Homer’s Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem set during the Trojan War.

It is based on the
struggles between two great ancient empires that was Greek and Troy. Specifically it is
about the events that occur at the last weeks of the ten year siege of Troy by the Greeks.
Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, Greek mythology
and ancient folk law is eluded to. The cause of this war all started because the Greek-
Achaeans besiege the city of Troy in order to rescue King of Sparta, Menelaus’s wife
Helen after she was abducted( or went willingly, depends on which side of the story you
believe) by Prince of Troy, Paris- who is brother of Hector- who we will analyse further in
later posts. Paris, son of the aged King of Troy, Priam, was originally prophesied to be
the doom of Troy, due to this he was cast out into the wilderness only to be saved by
hunters and bought back to Troy, the prophesiers where correct as his relationship with
Helen doomed Troy by bringing Agamemnon’s and Menelaus’s thousand ship fleet to the
shores of Troy.
The actors and actresses splendidly portrayed the characters of the story, thus creating
character types that were very convincing. Flat characters that have shown only one to
two traits were seen by Agamemnon and Menelaus who were only greedy of power and
glory. Round characters that have shown many traits were Prince Hector and Achilles I
think because prince Hector was a loving brother, a caring father and husband, a
thoughtful leader and a man who could stand for his decisions and Achilles was not a
good follower to his leader, full of pride, hungry for glory and fame, arrogant, brave, he
decides for himself but has a sense of value for family and friends.
These issues are so fraught with paradoxes (then and now) that writers like Blondell are
immensely valuable if only for their ability to unpack and discuss them. I barely know
where to start, but one of the recurring themes is that of the parthenos – a virginal
adolescent girl who is ready for marriage. The parthenos is at the peak of her sexual
attraction, which also means she is at her most threatening (because of the effect she
has on men) and the most volatile (she may act ‘inappropriately’ on her own desires and
is ‘exposed’ as she makes the transition from her father’s house to her husband’s). The
parthenos “embodies a feminine wildness that must be “tamed” by sex and marriage”, but
Helen is like an eternal, untameable parthenos who brings about the very things that men
fear about parthenoi and women in general. Neither her age nor her marital status seem
to have any effect on her overpowering beauty; she causes Paris to break the inviolable
bonds of guest-friendship by sleeping with Helen while a guest in her husband’s house;
Helen then leaves her husband’s household either by inciting Paris to a criminal act of
kidnapping/theft or by acting on her own desire and leaving willingly with him (both are
bad); her beauty causes the greatest war of all time, but also ensures that neither side
can end it prematurely because she is too valuable to give up. And although Helen is the
reason men can achieve glory on an epic battlefield, she is also the reason they die by
the thousands. In the Odyssey it is generally agreed that she wasn’t worth it.
Agamemnon demands the return of Helen to his brother and submission of Troy to the
Greek empire. Rebuffed by Hector, Paris offers to fight Menelaus in single combat. But
Paris, foolish romantic boy who stole Helen away is not the man his brother is. Defeated,
he crawls back to his brother 's feet. Paris kills Menelaus. The die is cast: Battle ensues
Without the Myrmidons and Achilles tactical genius, the Greeks are beaten badly: fighting
beneath the walls of Troy, they fall in their thousands to massed Trojan archers, with all
the advantages of height and distance.
These issues are so fraught with paradoxes (then and now) that writers like Blondell are
immensely valuable if only for their ability to unpack and discuss them. I barely know
where to start, but one of the recurring themes is that of the parthenos – a virginal
adolescent girl who is ready for marriage. The parthenos is at the peak of her sexual
attraction, which also means she is at her most threatening (because of the effect she
has on men) and the most volatile (she may act ‘inappropriately’ on her own desires and
is ‘exposed’ as she makes the transition from her father’s house to her husband’s). The
parthenos “embodies a feminine wildness that must be “tamed” by sex and marriage”, but
Helen is like an eternal, untameable parthenos who brings about the very things that men
fear about parthenoi and women in general. Neither her age nor her marital status seem
to have any effect on her overpowering beauty; she causes Paris to break the inviolable
bonds of guest-friendship by sleeping with Helen while a guest in her husband’s house;
Helen then leaves her husband’s household either by inciting Paris to a criminal act of
kidnapping/theft or by acting on her own desire and leaving willingly with him (both are
bad); her beauty causes the greatest war of all time, but also ensures that neither side
can end it prematurely because she is too valuable to give up. And although Helen is the
reason men can achieve glory on an epic battlefield, she is also the reason they die by
the thousands. In the Odyssey it is generally agreed that she wasn’t worth it.
A famous greek poet named Homer wrote an epic called the Illiad, it is the story of the
Trojan War. A story of love and a story of war. The war was fought because Aphrodite
promised the young prince Paris of Troy the most beautiful women who ever lived. The
most beautiful woman was Helen who was married to king Menelaus. When Helen was
weaving fabric Paris stole her from her husband and took her back to Troy. To king
Menelaus this meant war, he sent word throughout Greece and his
brother Agamemnon received the letter and assembled the most powerful military in all
Greece. The Greek soldiers set sail for Troy to get Helen back. Peaceful talking did not
work so they fought. The War was fought outside of Troy because the Greeks could not
breach the walls of Troy. The War lasted for ten years and the Greeks finally came up
with a cunning plan to get to the inner city of Troy. The Greek soldiers built a huge wooden
horse with a hollow stomach. King Agamemnon sent some of his soldiers into the
stomach of the horse the rest of the Greek sailed behind a huge rock to hide behind.
There was one Greek soldier left and he left a small single person boat on shore. When
the Trojan people saw that the fighting had ceased they came out and discovered a big
wooden horse. The Greek soldier jumped out of the bushes where he was hiding and
explained that the Greek soldiers surrendered and left the horse as a gift for Troy. The
Trojans pulled the horse inside unaware of the Greek soldiers hiding in the stomach of
the horse. The Trojans feasted for three days and nights they honored
the goddess Athena and the goddess Nike. On the third night when the men were too
drunk to fight the lone Greek soldier sailed behind the huge rock and told the rest of the
military to dock outside of Troy. Meanwhile one by one the Greek soldiers who had been
hiding dropped out of the horse's stomach. They opened the gates and the
Greek soldiers crept through. The Greek soldiers slaughtered every Trojan man and
burned down the walls of Troy they took the women of Troy for wives and the city of Troy
was raised to the ground. Archaeologists and scientists are trying to find evidence of the
Trojan war. There is no evidence that Helen even existed. They are trying to peel away
the layers of Homer's Illiad to find the cold hard facts if there are any.