长沙安吉尔净水器售后:《荷马史诗》的教学课件

《荷马史诗》
(李民)?
《荷马史诗》的形成?
荷马史诗《伊利昂纪》和《奥德修纪》(又译《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》)是古希腊两部最早的文学作品，也是欧洲文学史上最早的重要作品。?
关于其作者和形成过程，历来多有争论。目前，比较一致的看法是这样的：?
公元前十二世纪初期，在小亚细亚的特洛伊发生过一次历时十年之久的部落战争。战争结束后，在小亚细亚和希腊各地流传着很多关于这次战争的歌谣传说，大多以歌颂战争中的英雄人物为主要内容。这些歌谣由民间歌人世代相传。到了公元前九至八世纪，一个名叫荷马的民间盲歌人，以其高超的艺术才能对这些长期流传于民间的歌谣进行加工整理，编成了两部完整的长诗。这也就是“荷马史诗”这一名称的由来。?
不过，这时的史诗还只是以口头的民间歌谣的形式存在的。史诗成为文学作品在公元前六世纪。当时，雅典的学者们在执政官庇士特拉图的要求下把史诗记录了下来并使其基本定型。以后又经过长期的流传和演变，到了公元前三至前二世纪，才由埃及亚历山大城的学者们最后编定。(当时由于马其顿王国的兴起，希腊沦为其国土的一部分，文化中心也从雅典转移到亚历山大城。)?
由此可见，荷马史诗的编写经历了古希腊从氏族社会晚期到奴隶社会衰落这样一个漫长的历史过程，并不是荷马个人的创作，而是以民间歌谣为基础，由集体与个人智慧相结合而形成，最后由文人学者编定的。?

《荷马史诗》的主要情节?

荷马史诗中所描写的特洛伊战争，经考古发掘证明确有其事。特洛伊城(古称伊利昂)位于小亚细亚西北海岸，曾是爱琴海文明时期一个重要的文化中心，物产丰饶，商业繁荣。公元前十二世纪初，希腊半岛上一些文化发展相对落后的部落，曾经组成联军，渡过爱琴海向特洛伊发动进攻。战争持续了整整十年，最终以特洛伊城被焚毁而告终。从历史学的角度来看，这是一场处于氏族社会晚期的古希腊人为掠夺财富和奴隶而进行的一场部落战争。但是在荷马史诗中，这场战争却是另外一番景象，具有浓厚的神话传说的色彩，这自然是与早期希腊文明史上神话的繁荣分不开的。?
《伊利昂纪》的主要英雄阿基琉斯的父母举行婚礼时，忘记了邀请不和女神厄里斯。这位女神便伺机报复，在宴席上扔下了一个“不和的金苹果”，上面写着“给最美的女神”。天后赫拉、智慧女神雅典娜和美神阿佛洛狄忒果然争夺起来。众神之王宙斯让她们去找特洛伊王子帕里斯评判。三位女神均许诺给帕里斯最大的好处。赫拉许他成为最伟大的君王，雅典娜许他成为最勇敢的战士，阿佛洛狄忒许他以最美貌的妻子。帕里斯把金苹果判给了阿佛洛狄忒。这位女神信守诺言，帮助帕里斯拐走了斯巴达国王墨涅拉俄斯的妻子——美丽的海伦，并劫走了大批财富。希腊各部落决定兴兵讨伐，公推墨涅拉俄斯的哥哥、迈锡尼王阿伽门农为首领，组织了十万大军和一千多只战船，渡海攻打特洛伊。战争进行了九年多，众神各助一方，但特洛伊城始终未能被攻破。?
到了第十年，希腊军中发生了一次内讧。身为主帅的阿伽门农蛮横地夺走了最勇猛的首领阿基琉斯的一名女俘，阿基琉斯愤而罢战。《伊利昂纪》的故事就以阿基琉斯的愤怒为开端，集中描写了第十年里五十一天内发生的事情(全诗共一五六九三行，二十四卷)。?
