GREECE

1. An epic is a long narrative poem that is elevated and dignified in theme, tone, and style. As a literary device, an
epic celebrates heroic deeds and historically (or even cosmically) important events.
2. The apostrophe has been used since ancient times. Homer uses the apostrophe extensively in The Iliad to
enhance the dramatic nature of this epic poem.
3. Achilles is initially angry because the leader of the Greek forces, King Agamemnon, takes a captive woman
named Briseis from him.
4. The Iliad begins in medias res, which is a Latin phrase meaning “in the middle of things.” Homer made this way
of starting an epic famous, and in the case of The Iliad, the poet plunges into his story nine years into the Trojan
War, at the moment when a personal dispute erupts between the Achaean king, Agamemnon, and the greatest
Achaean warrior, Achilles.
Because the poem begins in the middle of things like this, the inciting incident of The Iliad is different from the
inciting incident of the Trojan War itself. Curiously, though, the two inciting incidents mirror each other. The
event that set the Trojan War in motion occurred when Paris, the prince of Troy, stole away from Sparta with
the young woman Helen. Similarly, the event that sets The Iliad in motion occurs when Agamemnon steals from
Achilles a young woman named Briseis, who had come to Achilles among other spoils from victory in battle. In
this way, the beginning of The Iliad symbolically repeats the beginning of the Trojan War. Yet in spite of their
symbolic similarity, these two abductions have opposing effects. Whereas Paris’s abduction of Helen pushes the
Achaean and Trojan armies into battle, Agamemnon’s abduction of Briseis so enrages Achilles that the warrior
removes himself from battle entirely.
5. Agamemnon (also called “Atrides”)
King of Mycenae and leader of the Achaean army; brother of King Menelaus of Sparta. Arrogant and often
selfish, Agamemnon provides the Achaeans with strong but sometimes reckless and self-serving leadership. Like
Achilles, he lacks consideration and forethought. Most saliently, his tactless appropriation of Achilles’ war prize,
the maiden Briseis, creates a crisis for the Achaeans, when Achilles, insulted, withdraws from the war.
Achilles
The son of the military man Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. The most powerful warrior in The Iliad, Achilles
commands the Myrmidons, soldiers from his homeland of Phthia in Greece. Proud and headstrong, he takes
offense easily and reacts with blistering indignation when he perceives that his honor has been slighted. Achilles’
wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of The Iliad
The Achaeans (also called the “Argives” or “Danaans”)
6. The title of Homer's epic is actually from the phrase Ilias poiesis, meaning ''poem of Ilion. '' Ilion is the ancient
name for the city of Troy. So literally, The Iliad means ''poem of Troy. '' The Greek epic is exactly that: a long
poetic account of the Greek siege of the city of Troy.
7. The Iliad is an epic poem, composed around 800-725 B.C. and written down sometime between 725 and 675
B.C.
8. The Trojan War been going by the time the Iliad begins about 9 years.
9. According to the ancient Greek epic poet Homer, the Trojan War was caused by Paris, son of the Trojan king,
and Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus, when they went off together to Troy. To get her back, Menelaus
sought help from his brother Agamemnon, who assembled a Greek army to defeat Troy.
10. The three gods that have strongly hatred for Troy are Hera, Poseidon, and Athena.
11. This device is present in many different types of literature. Though you may not be familiar with this literary
device, you've definitely read or heard it used before. The apostrophe has been used since ancient times. Homer
uses the apostrophe extensively in The Iliad to enhance the dramatic nature of this epic poem.
12. It was Apollo who sends a plague to afflict the Achaean army.
13. He was provoked reluctantly agrees to give Chryseis back, he takes in her stead Briseis, Achilles’s own war-prize
concubine, Feeling dishonoured, Achilles wrathfully withdraws both himself and his Myrmidon warriors from the
Trojan war.
14. Achilles’ old armor most vulnerable to attack is at the neck.
15. One of the most common tragic flaws exhibited by protagonists in Greek tragedies is Hubris, referring to a hero's
excessive pride or self-confidence.