Delahoyde & Hughes Orpheus ILIAD: TEAMS AND MOTIVATIONS

"The Greeks are camped on the edge of the beach, a gang of men divided among themselves, with no secure leadership, the atmosphere angry and uncertain, no constancy in their arguments or their dealings with each other, no faith in their purpose, no substance in their loyalties and no women with any significance beyond their sex. They are living in rough sheds built against their ships. The rigging has rotted. They are surrounded by loot but sleep on the skins of wild animals.... The Greeks confront the realities of life and death with unadorned directness. No family, no safety, no home, no sense that virtue is rewarded or frailty sheltered. No prospect of dignity in old age or security when weak. No meaning beyond the presence of force" (Nicholson 178).

"Across the plain, Troy is different. Here are the people of a city, full of conviction, with well-ordered relations, allies who remain true to each other, a king to whom all give respect, brothers, sisters, wives, parents and children all living in a mutually dependent, interlocked system, with institutions that seem permanent" (179).

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GREEKS (a.k.a. Achaeans, Argives, Danaans, Myrmidons).

Achilles, son of Pelius: his love-grief for Patroclus finally gets him back into the war.

Agamemnon (Atrides is patronymic = son of Atreus): brother of Menelaus.

Menelaus (another Atrides): wife Helen stolen by Paris.

Diomedes (Tydides = son of Tydeus: one of many who made pact with Menelaus.

Ajax (Aias) the Great and Little Ajax (the Weenie).

Odysseus: did not want to come along.

Nestor: of the older generation, so he's got authority in meetings.

Idomeneus.

Calchas.

Patroclus: Achilles' very special friend.

TROJANS (a.k.a. Dardanians, Lycians).

Hector: brother of Paris.

Paris: defending his affair with Helen.

Priam: king of Troy and father of 50 sons and a batch of daughters.

Hecuba: queen of Troy and mother of lots of those kids.

Andromache: Hector’s wife.

Aeneas: will be preserved in order to found Rome.

Astyanax.

Dolon: a would-be spy.

Glaucus.

Helenus.

Cassandra: prophetess and sister in the royal family.

Pandarus.

Polydamas.

Sarpedon.

GODS WITH THE GREEKS

Hera: slighted by the judgment of Paris.

Athena: slighted by the judgment of Paris.

Thetis: mother of Achilles.

Hermes: mildly.

Poseidon: has his old grudge about being stiffed after helping build the walls of Troy.

GODS WITH THE TROJANS

Zeus: for a while anyway, although officially neutral; one tradition says he needed to reduce the earth’s population.

Hera: for a while, to make a point for Achilles (82).

Apollo: Agamemnon insulted his priest Chryses.

Aphrodite: mother of Aeneas and awarded the prize in the judgment of Paris.

Ares: despite an earlier promise to Hera and Athena.

Artemis.

Xanthos: son of Zeus, a river god, fights Achilles who is polluting him with corpses; is defeated by Hephaestos’ fire.

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Iliad Index
Orpheus: Greek Mythology