由于希腊军失去了最勇猛的将领，他们无法抵挡住由帕里斯的哥哥赫克托尔率领的特洛伊军的猛烈攻势，一路败退到了海岸边。阿伽门农想同阿基琉斯和解，请其出战，但遭到拒绝。这时，阿基琉斯的朋友帕特洛克洛斯看到希腊军行将覆灭，便借了阿基琉斯的盔甲杀上战场，打退了特洛伊人的进攻，但自己却被赫克托尔所杀。阿基琉斯闻讯后悲痛欲绝。他悔恨自己的义气用事，一怒之下重上战场，杀死了赫克托尔并将其尸体拖在战车后泄恨。后来，赫克托尔的父亲、特洛伊老王普里阿姆斯向阿基琉斯赎回了儿子的尸首。双方暂时休战。特洛伊老王为赫克托尔举行了隆重的葬礼。《伊利昂纪》到此嘎然而止。?
但是战争并没有结束。后来，阿基琉斯被帕里斯用箭射死。希腊军中代之而起的是另外两位首领：勇力过人的埃阿斯和足智多谋的奥德修斯。埃阿斯又因与奥德修斯争夺阿基琉斯的盔甲未果而怨愤自杀。最后，奥德修斯设木马计，把藏有伏兵的木马弃于特洛伊城外，假意退兵。不知就里的特洛伊人将木马推入城内。当夜，希腊军里应外合，终于攻破了特洛伊城。这场历经十年之久的战争终于结束了。离国很久的希腊军首领们携带着掳掠来的财物和俘虏纷纷回国。奥德修斯也与同伴们一起踏上了返回故乡伊大卡的旅程。以奥德修斯的海上历险为中心的另一部史诗《奥德修纪》从此拉开了帷幕(全诗共一二一?五行，二十四卷)。?
奥德修斯的回乡之旅极为坎坷。他在海上又漂流了十年。史诗采取倒叙的手法，先写他第十年漂流到斯赫里岛上，受到当地国王的款待。他向国王讲述了自己海上漂流的经历：他在海上遇上了风暴；独眼巨人库克罗普斯吞食了他的伙伴；神女喀尔刻又把他的其他同伴用巫术变成了猪；他游历了冥土，见到了许多熟人的亡魂；躲过了用歌声惑人的塞壬妖岛；逃过了六头十二脚的女妖斯库拉和藏在漩涡下的女妖卡律布狄斯；他在船只被宙斯击沉后流落到一个海岛上被女神卡吕普索挽留了七年才离开。后来他就到了斯赫里岛。国王听完他的遭遇后派船送他回家。与此同时，他的儿子帖雷马科正在四处寻找他的踪迹；伊大卡的贵族以为奥德修斯已死，也正纷纷追求他的妻子珀涅罗珀，并妄图夺得他的财产和地位；珀涅罗珀却一直在企盼着丈夫归来。历经磨难的奥德修斯终于回到了伊大卡。他得知了家中发生的事情后，化装成乞丐，潜入王宫，杀死了那些占据着他的王宫的求婚者，终于和妻子团聚。?
以上就是荷马史诗的主要内容。两部史诗分别通过对战争和人与自然斗争的描写，着力渲染了古希腊英雄集体主义至上的可贵品质和百折不挠的进取精神。?
《荷马史诗》中的英雄主义?
荷马史诗是古代希腊从氏族公社制向奴隶制过渡时期的产物。史诗所着力刻画的英雄人物身上大部分既洋溢着氏族英雄的气概又显现着早期奴隶主的意识。?
阿基琉斯勇猛过人，锐不可挡；他能够顾全大局，不计前嫌，毅然出战；他爱憎分明，因好友的阵亡而悲痛欲绝，杀死对手后又将其拖于战车后以泄愤。这些都体现了他英雄主义的本色。可是他因为个人利益蒙受了损失就拒绝参战，并且为了显示自己的重要地位而不愿和解，最终导致了希腊军队的重大伤亡，这种易怒与任性正显示了他身上所具有的氏族贵族的个人意识。
相比之下，赫克托尔更具有英雄主义气概和集体主义精神。他预感到城邦将被摧毁，自己将要阵亡，妻子将沦为奴隶。可是他毅然代父上阵，身先士卒，最后血洒疆场。《伊利昂纪》中对于赫克托尔辞别妻子出战和阵亡后全城为其举哀的场面的描写加重了这一形象的悲剧色彩。?
