They poured across it in flight, while hera spread a dense fog there to thwart them. Book 1, page 77 the iliad s opening stanza operates as a. He captures 12 trojan youths alive, instructing a comrade to take them to his ship. The treatment of a dead warrior is of central importance for homeric heroes. Rated 4 out of 5 by tommyd555 from engaging work by dr. Book 21, lines 14 he wades into the river leaving his spear on the bank and kills many men, taking twelve captive. Book 20 zeus urges the gods to join in the days fighting to prevent achilleus from storming troy against destiny.
By homer achilleus pins the trojans against the river xanthos not to be confused with achilleuss horse of the same name. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods, including achilles. Discussion and analysis the character of hektor is vividly revealed in his final choice of action. Achilles attacked and killed so many that the river turned red with the blood. His attacks against the trojans are unnecessarily brutal and pitiless. Owen, the story of the iliad london 1947, makes the most striking move by grouping book 23 with 24, thus making it the only book not to receive its own separate discussion. As we read about achilleus rampage on the battlefield and his brutal slaying of hektor, our discussion will explore achilleus anger, its links with the repeated references to patroklos death, his own destiny, and.
Achilles splits the trojan line at the river xanthus. In the first section of book xxi, achilles kills lykaon, a son of priam. Book 20 robert fagles translation analysis segue from previous book and to the next book in book 19, achilles is still grieving over the death of patroclus and still refuses to eat. In books 21 and 22, the gods feuds continue to have parallels to the disputes of the mortals. Achilles and the myrmidons continue to mourn for the death of patroclus at the achaean camp. Homer the iliad book i the great books quest day 1 duration.
Lycaon, whom achilles had captured in a previous battle, begs for mercy, but there is none to be found in achilless heart. The iliad of homer translated by alexander pope, with notes by the rev. A good, complete, detailed modern commentary on the iliad has yet to be written. A lesser man would have hidden behind the wall with the rest of the trojans. Book 21 achilles routs the trojans and splits their ranks, pursuing half of them into the river known to the gods as xanthus and to the mortals as scamander. Analysis book 11 begins with agamemnon s aristeia, or best work in the poem, a passage in which he dominates the fighting and cannot be opposed. In antiquity, a very large number of other works were sometimes attributed to him, including the homeric hymns, the contest of homer and hesiod, the little iliad, the nostoi, the thebaid, the cypria, the epigoni, the comic miniepic batrachomyomachia the frogmouse. With the death of patroclus, any compassion achilles once had is now gone, destroyed by grief and rage. Book 21 achilleus pins the trojans against the river xanthos not to be confused with achilleuss horse of the same name. In these books the reader is presented with the main conflicts, the main characters, and how the gods are involved in the war.
In between occurs the fight between hektor and achilles. The unimportant lykaon is used as a standin for all the lesser characters who have been and will be killed by the heroes of the iliad. How and to what purpose does virgil use ekphrasis in the aeneid 3194 words pages. Some he drove towards the city, over the plain where the greeks had been routed the day before by glorious hectors valour. Homer calls upon the goddess of poetry and inspiration the muse to sing of achilleus anger. One portion of the army heads for the city while another group seeks refuge near. The trojan men spun like locusts swarming up in the air, whipped by rushing fire. Lycaon, whom achilles had captured in a previous battle, begs for mercy, but there is none to be found in achilless. In book 21, achilles continues his killing spree and the.
Jun 03, 2017 homer the iliad, book 21 the battle of the gods. Achilles fights the river achilles pursues the retreating trojans into the xanthus river, choking it with men and horses, then leaps in, slaughtering wildly. There are no episodes of remarkable importance, but note that by the end of the book the greeks are very much getting the best of the battle. This is one of several books which gives us the feel of the back and forth of the battle. Today only the iliad and odyssey are associated with the name homer. However, as the human fighting becomes ever more severe, it seems. Driving the trojans to the ford of the noble river, the eddying xanthus begot of immortal zeus, achilles there cut their force in two. In the lives of men, the gods are powerful enough to act as fate, spurring them to. Achilles also comes across priams son lycaon, who achilles. Follow this link for a detailed summary of the iliad includes a capsule summary, and a summary of which sides the gods take in the iliad. The traditional arming sequence is extended to focus on a detailed description of agamemnons arms and armor. Achilles cuts off the second group and kills many of them as they try to cross the stream. The trojans are described as being like locusts fleeing a fire.
