| Delahoyde & Hughes Orpheus
HOMER'S ILIAD:
|
|
Questions for Book II:
- Are divine dreams true? That is, if your dream is from a god, can you believe it?
- Agamemnon receives word directly from Zeus that now is the time to attack Troy. He summons his chief officers and reports that he received word directly from Zeus that now it the time to attack Troy. He then marches out to speak to the troops and tells them what?
- What is Thersites' problem? Why, although he says some of the same things Achilles did a book ago, is he treated as he is, especially by Odysseus?
It's an odd dream theory, but apparently your divine revelations can be phony. Zeus, who has agreed to grant Achilles' mother's request that the Greeks start getting their butts handed to them, since Achilles is refusing to fight with them now, gives Agamemnon a false dream wherein the insistence is that it's a good time to attack Troy.
We sense that Agamemnon may be carrying out a standard battle test in giving a speech to the troop instead that the revelation indicated that they have been fighting long enough: Troy obviously will never fall and they should all go home. Apparently all the soldiers are supposed to insist, en masse, "no! no!" -- but Agamemnon's reverse psychology tactics backfire!
Thersites is a famous malcontent; he's mouthy and deformed. As with Hephaestos at the end of Book I, physical deformity is demeaned here.
Agamemnon seems to have a moment of clarity in lamenting that there has been this falling out between Achilles and him over the "girl." But it comes to nothing at this time.
A pile-up of epic similes conveys chaos effectively beyond what any single comparison could do. We then get the epic list of warriors for several pages. Notice the different ways in which Homer portrays the Greeks and the Trojans.
Iliad Index
Orpheus: Greek Mythology