奥德修斯是荷马史诗中奴隶主特征最明显的一个人物。他是伊大卡王，又是希腊军中智勇双全的将领。他具有作为奴隶主的各种品质和才干。他足智多谋，能言善辩；他具有百折不挠的勇毅，虽历尽磨难仍一心要返回家乡；他对爱情专一，抵制住了女神们的种种诱惑最终回到了妻子身边；他关心下属，同情奴隶，受人爱戴。同时，他也有虚伪狡诈的一面，对不忠的家奴也极其残忍。?
由此可以看出，史诗在竭力渲染各个英雄人物高贵品质的同时，并没有回避他们的缺点，有时甚至还是严厉的批评。所以，一直以来，人们还把荷马史诗看作是批判现实主义文学的先躯。?
应该说，作为一部古希腊社会向奴隶制过渡时期形成的作品，史诗中的贵族化倾向是难以避免的。在当时，由于社会财富分配不均而导致贵族与平民日益分化的倾向越来越明显。个人财富不容侵犯逐渐被当作一种社会准则。贵族们为集团既得利益而奋勇作战更被看作是一种至高无尚的高德。史诗所着力刻画的一个个英雄形象也正是这些部落贵族的代表。他们的思想不仅代表着一种积极乐观、勇于进取的人生态度，更代表着与一种崭新的社会制度相匹配的社会道德规范。?
《荷马史诗》的艺术成就
荷马史诗产生于古希腊文学史上神话传说与英雄故事繁荣兴盛的时期。整部作品不仅内容丰富多彩，情节引人入胜，而且在艺术上也达到了很高的水平。?
首先，规模宏大，构思精巧是史诗结构的一大特色。两部史诗都以空前宏伟的规模全面展现了处于过渡期的古希腊社会政治、经济、文化、军事等各方面的情况，前后共涉及了二十年间发生的历史事件。但是史诗并没有平铺直叙、记流水帐似地记述其全过程，而是使用了高度集中、高度概括的创作手法，既突出了重点，又照顾了全局。《伊利昂纪》以阿基琉斯的两次愤怒为线索，把情节高度浓缩在战争最后一年的五十一天中，而具体描写的也只是九天间发生的事情；《奥德修纪》首先描写的是奥德修斯回到故乡伊大卡前四十二天的海上遭遇，然后再用倒叙的手法展现了他海上十年的漂流经历，同时又以帖雷马科寻父和全家团圆为线索，使全篇首尾呼应，浑然一体。这样的结构布局使全诗的情节引人入胜，极富于戏剧性。?
其次，史诗用自然质朴的口语写成，使用了大量口头艺术的表现技巧，如夸张、烘托、比喻、固定修饰语和套语等。这些艺术手法的使用，是与其关照全局、突出重点的结构特征分不开的。夸张、烘托、比喻手法的运用贯穿始终，使全诗具有一种磅礴的气势，洋溢着浓厚的英雄主义气息；在塑造人物形象时又极富表现力，如用长老们看到海伦时的惊讶的表情和交头接耳的动作来烘托其惊人的姿色，用老鹰追鸽来比喻阿基琉斯追击赫克托尔。同时，使用固定修饰语有效地突出了人物的个性特征，如“捷足的阿基琉斯”、“足智多谋的奥德修斯”等。重复套语的使用更体现了作品源于口头艺术的特色，有利于加深印象和形成节奏感。据统计，全诗重复的诗句约九千行，占整个篇幅的三分之一。总之，整部作品之所以具有史诗的宏大气势，之所以能塑造出一个个栩栩如生的人物形象，正是得益于对民间口头艺术的介鉴。?
第三，诗歌本身独特的韵律和源于神话传说的丰富的想象极大地增强了作品的感染力。史诗采用六音步长短短格的诗体，不押韵尾，使全诗节奏鲜明又灵活多变。古希腊神话本身就包含着丰富多彩的想象，把它们纳入到具有独特表现力的诗歌当中，使得全诗在现实主义的基础之上又增加了浪漫主义色彩。?
