Iliad Book One

·       10^th year of the Trojan War.

·       Greek force on shore near Troy.

·       Agamemnon offends Chryses (Apollo’s priest) as he refuses to return his daughter for ransom.

·       Chryseis is Chryses’ daughter. He comes from Chryse.

·       Apollo sends a plague on the Greeks.

·       Special assembly called by Achilles, Agamemnon agrees to return her if he takes Briseis (Achilles’ woman).

·       Achilles feels dishonoured and angry so he withdraws from the war.

·       Thetis asks Zeus to avenge Achilles with war on the Trojans. This means Achilles is responsible for the death of Greeks. They suffer because of him. This is because if they die, they would be desperate to get Achilles back and see how vital he is. However, this backfires and Patroklos dies.

·       There is an argument between Zeus and Hera which is settled by Hephaistos (who makes Achilles’ new shield). He is their son.

·       There is ring composition because the book starts with mass death and tragedy between the mortals, yet ends with laughter between the immortals. This shows the divide and highlights how immortals don’t usually suffer and are more significant.

·       The original book begins with the word ‘Menis’ which means anger. This represents Achilles’ divine anger. This is usually only applied to Gods, yet is used to describe Achilles, which shows how they felt about him; he is special and almost super-natural.

·       The words ‘Dios Boule’ translates to Zeus Plan, which shows that Zeus’ will also have meaning beyond the Iliad. His will could be the anger, the loss of men in the Achaians etc. It is not clear what Homer is pointing to.

·       Kalliope is the goddess at the start of the first paragraph, and she could be seen as omniscient and with a neutral view. She has the ability to evoke memory; she is the muse.

·       “Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilleus…” – Referencing an outside muse.

·       “…son of Peleus…” – Parent/child relationship.

·       The first paragraph starts and ends with the mention of Achilles.

·       “…making their bodies the prey to dogs and the birds’ feasting” – Animalistic imagery.

·       “…this was the working of Zeus’ will.” – Role of Zeus.

·       The primary narrator is the storyteller. The secondary narrators are the characters.

·       The primary narrator asks “Which of the gods was it who set these two to their fighting?” The muse will answer.

·       “…the son of Zeus and Leto” – Apollo.

·       The primary narrator doesn’t give anything away about Homer, showing it isn’t time specific.

·       The invocation is what set the scene for future epics. It asks the muse to inspire them with song: “Sing, goddess”.

·       “Godlike Achilleus” – One of his epithets, showing he is more powerful than a mortal yet not fully immortal.

·       Achilles spends basically the whole poem being angry.

·       A secondary narrator telling someone a story is talking to the secondary narrates.

·       The epic is in…