Revised Study Questions--The Iliad #1

  1. As you read, try to find patterns that emerge from parallel passages in the texts; for example, in Book 1:
    1. - quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles
      - interview between Achilles and Thetis
      - interview between Zeus and Thetis
      - quarrel between Zeus and Hera
  2. Think about the ways in which Achilles indulges in "excessive" behavior (i.e., excessive anger, excessive grief, etc). What role does it play in the epic? What is the poet up to?
  3. Study Agamemnon in Bk. 1. Is he a good king? Specifically, how does he show this? What does Khryses request?  Is Agamemnon's response reasonable?  Does his status as a "good king" change over the course of the Iliad?
  4. How exactly does the quarrel which results in the famous "rage of Achilles" develop? Are any peaceable overtures made (and ignored) on either side during it?
  5. Why is Kalchas so worried?
  6. What would the audience find ironic in Agamemnon's mention of his wife in his first speech to the Achaians?
  7. How does deception affect events in the first part of Bk. Two?
  8. Is the duel between Menelaus and Paris credible, coming in the tenth year of the war? What about the "View from the Wall," wherein Helen identifies Greek leaders to Priam, credible in the tenth year of the war? Why does the poet bring it up here?
  9. As of the end of Book 6, what do you think of Hektor and Priam, in contrast to Agamemnon and Achilles? Why? What exactly is each side fighting for?
  10. Is Helen guilty or innocent? How is she portrayed? Think about Hektor's interview with Helen in Bk. 6.  Does it affect your view of  Helen, Priam, and Hektor?
  11. Why does  Homer describe the war scene as he does?  Does he glorify war, or is he making some other comment about it?
  12. What does Book 18 have to do with the Wrath of Achilles?  What do you expect to happen at the beginning of Book 18? Why doesn't it happen? What does the Briseis scene in Book 18 add to the story?
  13. What (if anything) is excessive about Achilles' grief for Patroklos so far? What about at the end of Book 19?
  14. What is going to happen to Achilles eventually? To Hektor? How exactly do we know?
  15. Examine the "reconciliation" scene at the beginning of Book 19. Does either man express exactly what he was initially upset about? To what extent is this a satisfactory "reconciliation?"
  16. To what extent have the expectations of Agamemnon (that Achilles will accept recompense and cool off) and Achilles (that suffering Agamemnon will grovel) been met as of Book 19? Why hasn't Achilles' Wrath ended yet?
  17. Compare Hektor, Patroklos, and Sarpedon. To what extent is each heroic? likable? How do they die? To what extent is each responsible for his death? To what extent are others responsible? Why might the poet be depicting these characters and events in this way?
  18. The "climax" of this poem is Hektor's death; why doesn't the poem end here?
  19. Book 24 ends with three laments.  How are these connected?  Why does Helen gets "the last word?"