自古以来，荷马史诗都被看作是古希腊文化的集大成者。在这部作品中，人们不仅可以欣赏到绚丽多彩的神话传说和气势磅礴的英雄故事，也可以从中了解到很多天文、地理、历史、哲学等方面的知识，更可以把它当作文学创作的典范来学习。从公元前五世纪开始，在古希腊雅典每四年举行一次的庆祝节日上，人们都要朗诵荷马史诗。后世许多著名作家如维吉尔、但丁、弥尔顿、歌德等都曾从史诗中汲取创作素材，引发创作灵感。荷马史诗在欧洲文学和文化发展史上所产生的重大影响将使其永远处于不可替代的地位。?
思考题：?
1?荷马史诗是怎样形成的??
2?荷马史诗的思想内容和艺术特点如何??
推荐阅读书目：?
1?《伊利亚特》；《奥德赛》，〔古希腊〕荷马著，杨宪益译，人民文学出版社1958年版?
2?《伊利亚特》；《奥德赛》，〔古希腊〕荷马著，陈中梅译，北京燕山出版社1999年版
3?《欧洲文学史》(上卷)，杨周翰、吴达元、赵萝蕤主编，人民文学出版社1990年版?

第一部：Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Glory of War
One can make a strong argument that the Iliad seems to celebrate war. Characters emerge as worthy or despicable based on their degree of competence and bravery in battle. Paris, for example, doesn’t like to fight, and correspondingly receives the scorn of both his family and his lover. Achilles, on the other hand, wins eternal glory by explicitly rejecting the option of a long, comfortable, uneventful life at home. The text itself seems to support this means of judging character and extends it even to the gods. The epic holds up warlike deities such as Athena for the reader’s admiration while it makes fun of gods who run from aggression, using the timidity of Aphrodite and Artemis to create a scene of comic relief. To fight is to prove one’s honor and integrity, while to avoid warfare is to demonstrate laziness, ignoble fear, or misaligned priorities.
To be sure, the Iliad doesn’t ignore the realities of war. Men die gruesome deaths; women become slaves and concubines, estranged from their tearful fathers and mothers; a plague breaks out in the Achaean camp and decimates the army. In the face of these horrors, even the mightiest warriors occasionally experience fear, and the poet tells us that both armies regret that the war ever began. Though Achilles points out that all men, whether brave or cowardly, meet the same death in the end, the poem never asks the reader to question the legitimacy of the ongoing struggle. Homer never implies that the fight constitutes a waste of time or human life. Rather, he portrays each side as having a justifiable reason to fight and depicts warfare as a respectable and even glorious manner of settling the dispute.
Military Glory over Family Life
A theme in the Iliad closely related to the glory of war is the predominance of military glory over family. The text clearly admires the reciprocal bonds of deference and obligation that bind Homeric families together, but it respects much more highly the pursuit of kleos, the “glory” or “renown” that one wins in the eyes of others by performing great deeds. Homer constantly forces his characters to choose between their loved ones and the quest for kleos, and the most heroic characters invariably choose the latter. Andromache pleads with Hector not to risk orphaning his son, but Hector knows that fighting among the front ranks represents the only means of “winning my father great glory.” Paris, on the other hand, chooses to spend time with Helen rather than fight in the war; accordingly, both the text and the other characters treat him with derision. Achilles debates returning home to live in ease with his aging father, but he remains at Troy to win glory by killing Hector and avenging Patroclus. The gravity of the decisions that Hector and Achilles make is emphasized by the fact that each knows his fate ahead of time. The characters prize so highly the martial values of honor, noble bravery, and glory that they willingly sacrifice the chance to live a long life with those they love.
The Impermanence of Human Life and Its Creations
Although the Iliad chronicles a very brief period in a very long war, it remains acutely conscious of the specific ends awaiting each of the people involved. Troy is destined to fall, as Hector explains to his wife in Book 6. The text announces that Priam and all of his children will die—Hector dies even before the close of the poem. Achilles will meet an early end as well, although not within the pages of the Iliad. Homer constantly alludes to this event, especially toward the end of the epic, making clear that even the greatest of men cannot escape death. Indeed, he suggests that the very greatest—the noblest and bravest—may yield to death sooner than others.
