Achaeans

Penelope proves to her suitors and her whole household that women can be clever, too. “...let me finish my weaving before I marry...so every day, I wove on the great loom, but every night by torchlight I unwove it; and so for three years I deceived the Achaeans. But when the seasons brought a fourth year on, they caught me…”(pg. 27). Another example of women being portrayed negatively is how much they lived under the men’s shadow. Yes, there were many great, heroic men that changed many people’s…

Ancient Greek Gender Many nations and civilization have ruled different lands and different people. One of the most ancient civilizations was the Greek civilization. It existed around the Mediterranean Sea where the country Greece is located. The ancient world and society have similar perspectives and different once. Democracy is an example of parallels thoughts in compare to nowadays. Although democracy in ancient Greece and modern life are diverse, the old Greeks, at least, advanced in…

The word “grief” shares many similarities to “sadness”, but just as both terms are used to describe a state of unhappiness, to be grieving carries with it connotations of a deeper-rooted pain stemming from the mourning of a loss, or an emotional loyalty to the subject of the grief. The characters in the Greek epic The Odyssey are no strangers to grief, as it is a word woven throughout the text both physically and as an underlying theme. Just as the heroes of the Trojan War long for home, the…

"All men naturally seek heroes (Scheske 1)." Until the end of time there will be heroes, they naturally occur whether they are true or false heroes. People look to complete themselves through another person. Humanity wants to be able to look up to someone and aspire to be like them. Everyone has either an idol or a hero that they admire. Long ago a hero had a completely different definition. Heroes used to be great warriors who killed people and creatures and who took territories. A hero would…

Kleos in the Odyssey and Iliad During the Homeric age, stories of heroes trying to find, protect, and grow their kleos to the point of being considered immortal in the hearts and minds of those who heard of their epic journeys and adventures. The Iliad and Odyssey are two examples of the very foundation of the meaning of kleos; The Iliad is more or less the rage of Achilles and his struggles with his own kleos, and the Odyssey is basically Odysseus struggling to accomplish more great deeds on…

people after the blazing destruction of his homeland. The differences between these two novels go far beyond just their stories. These two novels exemplify the cultures that helped to shape them and show great contrast between the mindset of the Achaean Homer and the Roman Virgil. These differences represent an evolution of the mindset…

Transcending almost 3000 years of time with its emotional resonance, integrity, and relevance to both the Ancient and Modern world, the Iliad is arguably one of the most outstanding poetic feats in the history of Western literature, praised explicitly throughout the ages by esteemed historians and scholars alike. Between its undeniable influence on Alexander the Great and it’s correlation to Rome, the Iliad certainly has a lot to say about the ancient world that so quickly embraced it’s epic…

The Importance of Comparison The three plays by Euripides that will be reviewed in this essay will be Iphigenia at Aulis, The Trojan Women, and Hippolytus. As I read each of these plays I found each more exciting than the last. The words of Euripides take the reader a step back in time and does a fantastic job giving the reader a mental image of what is going on. The stories of the Greek culture are very interesting and let the reader understand the values that were held in that period. They…

In Book 16 of The Iliad, Patroklos was an Achaean who ended up fighting in Achilleus’ place and ultimately being killed. Patroklos was Achilleus’ best friend — and because of that, Homer did not give much detail into Patroklos himself. Achilleus was the main hero of the Iliad, while Patroklos stood on the sidelines — that is, until he begged Achilleus for his armor so that he could take his place. Eventually, Patroklos angered the gods by killing Sarpedon, and Zeus, with Apollo’s help,…

For example, beyond just coaching Telemachus, Athena enhances his appearance before he speaks to the assembled Achaeans. Telemachus’ goal is to demand respect for himself and his family from the suitors, and his physical appearance helps meet this goal. When he walks in, she “[lavishes] a marvelous splendor on the prince so the people all gazed in wonder as he came…