HUMA 1105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Achilles, Iphigenia, Chryseis
10 Oct 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
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- Basileus – king – Agamemnon (paramount king of Mycenae)
- Achilleus’ rage is the drive for the whole story
- Kleos – physical representation of one’s honour/glory
- Geras – war prize or honour
- The trojan war happened at the end of the bronze age (1100-1250)
- Henrich Schliemann – 1822-1890, a self taught man
- The dark age 1200-800 BCE, songs of heroes and an earlier age, composed and
performed mostly locally
- Eris (strife) does not get invited to a wedding
- She starts a contest of who is the most beautiful between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera
- Paris – trojan prince is asked to choose
- Aphrodite offers him the love of Helen of Sparta; she’s married to king Menelaus
- There is competition to marry her
- Odysseus suggests she choose her own suitor
- She chooses Menelaus (Agamemnon’s younger brother)
- She forces the suitors to swear an oath to not steal her away
- Then Paris steals her away; oath is called into action
- Menelaus wages war on Troy to get Helen back
- Agamemnon is named leader of the expedition
- Greek forces assemble at Aulis to sail to Troy
- Helen’s human father – Tyndareus
- Artemis is angry and needs a sacrifice of Agamemnon’s daughter – Iphigeneia
- He lies saying she’ll be married to Achilleus
- He sacrifices her to Artemis; appeasing her wrath and permitting the winds to change,
and the Greeks to sail to Troy
- The more honourable you are, the more you get
- Without a female war prize, Agamemnon has no honour, so he takes Achilleus’ woman
which agers him (Chryseis – Achilleus’ wife, war prize)
- Achilleus calls him dog face
Document Summary
Basileus king agamemnon (paramount king of mycenae) Achilleus" rage is the drive for the whole story. Kleos physical representation of one"s honour/glory. The trojan war happened at the end of the bronze age (1100-1250) Henrich schliemann 1822-1890, a self taught man. The dark age 1200-800 bce, songs of heroes and an earlier age, composed and performed mostly locally. Eris (strife) does not get invited to a wedding. She starts a contest of who is the most beautiful between aphrodite, athena, and hera. Paris trojan prince is asked to choose. Aphrodite offers him the love of helen of sparta; she"s married to king menelaus. Odysseus suggests she choose her own suitor. She forces the suitors to swear an oath to not steal her away. Then paris steals her away; oath is called into action. Menelaus wages war on troy to get helen back. Agamemnon is named leader of the expedition. Greek forces assemble at aulis to sail to troy.