Similarly, the Iliad recognizes, and repeatedly reminds its readers, that the creations of mortals have a mortality of their own. The glory of men does not live on in their constructions, institutions, or cities. The prophecy of Calchas, as well as Hector’s tender words with Andromache and the debates of the gods, constantly remind the reader that Troy’s lofty ramparts will fall. But the Greek fortifications will not last much longer. Though the Greeks erect their bulwarks only partway into the epic, Apollo and Poseidon plan their destruction as early as Book 12. The poem thus emphasizes the ephemeral nature of human beings and their world, suggesting that mortals should try to live their lives as honorably as possible, so that they will be remembered well. For if mortals’ physical bodies and material creations cannot survive them, perhaps their words and deeds can. Certainly the existence of Homer’s poem would attest to this notion.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Armor
One would naturally expect a martial epic to depict men in arms, but armor in the Iliad emerges as something more than merely a protective cover for a soldier’s body. In fact, Homer often portrays a hero’s armor as having an aura of its own, separate from its wearer. In one of the epic’s more tender scenes, Hector removes his helmet to keep its horsehair crest from frightening his son Astyanax. When Patroclus wears Achilles’ armor to scare the Trojans and drive them from the ships, Apollo and Hector quickly see through the disguise. Then, when a fight breaks out over Patroclus’s fallen body, the armor goes one way and the corpse another. Hector dons the armor, but it ends up betraying him, as it were, in favor of its former owner. Achilles’ knowledge of its vulnerabilities makes it easier for him to run Hector through with his sword. By this point in the story, Achilles has a new set of armor, fashioned by the god Hephaestus, which also seems to have a life of its own. While Achilles’ mortal body can be wounded—and indeed, the poem reminds us of Achilles’ impending death on many occasions—Homer describes the divine armor as virtually impervious to assault.
Burial
While martial epics naturally touch upon the subject of burial, the Iliad lingers over it. The burial of Hector is given particular attention, as it marks the melting of Achilles’ crucial rage. The mighty Trojan receives a spectacular funeral that comes only after an equally spectacular fight over his corpse. Patroclus’s burial also receives much attention in the text, as Homer devotes an entire book to the funeral and games in the warrior’s honor. The poem also describes burials unconnected to particular characters, such as in Book 7, when both armies undertake a large-scale burial of their largely unnamed dead. The Iliad’s interest in burial partly reflects the interests of ancient Greek culture as a whole, which stressed proper burial as a requirement for the soul’s peaceful rest. However, it also reflects the grim outlook of the Iliad, its interest in the relentlessness of fate and the impermanence of human life.
Fire
Fire emerges as a recurrent image in the Iliad, often associated with internal passions such as fury or rage, but also with their external manifestations. Homer describes Achilles as “blazing” in Book 1 and compares the sparkle of his freshly donned armor to the sun. Moreover, the poem often compares a hero’s charge or an onslaught of troops to a conflagration sweeping through a field. But fire doesn’t appear just allegorically or metaphorically; it appears materially as well. The Trojans light fires in Book 8 to watch the Achaean army and to prevent it from slipping away by night. They constantly threaten the Achaean ships with fire and indeed succeed in torching one of them. Thus, whether present literally or metaphorically, the frequency with which fire appears in the Iliad indicates the poem’s over-arching concern with instances of profound power and destruction.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Achaean Ships
The Achaean ships symbolize the future of the Greek race. They constitute the army’s only means of conveying itself home, whether in triumph or defeat. Even if the Achaean army were to lose the war, the ships could bring back survivors; the ships’ destruction, however, would mean the annihilation—or automatic exile—of every last soldier. Homer implies that some men shirked the war and stayed in Greece, while others, such as Peleus, were too old to fight. However, to Homer’s original audience, the Achaean warriors at Troy represented more than a mere subpopulation of the Greek race. Homer’s contemporaries believed that the heroes represented here actually lived historically, as real kings who ruled the various city-states of Greece in their earliest years. Ancient audiences regarded them as playing definitive roles in the formation and development of Greece as they knew it. The mass death of these leaders and role models would have meant the decimation of a civilization.
