The Iliad

Mythology Background .......In the ancient Mediterranean world, feminine beauty reaches its zenith in Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Greece. Her wondrous face and body are without flaw and. She is perfect. Even the goddess of love, Aphrodite, admires her. While Aphrodite competes with other goddesses in a beauty contest-in which a golden apple is to be awarded as the prize. She bribes the judge, a young Trojan named Paris. She promises him the most ravishing woman in the world, Helen, if he will select her, Aphrodite, as the most beautiful goddess. After winning the contest and receiving the coveted golden apple, she tells Paris about Helen and her incomparable pulchritude. Forthwith, Paris goes to Greece, woos Helen, and absconds with her to Troy, a walled city in Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

.......The elopement is an affront to all the Greeks. How dare an upstart Trojan invade their land! How dare he steal the wife of one of their kings! Which Greek family would be next to fall victim to a Trojan machination? Infuriated, King Menelaus and his friends assemble a mighty army that includes the finest warriors in the land. Together, they cross the sea in one thousand ships to make war against Troy and win back their pride-and Helen. But the war drags on and on. Weeks become months. Months become years. Years become a decade. It is in fact in the tenth year of the war that Homer picks up the thread of the story and spins his tale, focusing on a crisis in the Greek ranks in which the greatest soldier in history, Achilles, decides to withdraw from battle and allow his fellow Greeks to fend for themselves. It is Achilles who is the central figure in The Iliad.

.......Homer begins with a one-paragraph invocation requesting the Muse (a goddess) to inspire him in the telling of his tale. Such an invocation was a convention in classical literature, notably in epics, from the time of Homer onward.

Mythology Background .......In the ancient Mediterranean world, feminine beauty reaches its zenith in Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Greece. Her wondrous face and body are without flaw. She is perfect. Even the goddess of love, Aphrodite, admires her. While Aphrodite competes with other goddesses in a beauty contest-in which a golden apple is to be awarded as the prize-she bribes the judge, a young Trojan named Paris. She promises him the most ravishing woman in the world, Helen, if he will select her, Aphrodite, as the most beautiful goddess. After winning the contest and receiving the coveted golden apple, she tells Paris about Helen and her incomparable pulchritude. Forthwith, Paris goes to Greece, woos Helen, and absconds with her to Troy, a walled city in Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

.......The elopement is an affront to all the Greeks. How dare an upstart Trojan invade their land! How dare he steal the wife of one of their kings! Which Greek family would be next to fall victim to a Trojan machination? Infuriated, King Menelaus and his friends assemble a mighty army that includes the finest warriors in the land. Together, they cross the sea in one thousand ships to make war against Troy and win back their pride-and Helen. But the war drags on and on. Weeks become months. Months become years. Years become a decade. It is in fact in the tenth year of the war that Homer picks up the thread of the story and spins his tale, focusing on a crisis in the Greek ranks in which the greatest soldier in history, Achilles, decides to withdraw from battle and allow his fellow Greeks to fend for themselves. It is Achilles who is the central figure in The Iliad.

.......Homer begins with a one-paragraph invocation requesting the Muse (a goddess) to inspire him in the telling of his tale. Such an invocation was a convention in classical literature, notably in epics, from the time of Homer onward.

Mythology Background .......In the ancient Mediterranean world, feminine beauty reaches its zenith in Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Greece. Her wondrous face and body are without flaw. She is perfect. Even the goddess of love, Aphrodite, admires her. While Aphrodite competes with other goddesses in a beauty contest-in which a golden apple is to be awarded as the prize-she bribes the judge, a young Trojan named Paris. She promises him the most ravishing woman in the world, Helen, if he will select her, Aphrodite, as the most beautiful goddess. After winning the contest and receiving the coveted golden apple, she tells Paris about Helen and her incomparable pulchritude. Forthwith, Paris goes to Greece, woos Helen, and absconds with her to Troy, a walled city in Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

.......The elopement is an affront to all the Greeks. How dare an upstart Trojan invade their land! How dare he steal the wife of one of their kings! Which Greek family would be next to fall victim to a Trojan machination? Infuriated, King Menelaus and his friends assemble a mighty army that includes the finest warriors in the land. Together, they cross the sea in one thousand ships to make war against Troy and win back their pride-and Helen. But the war drags on and on. Weeks become months. Months become years. Years become a decade. It is in fact in the tenth year of the war that Homer picks up the thread of the story and spins his tale, focusing on a crisis in the Greek ranks in which the greatest soldier in history, Achilles, decides to withdraw from battle and allow his fellow Greeks to fend for themselves. It is Achilles who is the central figure in The Iliad.

