O nestor, son of neleus, great glory of the achaeans, wherefore hast thou left the war, the bane of men. Book 14 begins in flashback mode, carried over from the last book. The iliad is an ancient greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to homer. The iliad is an epic poem by homer that tells the story of several weeks in the last year of the decadelong trojan war in the greek camp, agamemnon and achilles, the greeks. They are silent for a few seconds until alcinous speaks to assure odysseus that he will be returned safely to his home and to insist on even more gifts for the guest.
The removal of the river god makes it easier for the achaeans to burn troy later in the story. This study guide consists of approximately 114 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of the iliad. Odysseus wheels on him and declares this notion cowardly and disgraceful. Nestor calms everyone and says its time to approach achilles. Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of homers epic poem the iliad. Well, the first place you could look is the enotes summary on homers iliad.
He has made a fatal decision, and the deaths of sarpedon, patroklos, hektor, achilles himself, and the. Summary the achaians are forced to take refuge behind their wall while the. Poseidon, eager to help the achaeans and realizing that zeus has. In the tenth year of the trojan war, tensions are running high among the achaians a superancient name for the ancient greeks. Homer begins by asking the muse to help him sing the story of the rage of achilles. The story opens in the ninth year of war between troy and the achaeans, when a plague has swept over the achaean army. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the iliad mentions or. Nestor is debating whether he should go join the battle himself, or whether he should go report to agamemnon. Homers iliad begins during the tenth year of the trojan war and opens, like most epic poems, with a request for inspiration from the appropriate muse. Agamemnon proposes giving up and setting sail for home.
He meets the wounded captains agamemnon, odysseus, and diomedes. The narrative begins nine years after the start of the war, as the achaeans sack a trojanallied town and capture two beautiful maidens, chryseis and briseis. Hera sends a mist to confuse and slow the retreat of the men going back towards the city. The outcome of achilles anger is the will of zeus, but it also killed a huge number of achaean soldiers. Agamemnon fears losing and proposes sailing away while the army still fights. Course heros video study guide provides indepth summary and analysis of book 14 of homers epic poem the iliad. The men scan the battlefield and realize the terrible extent of their losses. At every setback he thinks zeus has abandoned his promise of victory.
She comically takes advantage of aphrodites good will to manipulate zeus on his weakest point, his fondness for beautiful woman. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19. See a complete list of the characters in the iliad and indepth analyses of achilles, agamemnon, and hector. After hes done helping the injured healer machaon, nestor steps out of the tent to see how the battles going. He notes that menelaus is the victor, and that he should now lead helen home. Book xiv continues the great battle near the achaian ships but adds a new. The homeric poems the iliad and the odyssey are epic, because our concept of epic comes from homeric poems. Analysis as the story finally returns to achilles in book 16, his rage may be waning a bit, but his injured pride is still as fresh as ever. The poet invokes a muse to aid him in telling the story of the rage of achilles, the greatest greek hero to fight in the trojan war. Zeus begins to taunt hera, mocking her and athena for standing by while aphrodite rescues paris. Hera explodes with anger, saying that she wont let the duel stop her effort to destroy troy. Achilles follows the trojans into the river, hacking them to pieces with his sword. Analysis this episode is the second turning point in the tragic story of achilles. Then lord agamemnon lifted up his voice and spake to him.
In his tent, nestor discusses the battle with the wounded machaon. The story covered by the iliad begins nearly ten years into the seige of troy by the greek forces, led by agamemnon, king of mycenae. The greeks are quarrelling about whether or not to return chryseis, a trojan captive of king agamemnon, to her father, chryses, a priest of apollo. The iliad is an ancient greek epic poem by homer that was first published in 762 bc. The only thin remaining to indicate that a great war was fought at all is the story itselfthe iliad. Zeus is pleased with the progress of the war, and he leaves the battlefield. Nestor was sitting over his wine but the cry of battle did notescape him and he said to the son of aesculapius what noblemachaon is the meaning of all.
Zeus, happy with the wars progress, takes his leave of the battlefield. Hector loves and cares deeply for his family while achilles shares a bond of brotherly love with patroclus. The poem was divided according to what could be transcribed onto one scroll without the scroll becoming too long and thus breaking. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19 book 20 book 21 book 22 book 23 book 24. On a previous encounter, achilles captured lycaon and. Homers story the iliad is a book length poem that tells of the trojan war. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Diomedes, odysseus and agamemnon come to him, tired from the battle.
