Questions for Iliad 17-20.
Line numbers match Stanley Lombardo’s translation.
Answer the questions whose numbers are the same as the last
digit of your U of AR Identification number.
Due: Friday, September 21, 2007 No late papers allowed.
Click HERE to see the
cover and an excerpt from Christopher Logue’s poem:
all day permanent red
the first battle scenes of homer’s
iliad
rewritten
Iliad 17
1. What do Menelaus and Euphorbus discuss? What are they fighting about?
What is the outcome of their interaction? (1ff).)
2. The poet of the Iliad compares Menelaus to a lion (58)
and a horsefly (578). How are each of these images appropriate in their
contexts?
3. How do Achilles’ horses react to the death of Patroclus? What was
Automedon’s problem? What is Zeus’ reaction to the horses? How does he help?(436-499)
4. How do Athena and Apollo affect the battle over Patroclus’ corpse?
(558-603)
5. How does Zeus use the aegis? (607ff.) How does Ajax recognize its
power? (641ff.)
6. Why is Hector’s donning of Achilles’ armor such a momentous event,
according to Zeus? (181ff.)
7. How does Zeus’ nod (199-209) compare to his nod at 1.549-563?
8. Why does the poet compare Menelaus to a lion? (672)
9. Why does the poet compare Menelaus to an eagle? (689ff.)
10. Why does the poet compare the two Ajaxes to trees? (762ff.)
Iliad 18
11. Why does Achilles say of his dead best friend Patroclus “Damn
him!”? (15)
12. How do Achilles, the women in his camp, Thetis, and the Nereids in
the sea react to Patroclus’ death? (22-68)
13. What does Achilles tell Thetis about his own role in Patroclus’ death?
(85) What does he tell her about the result of mortals mating with the gods?
(91ff)
14. What is Achilles’ wish for his own life, now that Patroclus is dead?
How does he compare himself to Heracles? (99-135)
15. What does Achilles tell Thetis about strife, anger, and pride? (101-138)
16. How does Achilles save Patroclus’ body without armor and without
a fight? How do Iris and Athena help him? (177-255)
17. What plan does Achilles have for Patroclus’ funeral, and for his
own dead body after he dies? How do these plans show his rage and his love?
(345ff.)
18. How is XENIA involved when Thetis comes to Hephaestus’ home? (395-502)
19. What are the major characteristics of Hephaestus’ personality and
physique in this book? (395-460) How is his appearance in book 18 similar
to or different from the picture of him in book 1? (602ff.)
20. After the rout of the Trojans at the shout of Athena and Achilles,
Polydamas advises the Trojans to retreat to the walls of Troy, but Hector
opposes the idea. What reason(s) does Hector give? Why do the Trojans approve
of Hector’s counsel instead of Polydamas’s? (260-334)
21. Why do you think the poet spends so much time describing the Shield
of Achilles? What is its purpose/function in the epic? (515-655)
22. How does the assembly scene on the shield mirror or parallel the
plot of the Iliad? (535)
23. How does the war scene on the shield mirror or parallel the plot
of the Iliad? (548)
Iliad 19
24. How is Achilles’ reaction to his new armor different from that of
the other Myrmidons? (1-29)
25. What reasons does Agamemnon give for his original anger? How much
responsibility does he take for his earlier actions? (88-158)
26. What is Achilles’ attitude towards Briseis in his speech renouncing
his wrath? (68ff) How does this compare to his earlier attitude towards
her? (9.349ff) How do you account for the difference?
27. What is so pathetic about Briseis’ lament over Patroclus? (299-322)
28. How does Achilles’ grief over Patroclus compare to his imagined grief
over the death of his father and son? (338-361)
29. Why won’t Achilles eat? Why does he not starve to death? (322-375)
30. What is unique about Achilles’ spear? What is its history? (415)
31. What is unique about Achilles’ interaction with his horses in this
book? Give details. (427ff)
32. Summarize Achilles’ interaction with his horses (409ff.). What significance
does it have?
Iliad 20
33. What is Zeus’ attitude towards mortals at the beginning of this book?
What in the text supports this? (1-32)
34. Which gods fight on which side? Make a list of the divine allies
of Troy and the Greeks. (35-78)
35. Who is Xanthus? Why is he a natural ally of the Trojans? (see Glossary
of Names, p. 494) What is so elemental about his opposition to Hephaestus?
36. This book deals with gods and their interference with the battle.
The action centers on two important duels: Aeneas vs. Achilles, and Achilles
vs. Hector. Why does Achilles triumph in neither conflict? (352, 455)
37. What is Hades’ role in this book? (65) Cite at least one passage.
38. What is the substance of Poseidon’s conversation with Hera about
watching the battle (115-145)? What does this tell us about their attitude
towards humans, and towards the other gods?
39. What is the substance of Poseidon’s conversation with Hera about
Aeneas (295-325)? What does this tell us about their attitude towards humans?
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