PLEASE REFER AND QUOTE THE ACTUAL READING NOT THE ENTIRE TEXT. HAVE A REFERENCE
PLEASE REFER AND QUOTE THE ACTUAL READING NOT THE ENTIRE TEXT. HAVE A REFERENCE PAGE REFERING TO THE TEXT BUT ALSO THE READING THAT IS IN THE ASSIGNMENT. QUOTE THE ACTUAL READING AND PAGE NUMBERS.
PLEASE NUMBER THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Questions for last two books of Iliad: As you read along with the epic, make some notes when you get to a section that concerns the question at hand. Please do cite line numbers after your quotes (lines) where quotes are required.
Book 22, “The Death of Hektor”
Early in Book 22, we see the god Phoibus Apollo tricking Achilles. Remember, the gods take sides in the epic, and Apollo helps the Trojans. Previously in Book 21, Achilles has now returned to the battle in his new armor, and he fights fiercely against the Trojans, killing many, and seeking the Trojan warrior, Hektor, especially.
So, the gods are on the battlefield, and Apollo favors the Trojans. Apollo has rescued many Trojans by deceiving Achilles and Apollo tells Achilles to stop chasing him (because he is a god and Achilles is not). Hektor waits for Achilles outside the walls of Troy (aka Ilion) in lines 14 to 20.
We meet King Priam, Hektor’s father, who begs Hektor not to face Achilles alone and to come inside the walls.
Question 1: Why does King Priam beg Hektor to come inside the Trojan walls, to escape Achilles? Note how Priam is talking about Achilles as a “hard man,” who will soon be dead and “the dogs and vultures would eat him” (lines 41-44). Be specific and thorough and quote for support.
In my lecture notes, I mentioned fame, glory, excellence as paramount in the Greek epic warrior/hero. Remember Hektor and Poulydamas had an argument in Book 18? Poulydamas wants to avoid Achilles’ wrath, but Hektor does not take Poulydamas’ advice. Now, in Book 22, Hektor remembers the argument.
Question 2: Why does Hektor not go back behind the city walls into Troy as his parents beg him to do? Be specific and thorough and quote for support.
Another confusing passage occurs because of the interference of Athene. After Achilles and Hektor have run around the city walls three times, arriving at the gate for the fourth time, the “Father” balances the scales and Hektor’s death weighs more (128, lines 208-213). I have no idea who this Father is, unless he is Father Time (Kronos, as in chronological) who judges who dies when. Abandoned by his protector Apollo, Athene comes to the aid of Achilles with a plan: she disguises herself as Deiphobos, Hektor’s brother: she tricks Hektor. Hektor, believing that he has a companion in the fight, advances towards Achilleus. Lines 227-47.
Question 3: What promise does Hektor ask of Achilles as he is dying? Does Achilles agree to Hektor’s promise or not? Use your own words or quote for support.
Hektor warns Achilles not to go too far (Lines 355 -361). We will see more about excess later, in see Book 24, 136 and notes below).
Note his treatment of Hektor’s body (132, lines 395-405). When I mentioned in the first set of notes that “Homer” attempts to honor both sides, we can see here the sympathy for the Trojan hero in the poignant line, “So all his head was dragged in the dust” (132, line 405).
And we must make this point clear as it is easy to skim over: Achilles remembers that before going to Priam and discovering the Trojans’ purpose, he must do something, take some sacred action: he must bury his friend , Patroklus: lines 378-60 in Book 22, page 132.
Unlike Penelope, Odysseus’ patient and clever wife from the Odyssey, there are not many significant women in Iliad. We have had the booty-women, Chryseis and Briseis, and now in Book 22, we hear the speeches from Hektor’s mother, Hekabe, and his wife, Andromache.
Question 4: At the end of Book 22, what is Hektor’s wife, Andromache, worried about in this passage? Be specific and either quote for support or use your own words to answer.
