Delahoyde & Hughes
Orpheus

HOMER'S ILIAD:
BOOK I

Questions for Book I:

How are the conventions for starting an epic met in the Iliad?
Why is Achilles angry? What else worsens his mood?
What is the least heroic thing Achilles does in Book I?
What would you say is the weirdest incident in Book I needing some sort of explanation?
Why does a polytheistic system of belief, mythologically speaking, make as much sense as a monotheistic one?
What, exactly, is honor for the Homeric warrior?

"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles..." (1.1).

The opening invocation states that the theme of the poem is Achilles' rage. Is this an adequate description of the poem's theme? Might it serve as the title of the work? Why?

1) The Muse is invoked.

Part of both the mythology of art and the humility pose of poets is the insistence that the creative powers come from somewhere beyond the artist. Similar to the gods, who function as higher powers in other realms, the muses traditionally function to help the lowly human artist attain heights beyond mere mortals. Therefore it was conventional to call upon one's muse at the start of such an epic undertaking as this poem, a tad more impressive than calling upon Olivia Newton-John to help one build a roller-disco.

2) The theme of the poem is identified.

Somewhat surprisingly, the subject is not the Trojan War itself but a slice-of-life from out of that war's latter years, and more specifically, Achilles' rage-aholism -- a pretty happy circumstance for contemporary times, since we may have little need to learn lessons about fighting with spears but probably could use some ancient wisdom for perspective on road-rage, air-rage, computer-rage, disgruntled-office-rage, and so on, including just plain rage-rage.

3) We begin in medias res (in the middle of things).

This convention may seem irksome, but it makes sense. It requires that we thrash around a bit trying to get our bearings within a narrative that began before our poem does. We'll hear more later, and the poet will fill us in, but he needs to get us involved immediately, so a long preamble would be a drag.

More interestingly, this convention resembles real life better than the comfortable alternative. We all come into the world, into a story that has been going on for a long time, and we learn to get our bearing gradually, starting with what is immediate to us and only later being able to fill in the backstory of our families, our societies, and our history as humans and thinkers.

Mythology itself functions like a soap opera (or wrestling federation) where one plunges in and only later comes to a wider understanding of where each of the characters fits into a larger picture. So too with a work beginning in medias res.

As the Greeks divided the spoils of a neighboring city they ravaged, a female captive named Chryseis (daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo at Chryse) fell to the share of Agamemnon. When the father comes to ransom her, Agamemnon flies into a rage (for no apparent reason, since the proper channels of war business that the father is following dictate this kind of purchasing-back). Consider Agamemnon's motivation. Why do you think he reacts with such extreme venom? What's Agamemnon's problem? The theme of anger already spreads to him, or maybe starts with him before contagiously spreading to Achilles. Is Agamemnon simply wrathful, rash, pigheaded? I wouldn't trust the cheesy excuses he develops later to explain his behavior as we see it in Book I.

The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles centers on the captive women. Does this fact reflect the importance of women in the Homeric age or their unimportance? Is it a paradox that the Trojan War, though fought by men, is all about women? Explain.

Father Chryses implores Apollo for justice and the Greeks for a while do not understand why they are dropping dead. The Greeks perceive the deaths as humans being "struck down" by invisible arrows. The phenomenon is anthropomorphized as Apollo shooting these arrows, but it’s also interesting that Apollo is here called "Smintheus," meaning "mouse-god" -- no one knows why; the scholars are baffled by this epithet -- and the affliction to the Greeks sounds like a plague. Here's a perfect "mythological" moment: the reference to Apollo as "Smintheus, god of the plague!" (1.45) makes surprising sense. "First he went for the mules and circling dogs but then, / launching a piercing shaft at the men themselves, / he cut them down in droves" (1.57-59). Why do the mules and dogs drop dead first, and later the people? This would be because if the disease was spread by contaminated water, the animals would die first -- Greeks are much more likely to be found at all times drinking wine! There seems to be a vague, maybe even nothing more than associative, understanding that rodents have a role in spreading plague, hence Apollo the Mouse-God. The plague is also an appropriate setting for the contagion of rage functioning in the main plot between Agamemnon and Achilles.

Significantly Achilles is the one to call for a meeting. During the council held to decide how to allay the inexplicable, apparent wrath of the gods against them, Calchas the seer explains. Calchas, who cleverly covers his butt by insuring the necessary alliances, has a talent for reading bird-signs. This function of birds will saturate the epic. Why does it make sense that birds would be used for soothsaying? By the way Agamemnon says to Calchas: "Seer of misery! Never a word that works to my advantage! (1.124) Agamemnon is most certainly referring to the events at Aulis where Calchas tells Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in order to appease Artemis. Interestingly Homer never mentions Iphigenia by name.

Achilles charges Agamemnon as responsible for the misfortune; he’s also cheesed off about being slighted in the distribution of booty. Agamemnon obviously already harbors other resentments against Achilles (who does have the advantage of one immortal parent). Agamemnon yields the girl but demands in her stead Briseis, a maiden fallen to Achilles’ share in the division of spoils. Achilles is held back from attacking and killing Agamemnon by Athena. Why is it logical that Athena is the one to appear to Achilles during a moment of potential disaster? What does she represent and how would we read this moment without the anthropomorphic personification of the goddess?

Achilles does love the girl (whatever that means), but yields bitterly, now refusing to help the Greek cause in the Trojan war anymore. He cries to mommy Thetis, and she agrees to appeal to Zeus. Describe Achilles after we see him interacting with his mother. What is his particular misery in life? (1.497-98)

Zeus will temporarily help out by letting the Trojans have the advantage in the war. But Hera, still brooding over the loss of the beauty contest and therefore hating Paris and the Trojans, recognizes that deals are being cut. Things are nasty and tense on Olympus until we all have a roaring laugh at Hephaestos’ deformity. The scene on Olympus is goofy. But what does the ending of Book I indicate about all the strife on the human plane?