Homer Essays

College

Iliad

Virgil’s Jupiter and Homer’s Zeus are analogous to each other in the sense that they are both the most powerful being, tasked with ensuring that the fate of the protagonist comes true, in each of their respective epics. In the Iliad, there many...

12th Grade

The Odyssey

“Athena, [in pursuit of her] adventures as a woman, [tied to an immortal and moral world that is] dominated by a male ethos”, is used to highlight the importance of gender in an unforgiving society. As a woman, Athena is enslaved to her gender, in...

12th Grade

Iliad

Homer's Iliad is full of epic battles and massive deaths, so, unsurprisingly, many audiences turn their main attention to the description of the direct combat between the Akhaians and Trojans. Even though the war mostly takes place during the day,...

College

Iliad

For every great war, there is a payment to be made- in blood, loss, sacrifice - for the hope of a greater glory. Each person involved gives up something, or many things, for a victory that may or may not come. In The Iliad and Iphigenia at Aulis,...

College

The Odyssey

While Hector and Odysseus in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are seen as clear heroes, the Argonautica differs in its approach to Jason, as his relatively average abilities are matched by his typically anti-heroic habit of letting others do the...

College

Iliad

An exegetical essay on the following passage:

Iliad. III.442-524: From “Then off she went herself to summon Helen...” all the way to “irresistible longing lays me low”.

Lines before this passage, Paris was in combat with Menelaus on the verge of...

Iliad

The ancient Greeks had strict criteria for individuals to follow if they were to be seen as heroes. Above all, a man needed to be a skilled warrior, but this was not the only requirement. To be a hero, a warrior had to respect authority, both...

Iliad

The Iliad by Homer is an epic poem focused on the wrath of the character Achilles. This wrath guided Achilles to be a great warrior for the Greeks during the Trojan War, but this wrath also extended into his relationships with his fellow Greeks...

Iliad

The Iliad, in that it is more about the Greek hero Achilles than any other particular person, portrays the Achaean in surprisingly shocking light at times throughout the story. In his encounter with Lycaon, who had previously been taken prisoner...

Iliad

"Much that is terrible takes place in the Homeric poems, but it seldom takes place wordlessly... no speech is so filled with anger or scorn that the particles which express logical and grammatical connections are lacking or out of place." (from...

Iliad

The drama found in The Iliad of Homer is not characterized by surprises. The reader always knows what to expect because of the gods' explicit prophecies as well as the behaviors of the mortals. The latter more subtly foreshadows future events. A...

Iliad

When contemplating the ultimate nature of the Greek gods and the ensuing roles they play in human affairs, it is helpful to view instances of divine intervention through the actions of the goddess Athena. Athena occupies a central place in The...

Iliad

Story-telling and presentation are two literary techniques vital to the development of plot and theme, systematic traditions meant to illustrate the idea of the author in terms of the medium of the narrative. Epic, poetry, and drama all utilize...

Iliad

The respective endings of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey prove the different world-view that each epic takes. While both concern the era of the Trojan War, the characters in each seem to value two opposing outlooks. A close reading of the concluding...

Iliad

The Iliad celebrates the heroics of some of the most famous Greek heroes, yet perhaps the most memorable character to appear in the epic poem is the Trojan warrior Hector. Throughout the poem, we get the impression that Homer treats Hector as a...

Iliad

War is often referred to as being despicable, atrocious, and appalling, but the opposite appears to be true throughout Homer's epic poem, The Iliad. Though Homer does not attempt to portray war as magnificent, he does challenge his readers to...

Iliad

Since the advent of bartering, materialism has been a prime concern for human beings. Inherent in our human nature is the desire to improve ourselves. This originates as an individualist need for improvement. The only way the individual can...