Review of class Monday Sept 24

We read Book 5 and discussed the following:

The many contrasts within the text: How family ties are emphasized in describing the Trojans, more so than with the Greeks, how perhaps the audience in the 8th century B.C.E. was more like the Trojans (as portrayed in Iliad) than the Greeks. How this, along with the use of Homeric Metaphor, creates a second level in the narrative, a humble, non-heroic, everyday level.

Here is the plan for the next couple of weeks:

Hector (books 6-7), W 9/26

The Tide of Battle Turns (book 8), F 9/28

The Embassy to Achilles (book 9), M 10/1

Agamemnon (book 11), W 10/3

Fierce fighting, back and forth (books 12, 13), F 10/5

Hera and Zeus (book 14), M 10/8

The Aristeia of Patroclus and Menelaus (books 16,17) W 10/10

(books 10 and 15 will be summarized in class and discussed only in part)

EXAM: FRIDAY OCTOBER 12

Friday, Sept 21 Homework Due

Don't forget the homework. Today in class we will discussing the first, glorious aristea of Athena, examining plenty of gory battlefield deaths, and considering again the way Homeric metaphor reflects the world of Homer's listeners even as he draws them into a remote and far greater world of gods and men.

Read up on Book Five, Diomedes Against the Gods....

Homework due Friday Sept 21

Write out one homeric metaphor from book four. Include the line numbers.
Rewrite it using different nouns- a bit like mad-libs, but make it make sense.
Post it here as comments to this post.
Also post your favorite gory death scene (with line numbers).

For Wednesday, Sept 19th

Finish reading Book Four.

Homework and Quiz

QUIZ friday Sept 14: Kleos, Teemay, the nature of gods, what is special about Achilles, the difference between the "deathless ones" and the "dead ones".

Read Book II.

Sept 10th Review

We began reading the Iliad. Please finish chapter one.
We discussed epithets (as in "sleek-haired leto"), the fate of Agememnon, the general character of the warriors we meet, the nature of "kleos" and "teemay", and the underworld.

Monday, Sept 10

I recommend very strongly that you purchase the Iliad as translated by Robert Fagles- this will be our primary text for the term. We will be using his Odyssey as well. It will come in hand in college- His are by far the most used translation these days.

The paperback is twelve bucks and is on Penguin Classics.

This first part of the term will be devoted to reading and discussing Homer's Iliad. By the time we have finished reading it, each student should be able to discuss the the following topics in addition to understanding the basic narrative of the poem:

Kleos, or honor

Time (tee-may), or the bronze age system of hero's reward

The Homeric Conception of Death & Immortality

Aristeia, or the heroic episode

The Humanity of Hector (i.e. his many very human relationships)

The Humanity of Achilles (i.e. how he reconciles towards death)

Menos, or anger/wrath as central to the Iliad

Relationship between Gods and Men (god to god; men to gods; men to men)

Mortality and Honor (i.e. can the gods have honor?)

Your grade will be determined by how you do on several short quizzes and homework assignments, a midterm, improvement in reading aloud, commentary on this blog, and class discussion. Please feel free to post questions in the comments sections.