[Iliad1] Questions for Books 1-8 of Iliad

[Andre Stipanovic]

To: Iliad1 group
From: Andre Stipanovic
Subject: Questions for Books 1-8 of Iliad

Hey everyone,

Happy new year! I hope you are enjoying Iliad Books 1-8. 

Below are two sets of questions: 
- General questions for everyone to look at
- Specific questions which I'll assign to individual readers to think about

These questions were prepared by a team of readers and scholars from
Reading Odyssey. But don't be intimidated by these questions. The most
important thing to do is to do the reading itself. 

I look forward to our first session next Monday, January 9, 2012 @8 ET.

Thanks,

Andre Stipanovic

General questions
---------- 
Every reader should read through these first three questions.

1. Oral poetry
Homer’s poems come out of an oral tradition that was hundreds of years
old before it was written down. Homer himself, if he really existed, may
have lived on the cusp of the era of literacy, perhaps in the first
generation of poets who had the means to write down, and reshape with
writing, these oral songs.
Consider these questions:
- What was surprising to you about the language and style of Homer? Was
there anything that was initially difficult that became enjoyable?
- Jot down one or two examples of your favorite passages or phrases.
- How do you think oral poetry, or oral culture, may be different from
written?
- Modern readers also live at the cusp of a new media era, the dawn of the
digital age. How do you think the means of transmission (the "media")
affect styles of literature? 

2. The gods
To read Homer for a modern reader is to grapple with the gods. 
Consider these questions:
- Are the gods merely puppet masters or is something else going on?
- The first scene on Olympus (pp. 14-17) gives an early opportunity to
understand the gods and their role in the poem. What's going on here? What
do we learn?
- What does the appearance of lame Hephaestus (p. 17) show us about the
world of the immortals, where injuries and torments end up as jokes in the
course of centuries, and that of humans, which is bounded by death?

3. Achilles and the heart of the Iliad
Homer jumps right in with the stunningly forceful depiction of the angry
Achilles: those first few lines of Iliad are gripping. Readers may be
tempted to see Achilles as spoiled or whiny, or to regard his fight with
Agamemnon as a jealous scrap over a girl.
Consider these questions:
- Did it annoy you that the great poem seemed to be driven by something so
banal or, depending on your perspective, such a tired (and "sexist")
cliché as men fighting over a woman? (Note: we write this with some irony
knowing that the whole Trojan was, of course, a fight over a woman)
- As you read through the first books did you find yourself grappling with
whether there is something deeper going on? Or something more relevant?
What did you decide? 
- And did the answer to that question inform the other question that most
every reader has: why has this poem lasted so long?

---------- 
Questions To Be Assigned
---------- 

These questions will be assigned to individual readers by me the moderator
(I'll send out assignments soon). Those assigned will prepare some
thoughts ahead of time to help kickoff the discussion.

---
Book 1: Honor
What is “honor” and why is it so important to the Greeks? To the gods?
How is Achilles able to give up Briseis without fighting for her? 

---
Book 2: Dreams, Thersites and history
At the beginning of Book 2, why do you suppose that Zeus decides to use a
dream to carry out his “will” (see p. 1, line 7)? 
Why should the will of Zeus (the king of the gods) be carried out by means
of a deceptive dream? 
Thersites (pp.23-4) is one of Homer’s most vivid characters, and the
only one who is not noble in lineage and appearance. Why would Homer
include him? Is Odysseus right to abuse him so violently? Does Homer find
him sympathetic, or vile?
The so-called Catalogue of Ships is supremely boring for first-time
readers but also offers an opportunity to discuss the Iliad’s
relationship to history. Did Homer, or his original audience, regard this
poem as a historical narrative? To what degree should we?

---
Book 3: Paris and Menelaus duel; Helen and Troy
What are Paris’ strengths and weaknesses? How are both portrayed in Book
3 on the battlefield? Why does Menelaus agree to the duel?
Our first look inside Troy is dominated by Helen, her lover Paris, and the
sexualized, domestic life they share. Discuss how Homer uses this domestic
world, as he uses Olympus, to pose contrasts with the principal sphere of
action, the battlefield. What are the values and qualities of the
household, and of women (as seen through Helen)? How do they compare with
the values of the warrior? How does Homer regard Paris, the warrior who
most easily crosses over to the domestic world?

---
Book 4-5: The war revives
How and why does Zeus provoke Hera in the opening lines of Book 4? Is Hera
really able to somehow persuade Zeus to prolong the war and allow the
suffering of mortals to continue? Or was this still Zeus’ will all along?
Which side, Trojan or Greek, is favored in any way in these opening
moments of battle? Is Homer pro-war or anti-war?
What about yourself - were you rooting for peace even though you knew more
battles were coming? Were you disappointed or excited (or something else)
when the two sides 'tripped' into battle?
The poem’s first major battle scenes offer an introduction to the
conventions of Homeric warfare: One-on-one duels accompanied by exchanges
of speeches, long lists of casualties with details of their wounds,
interventions by gods. These points all call for discussion, especially
the second: Why does Homer record so many deaths, even of minor
characters, and discuss their maimings in such detail? Does the answer to
this question relate to the question above - i.e. Homer's pro or anti-war
position?

---
Book 6: The force of war
At the beginning of Book 6, should Menelaus take Adrastus prisoner? Why
are Diomedes and Glaucus talking to each other about their lineage? What
do we learn about Hector as he withdraws to the city of Troy temporarily?
How effective are the Trojan prayers to Athena? What does this tell about
ancient worship practices? 
As Hector and his wife Andromache converse, what is the tension between
them? How does Homer try to make us sympathize with Paris at the end of
Book 6? (Consider especially the simile on p.127).
The scenes inside Troy show us Hector’s connections to his family,
including scenes with his mother, wife, son, and brother. As Hector’s
son Astyanax cries (pp. 125-126), how does this exemplify the effect of
war on the younger generation? Discuss how such familial relationships, or
the lack of them, define some of the poem’s main figures, especially
Achilles (note that Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus, is nowhere mentioned in
the Iliad and seems not to exist; indeed Homer seems to portray Achilles
as a man too young to have a grown son.)

---
Book 7-8. Hector and Ajax duel; divine and human; Homer's cinematic
moments. 
What terms or conditions does Hector propose for an individual duel? What
does it take to get Greek warriors to volunteer to fight against Hector?
What does this say about Hector’s formidability? How does Hector react
to being pitted against Ajax? Who stops the duel and under what authority
is this demand made? 
A long stretch of battle, punctuated by a long scene on Mt. Olympus (pp.
131-4), offers more contrasts between the divine and human worlds. Discuss
how Homer portrays leadership and authority in human figures like Menelaus
and Hector, as compared with the god Zeus. How does a divine king wield
power, as compared with a mortal one? Does Homer offer any judgments about
Zeus’ exercise of power?
The pace of the poem changes in Book 8 - it shifts into high gear. Modern
readers may describe the experience of reading Book 8 as "cinematic." What
was your experience? How does Homer change the pace and quicken the heart
of readers? Why does he do so at this point in the poem?


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