The Illiad
When I was in elementary school, I found a book in the library that told some of the stories of Greek mythology in clear prose and vivid drawings. Something about the stories in that book caught my attention — I borrowed it several times — and I have ever since had a fondness for Greek culture. I'd love to visit Greece one day. I expect that being exposed to those stories at an early age has probably had some contribution to my skepticism about religion in general, because of the absurdity of some of the stories told by the Greeks.
When I got to university, I decided that I'd like to read The Illiad and The Odyssey in order to get some of these stories straight from Homer. I borrowed the Illiad at least twice then and worked on it studiously, but never made very much headway with my busy schedule of Computer Science and Beer. By then, I also had developed a habit of falling asleep whenever I read anything, which come to think of it may have contributed to my unimpressive university career.
Ten or so years later, I tried again, and failed. Last year, during my attempt to clean up some long-standing tasks from my life, I put reading the Illiad on my reading list for the year, but again the book had to go back to the library before I'd finished it. It's really the Library's fault — they always want their books back too soon.
Finally, a couple of months ago, still working through last year's list, I gritted my teeth and determined to try again. I happened upon a translation that was a little easier to read than the others I had been reading, and I dove in. It wasn't easy, but with some luck (including a trip to a friend's wedding and being sick for a day) I found enough time to finish the book. Victory!
Here's a quick summary: The Achaeans (Greeks) have been fighting the Trojans for years because Paris kidnapped Meneleus's wife Helen. At the beginning of the tale, Agamemnon, Meneleus's brother and king of the Greeks, gets in a fight with Achilles, the best Greek warrior, and takes his wife Briseis at the request of her father. Achilles goes off in a huff and refuses to fight. He also asks his mother, Thetis, to convince Zeus to not let the Greeks have victory over the Trojans without Achilles help, something that one thinks might be overkill since the Greeks hadn't been able to sack the city in the nine years they'd already been trying. Zeus agrees, to the dismay of several of the other immortals.
The rest of the book is a litany that goes something like this:
1. Two warriors approach each other
2. They introduce themselves and give a brief precis of their lineage and family history
3. They trash talk each other
4. One of them immediately kills the other, with a brief description of the injury (eg. spear spattering brains inside helmet)
5. The victor takes the victim's armor.
That's a dramatic simplification, but as a generalization works reasonably well.
At several points, the gods intervene. They usually do this by taking human form and pretending to be someone who is giving advice. Also they seem to spend a lot of time generating mist to hide things, or to temporarily blind people. Interestingly, the gods — although immortal (not born to die) — are not invulnerable. In a couple of cases they are injured during battle and go crying back to Olympus to be healed by Zeus's personal doctor with herbs and balms. I sort of like that idea: the gods aren't innately immortal, they just have the power to get immediate medical attention.
In the end, things get so bad for the Achaeans that Achilles is convinced to fight again, and he sends his buddy Patroclus out to do some battle. Patroclus kicks ass then dies, Achilles gets pissed and now it's "go time". He gets more help from the gods, kills the Trojan warrior Hector, does unspeakable things to his body, is convinced to return the body to Priam (Hector's dad, the King of Troy), and then the story ends.
That's right. No victory, no Trojan horse. It just ends. It's like seeing a "To Be Continued" at the end of a TV show.
Well, I guess the Odyssey is on my list, so I'll get to it eventually, maybe in another 15 years. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to watching the movie.
When I got to university, I decided that I'd like to read The Illiad and The Odyssey in order to get some of these stories straight from Homer. I borrowed the Illiad at least twice then and worked on it studiously, but never made very much headway with my busy schedule of Computer Science and Beer. By then, I also had developed a habit of falling asleep whenever I read anything, which come to think of it may have contributed to my unimpressive university career.
Ten or so years later, I tried again, and failed. Last year, during my attempt to clean up some long-standing tasks from my life, I put reading the Illiad on my reading list for the year, but again the book had to go back to the library before I'd finished it. It's really the Library's fault — they always want their books back too soon.
Finally, a couple of months ago, still working through last year's list, I gritted my teeth and determined to try again. I happened upon a translation that was a little easier to read than the others I had been reading, and I dove in. It wasn't easy, but with some luck (including a trip to a friend's wedding and being sick for a day) I found enough time to finish the book. Victory!
Here's a quick summary: The Achaeans (Greeks) have been fighting the Trojans for years because Paris kidnapped Meneleus's wife Helen. At the beginning of the tale, Agamemnon, Meneleus's brother and king of the Greeks, gets in a fight with Achilles, the best Greek warrior, and takes his wife Briseis at the request of her father. Achilles goes off in a huff and refuses to fight. He also asks his mother, Thetis, to convince Zeus to not let the Greeks have victory over the Trojans without Achilles help, something that one thinks might be overkill since the Greeks hadn't been able to sack the city in the nine years they'd already been trying. Zeus agrees, to the dismay of several of the other immortals.
The rest of the book is a litany that goes something like this:
1. Two warriors approach each other
2. They introduce themselves and give a brief precis of their lineage and family history
3. They trash talk each other
4. One of them immediately kills the other, with a brief description of the injury (eg. spear spattering brains inside helmet)
5. The victor takes the victim's armor.
That's a dramatic simplification, but as a generalization works reasonably well.
At several points, the gods intervene. They usually do this by taking human form and pretending to be someone who is giving advice. Also they seem to spend a lot of time generating mist to hide things, or to temporarily blind people. Interestingly, the gods — although immortal (not born to die) — are not invulnerable. In a couple of cases they are injured during battle and go crying back to Olympus to be healed by Zeus's personal doctor with herbs and balms. I sort of like that idea: the gods aren't innately immortal, they just have the power to get immediate medical attention.
In the end, things get so bad for the Achaeans that Achilles is convinced to fight again, and he sends his buddy Patroclus out to do some battle. Patroclus kicks ass then dies, Achilles gets pissed and now it's "go time". He gets more help from the gods, kills the Trojan warrior Hector, does unspeakable things to his body, is convinced to return the body to Priam (Hector's dad, the King of Troy), and then the story ends.
That's right. No victory, no Trojan horse. It just ends. It's like seeing a "To Be Continued" at the end of a TV show.
Well, I guess the Odyssey is on my list, so I'll get to it eventually, maybe in another 15 years. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to watching the movie.
posted by Brent at 7:59 AM
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