Homer's The Iliad

Currently reading Homer's The Iliad.  Its a book that has been on my bucket list for some time.  It's one of the most important works of literature but would I understand it?  And I am pleased to say that I am halfway through The Iliad and I am understanding it and enjoying my reading experience.  

And that is due to the greatness of The Iliad but also Stephen Mitchell's translation.  There are so many translations out there but Stephen Mitchell writes in a contemporary English that works for me.  The Iliad is a little over 400 pages and it contains 24 chapters.  I am now going into chapter 15.  I pace myself, a chapter every other night.

The backstory to the Iliad is the Trojan war which began when Paris, a Prince of Troy, ran of with the beautiful Helen, the wife of King Menelaus who is one of the Achean (Greek) Kings.  Menelaus is furious and humiliated but that's nothing compared to King Agamemnon, Menelaus's brother, who is the King over all of the Acheans.  King Agamemnon launches a war against Troy and the two sides have been fighting ever since.

And now nine years into the war The Trojans and the Acheans no longer think much about Paris or Helen.  Instead the two sides are fighting for honor, glory, vengeance and survival.  And a central focus of The Iliad is Achillies.  He is the greatest of the Achean warriors, a man of super human strength, but he is sitting out the battle sulking due to his fury at King Agamemnon who has betrayed and humiliated him and the cause is once again over a woman.  

The dispute begins when the god Apollo forces King Agamemnon to return his slave girl Chryséïs, to her father.  Agamemnon does not want to do this but you can't go against Apollo.  And so to compensate himself Agamemnon orders Achillies, his best warrior, to give him Briseis, a woman Achillies won in battle years ago. Heartbroken and furious Achillies explains all this to his mother Thetis who is also a sea goddess.  She flies up to Mt Olympus and begs Zeus to restore her son Achillies' honor.  Zeus cares for Thetis and grants her wish.  Achillies stays out of the war and the Trojans start winning.  

And that brings us to Hector, the greatest of the Trojan warriors.  Hector is a major character in The Iliad second only to Achillies.  He is the brother of Paris and is quite angry at all the destruction and bloodshed Paris has caused Troy by running off with Helen  

How will this all end?  Will Achillies come back into the war and lead the Acheans to victory?  What will cause him to rejoin the fight?  And then there are the gods and goddesses.  They play a major role in The Iliad.  They are not impartial bystanders.  The gods and goddesses have very human emotions and they have taken sides in this war and are not adverse to aiding their side when needed.  

Hera, Athena, Poisideon are supprting the Acheans.  Aphrodite who has been rooting for Paris and Helen is on the side of The Trojans.  Zeus appears to be on the side of the Trojans as well but this is all part of a master plan and if Achillies comes back into the fight the Trojans are in trouble. Hector understands this and during a break in the fighting his wife pleads with him not to go back to the front:

"Hector answered her, “Dearest, what you have said troubles me too. Yet I would feel terrible shame at facing the men and the long-robed women of Troy if, like a coward, I shrank from the fighting. Nor can I: my heart would never allow that; it is my place to be brave and scorn danger and always fight in the front line, winning great fame for my father and for myself. But however it is, deep in my heart I know that a day will come when the sacred city of Troy will be devastated, and Priam, and Priam’s people. And yet it is not their anguish that troubles me so ... that is nothing compared to your grief, when I picture you being caught by some bronze-armored Achaean who claims you and takes your freedom away and carries you off in tears ... But may I be dead, with the cold earth piled up upon me, before I can hear you wail as they drag you away.”

I should say that The Iliad is a violent book. Battle scenes everywhere and men dying on both sides of the conflict in gruesome ways and I am only halfway through.  But I am fascinated by this story.  It is holding my attention and this is certainly a 5 star read.