles is reconciled in form
14、with Agamemnon and enters battle Book 20: The gods join the battle; Achilles drives all the Trojans before him Book 21: Achilles does battle with the river Scamander but is led astray by Ares Book 22: Achilles kills Hector outside the walls of Troy and drags his body back to the Greek camp Book 23:
15、Funeral games for Patroclus Book 24: Priam, the King of the Trojans, secretly enters the Greek camp. He begs Achilles for Hectors body. Achilles is moved to pity and grants it to him, and it is taken away and given a funeral, at which Helen and Andromache both make comments, and then his body is bur
16、ned on a pyre. Famous passages Catalogue of Ships (Book 2, lines 494-759) Teichoscopia (Book 3, lines 121-244) Deception of Zeus (Book 14, lines 153-353) Shield of Achilles (Book 18, lines 430-617) After the Iliad3Although the Iliad scatters foreshadowings of certain events subsequent to the funeral
17、 of Hector, and there is a general sense that the Trojans are doomed, Homer does not set out a detailed account of the fall of Troy. For the story as developed in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama, see Trojan War. The other Homeric poem, the Odyssey, is the story of Odysseus long journey home f
18、rom Troy; the two poems between them incorporate many references forward and back and overlap very little, so that despite their narrow narrative focus they are a surprisingly complete exploration of the themes of the Troy story.Major charactersMain article: List of characters in the IliadSee also:
19、Category:Deities in the Iliad The Iliad contains a large number of characters. The latter half of the second book (often called the Catalogue of Ships) is devoted entirely to listing the various commanders and their contingents. Many of the battle scenes in the Iliad feature minor characters who are
20、 quickly slain. See Trojan War for a detailed list of participating armies and warriors. The Achaeans () - the word Hellenes, which would today be translated as Greeks, is not used by Homer. Also called Danaans () and Argives (A). o Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, and leader of the Achaeans. o Achilles,
21、 King of the Myrmidions, foremost Achaean warror, he clashes with Agamemnon and sits out much of the combat. After the death of Patrolocus, he returns to battle and slays Hector. o Odysseus, King of Ithaca, the most clever Achaean commander. The hero of the Odyssey. o Ajax the Greater, a large warri
22、or, tied with Diomedes as second to Achilles in fighting prowess. o Menelaus, King of Sparta and husband of Helen. o Diomedes, the youngest Achaean king; he is king of Argos. o Ajax the Lesser, another Achaean leader, frequently partnered with Ajax the greater. The Trojan men o Hector, son of the Tr
23、ojan king Priam and the foremost warrior of Troy, slain by Achilles. o Aeneas, son of Anchises and Aphrodite. o Deiphobus brother of Hector and Paris. o Paris, son of King Priam, he is the lover who stole Helen and started the Trojan war. o Priam, the aged king of Troy o Polydamas, a young Trojan co
24、mmander who sometimes figures as a foil for Hector by proving cool-headed and prudent when Hector 4charges ahead. Polydamas gives the Trojans sound advice, but Hector seldom acts on it. o Agenor, a Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles in Book 21. o Dolon (), a Trojan who is sent to spy on t
25、he Achaean camp in Book 10. o Antenor, a Trojan nobleman, advisor to King Priam, and father of many Trojan warriors. Antenor argues that Helen should be returned to Menelaus in order to end the war, but Paris refuses to give her up. o Polydorus, a Trojan prince and son of Priam and Laothoe. The Troj
26、an women o Hecuba (), Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector, Cassandra, Paris, etc. o Helen (), wife of Menelaus, now espoused to Paris o Andromache (), Hectors wife and mother of their infant son, Astyanax () o Cassandra (), daughter of Priam, prophetess, first courted and then cursed by A
27、pollo. As her punishment for offending him, she accurately foresees the fate of Troy, including her own death and the deaths of her entire family, but does not have the power to do anything about it. The Olympian deities, principally Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Hades, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Hermes and Pos
28、eidon, as well as the lesser figures Eris, Thetis, and Proteus appear in the Iliad as advisers to and manipulators of the human characters. All except Zeus become personally involved in the fighting at one point or another (See Theomachy).Technical featuresThe poem is written in dactylic hexameter.
