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Office Hours

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Mondays @ 4:30-5:30 on Floor 20

• r by appointment: william.johnson@duke.edu

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Books 6, 9

How did the ancient Greeks read the Iliad?

Formulaic Poetry: Not just formulaic lines however ("brilliant Odysseus", "godlike Achilles" or "Peleus' son" or "Achilles of the swift feet", "the son of Atreus Agamemnon", "man- slaughtering Hector”)

• Type scenes

Examples: sacrificing, feasting, suppliants Note: type scenes tend to reflect what is socially normalizing

• Paradigmatic/exemplary tales

complex tales that reflect on proper/improper behaviors, often with relevance to the main plot line, but usually not exactly parallel

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Book 14

• The Beguiling of Zeus

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

The principal new characters are:

• * the god Sleep, the Graces

Book 14

• The Beguiling of Zeus

Homer’s Iliad Book 14

The Beguiling of Zeus

The charm of this scene is obvious, but we can pause to admire a few details.

• Hera and Aphrodite (not strictly necessary): remember whose side Aphrodite is on!

The ironic reason for Aphrodite's deference: "for you lie in the arms of supreme Zeus.” What does this say about how important the war and rage is to Aphrodite?

• Zeus' strange way of wooing his wife: 14.307ff. Type scene, or at least a pattern we've seen

before (Paris) Who is Hera? (traditionally the jealous wife!) Puts Hera in a laughable position: Zeus is touching a nerve, but she cannot afford to protest!

• So: there are aspects of the scene that are light, even comic.

Homer’s Iliad Book 14

The Beguiling of Zeus

Why is this scene here? It is completely unnecessary for the plot.

• Charming relief from the battle

But also: poignant contrast between the world of the gods, where there is no consequence for one's actions, and the world of men, where the consequence is all too horrible: hundreds die in these few days, fighting over what? honor? glory? loyalty to

• ne's king? what's it all about?
• God's world as one with little sense of loyalty, little of honor-- sex, war, these are all a

game, an inconsequential diversion, an excuse to arouse emotions (passion, whether lust or rage) which however seem hardly, in the end, to matter, or at least do not seem to affect the lives of the gods themselves. Xenophanes, 6th c. "gods are blasphemous"; Aeschylus, 5th c. "mortals learn through suffering"-- how then do the gods learn?

Homer’s Iliad

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

Book 16 The Glory of Patroklos

Homer’s Iliad

Book 16

The principal new characters are:

• Myrmidons: the troops of Achilles

The Glory of Patroklos

Homer’s Iliad Book 16

The Glory of Patroklos Imagery

1. Gore: lines 14.452ff, 480ff, 16.411ff. 2. Similes: Myrmidons, likes wolves 16.160ff, like wasps 263ff , or soldiers like flies 648ff. What sorts of questions/associations/ dissonance are raised by these extended similes?

Homer’s Iliad Book 16

The Glory of Patroklos Zeus

1. Zeus as instrument of justice: 16.391ff. 2. Sarpedon: 439ff. 3. Deciding who is to win: lines 652ff.

Homer’s Iliad Book 16

The Glory of Patroklos Achilles and Patroklos

1. Opening scene and similes 2. Complexity of Achilles: his motivations 
 (concern for the embattled Greeks; sympathy for Patroclus' grief for the Greeks; longing to return to battle and achieve kleos; desire for the gifts which are the basis of his timê, and the sign of Agamemnon's yielding; need to stand by his vow to not return until the Trojans attack his own ships; fear for the safety of Patroclus) 3. Patroklos: atê, hybris 4. Patroklos and the narrator: O Patroklos 5. Patroklos and Hektor