The Shield of Achilles
The Iliad is an extremely compressed narrative. Although it treats many of the themes of human experience, it does so within the scope of a few days out of a ten-year war. The shield constitutes only a tiny part in this martial saga, a single piece of armor on a single man in one of the armies—yet it provides perspective on the entire war. Depicting normal life in peacetime, it symbolizes the world beyond the battlefield, and implies that war constitutes only one aspect of existence. Life as a whole, the shield reminds us, includes feasts and dances and marketplaces and crops being harvested. Human beings may serve not only as warriors but also as artisans and laborers in the fields. Not only do they work, they also play, as the shield depicts with its dancing children. Interestingly, although Homer glorifies war and the life of the warrior throughout most of his epic, his depiction of everyday life as it appears on the shield comes across as equally noble, perhaps preferable.
第二部：To be sure, the Iliad doesn’t ignore the realities of war. Men die gruesome deaths; women become slaves and concubines, estranged from their tearful fathers and mothers; a plague breaks out in the Achaean camp and decimates the army. In the face of these horrors, even the mightiest warriors occasionally experience fear, and the poet tells us that both armies regret that the war ever began. Though Achilles points out that all men, whether brave or cowardly, meet the same death in the end, the poem never asks the reader to question the legitimacy of the ongoing struggle. Homer never implies that the fight constitutes a waste of time or human life. Rather, he portrays each side as having a justifiable reason to fight and depicts warfare as a respectable and even glorious manner of settling the dispute.
Military Glory over Family Life
A theme in the Iliad closely related to the glory of war is the predominance of military glory over family. The text clearly admires the reciprocal bonds of deference and obligation that bind Homeric families together, but it respects much more highly the pursuit of kleos, the “glory” or “renown” that one wins in the eyes of others by performing great deeds. Homer constantly forces his characters to choose between their loved ones and the quest for kleos, and the most heroic characters invariably choose the latter. Andromache pleads with Hector not to risk orphaning his son, but Hector knows that fighting among the front ranks represents the only means of “winning my father great glory.” Paris, on the other hand, chooses to spend time with Helen rather than fight in the war; accordingly, both the text and the other characters treat him with derision. Achilles debates returning home to live in ease with his aging father, but he remains at Troy to win glory by killing Hector and avenging Patroclus. The gravity of the decisions that Hector and Achilles make is emphasized by the fact that each knows his fate ahead of time. The characters prize so highly the martial values of honor, noble bravery, and glory that they willingly sacrifice the chance to live a long life with those they love.
The Impermanence of Human Life and Its Creations
Although the Iliad chronicles a very brief period in a very long war, it remains acutely conscious of the specific ends awaiting each of the people involved. Troy is destined to fall, as Hector explains to his wife in Book 6. The text announces that Priam and all of his children will die—Hector dies even before the close of the poem. Achilles will meet an early end as well, although not within the pages of the Iliad. Homer constantly alludes to this event, especially toward the end of the epic, making clear that even the greatest of men cannot escape death. Indeed, he suggests that the very greatest—the noblest and bravest—may yield to death sooner than others.
Similarly, the Iliad recognizes, and repeatedly reminds its readers, that the creations of mortals have a mortality of their own. The glory of men does not live on in their constructions, institutions, or cities. The prophecy of Calchas, as well as Hector’s tender words with Andromache and the debates of the gods, constantly remind the reader that Troy’s lofty ramparts will fall. But the Greek fortifications will not last much longer. Though the Greeks erect their bulwarks only partway into the epic, Apollo and Poseidon plan their destruction as early as Book 12. The poem thus emphasizes the ephemeral nature of human beings and their world, suggesting that mortals should try to live their lives as honorably as possible, so that they will be remembered well. For if mortals’ physical bodies and material creations cannot survive them, perhaps their words and deeds can. Certainly the existence of Homer’s poem would attest to this notion.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Armor
One would naturally expect a martial epic to depict men in arms, but armor in the Iliad emerges as something more than merely a protective cover for a soldier’s body. In fact, Homer often portrays a hero’s armor as having an aura of its own, separate from its wearer. In one of the epic’s more tender scenes, Hector removes his helmet to keep its horsehair crest from frightening his son Astyanax. When Patroclus wears Achilles’ armor to scare the Trojans and drive them from the ships, Apollo and Hector quickly see through the disguise. Then, when a fight breaks out over Patroclus’s fallen body, the armor goes one way and the corpse another. Hector dons the armor, but it ends up betraying him, as it were, in favor of its former owner. Achilles’ knowledge of its vulnerabilities makes it easier for him to run Hector through with his sword. By this point in the story, Achilles has a new set of armor, fashioned by the god Hephaestus, which also seems to have a life of its own. While Achilles’ mortal body can be wounded—and indeed, the poem reminds us of Achilles’ impending death on many occasions—Homer describes the divine armor as virtually impervious to assault.
