Thetis

From the very beginning of Homer's the Iliad, Achilles is depicted as vindictive, prideful, and trifling. As the book advances, the picture of Achilles as a resentful youngster is improved significantly. Towards the end of the epic, Achilles displays qualities that are viewed as courageous even in today's time. When his reliable and trusted companion Patroclus passes on, Achilles experiences an extreme change in character. When he goes up against the genuine repulsiveness of death, Achilles sets…

Agamemnon’s Argument My soldiers blame me for the plague that has fallen upon our army and is killing my people. Yes, despite the ransom, I refused to return Chryses’ daughter, but will my returning her soothe the fury of Apollo? I am sure that I am not the cause of this horror that has fallen upon the Achaeans. I am willing to give Chryses’ daughter back if it will lift this plague. However, I will not be the only one left without a prize. Achilles asks what prize he may give me to make up for…

The Life of the God Hephaestus I, Hephaestus, am the skilled and powerful god of the forge. I am the flame in every blacksmith’s shop, the crude anvil upon which heated metal is beaten, and the fiery spirit in each craftsman’s heart. I make up the engine of industry and warfare, yet also embody the creation of ornaments and jewelry for beautification. My purpose is to assist the workers of Greece and to inspire the making of new inventions and automations. I am not very similar to many of…

When thinking of a hero, perhaps the fictional Wonder Woman or Superman comes to mind. Comic book superheroes that are completely selfless and endowed with super strength or magical powers. Or perhaps suffrage movement leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Martin Luther King come to mind. Or maybe even a local firefighter, police officer, or actor. In this day and age, a hero is someone that is admired for great courage, someone who is selfless, a fighter of an outstanding cause, the list goes…

From every recreation of Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, none has captured the essence of human emotion and the monstrosities brought about from human nature than the film Troy. Troy captured the true essence of humanities disastrous emotional fallout; and Petersen’s rendition of the nightmarish and atrocious siege of Troy aids in demonstrating the way in which human emotions such as greed, pride, love, wrath and grief which bring about effects within the human mind that create the need for war and…

In Book 9 of the Iliad by Homer, the reader witnesses an interesting event. Prior to this book, Agamemnon, the greatest of the Achean Kings, has hurt Achilles’ pride by taking Achilles prize, a woman. Because of this assault on his honor, Achilles has sworn that he will not fight for the Greeks, which has left the Greeks without their most potent weapon. Agamemnon eventually realizes that he was wrong and sends an embassy to Achilles consisting of: Odysseus, the great tactician, Pheonix, an…

Similar to the commonly accepted ideas of entitlement, Achilles believes himself wronged of his innate right to power. As it was intended, Achilles was to be the son of Zeus and the heir to Olympus but he was denied this greatness when Zeus tricked Thetis, Achilles’ mother, to lie with another man. Thus “robbing” Achilles of the heavens and condemning him to a life of mortal imperfection. Achilles’ ambition plagues him in the knowledge that he was meant to be greater and that the whims of fate…

The way society views us, is a form of respect and dignity that almost everyone seeks. In Plato’s Five Dialogues: Apology, Socrates is being accused by the Athenian court for corrupting the youth and for not praising the Gods that the city is devoted to. He feels disrespected, but he does not lose his honor for and respect for philosophy. In order to uphold his position and defend himself, Socrates compares himself to Achilles, in the Iliad. He equips the reader with examples, and explains that…

Do you fight for glory and to protect others or do you fight for yourself and for vengeance? Epic heroes, Beowulf and Achilles, are such people that fight for these principles/ ideals. Many people know about Beowulf and Achilles and their epic stories, but many people do not know how different they are. Beowulf fights for others and for glory, while Achilles fights for vengeance. Beowulf is an epic hero that many people know as the strongest man in the world, but many don’t know why he fights.…

In The Iliad, Homer has created many characters that are heroes from their own perspective. Throughout the poem, we come into contact with characters like Achilles and Hector, who are truly heroes. Also, their qualities of being an epic hero according to Homer are very different from each other. However, Paris is shown demonstrating qualities that are unbecoming of a hero. Therefore, I will begin to talk about the heroic qualities between Achilles and Hector. As well as, Paris qualities of…