When agamemnon refuses and threatens to ransom the girl to her father, the offended apollo plagues them with a. The description of the shield is a digression justified by the fact that hektor now has achilles armor. Sparknotes literature guides make studying smarter, better, and faster. The wrath of achilles seems justified from book i to book ix. Find out what happens in our book 8 summary for the iliad by homer. Beginning in book xxii and extending to book xxiv, achilles again moves from understandable anger, this time over the death of patroklos, to uncontrollable and allconsuming rage in his treatment of the body of hektor. King agamemnon, who leads the achaeans, has brought an illness upon the army by refusing to give up a woman, chryseis, whom he seized as a prize in a recent battle. While achilles is considering this request, flames are seen rising from among the ships, indicating great success for the trojans. 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. Themes and colors key litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the iliad, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. At times the gods take the form of men, as when apollo speaks into hector s ear, persuading him toward a particular course of action or filling him with the strength to push back enemies. To refresh your memory on why aphrodite has a soft spot for paris, check out the backstorys backstory in our summary of book 2. Nestor leaves his tent and immediately sees the carnage surrounding the achaean camp. Athena and hera also depart the scene of the battle.
Adrestos is captured by menelaos and pleads for his life, promising. The iliad sparknotes literature guides by sparknotes. Summary while the battle around the ships continues, patroklos pleads with achilles to be allowed to wear achilles armor and to lead the myrmidons, his troops, into battle. If the author of the sparknotes is known, they should be the first author. Find out what happens in our book 23 summary for the iliad by homer. Agamemnons rejection of chryses in book i leads to all of the events of the iliad. Book v, sometimes referred to as the diomedia, has its own internal unity and may once have constituted an independent poem, or bardic lay, about the exploits of the achaian hero diomedes, which was adapted by homer and included in the iliad. Book iv begins with an argument among the gods in which zeus taunts hera and athena about the possibility of ending the war at once because paris has lost the duel with menelaos. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Seeing what is happening, the goddess aphrodite comes down to help him. However, after heras impassioned argument against the trojans, zeus immediately sends athena to trick pandaros. He meets the wounded captains agamemnon, odysseus, and diomedes. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the iliad. 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.
Find out what happens in our book 18 summary for the iliad by homer. With the gods absent, the achaean forces again overwhelm the trojans, who draw back. Find out what happens in our book 3 summary for the iliad by homer. Agamemnon, afraid that hector s forces will prevail, suggests again that the achaeans should sail for home. When a paper is due, and dreaded exams loom, heres the litcrit help students need to succeed. In the tenth year of the trojan war, achilles, the greatest fighter for the achaeans the greeks and their allies, is enraged. The next morning, zeus rains blood upon the achaean lines, filling them with panic. Achilles wrath is held up for criticism from book ix to book xviii. Paris boldly strides in the front rank of the trojan forces, but he hides when he sees menelaus, helens abandoned husband, in the approaching achaean army. In book viii, the achaian, teucer, hides behind the shield of aias and kills several trojans with his arrows. Please leave these sparknotes editors as the second author and the author of the original work as the last author.
The iliad is not studied by middle or high school students as commonly as homers odyssey, perhaps because the war portrayed in the iliad includes so many individual battles and characters that its 500plus pages become a lot to digest. Achilles kindness to priam in book xxiv ends the warriors. Use sparknotes and no longer weep, ace every single test you take. Paris, the trojan prince who precipitated the war by. At times, the role of the gods can seem metaphorical, explaining strange changes in the. Find out what happens in our book 21 summary for the iliad by homer. 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. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods, including achilles. The gods in homer often take an active interest in the lives of mortals, who are sometimes their children by blood.
Books 1516 book 15 marks the beginning of the end for hector and the trojans, who have reached the height of their power and now face a downhill slope. Many people have noted connections between the last book and the first because both involve a father seeking the return of a child. The conflict began when paris, the son of troys king priam, seized a willing helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, from the achaean king. Although iliad means the story of ilion, or troy, the poem has much more to say about achilles and hector than it. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 17 summary. Odysseus tells the group that they must return to the.