Book 24, “Achilles and Priam”
The games referenced in line 1 of Book 24. The Greeks played games at the funerals of their nobles. Achilleus’s wrath has “outraged great Hektor.” Achilleus has gone into a furious revenge mode for Patroklus’s death (Book 24, lines 133- 40; Thetis speaks to Achilleus on behalf of Zeus). Here we see some moral code (what is acceptable behavior and what goes too far), according to the gods, who “were filled with compassion (Book 24, 135, lines 14- 23). Phoibos Apollo speaks words to the gods about Achilleus having no shame and having “destroyed pity” in disrespecting Hektor by harnessing horses to drag his body (lines 44-54). A matter of pride is debated by Hera and Zeus (who seem to always be arguing)! Here they make a point about who is mortal and who is not. Zeus, the big daddy god, sets up a plan. See pp. 136- 137 in Gateways, lines 71-76.
We find out that for nine days Achilleus has been abusing the body of Hektor. The plan mentioned above is repeated when Zeus summons Thetis, Achilleus’ mother, on page 137, lines 104-19).
Question 5: What is Zeus’s plan? Be sure to include Thetis. Be thorough and either use your own words in a summary of the plan or quote for support.
Zeus assures Priam that Achilleus will not kill him (line 158). As a reader, we may have trouble believing this promise!
Priam and his household have been mourning (take a look at his mourning rituals on page 138, lines 162-64). After assurances about his safety, Priam argues with his wife, Hekabe, and decides to go with just one attendant (although he has the help of Argeiphontes, or Hermes, the winged messenger, like on the Nike sneaker label ✔). Priam, insults the surviving Trojan soldiers and even his remaining nine sons, prepares to go, and he gathers some treasure for ransom (140).
Disguising himself in order to help Priam make the dangerous voyage to the Greek ships where Hektor’s body remains unburied, Hermes pretends to be a Greek warrior (143, lines 390-97). The tactic to get Priam to trust him comes from the fact that Achilleus let his men die as he refused to fight the Trojans (same insult that Hektor threw at him before his death; his own men and Patroklus felt that Achilleus had betrayed them due to his hubris, pride, in his refusal to fight after his prize was taken by Agamemnon). Hermes reveals himself to Priam on page 144, lines 460-64). So, Priam enters Achilleus’ tent alone. Pay close attention to pages 145, lines 471 – 55: “I put my lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children” (145, line 506).
Question 6: In Book 24, Why does Achilleus agree to return Hektor’s body? You may mention the gods and the mom, but zero in on the human reason and quote for support. See pages 145 – 146.
Question 7: Do you think Achilles admires Priam, and why or why not? You may quote or use your own words for support.
After Priam has negotiated to bring his son’s body home, Achilleus has reconciled and become less “wrathful,” although he can still be dangerous (146 – 147, lines 559 to 571.
Achilleus, hoping to have his friend or lover forgive his actions directed by his mother and the gods, speaks: “Be not angry with me, Patroklos, if you discover, / though you be in the house of Hades, that I gave back great Hektor / To his loved father” (147, lines 593 -95). Note the comparison to an old Greek myth about Niobe, who seems to have survived in spite of her sufferings. Note the theme of forgiveness; certainly not forgetting, but a kind of return to a communal behavior and understanding. I find it a bit ironic that Achilleus gives Priam advice about not grieving!
Question 8: What is happening in Book 24, page 147, lines 570 -594. In your answer be sure to say who lifts the corpse of Hektor onto the litter or bier. You need to use a quote for support.
By the way, Briseis, stolen by Agamemnon in Book 1, sleeps in Achilleus’s bed (149, line 676).
Note that the funeral for Hektor takes place over 12 days. War will resume after the funeral.
Speeches by the women conclude the epic, including one by Helen.
Question 9: At the end of Book 24, why does Helen mourn and praise Hektor? Troad means land and roads and rivers ruled by Trojans. Remember why Helen is at Troy to begin with in your answer (go to my notes on background).
