Notes on Homer's Iliad
======================
by Paul Gorman

(This file, iliad_notes.txt, is formated, more or less, in markdown.)

I'm rereading the _Iliad_, reading it for the first time as an adult. I own the Robert Fagles translation and the Stanley Lombardo translation. Both are fine translations. The Lombardo, for me, better communicates the visceral power of the poem, and makes reading Homer more than an (however laudable) academic exercise.

Ilium is another name for Troy. Calling the poem "Troy" is not just a reference to the city, but a name to evoke the defining struggle of a generation, akin to "Pearl Harbor" or "9/11".

The poem covers only a small portion of the later part of the decade long Trojan War, not the war's beginning and not its end. As a kind of synecdoche, though limited in scope, the poem addresses the entire war.

### The Judgement of Paris

Though only briefly alluded to in the _Iliad_ (Book 24), the judgement of Paris is a sort of prelude to Homer's epic.

Zeus hosts a wedding feast for Peleus and Thetis, future parents of Achilles. Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. In retaliation, Eris plants a golden apple at the feast, inscribed with the words "for the fairest one". Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claim the apple. Zeus volunteers Paris to adjudicate the dispute. All three goddesses try to bribe Paris: Hera offers to make him king of the known world, Athena offers him wisdom and skill in arms, and Aphrodite offers Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world--Helen. Paris gives the apple to Aphrodite.

Paris was a Trojan, so Hera and Athena were positioned against Troy in the war.

Book 1
------

The word used for Achilles' wrath in the opening line is normally only used when referring to the anger of gods.

I've heard speculation (I can't remember where) that Achilles had fallen in love with Briseis. That would make his anger at being deprived of booty something of a bluff. It would also make his grief (crying for his mother) more genuine (or less callous to a modern reader).

If Achilles' primary emotion is not of bruised pride or being lovelorn, then it is anger (and this is the story of Achilles rage after all). In that case, it would seem that Achilles is feigning or exaggerating this saddness in order to secure his mother's aid in service of revenge. Achilles plays his mom.