One of my reading goals for 2023 is to get to know Greek and Roman myths. So here it is, I started reading the Iliad this month. I’m only at the end of Book 4 but so far it has been a pleasant surprise. Hopefully you can see what I mean by the end of this video. I’m an absolute beginner reading ancient Greek literature and this is my first time reading the Iliad itself. In this video I’m going to share some initial impressions, I’ll read a little bit from Book 1 so you get a feel of the narrative style and I’ll talk about a few characters that stood out to me specifically. // I’m reading the Penguin Classics edition originally translated by E. V. Rieu in 1950 and updated by his son and Peter Jones in 2003.
So the story. The Greek army is led by Agamemnon and it’s besieging Ilium, a Trojan town whose ruler is Priam. As book 1 begins, we are in the tenth year of the war. Let me read you the first two paragraphs of the Iliad:
Anger — sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that accursed anger, which brought the Greeks endless sufferings and sent the mighty souls of many warriors to Hades, leaving their bodies as carrion for the dogs and a feast for the birds; and Zeus’ purpose was fulfilled. It all began when Agamemnon lord of men and godlike Achilles quarrelled and parted.
It repeats ‘anger’ three times. And that anger leads to the death and destruction of the Greeks. And Achilles is one of the Greeks himself. And it says, “Zeus’ purpose was fulfilled”.
I don’t have much background knowledge of Greek mythology so that’s a question mark for me: what was Zeus’ purpose? The destruction of the Greeks? But according to what little I do know, Troy was in the end sacked in the famous story of the wooden horse. And the Greeks won. And I suddenly thought wait a minute, maybe Troy and Ilium were actually two different cities. Am I mixing stories up? But the internet reassured me they were the two names of the same city. // So the book starts with anger and quarrel. The tension is there right at the beginning.
Which of the gods was it that made them quarrel? It was Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, who started the feud because he was furious with Agamemnon for not respecting his priest Chryses. So Apollo inflicted a deadly plague on Agamemnon’s army and destroyed his men.
This is a brief summary of the first part of Book 1. Notice Apollo was furious with Agamemnon. So far, everyone mentioned was very angry! After this paragraph, the narrator backtracks a little bit and explains in detail what Agamemnon did to Chryses and what Apollo did to Agamennon’s army.
A young girl Chryseis was captured by the Greeks and was given to Agamemnon as a prize. Book 1 starts with Chryseis’ father Cryses, a local priest of Apollo, who came to Agamemnon with “an immense ransom and carried the emblems of the Archer-god Apollo on a golden staff in his hands” for his beloved daughter. Agamemnon was painted in a negative light right from the beginning. Chryses came very cordially, he brought an immense ransom and he spoke favourably for the Greeks:
“… you hope to sack Priam’s town and get home in safety. May the gods that live on Olympus grant your wish.”
I don’t know which town Cryses was from but he was not on the Trojan side. He blessed the Greeks and he just wanted his daughter back.
Then all the other Greeks shouted in agreement. They wanted to see the priest respected and the splendid ransom taken.
According to the Great Courses I listened to last month, offering a ransom to exchange for a captured family member or friend was an acceptable and normal thing to do in the context of the Iliad. So, the priest was nice to them, he brought a more than decent ransom, he asked for an acceptable request and most of all, he came as a representative of Apollo. But Agamemnon ignored all of the above and you can almost hear him bark on the page, I do NOT respect you, I do NOT respect your god, go away, she’s mine. // Next thing you know, Apollo answered Chryses’ prayer and showered the Greek camp with deadly arrows for nine days.
Day and night, packed funeral pyres burned.
On day ten Achilles called a meeting and a prophet told them that this was all because Agamemnon wouldn’t let the girl go. To this Agamemnon replied, you never said anything good about me before, and now you are telling everyone that it’s my fault the army men are dropping dead like flies.
“And why? Because I wanted to have her home myself. Indeed, I like her better than my wife Clytemnestra. Chryseis is quite as beautiful and no less clever or skilful with her hands.”
But for the army’s sake, I’m willing to give her up.
“But give me another prize at once or I will be the only one of us without one. That cannot be right.”
Achilles said, come on, don’t be so stubborn, we’ll find you one after we sack Ilium. But Agamemnon said
“… don’t imagine you can trick me into that… No: if the army is prepared to give me a fresh prize, they must choose one to MY taste to make up for MY loss. If not, I shall come and help myself to YOUR prize, or Ajax’s, or maybe I shall walk off with Odysseus’.”
What a childish thing to say! As a leader of an army at war, who depends on the favour of the gods and the support of his fellow commanders and soldiers, Agamemnon did not think of the bigger picture or consider the consequence before he spoke. I want a prize, now, if I don’t have one, I’ll take yours. What a selfish and unreasonable man! I’d be terrified to follow a leader like that, especially in a war.
