welcome back today we're going to be looking at The Iliad book two let's start by talking about the major characters in this book Zeus who in the last book made a promise to let the Trojans win for a while begins to fulfill his promise in this book and although he tries to keep some balance within this war he sets off the events that are going to lead ultimately to the Trojans taking the lead he's portrayed here as a great and powerful leader but someone also who's trying to fulfill a certain obligation without getting himself in too much trouble we also returned to the character Agamemnon who we saw as pretty much a colossal jerk in book one here it's time for Agamemnon to show his stuff as a military leader and we see him attempting to use reverse psychology on his men as well as bark orders to get his men in line he still doesn't really shine as a leader but he is portrayed as being rather intimidating and Powerful but also unfortunately manipulated by the gods Nestor steps back into his role as an advisor and he is ready to back up again non at all costs which is unfortunate again because we see Agamemnon being manipulated by the gods Athena and Hera reprise the same kind of role of goddesses who really want the Greeks to win and who will step in when things get a little bit chaotic to make sure that the Greeks follow their leaders calcas also reprises the role of the Seer as someone who predicts the future of how the battle is going to go two new characters step into the Limelight the first being Odysseus who's one of the powerful Greek leaders he's such an important character in fact that he's going to get a sequel The Odyssey in book two of The Iliad we note him as being very clever but also he has the important role of keeping the Army in line when chaos breaks Out Among the ranks it's Odysseus who has to get everybody back on track and lined back up when dissension arises in the camp it's Odysseus who has to set things right and so he becomes the voice of authority and reason in this book finally we meet thirst cities thirsties is a naysayer he is a mouthy troll he likes to Mock and make fun of absolutely everyone so what happens in book two at the end of book one Zeus had promised to support the Trojan's side in order for the Greeks to lose for a while to bring glory to Achilles who was sitting out so they would come crawling to him and begging for his help it's just tosses and turns in bed trying to think about how he's going to do that and he finally decides to send a dream to Agamemnon telling him that this is the Day of Victory and that he needs to charge into battle that will get things started the dream appears in the form of Nester and tells Agamemnon that this is his time it's time to rise up and fight against Roy it's time to finally make his charge Agamemnon wakes up feeling excited and confident he throws on his armor and he strides out to his generals telling them all about his dream Nestor completely backs up his story saying ah if Agamemnon says it it must be true even though we know the gods are manipulating them and then Agamemnon gets the bright idea that he's going to use reverse psychology on the general Army so he and his generals walk out there and Agamemnon says Ah we've been here for nine years and nothing's happened I say we give up and all go home instead of all the men saying no we want to finish this war they all say yep fine and they turn and they dash for the boats getting ready to break away things are so chaotic that Hera and Athena have to step in Harris sends Athena to swoop down and tap Odysseus on the shoulder telling him to get the people under control before All Is Lost so Odysseus runs not straight to the people but to Agamemnon and grabs his scepter and then begins to run among the men directing the generals how to get their men back in line and whenever he runs up to a common Soldier deserver he whacks him with the scepter and says get back in line finally the men all gathered back together on the beach in front of Agamemnon again but the conflict isn't over because thur cities the Maori troll stands up and begins to mock Agamemnon now we know that Agamemnon has his flaws as a leader and when Achilles stood up to Agamemnon that seemed like a good thing but there is a difference between standing up to bad leadership and simply being a mouthy troll tharsity's mockery is not productive it doesn't help things to become better not to mention that thur cities is crass and abusive of everybody around him Odysseus has to go up and whack their cities over the head and shoulders with the scepter and the beating of thirsties gets everybody else in line and everybody else appreciates their cities finally shutting up it's enough to get everyone back quiet and listening to Agamemnon Odysseus and the Nestor reaffirm their support for Agamemnon as a leader and point out that Agamemnon was testing them in and that they failed miserably after all calcus had once prophesied that it would take 10 years before they beat Troy they've waited these nine there's no way they should leave now an Agamemnon gives a big speech rallying them in back saying now is our time now we're going to defeat the Trojans and anybody who hangs back and and acts like a coward is gonna be food for the birds and dogs and then he gives a big sacrifice to Zeus which we hear in the narrative Zeus appreciates but is not really going to answer their prayer he's not going to give them immediate Victory and so Agamemnon commands all of the troops to line up and be prepared for war the rest of book two is Agamemnon walking down the line and meeting with each of the generals and we get this lineup of great Heroes and we don't stop at the end of the akian line either because then we jump over the Trojan line and we see them all lined up and ready to go it becomes a good running list of key names to pay attention to through the rest of the book so now let's look at the key features of this book first of all there's another evocation of the Muse which happens at the beginning of the lineup inline 573 in Robert fagel's translation it says sing to me now you musers who hold the halls of Olympus you are goddesses you are everywhere you know all things all we hear is the distant Ring Of Glory we know nothing who were the captains of Ikea who were the Kings the massive troops I could never tally never name not even if I had 10 tongues and 10 mouths a tireless voice in the heart inside me bronze never unless you Muses of Olympus Daughters of Zeus whose Shield is rolling thunder sing in memory all who gathered under Troy now I can only tell the Lords of the ships the ships in all their numbers and so he calls on abuses to help him to be able to tell the names of the Great Heroes it's too many to name all of these Greek soldiers but remind me of who these Heroes were so that I can sing their story we also have a traditional element of a lot of Epic stories of of a heroic lineup many epic poems especially the classical epics include a lineup of major characters early in the work and this book definitely serves that purpose there are also several examples of Epic similes in this book epic similes are these extended and drawn out similes where the tenor in the vehicle have been switched for example he says as rabbiting fire rips through the big strands of Timber high on a Mountain Ridge and blazes flares miles away so from the marching troops the blaze of bronze armor Splendid in superhuman flared across the Earth flashing into the air to hit the skies as a huge fire that you see from a distance just so the blaze of all the light shining on their bronze armor there are also multiple examples of repetition within the poetry if we remember epic poetry was once part of oral tradition and so it was memorized and recited and so there are passages that are verbatim one place to another for example the speech that the dream gives to Agamemnon he then repeats word for word to his generals as a memory device for the poet who is reciting this or the message that Hera tells to Athena she then repeats to Odysseus to get the men in line there's also lots of personification in this now many of the gods are really just personification they are ideas projected into personhood but some key examples in this particular book are the dream that is personified and comes down to speak to Agamemnon there's also symbolism in this book particularly in the symbolism of the scepter Odysseus instead of running straight to the men goes and takes the scepter from Agamemnon which gives him a kind of authority and it shows the need for a Authority in order to create order and structure it's the scepter that he uses to get people back in line and it's the scepter that he uses to beat down thirsties who is trying to break the authority of the leaders finally there's a great example of dramatic irony when Agamemnon tells his dream and tells how this shows that they're about to win the war Nestor stands up and says friends Lords of the archives oh my captains if any other Akin had told us of this dream we'd call it false and turn our backs on it but look the man who saw it has every claim to be the best the bravest akian we can field and so the book goes out of its way to emphasize how the characters completely believe this dream and Nestor completely supports Agamemnon it must be true if Agamemnon said it although all of us know as an audience that this is not true here's the characters completely aloof to the fact that this is a trick and a manipulation by the gods that's it for book two thanks for watching you can click to subscribe or watch another video and I'll see you next time bye-bye