He tells the gods that they have now free rein to get involved just to make sure things dont get out of hand. The ancient greeks had numerous words to express angerlike feelings. The wounds of the gods heal quickly, and nothing can kill them. Use sparknotes and no longer weep, ace every single test you take. Book 21 achilleus brutally slaughters many trojans in the xanthos river, and the rivers of troy attempt to drown him. Hes a oneman murder machine, still driven by his rage. Murray 1 but when they were now come to the ford of the fairflowing river, even eddying xanthus that immortal zeus begat, there achilles cleft them asunder, and the one part he drave to the plain toward the city, even where the achaeans were fleeing in rout the day before, what time glorious hector was ragingthitherward poured forth some in rout, and. On the riverbank, achilles mercilessly slaughters lycaon, a son of priam. Chapter summary for homers the iliad, book 21 summary. Redfields masterpiece on nature and culture in the iliad, originally published in 1975, is a far more supple analysis of the crossings of those terms than the title might suggest, and my reading of scamander is deeply indebted to redfields study of purity and impurity at 160223.
Summary and analysis of book 21 of homers iliad, with a focus on the heroism of agenor. Unfortunatley, these books do not cover the entire iliad. The iliad begins with the poet calling on the muse to sing of the wrath of achilleus and its consequences. Achilles starts to eat gain, but he continues to refuse to wash until patroclus has been buried. Murray 1 the wrath sing, goddess, of peleus son, achilles, that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the achaeans, and sent forth to hades many valiant souls of heroes, and made them themselves spoil for dogs and every bird. Structurally, this book has three early appeals to hektor, begging him to come inside the walls of troy, balanced late in the book by three laments for hektors death. One portion of the army heads for the city while another group seeks refuge near the river xanthos. He also takes twelve captives, as he vowed he would. Critical analysis of the iliad 1714 words bartleby. Chryses, priest of apollo, comes to the greek camp to ransom his daughter, chryseis, held captive by agamemnon. 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. Achilleus leads the greeks, and fights the trojan hero, aineias, son of aphrodite, who is saved by the gods. His dead friend comes to him in a dream that night.
Find a summary of this and each chapter of the iliad. In the iliad, occasional syntactic inconsistency may be an oral tradition effectfor example, aphrodite is laughterloving, despite being painfully wounded by diomedes book v, 375. Homer and his guide 1874 by williamadolphe bouguereau. Iliad books 14 analysis the summit the iliad books 14 set the stage for the rest of the book. First, a version attributed to pindar arna and bt at 435 in which rhesos comes to troy, performs heroic deeds that so alarm here that she sends athene to despatch diomedes and odysseus by night to kill rhesos as he sleeps.
Homer, iliad book 21 theoi classical texts library. Book 21 summary achilles continues an almost murderous rampage, splitting the trojans and driving some toward troy and the rest toward the river. As book twentyone opens, achilleus has forced the trojans into full retreat in two groups. He concentrates on those at the river, killing as he goes, and then decides to choose twelve men to kill as a vengeance for the death of patroklos. Hinkley, patroclus funeral carnes and homers character por trayal, c 81 1986 209 21. Apollos priest chryses comes to the achaian camp and asks to ransom back his daughter chryseis, who has been captured. His denial of lycaons pleas for mercy is one of the iliads most frightening passages. Books 2122 in this section of the epic, the feuds of the gods continue to echo the battles of the mortals. One group runs toward the city and the other runs right into the river xanthos. Which of the following characters do not engage in oneonone combat with each other in the poem. As the fighting between mortals grows more brutal and deadly, fighting between the gods becomes more petty and pointless, bordering on slapstick. To strip a body of its armor shames the dead man and brings glory to the conqueror. Summary in the scholia to book 10 two other versions of the rhesos story are reported. Disquisition and analytical commentary oxford 2011 187.
Achilles slays so many trojans in the river scamander that the river as a. The attention given to lykaon his history and the account of his death makes the incident stand out in the poem. Throughout the iliad there is a deep sense that everything that will come to pass is already fated to happen. The iliad book 21 summary back on the killing fields. By the end of book 21, the trojans are able to retreat to.
Book 1, page 77 the iliad s opening stanza operates as a compressed narrative of the whole poem, identifying the central conflict that moves the plot, achilless allconsuming rage at agamemnon and the destruction it wreaks. Homers epic poem the iliad tells the story of the trojan war and the epic heroes and gods. Get a detailed summary and analysis of every chapter in the book from. As the human battles become ever more grave, however, the divine conflicts in these episodes seem ever more superfluous. Summary achilles pushes the trojan army back, driving a portion of it into the river xanthus also called scamander, where he slaughters huge numbers of enemies. Achilles routs the trojans and splits their ranks, pursuing half of them into the river known to the gods as xanthus and to the mortals as. Sparknotes bookrags the meaning summary overview critique of explanation pinkmonkey. Analysis achilles pursues the trojans to the ford of the river xanthus. This lesson will summarize book 21 of homers the iliad, which finds achilles battling a river and many other gods joining the fight. Achilles chased the trojans to the river where they split into 2 groups 1 went back to the city. The toandfro nature of the tides of war episodes look forward to the battles that swing back and forth in favour of the opposing armies. He says that, now that achilleus has come back to the fight and is super mad, hes worried that troy will be conquered before its time. 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.
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