The lecturer in the Great Courses did emphasise that this argument was not mainly over women but about honour. So it was not, I lost my concubine to sleep with, I’m going to take yours. But more, I lost my reputation and honour as a warrior and it’s shameful, I’m going to make myself look better again by taking your prize. There’s only a certain amount of honour shared between people. If you have more I have less. And honour is not an internal thing, but an outward display of praiseworthy things, like loot and captured women. But still, as Achilles pointed out,
“How can you expect any of the men to comply with you willingly when you send them on a raid or into battle? It was no quarrel with Trojan warriors that brought ME here to fight. They have never done ME any harm… We joined your expedition, you shameless swine, to please YOU…”
Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus came all the way to Troy to fight for Agamemnon. He took it all for granted. As soon as things didn’t go his way, he complained and threatened like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Let’s just pause the story for a moment. What do you think so far? By this point I was pleasantly surprised how straightforward the narrative style was. It’s an ancient Greek epic and it’s studied by scholars and all that so I expected it to give me a headache. But no! So far the meaning is crystal clear and it’s a bit of a page-turner. By the time of filming, I’m at the end of Book 4 and that’s still the case. So if you’ve been putting off reading the Iliad because you’re worried it’s difficult, rest assured it’s not!
Achilles and Agamemnon argued a bit more and got angrier and angrier and nearly killed each other. Goddess Athene intervened in the nick of time. Before they parted, Achilles said, right, that’s it. I’m not fighting for you anymore. He went back to his ship. And
Withdrawing from his men, Achilles broke into tears.
And I thought, what?!
So far, the atmosphere has been extremely intense, the air was highly charged, and suddenly, our bravest warrior, a most blockish block broke into tears and called out to his mother! I didn’t see this coming at all. There’s a very abrupt and interesting change of tone. And a teary conversation between Achilles and his goddess mother followed. Achilles retold his argument with Agamemnon and asked his mother to do something for him:
“Persuade him [that’s Zeus], if you can, to help the Trojans and to fling the Greeks back on their ships, pen them hard against the sea and massacre them. That would teach them the true measure of their leader. Make wide-ruling Agamemnon son of Atreus realise the delusion he is under in giving no respect to the best of all the Greeks.”
Meaning himself. Achilles just wishes a massacre on his army. Brutal but OK. His mother then went to plead with Zeus after he came back from his traveling. And Zeus agreed reluctantly. Here is the second thing that I found surprising and funny. Remember this was the very first time we hear Zeus speaking in the Iliad – Zeus the father of gods and men, said to Achilles’s mother regarding her pleads
“This is going to mean trouble! You will make me fall foul of my wife Hera when she heaps me with abuse for this, as she will.”
The first thing we hear! Zeus’ major concern was his domestic trouble and his wife’s abuse! And he was right. When he met Hera face-to-face a few lines later,
At once she spoke to Zeus with cutting words:
“Which god has been hatching plots with you this time, you arch-deceiver? How like you it is to wait till my back is turned and then cook up some secret schemes, on your own. You have never been willing to confide in me.”
She was proud and jealous. There was then a domestic argument. They were not arguing about the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, who should win, and what should happen next. Their argument is basically, Hera accused her husband of keeping secrets from her; Zeus said yes I am keeping secrets from you do you expect to know everything just because you’re my wife? Hera said what do you mean I never nagged you. But I saw you talking to that woman I saw you two!
“This makes me suppose you have given your word to her to honour Achilles and let the Greeks be slaughtered in their multitudes by their ships.”
And this is Zeus’ reply:
“Remarkable! you can never stop ‘supposing’. I can keep no secret from you. But there is nothing you can do — except to turn me even more against you, which will be all the worse for yourself.”
It got quite heated and I think Zeus did get angry by this point because Hera backed down. And there’s another change of tone right here. Hephaestus came up to comfort his mother Hera. And book 1 ends with a surprisingly delightful domestic scene among the gods.
Hephaestus said oh mother don’t be so angry and he told a little story to make her laugh which I found very sweet. Apparent, once Zeus
“… he seized me by the foot and hurled me from the threshold of Olympus. I flew all day and, as the sun sank, I fell, all the life knocked out of me…”
And it worked. Hera smiled.
Then Hephaestus went on to serve the rest in turn, beginning from the left, with sweet nectar which he drew from the mixing bowl; and a fit of helpless laughter seized the blessed gods as they watched him bustling up and down the hall.
I just loved this tiny detail. After all the proud and self-important men and gods fighting angrily, here’s someone whose words are sweet and whose actions are basically serving others in good humour.
All that happened in Book 1. What do you think? I found it very entertaining. I love the rhythm of the storytelling, some intense and angry sections followed by sad or lighthearted sections. The characters jump off the page vividly. I got to know them very quickly. For example, in Book 3, there’s a spicy and fierce monologue by Helen addressed to the goddess Aphrodite that made me want to whistle, even though I can’t whistle! Overall I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far. Will report more.
A Day of Small Things 