LLT 180 – Study Guide – Homer

Know the following characters (who and what they do)

 Human – Agamemnon (Atreides), Achilles, Calchas, Menelaus, Nestor, Odysseus, Diomedes, Ajax (the Greater, son of Telemon), Chryseis,  Briseis, Thersites, Patroclus, Hector, Andromache, Priam, Hecuba, Paris, Helen, Aeneas, Helenus

Divine – Athena, Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Ares, Aphrodite, Artemis, River Xanthus

Topics to Mull Over (be ready to write on)

• Qualities and leadership of Agamemnon (actions by which they are shown)
• Qualities and leadership of Achilles (actions…)
• Qualities and leadership of Hector (actions…)
• What skills in a soldier are most admired by Greeks and Trojans?
• What skills in a king/chief are most useful to Greeks or Trojans?
• What actions are considered shameful by Greeks or Trojans?
• Why does Homer call Achilles the ‘best of the Achaeans”?
• Why is Achilles so important to the Achaean troops?
• Which, if any, of the ‘heroes’ of the Iliad would you want to be like?  Why?
• What purposes does the ‘display of forces’ in Book 2 serve?
• What handicap(s) do the Trojans have in this war?  What advantages?
• How is Hector’s situation/position/duty different from Achilles?  How the same?
• Are there international ‘rules’ to this war?  (i.e. any conventions that both sides recognize and can be counted to agree upon)
• Are there common values between the Greeks and Trojans?
• Perceptions: How does the war sound?  What does it look like?