Illiad essays

Illiad essays In the 8th century Homer brought the world the epic tale of war, love, and human spirit. He named this outstanding poem The Iliad. The Iliad begins in the tenth and final year of the great Trojan War. This is the war the Greeks sailed in a fleet of one thousand ships, lead by Agamemnon the king of kings to lay siege to Troy. They sailed to recover the stolen queen of Sparta, Menelaus wife Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships. She was stolen by Paris, the youngest son of Priam, Ruler of Troy. The tale opens with the Greek Warriors in a hard time. Agamemnon had insulted Apollo, and his punishment was nine days plague upon his troops. Achilles, the greatest warrior, called an assembly of the army to rectify the situation. During that, Agamemnon and Achilles fought bitterly. Agamemnon confiscated Achilles slave girl to try and regain control, but his actions angered Achilles so much that he withdrew himself and his great men, the Myrmidons. Achilles mother Thetis, a divine sea-nymph, convinces Zeus to help her son, causing the Trojans to win the war for some time. Eventually things get so bad that Agamemnon sends a delegation to Achilles to offer him compensation and ask him to rejoin the fighting, as he knows from a prophecy that the Greeks will not win unless Achilles is by their side. Achilles declares that he will only fight once the Trojans attack his own ships: at that point, he feels, he will be able to rejoin the battle as a point of personal honour rather than as Agamemnon's hired muscle man. When this happens, Achilles does not return, but sends his best friend and suspected lover Patroclus in his armour, and with the instruction NOT to attack the city. Unfortunately, Patroclus gets caught up in the fighting and, ignores Achilles' instructions, attempts to take the city of Troy himself, and is killed by Hector with the aid of the sun god Apollo. At the death of his friend, Achilles sinks into an untamed ra...