The Iliad Research Paper

The Iliad is a story of anger and war, honor and death, glory and fate, but most importantly, The Iliad is a story of Friendship. Believed to have first been composed by a poet called Homer sometime around 800 BCE, the actual narrative of the epic poem takes place 400 years earlier during the Greek Bronze Age. Over the course of The Iliad, many values of people in Homeric culture were reveled, including honor, glory, pride, and heroism. However, at some point in The Iliad, all of these are put aside in favor of others. One value that seems to be constant however is friendship, and a sense of love and respect for one’s friends. Friendship in Homeric culture is presented in many ways and does not necessarily match with contemporary views of friendship, …show more content…
Achilles father is not seen directly in The Iliad, but he is mentioned a few times throughout the story; mostly in relation to Achilles fate of death. Achilles himself mentions his father at the very end of the Iliad, after Hector’s death, when he is talking to Priam. “And I will not tend him when he grows old, for I sit here in Troy very far from my homeland, bringing misery to you and your children.” (XXIV. 526-528). It would seem that Achilles has not given much thought to his father in the 9 years since he has left home, and he feels guilty about this. A bit earlier in their conversation, Priam had asked Achilles to think of his father, and Achilles began to cry. Achilles is disappointed in the relationship he has with his father. While Achilles is crying over his failed relationship with his father, he also thinks of Patroklos, the one friend he always had. Achilles’ relationship with Phoinix, is one of the more unusual relationships in The Iliad. The two share a homeland, and Phoinix helped to raise Achilles as a child. When the embassy is sent to convince Achilles to rejoin the war, Phoinix is among them, and he uses his strong emotional connection with Achilles to attempt to connive him to come back. It does not work however. Oddly enough, while Phoinix was not able to convince Achilles to rejoin the fight, Achilles was able to easily convince Phoinix to return to their homeland with him. Phoinix even says “For this reason my child, I would not want to be left apart from you” (IX. 439-440). This presents a possibly unequal relationship where, though the two are friends, Phoinix’s role in raising Achilles has made him more likely to follow him. In both the cases of Phoinix and Achilles’ father, there is a deficiency in the relationship that Achilles and Patroklos’ friendship did