Agamemnon sends him rudely away, and chryses prays to apollo to punish the greeks, which apollo does by sending. This style of fighting is unusual in the iliad and seems almost dishonorable compared to most of the fights. The iliad begins with the poet calling on the muse to sing of the wrath of achilleus and its consequences. From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the sparknotes the iliad study guide has everything you need to ace quizzes. In book i, the initial quarrel between agamemnon and achilles, mediated by nestor, is paralleled at the end of the book by the quarrel between zeus and hera, mediated by hephaistos. Who wrote the iliad a basic level guide to some of the best known and loved works of prose, poetry and drama from ancient greece the iliad by homer ancient greece homer the iliad the iliad homer poem. The conflict began when paris, the son of troys king priam, seized a willing helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, from the achaean king menelaus. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 2 summary. Iliad study guide contains a biography of homer, literature essays, a complete etext, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The iliad begins with the narrator requesting help from his muse in telling his tale. Agamemnons dream and the rallying of the men after they try to return to the ships, and the great catalogue of the greek kings, heroes, and ships that have come to troy. Summary the iliad begins with the narrator requesting help from his muse in telling his tale.
In this introductory piece, the hero of the epic is godlike achilleus. Poseidon comes down to the battlefield and takes the form of calchas the seer. These last three books follow the same structural pattern in achilles rage that the first twenty books did. Achilleus makes fun of him for crying, but patroklos defends himself.
Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 7 summary. Usually considered to have been written down circa the 8th century bc, the iliad is among the oldest extant works of western literature, along with the. From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the sparknotes the iliad study guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays. Hector denounces paris for being more beautiful than brave, and paris doesnt argue. To help the trojans, as promised, zeus sends a false dream to agamemnon in which a figure in the form of nestor persuades agamemnon that he. This sparknote uses robert fagless translation of the iliad, published by. Find out what happens in our book 11 summary for the iliad by homer.
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. With the return of hector and paris the battle escalates, but apollo and athena soon decide to end the battle for the day. 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. In the lives of men, the gods are powerful enough to act as fate, spurring them to. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the iliad and what it means. The quarrel among the gods breaks down into a humorous scene that ironically accentuates the seriousness of the human quarrel.
Summary book six continues on the same day of fighting, and the achaians have the advantage. Throughout the iliad, many of the characters have aristeias. This free study guide is stuffed with the juicy details and important facts you need to know. The presence of these catalogues in the iliad is a good example of the way homer composed his poems on a foundation. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 16 summary. Find out what happens in our book summary for the iliad by homer. With her divine power, she snaps the chinstrap, freeing him. He tells off achilleus for being a jerk, and asks for permission to lead the myrmidons into battleas nestor suggested back in book 11 achilleus agrees, and tells patroklos to take his armor. Zeus concedes that menelaos won the fight with paris see the summary of book 3 for details. The full depth of that development is revealed in his final. He proposes settling the conflict over helen in single combat with menelaus.
However, book i essentially sets up the tension for the rest of the poem. Apollos priest chryses comes to the achaian camp and asks to ransom back his daughter chryseis, who has been captured. A modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, supersummary offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Thanks for exploring this supersummary study guide of the iliad by homer, transl. The cliffsnotes study guide on homers iliad supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. Book 14 of the iliad follows the story of nestor speaking to diomedes, odysseus and agamemnon about how the battle is going. The iliad of homer translated by alexander pope, with notes by the rev. For homer, the trojan war was already an old story passed down for generations, and the poem is presented from the very beginning as a completed story, the will of zeus moving toward its end. The wrath of achilles is finally assuaged in book xxiv. From this vantage point, the end is in sight, and, correspondingly, zeus now outlines the rest of the iliad and beyond, predicting even the eventual fall of troy, which occurs after. The book also weaves in and out of the present of the book, as character often reflect on past events. Hektor is the only character that appears in every single book of the iliad,and homer has developed this character more than any other.
The iliad sparknotes literature guide by homer making the reading experience fun. Find out what happens in our book 16 summary for the iliad by homer. The trojan army marches from the city gates and advances to meet the achaeans. Homer structured the iliad so that at any point he could discuss any subject he chose. The iliad recounts a brief but crucial period of the trojan war, a conflict between the city of troy and its allies against a confederation of greek cities, collectively known as the achaeans.
The the iliad quotes below are all either spoken by hera or refer to hera. He asks the other gods whether they should allow the two armies to resolve their differences peacefully, or, instead, stir up the fighting once again. In his tent, nestor discusses the battle with the wounded machaon. In fact, this structural technique is a basis for the entire work. 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. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one.
The last section of book xviii describes the giant shield that hephaistos, god of the forge, made for achilles. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 4 summary. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 20 summary. Throughout the iliad there is a deep sense that everything that will come to pass is already fated to happen.
1364 400 922 506 542 1250 1506 1354 1432 1504 399 667 539 626 529 881 1522 514 1524 233