Study Questions: Iliad 1-4.
How can Zeus say ‘no’ to Thetis? How can Hera fail to overhear
their conversation? (See Iliad book 1)
STUDY QUESTIONS: ILIAD 1-4.
(Line numbers correspond to translation by Stanley Lombardo’s
translation)
Hand in answers to the questions that have the same last
digit as your University of Arkansas Identification Number.
Please type. No late answers will be accepted.
Due: Monday, September 10, 2004.
1. What is the first word of the Iliad? (1) What is its
significance for the rest of the poem (or at least for the first book)?
2. Who drives Agamemnon and Achilles to their quarrel? (10) What does
this say about human responsibility? How
is sexual jealousy involved?
3. How does Agamemnon treat Chryses? (34) How does he treat Calchas?
(112) What else do Chryses and Calchas have in common?
4. If you were the commander-in-chief of the Trojan expedition, would
you want to have Achilles under your command? Why or why not?
5. When Athena appears to Achilles, what word does he use to characterize
Agamemnon’s bad behavior towards him? What is the Greek word? (215)
6. What does the scepter which Achilles throws down represent? (248ff.)
7. What is Nestor’s role in the book? What four adjectives would you
use to describe him? (263ff.)
8. How is Nestor among the Achaeans like Hephaestus on Olympus (603)?
9. How does Thetis use body language in her request to Zeus? (525ff)
10. How are Chryses’ two prayers to Apollo similar to each other? (45,
478) How are they different?
11. What action do the Achaeans commit immediately after the return of
Chryseis to her father Chryses? (472) What is its purpose? Why do you think
such religious actions were popular with the ancient Greeks?
12. How would you describe the marital relationship between Zeus and
Hera? (549-643) How does the text support your opinion?
13. How are Thetis’ speech to Zeus (534) and Chryses’ first prayer to
Apollo (45) alike?
14. Why is Achilles so angry with Agamemnon? Why is Agamemnon so angry
with Achilles?
15. What revolutionary activity of the gods against Zeus does Achilles
mention to his mother Thetis? (409) What kind of picture of life on Mt.
Olympus does this show?
STUDY QUESTIONS: IL/AD 2
16. Why do you think that the Dream takes the form of Nestor? (20ff.)
17. Aside from his shoes and sword, what did Agamemnon carry with him
when he got up from his bed? Why do you think he took it? (40ff.)
18. What is the first simile used in this book? (92) Do you think it
is appropriate? How so or not?
19. What does the ancestry of Agamemnon’s scepter signify in regard to
the relation between gods and mortals? (110)
20. How do Athena and Hera keep the Argives from rushing to their ships?
(171ff.)
21. How does Odysseus tailor his exhortations to his audiences? What
does this say about his effectiveness as a leader? (200ff.)
22. How does the scepter play a role in the Thersites episode? (287)
23. Odysseus describes an omen observed at Aulis before the Trojan War.
Who had interpreted the omen at that time? How does the memory of that omen
affect the Argives? (307-359)
24. How is the description of sacrifice in book 2 (425) similar to that
in book 1 (473)? How do you account for the similarities?
25. When the armies gather, the poet compares them to many things (471ff.).
Name four comparisons (similes).
26. Why does the poet invoke the Muses before he recites the list of
soldiers? (521)
27. What oter kind of information does the poet include in the catalog
of the ships? How do you account for: the existence of the catalog in the
epic, and 2) the kinds of information included in it?
STUDY QUESTIONS: ILIAD 3
28. Why does Hector mention Achaean laughter to Paris? (45ff.)
29. How does Paris defend himself against Hector’s taunts about “golden
Aphrodite’s gifts”? (65)
30. Why does Menelaus insist that Priam oversee the truce? (108)
31. Who is Iris? How does her name give us the word iridescent?
(123)
32. To what are the Trojan elders’ voices compared? Why? How do they
react to her sex appeal? (158ff.)
33. What is Priam’s attitude towards Helen? How does Helen describe herself
to Priam? (170ff.)
34. What physical description of Odysseus does the teichoscopia (view
from the wall) show?How does his speech belie his form? (205ff.)
35. How do the Greeks and Trojans involve the gods in their truce? (285ff.)
36. Why does Priam not stay to watch the duel? How does this define his
personality? (325)
37. Why does Menelaus not kill Paris in the duel? (368-409)
38. What physical description of Aphrodite does the epic give? (422ff.)
39. What is Helen’s reaction to Aphrodite’s command? (427ff.)What is
Aphrodite’s attitude towards Helen? (441ff.)What generalization might you
make about the relation between mortals and immortals based on the scene
where they converse? What is the power of sex?
40. How do you account for Helen’s hateful words to Paris, followed by
her worry about his safety? (452ff.)
41. At the end of book three, what does the poet imply about the feelings
of the Trojan soldiers towards Paris? (477) How does their attitude compare
with Hector’s?
ILIAD QUESTIONS: BOOK 4
42. Why does Zeus love Troy, Priam, and the Trojans? (49ff)
43. What are Hera’s three favorite cities, and how does this explain
her hatred for Troy? (60ff.)
44. With what does the disguised Athena tempt Pandarus? How does this
motivate him? (99ff)
45. Comment on the description of Pandarus’ bow. (115ff.) Why do you
think the poet spends so much space describing it?
46. To what is Menelaus’ blood compared, as it stains his body? (152ff.)
How does this match the scene of battle?
47. What is Agamemnon afraid that Trojans will say about him if Menelaus
dies at Troy? (162-198) How much does he worry about his brother, and how
much about himself?
48. How does Machaon, the army doctor, treat Menelaus’ wound? Who is
his (Machaon’s) father? Who supplied his salves? (209-234)
49. How did Agamemnon rouse the Achaeans to battle after Menelaus’ wounding?
What motivates these soldiers? (239ff.)
50. How does Odysseus react when Agamemnon upbraids him for cowardice?
(348ff.)
51. How does Agamemnon compare Diomedes to his father Tydeus? (388ff.)
52. How does Diomedes’ reply to Agamemnon’ s rebuke contrast with that
of his charioteer Sthenelus, son of Capaneus? (428ff.)Which attitude is
better for the Argives? Why?
53. Why do the heroes drag their fallen enemies (and their fallen comrades)
out of combat? (502, 551, 575, etc.)
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