A Few Minor Issues

Hi All,

I hope you had a great Spring Break. I have a few comments on your most recent reading responses and a few reminders...

Reminders First:

1. The next essay exam is a week from this Friday. It will cover the Iliad, Hippolytus, and Venus & Adonis. Now would be a good time to make sure you're caught up on readings in order to prepare for the exam.

2. I'm missing a lot of Reading Response 7 & 8. I am also missing lots of other random assignments. I can only give you credit if you turn them in, so don't forget!

3. We have about 6 weeks left in the semester. It would be awesome if you did your 3 homework assignments BEFORE the last day of class. Of course, like the assignment says, they are not actually due until the last day of discussion. These are pretty much 9 free points so make sure to take advantage of them.

Comments on Reading Responses 7 & 8:

1. RESPONSE 7: A lot of the descriptions of the new shield of Achilles were not so great. If you were in class on March 20th, make sure to review your class notes and the blog notes (coming up next). If you were not in class, ask for someone's notes. This is not to insult anyone. Instead, I want to make sure you are able to discuss the shield in depth in case you get an essay prompt about it.

Things to note:

-Sky, Earth, River Ocean, Stars & Constellations

- 2 cities: one at peace, one at war

-one at peace has a dispute over a blood price ** compare to Achilles' situation

-agricultural scene

-vineyard scene

-bovine scene

-dancing

- 3 metals

2. RESPONSE 8: A lot of people told me that the Trojan Horse story is found in the movie Troy. Yes, but that's not the answer Solomon or I wanted. It's actually found in the Aeneid, written by Virgil.

3. RESPONSE 8: Even more people seemed to misunderstand WHY Homer ended his story where he did... Recall the first 7 lines of the Iliad:

"Sing Goddessthe anger of Peleus' son Achilleus and its devastation which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls

of heroes but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs of all birds and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood in division of conflict Atreus' son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus" (Iliad, 1.1-7)

So rather than telling the story of the fall of Troy, or even Achilles' death, Homer immediately tells his audience that he intends to share the story of Achilles' anger. Thus, as we discussed in class, the true climax of the Iliad is in the scene between Priam and Achilles (Book 24,lines 480-517). The most important lines being the following:

"Then when great Achilleus had taken full satisfaction in sorrow and the passion for it had gone from his mind and his body, thereafter he rose from his chair and took the old man by the hand..." (Iliad, 24.512-515)

So then the ending is appropriate for the story Homer wanted to tell even though it doesn't actually include the death of Achilles or the fall of Troy. 

See the next post for exact line numbers to review!