.......Homer begins with a one-paragraph invocation requesting the Muse (a goddess) to inspire him in the telling of his tale. Such an invocation was a convention in classical literature, notably in epics, from the time of Homer onward.

Mythology Background .......In the ancient Mediterranean world, feminine beauty reaches its zenith in Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Greece. Her wondrous face and body are without flaw. She is perfect. Even the goddess of love, Aphrodite, admires her. While Aphrodite competes with other goddesses in a beauty contest-in which a golden apple is to be awarded as the prize-she bribes the judge, a young Trojan named Paris. She promises him the most ravishing woman in the world, Helen, if he will select her, Aphrodite, as the most beautiful goddess. After winning the contest and receiving the coveted golden apple, she tells Paris about Helen and her incomparable pulchritude. Forthwith, Paris goes to Greece, woos Helen, and absconds with her to Troy, a walled city in Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

.......The elopement is an affront to all the Greeks. How dare an upstart Trojan invade their land! How dare he steal the wife of one of their kings! Which Greek family would be next to fall victim to a Trojan machination? Infuriated, King Menelaus and his friends assemble a mighty army that includes the finest warriors in the land. Together, they cross the sea in one thousand ships to make war against Troy and win back their pride-and Helen. But the war drags on and on. Weeks become months. Months become years. Years become a decade. It is in fact in the tenth year of the war that Homer picks up the thread of the story and spins his tale, focusing on a crisis in the Greek ranks in which the greatest soldier in history, Achilles, decides to withdraw from battle and allow his fellow Greeks to fend for themselves. It is Achilles who is the central figure in The Iliad.

.......Homer begins with a one-paragraph invocation requesting the Muse (a goddess) to inspire him in the telling of his tale. Such an invocation was a convention in classical literature, notably in epics, from the time of Homer onward.

In Anceint Greek Myth, gods are so infinitely superior to humans that overall they have little concern for mortals whatsoever, unless they fall in love with one or use them as playthings.

However, a large part of Homer's Odyssey is reliant on the special relationship between Odysseus and Pallas Athena. Odysseus is the wise king of Ithaca who joined the Greeks during the Siege of Troy - the reader gets the impression that he is older than many of the other heros, such as Achilles, and it is obvious that he relies on intelligent tactics as much as - if not more than - most. Achilles, known as the greatest hero of them all, enters a mental state called the aristeia which is akin to what we sometimes refer to today as the red mist or psyching out, in which he becomes so angry that he turns into a terrifying and uncontrollable warrior not unlike the Berserkers of Norse myth/history. Odysseus, however, uses trickery - it was he who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, which allowed the Greeks entry into Troy and victory over its inhabitants; though he is undoubtedly a very skilled soldier when it comes down to physical fighting too.

It is perhaps due to his personification of these two aspects - skill in fighting and excellence in tactics - that endears him to Athena who was the goddess of both war and learning (which allowed her to always defeat her brother Apollo - the god of war and bloodhed - during the frequent battles in which they engaged simply for fun more than anything else). There are few stories in which a relationship between mortal and divine becomes as intense as that shared between the two characters - Athene later appears in the form of a swallow and keeps careful eye over Odysseus as he and his son Telemachus battle the far more numerous suitors, would-be future husbands of Odysseus' wife Penelope, who have gathered at his palace during his absence.

In Iliad, they make it seem like Achilles is a horrible person, who kills hector but in the movie, Brad Pitt, who is playing Achilles is a good person and kills Hector because Hector kills Achilles's cousin..

Hi,

Just adding to the said above.

In the Iliad, Homers portrayed Achilles as a God, who was as if he was immortal. As well as a disturbed, human being.

Where in The Movie Troy, Achilles was believed to show "Human like emotions", As well as being a godlike creature who is Immortal.

These Differences are shown in the scene in both the poem and the movie, where Priam King of Troy, goes to Achilles at the Greek WAR camp as for Prince Hectors Dead Body back.

In the Iliad- Achilles says, that Hectors Body is for the dogs and the bird, to feed on. Where he shows NO emotion. King Priam Offered a ransom, for hectors body which was hectors weight in gold and one on Priams own Daughters hand in marriage.

In the Movie- Achilles shows great emotion toward Priam, and even cried over Hectors body while wrapping Hectors body for Priam to Take back to Troy for His funeral.

I hope I have helped!

Eryn.

Oh, by the way Achilles Cousin name was Patroculus who died in both the movie and the book. However, He wasn't only Achilles's cousin, he was also Achilles's Lover!