Glaucus swam to the island of circe, a crazy sorceress lady. Poseidon comes down to the battlefield and takes the form of calchas the seer. The foray of diomedes and odysseus is a foray behind enemy lines by men without scruples. Later in the middle ages, dante noted this aspect of the passage and placed diomedes and odysseus in the 8th circle of hell, bolgia, the evil counselors. He cannot decide whether to search for agamemnon or to join the soldiers defending the ships. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods. Her signature move was transforming people into animals. The vivid and gory descriptions of battle contrast with moments of kind and loving behavior, which humanizes many of the fiercest warriors in the iliad. These movements end in books xv, xvi, and xvii when the trojans fire the greek ships, patroklos is. Book 14 of the iliad is one of the more interesting sections of homers epic tale. Check out our revolutionary sidebyside summary and analysis.
Nestor leaves the wounded machaon in his tent and goes to meet the other wounded achaean commanders out by the ships. First, the priest chryses comes to ask their leader, king agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom agamemnon was holding captive. The book opens with the explanation that in the future the wall will be completely destroyed by. Odysseus contemptuously rejects the idea, and diomedes offers a better plan. He still has faith in zeuss promise of their victory. The fighting that began in book v continues in book vi. Odysseus tells the group that they must return to the battle, even it is just to encourage the soldiers on the ground. Set during the trojan war, the tenyear siege of the city of troy ilium by a coalition of greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the. Thus disguised, he encourages the two aeantes great ajax and little ajax, when they are named as a pair and gives them new strength before he flies away. Nestor hears the mounting cries of the battle and puts on his armor. Nestor, resting back by the ships, hears the cries of battle and watches as the trojans seem to gain the upper hand. Heres where youll find analysis about the poem as a whole. Hearing the sounds of battle, nestor gathers the wounded achaean commanders.
Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods, including achilles, hector, odysseus, athena, ares. He will beat down his rage at agamemnon and return to the fight. The vein referenced in this passage is an example of literary conceit. In the overall structure of the epic, this fighting involves three large movements between the ships and the city. Book 1 of homers the iliad begins with homer invoking the muse, asking for help in telling the story. Agamemnon fears they must sail home, but diomedes argues against such cowardice. What follows is a very brief summary from each book of the iliad.
Little ajax knows then that some god has spoken to them, and the aeantes spirits rise. Book 14 of the iliad starts with the achaean nestor finishing up his care for the injured machaon. At the beginning of book 14, top achaean commander agamemnon must once again be talked out of giving up and sailing away. Analysis homer begins by asking the muse to help him sing the story of the rage of achilles. Check out our revolutionary side byside summary and analysis. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods, including achilles, hector, odysseus, athena, ares, paris. Agamemnon offers great treasurethe return of briseis, future plunder, one of his daughters, and seven citiesto achilles if he will fight again and. The events in book x are still violent, but there is no honor or nobility to offset the brutality. Phoenix also tells a story of conflict with his own father, recounting that his exile led him to. If that sounds too circular, then just bear in mind that the iliad is an extremely long narrative poem, which deals with the heroic actions of mortals, gods, and demigods. Please note that these chapter divisions did not exist in the original telling of the story.
Book xii, sometimes called the book of the wall, completes the first grand sweep of trojan successes as homer builds up to the reentry of achilles. He goes out into the fray to be stunned by the spectacle. Joseph campbell condensed his understanding of story into a theory he called monomyth, also known as the heros journey or the. Read an overview of the entire poem or a line by line summary and analysis. The main story, which we havent caught up to yet, is about aeneas and his wanderings. When agamemnon refuses and threatens to ransom the girl to her father, the offended apollo plagues them with a.
Achilles has a bad feeling that patroclus is dead even before menelauss messenger arrives. He continues to act without humanity, showing no concern for the fate of the achaean armyin stark contrast to patroclus, who is in tears over their plight. Achilles singlehandedly splits the trojan forces, driving one half towards the city and one half into the river. Seeing defeat as inevitable, he proposes dishonorable survival, sailing away while part of his army still fights. This contains a book by book summary and analysis of homers epic poem. Nestor grabs his sons shield and heads out to the battle. The iliad and odyssey are both divided into 24 books. Upon hearing the news, achilles tears his hair in sorrow and curses anger that drives the sanest men to flare in outrage. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the iliad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. They ask him why he is not fighting in the lines and tell him that hector plans to burn. Nestor leaves his tent and immediately sees the carnage surrounding the achaean camp.
1542 976 410 946 871 378 1048 1546 1552 1426 8 1489 594 1214 640 597 676 1237 334 1177 1368 566 1550 1185 127 1238 639 530 1249 1156 1317 1350 33 1271 1424 290 11 1069