29、The Iliad comprises 15,693 lines of verse. Later ancient Greeks divided it into twenty-four books, or scrolls, and this convention has lasted to the present day with little change.ThemesNostosNostos (Greek: ) (pl. nostoi) is the ancient Greek word for homecoming. The word is used seven times in the
30、Iliad (2.155,251, 9.413,434,622, 10.509, 16.82) and the theme is heavily explored throughout Greek literature, especially in the fortunes of the Atreidae returning from the Trojan War. The Odyssey, dealing with the return of Odysseus, is the most famous of these stories, but many surrounding other c
31、haracters such as Agamemnon and Menelaus exist as well. In the Iliad, nostos 5cannot be obtained without the sacking of Troy, which is the driving force behind Agamemnons will to win at any cost.KleosKleos (Greek: ) is the ancient Greek concept of glory that is earned through battle.3 For many chara
32、cters, most notably Odysseus, their kleos comes with their victorious return home (Nostos).4 However, Achilles must choose between the two. In one of the most poignant scenes in the Iliad (9.410-416), Achilles tells Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax about the two fates ( 9.411) he must choose between.5. T
33、he passage reads: (410) . , , , , (415), .3Richmond Lattimore translates the passage as follows:For my mother Thetis the goddess of silver feet tells meI carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either,if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans,my return home is gone, but
34、my glory shall be everlasting;but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers,the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long lifeleft for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly.4Here Achilles acknowledges that he must lose his nostos in order to obtain his kleos. Ho
35、wever, Achilles is not offered just kleos, but kleos aphthiton (Greek: ), or “fame imperishable.“6 The word is used five other times throughout the Iliad (2.46, 5.724, 13.22, 14.238, 18.370), each time describing an immortal object, specifically Agamemnons sceptre, the wheel of Hebes chariot, the ho
36、use of Poseidon, Zeuss throne, and the house of Hephaistos, respectively.Lattimore translates the word to mean immortal forever or imperishable forever. Achilles is the only mortal to ever be referred to in this way, which highlights the immense glory that awaits him if he stays and fights at Troy.T
37、imRelated to kleos is the concept of tim (Greek: ), usually translated as “respect“ or “honor“. Ones tim is properly determined by ones station in life, or ones 6accomplishments (e.g., on the battlefield). The Greeks troubles begin when Agamemnon dishonors (1.11) the priest Chryses attempt to ransom
38、 back his captive daughter; this insult prompts Chryses to call a plague down on the Achaeans. Later, Achilles ruinous anger with Agamemnon stems from the disrespect (1.171) he feels the Argive king has shown him despite Achilles obvious value to the Greek army.The Wrath of AchillesThe Wrath of Achi
39、lles by Michel Drolling, 1819.As mentioned above, the first word of the Iliad is the Greek (mnin), meaning rage or wrath. In this Homer is immediately announcing a main theme throughout the epic, the wrath of Achilles. Achilles rage and vanity, which sometimes seem almost childlike, drive the plot,
40、from the Greeks faltering in battle and the death of Patroclus to the slaying of Hector and the eventual fall of Troy, which is not explicitly depicted in the Iliad but is alluded to numerous times. The wrath of Achilles is first displayed in Book I in a meeting between the Greek kings and the seer
41、Kalchas. Agamemnon had dishonored Chryses, the Trojan priest of Apollo, by taking his daughter Chryseis and refusing to return her even when offered “gifts beyond count.“5 Chryses then prayed to Apollo for help, who rained arrows upon the Greeks for nine days. At the meeting Achilles accuses Agamemn
42、on of being “greediest for gain of all men.“6 At this Agamemnon replies:“But here is my threat to you.Even as Phoibos Apollo is taking away my Chryseis.I shall convey her back in my own ship, with my ownfollowers; but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis,your prize, I myself going to your shelter,
43、that you may learn wellhow much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink backfrom likening himself to me and contending against me.“7After this remark Achilles anger can only be stayed by Athena and he vows to never take orders from Agamemnon again. Later, Achilles cries to his mother Theti
44、s, who convinces Zeus on Olympus to favor the Trojans until Agamemnon restores Achilles 7rights. This dooms the possibility of Greek victory in the near future, and the Trojans under Hector almost push the Greeks back into the sea in Book XII, causing Agamemnon to contemplate a defeated return to Gr
45、eece.“The Wrath of Achilles“ turns the tide of the war again when his closest friend Patroclus is killed in battle by Hector while wearing Achilles armor. When Nestor informs him, Achilles mourns grievously, tearing out his hair and dirtying his face. During his mourning, his mother Thetis again com
46、es to comfort him. Achilles tells her:So it was here that the lord of men Agamemnon angered me.Still, we will let all this be a thing of the past, and for all oursorrow beat down by force the anger deeply within us.Now I shall go, to overtake that killer of a dear life,Hektor; then I will accept my
47、own death, at whatevertime Zeus wishes to bring it about, and the other immortals.8In his desire for vengeance Achilles is even willing to accept the prospect of his own death as a reasonable price to avenge his lost friend. The rage of Achilles over the death of Patroclus persuaded him to enter bat
48、tle again, dooming both Hector and Troy. After killing and wounding numerous Trojans, Achilles finds Hector on the battlefield in Book XXII and chases him around the walls of Troy three times before slaying him. Achilles, in his final show of rage, then drags the body on the back of his chariot back to the Greek camp where he mourns for Patroclus. Achilles late