Burial
While martial epics naturally touch upon the subject of burial, the Iliad lingers over it. The burial of Hector is given particular attention, as it marks the melting of Achilles’ crucial rage. The mighty Trojan receives a spectacular funeral that comes only after an equally spectacular fight over his corpse. Patroclus’s burial also receives much attention in the text, as Homer devotes an entire book to the funeral and games in the warrior’s honor. The poem also describes burials unconnected to particular characters, such as in Book 7, when both armies undertake a large-scale burial of their largely unnamed dead. The Iliad’s interest in burial partly reflects the interests of ancient Greek culture as a whole, which stressed proper burial as a requirement for the soul’s peaceful rest. However, it also reflects the grim outlook of the Iliad, its interest in the relentlessness of fate and the impermanence of human life.
Fire
Fire emerges as a recurrent image in the Iliad, often associated with internal passions such as fury or rage, but also with their external manifestations. Homer describes Achilles as “blazing” in Book 1 and compares the sparkle of his freshly donned armor to the sun. Moreover, the poem often compares a hero’s charge or an onslaught of troops to a conflagration sweeping through a field. But fire doesn’t appear just allegorically or metaphorically; it appears materially as well. The Trojans light fires in Book 8 to watch the Achaean army and to prevent it from slipping away by night. They constantly threaten the Achaean ships with fire and indeed succeed in torching one of them. Thus, whether present literally or metaphorically, the frequency with which fire appears in the Iliad indicates the poem’s over-arching concern with instances of profound power and destruction.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Achaean Ships
The Achaean ships symbolize the future of the Greek race. They constitute the army’s only means of conveying itself home, whether in triumph or defeat. Even if the Achaean army were to lose the war, the ships could bring back survivors; the ships’ destruction, however, would mean the annihilation—or automatic exile—of every last soldier. Homer implies that some men shirked the war and stayed in Greece, while others, such as Peleus, were too old to fight. However, to Homer’s original audience, the Achaean warriors at Troy represented more than a mere subpopulation of the Greek race. Homer’s contemporaries believed that the heroes represented here actually lived historically, as real kings who ruled the various city-states of Greece in their earliest years. Ancient audiences regarded them as playing definitive roles in the formation and development of Greece as they knew it. The mass death of these leaders and role models would have meant the decimation of a civilization.
The Shield of Achilles
The Iliad is an extremely compressed narrative. Although it treats many of the themes of human experience, it does so within the scope of a few days out of a ten-year war. The shield constitutes only a tiny part in this martial saga, a single piece of armor on a single man in one of the armies—yet it provides perspective on the entire war. Depicting normal life in peacetime, it symbolizes the world beyond the battlefield, and implies that war constitutes only one aspect of existence. Life as a whole, the shield reminds us, includes feasts and dances and marketplaces and crops being harvested. Human beings may serve not only as warriors but also as artisans and laborers in the fields. Not only do they work, they also play, as the shield depicts with its dancing children. Interestingly, although Homer glorifies war and the life of the warrior throughout most of his epic, his depiction of everyday life as it appears on the shield comes across as equally noble, perhaps preferable.
Similarly, Odysseus knows that he is no match for the host of strapping young suitors in his palace, so he makes the most of his other strength—his wits. Step by step, through disguises and deceptions, he arranges a situation in which he alone is armed and the suitors are locked in a room with him. With this setup, Achilles’ superb talents as a warrior would enable him to accomplish what Odysseus does, but only Odysseus’s strategic planning can bring about such a sure victory. Some of the tests in Odysseus’s long, wandering ordeal seem to mock reliance on strength alone. No one can resist the Sirens’ song, for example, but Odysseus gets an earful of the lovely melody by having his crew tie him up. Scylla and Chary