Virgil’s Jupiter and Homer’s Zeus are analogous to each other in the sense that they are both the most powerful being, tasked with ensuring that the fate of the protagonist comes true, in each of their respective epics. In the Iliad, there many...

In The Iliad and The Odyssey, there are numerous minor and major female characters who are depicted in varying forms in terms of femininity and ideality. Most of the female characters in both epics are depicted as feeble, delicate, manipulative,...

“Athena, [in pursuit of her] adventures as a woman, [tied to an immortal and moral world that is] dominated by a male ethos”, is used to highlight the importance of gender in an unforgiving society. As a woman, Athena is enslaved to her gender, in...

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem telling the story of the last 50 days of the ten year long war between the Greeks and the Trojans. Although the poem is attributed to Homer, it is a compilation of the long-standing tradition of oral...

Homer's Iliad is full of epic battles and massive deaths, so, unsurprisingly, many audiences turn their main attention to the description of the direct combat between the Akhaians and Trojans. Even though the war mostly takes place during the day,...

For every great war, there is a payment to be made- in blood, loss, sacrifice - for the hope of a greater glory. Each person involved gives up something, or many things, for a victory that may or may not come. In The Iliad and Iphigenia at Aulis,...

“The Trojans came down on them in a pack, and Hektor led them raging straight forward, like a great rolling stone from a rock face that a river swollen with winter rain has wrenched from its socket and with immense washing broken the hold of the...

Both The Iliad and The Republic present a form of hero. Achilles of The Iliad embodies the conventional idea of the hero: physically strong, warlike, and honor-loving. However, Socrates of The Republic, with his never-ending search for wisdom,...

While Hector and Odysseus in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are seen as clear heroes, the Argonautica differs in its approach to Jason, as his relatively average abilities are matched by his typically anti-heroic habit of letting others do the...

An exegetical essay on the following passage:

Iliad. III.442-524: From “Then off she went herself to summon Helen...” all the way to “irresistible longing lays me low”.

Lines before this passage, Paris was in combat with Menelaus on the verge of...

Even though they were written in the same period of time, the Iliad (written c. 700 BC) and Genesis (compiled between 900 and 400 BC) exhibit many differences in their concepts of obedience. While the Iliad often condones men who disobey, Genesis...

The ancient Greeks had strict criteria for individuals to follow if they were to be seen as heroes. Above all, a man needed to be a skilled warrior, but this was not the only requirement. To be a hero, a warrior had to respect authority, both...

The Iliad by Homer is an epic poem focused on the wrath of the character Achilles. This wrath guided Achilles to be a great warrior for the Greeks during the Trojan War, but this wrath also extended into his relationships with his fellow Greeks...

The Iliad, in that it is more about the Greek hero Achilles than any other particular person, portrays the Achaean in surprisingly shocking light at times throughout the story. In his encounter with Lycaon, who had previously been taken prisoner...

"Much that is terrible takes place in the Homeric poems, but it seldom takes place wordlessly... no speech is so filled with anger or scorn that the particles which express logical and grammatical connections are lacking or out of place." (from...

The drama found in The Iliad of Homer is not characterized by surprises. The reader always knows what to expect because of the gods' explicit prophecies as well as the behaviors of the mortals. The latter more subtly foreshadows future events. A...

Rank was central in Homeric Greek society. Though first given by one's pedigree, a man's standing in society was affected by his aret (virtue). A man of low rank, unless elderly or a seer, was supposed to be physically weak, unremarkable or ugly,...

When contemplating the ultimate nature of the Greek gods and the ensuing roles they play in human affairs, it is helpful to view instances of divine intervention through the actions of the goddess Athena. Athena occupies a central place in The...

Story-telling and presentation are two literary techniques vital to the development of plot and theme, systematic traditions meant to illustrate the idea of the author in terms of the medium of the narrative. Epic, poetry, and drama all utilize...

The respective endings of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey prove the different world-view that each epic takes. While both concern the era of the Trojan War, the characters in each seem to value two opposing outlooks. A close reading of the concluding...

The Iliad celebrates the heroics of some of the most famous Greek heroes, yet perhaps the most memorable character to appear in the epic poem is the Trojan warrior Hector. Throughout the poem, we get the impression that Homer treats Hector as a...

War is often referred to as being despicable, atrocious, and appalling, but the opposite appears to be true throughout Homer's epic poem, The Iliad. Though Homer does not attempt to portray war as magnificent, he does challenge his readers to...

Since the advent of bartering, materialism has been a prime concern for human beings. Inherent in our human nature is the desire to improve ourselves. This originates as an individualist need for improvement. The only way the individual can...

There is a minor ambiguity in this title, which must be clarified for the purposes of this essay. The emphasis on an impression of the characters changing as you read more of the poem, may indicate the effect on a reader's initial interpretation...