Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a new episode of Great Books in 10 Minutes. By the end of this episode, you will know all that you need about one of the greatest epics of all time, the Iliad. In the epic genre, the Iliad is undoubtedly among the greatest works ever written.
It was originally composed in the Old Ionic language, which was one of the main four Greek dialects. It is an unparalleled literary achievement. that after almost 30 centuries remains unrivaled in the Western canon. The main themes of the Iliad are love, honor, friendship, rivalry, free will, and fate. The Iliad was composed by the Greek writer and musician Homer.
Except knowing that he was born sometime around the 8th century BC, everything else that we know about Homer is almost entirely fictionalized. Today there are two major works attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. But in antiquity a large number of other works were believed to be composed by him.
Today however these claims are not supported by facts and were not supported by everyone in the ancient world either. As with the multitude of legends surrounding Homer's life they prove the importance and centrality of a person named Homer. Homer that encapsulated the entire Greek culture in his works.
So, in a way, we can argue that Homer is the embodiment of ancient Greek culture. He is the memory of ages through which all of the fables and tales of the old world survived and were transferred from one generation to the next. Zeus, the chief of gods and the immortal king of Mount Olympus, held a celebration in honor of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis without inviting Eris, the goddess of chaos. It was in the middle of this feast that Eris arrived uninvited and resentful. Therefore, to sow discord among gods, she threw a golden apple into the banquet on which was written, For the most beautiful.
Three goddesses demanded the apple. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Zeus, knowing that choosing one over the other two will result in more conflict, assigned the task to Paris, prince of Troy, who had a reputation for being a fair judge among the gods. As each goddess wanted to have the apple, they each showed themselves to Paris in all their beauty and appeared naked before him. Each of them then offered the prince a gift as an incentive in return for the apple.
Hera promised him all the kingdoms of Europe and Asia Minor, Athena offered him wisdom in battle, and Aphrodite promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, queen of Sparta, who was already married to King Menelaus. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite and asked for Helen's love in return. The story has it that when beautiful Helen came to age, every king and nobleman in the Greek world wanted to marry her.
The story has it that when beautiful Helen came to age, The competition became so fierce that to preserve peace and avoid bloodshed, they made a pact that Helen herself shall choose her suitor, and she and her future husband must be both accepted and protected by the rest of the kingdoms. And Helen chose Menelaus. When Menelaus found out that in his absence, young Paris had taken his wife Helen to Troy, he raised a massive army from every corner of the Greek world.
and gave its command to his ambitious brother Agamemnon. And that is how the siege of Troy started. After ten years of bloodshed and constant skirmishes, the siege of Troy resulted in nothing but carnage for the Greeks.
The impenetrable walls of Troy stood tall, and behind them Priam, king of Troy, reliant on the bravery of his eldest son Hector, remained unabated and defiant in the face of the foe. During this brutal year, Achilles, the immortal hero of the Greeks who was himself the son of goddess Thetis, conquered a small island near Troy called Crese and enslaved its population. Among these newly captured people was a beautiful girl named Astynum.
Astynum's father was a priest of the temple of Apollo. Agamemnon demanded the girl for herself and refused every ransom that her father offered for her release. When God Apollo witnessed this, he sent a deadly plague that ravaged the Greek army and forced Agamemnon to give Astinopolis a new name.
Displeased by the turn of events and vengeful towards Achilles who brought the girl to Agamemnon in the first place, he compensated himself for this loss by taking another girl named Brasius who was a subject of Achilles. A treacherous act that upset Achilles so much that he refused to take any further part in the Trojan War. Achilles'mother, Thetis, goddess of water, complained to Zeus about Agamemnon's betrayal and asked the great God to punish him. Zeus in return sent a false dream to Agamemnon and convinced him that he would be victorious if he attacked the city's walls with all of his forces in the morning.
On the day of battle, first Menelaus, king of Sparta who had lost his wife to Paris, challenged the Trojan prince to a duel. Paris answered the call but failed to defeat Menelaus. When he was about to lose his life, Aphrodite helped him escape and took him back to his room in his father's palace where he was joined by Helen.
Meanwhile, among gods, Zeus argued that Menelaus must be declared the winner and the war should end as the mortals had agreed before the duel. But Hera, who was still furious at Paris over choosing Aphrodite over her, wanted nothing but the total annihilation of Troy and persuaded Zeus to rekindle the flame of war. Therefore, Athena disguised as a Trojan soldier convinced a Trojan archer named Panderas to take aim at Menelaus and kill him.
However, as Panderas shot the arrow, Athena deflected it so that it would only wound Menelaus and give the Greeks a reason for war. Following this, the Greek army launched an all-out assault against the Trojans. and a bloody battle started. The Trojans under the leadership of Hector pushed the Greeks back to their ships and almost destroyed the Greek camp.
Right at this moment when the Greek army was losing heart, Achilles'best friend and long-time battle companion Patroclus begged him to join the battle and save the day. Achilles, who was still angry at Agamemnon over kidnapping the girl, refused to fight. but agreed to exchange armors with his friend Patroclus, so that the Greek soldiers would think Achilles had returned to battle and rally around him. With the arrival of Patroclus in Achilles'disguise, the turn of events quickly changed in favor of the Greeks. The Trojans retreated to the city and Patroclus pushed forward against the enemy and killed everyone in his way, including the mortal son of Zeus, Sarpedon.
Vengeful Zeus decided to kill Patroclus. and tasked Apollo with taking revenge for him. Apollo first convinced Hector to charge the enemy, then appeared behind Patroclus and wounded him. When Hector arrived, Patroclus was on his knees, defeated and ready to accept his destiny. Hector humiliated the fallen man and finished him off only to hear Patroclus foretelling Hector's bitter end with his last breath.
Achilles wept so loud for his friend that his mother, Thetis, heard his lamentations. She appeared before him and promised him that if he delays his revenge for one day, she will go to the Temple of Vulcan and return with a new powerful weapon for him to defeat Hector. Zeus, fearful of Achilles'rage, summoned the gods to Mount Olympus and asked them to interfere in battle should Achilles try to destroy Troy before its time.
However, upon arriving on Earth, the gods decided to stand on opposing hills and only witnessed the battle between the mortals. Achilles ruthlessly attacked the Trojans and destroyed their formation. After a short battle, the entire Trojan army that was camped outside the walls of Troy routed before him.
Finally, the fateful hour when Hector and Achilles met face to face arrived. Hector at first tried negotiating with Achilles, but the Greek hero did not show any interest in conciliation. Hector knew that he was no match for his opponent, so he ran away and Achilles chased after him. At this moment Zeus was determined to save Hector, but Athena convinced the great god that the mortal's life must end.
Zeus placed the destiny of both heroes on a golden scale, and when the fate of Hector sank lower, he agreed with Athena. Achilles chased Hector around the city walls three times. During Hector's fourth circle around Troy, Athena, disguised as Hector's friend Diophobus, appeared before him and convinced the Trojan prince that they could defeat Achilles together.
At that moment, Hector stopped running and decided to face his enemy. The two heroes finally engaged in battle. For a while, they fought with spears and neither one managed to overcome the other.
In his last attempt for glory and in a In a desperate effort to make up for fleeing, Hector charged Achilles, but he was still wearing Achilles'armor that he took from Patroclus'body. Achilles knew the weakness of the armor, and in a swift move, put his spear through Hector's throat. King Priam and the rest of the Trojans who were witnessing the final chapter of Hector's life wailed with grief, and the sound of their mourning rose to heavens.
After burying his friend Patroclus'body, Achilles held a series of competitions in his honor. Hector's corpse, however, was dragged behind chariots and stabbed by every Greek soldier. Finally, Apollo asked Zeus to intervene and force Achilles to return Hector's body to his father. Following Zeus'instructions, King Priam went to Achilles with a chariot full of treasures.
Then he tearfully begged the king to return the chariot. the Greek hero and asked him to think of the bond between him and his father. Achilles accepted the ransom and gave the body back. Amidst tears and wailing, the Trojans prepared nine days for Hector's funeral. On the tenth day, they lit the pyre on fire and mourned the loss of their legendary hero.
The original epic of the Iliad ends with Hector's death and all the other stories that you might have heard. heard or read in continuation of the Iliad were written later by other writers. Especially Virgil, who centuries later wrote his famous sequel to the Iliad, titled Aeneid, in which he told the story of the famous Trojan horse, the conquest of Troy, and the death of Achilles.
Very well, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the end of this episode. I hope you enjoyed my summary of the Iliad. Please consider subscribing to my channel. And steam the next episode.