The Illiad: Book 2

      Zeus sends a dream to King Agamemnon telling him to rally his troops and mount a massive siege on Troy, because this time it will be successful. Zeus is misleading Agamemnon because he owes a favor to Achilles’ mother, but that is covered in Book 1.
      When King Agamemnon wakes up from the dream, he calls all of the other chiefs together and tells them about the dream and his plans for attack. All of the troops convene in the gathering area of the camp, their massive numbers cause the ground to shake. But Agamemnon decides to test them by telling them they are going home. The men get excited and run to pack up their equipment and board the boats.
      Hera sees all of this, and it doesn’t make her happy. She sends Pallas Athena down to get the Greeks to stay. Athena goes to Odysseus and tells him to stop the men from leaving. He grabs Agamemnon’s scepter and runs around imploring the officers and commanding the troops to stay.
While running around and yelling at people, Odysseus comes across Thersites. Thersites is the ugly guy that nobody likes, but he is making fun of Agamemnon and Achilles. So Odysseus beats him with the scepter. Ugly people have it hard.
      Once Odysseus gets everyone back to the gathering area, he gives a rousing speech about some omen that they saw at the beginning of the war in which a snake ate nine sparrows. They took it to mean that they would fight nine years.
     Afterwards, Agamemnon tells all of the troops to prepare for war by sharpening their spears, balancing their shields and feeding their horses. He tells them that soon they will fight until their shield straps are soaked with sweat and their fists are tired of clenching.
     Agamemnon gathers all of the chiefs together again so that they can sacrifice cows to Zeus. Zeus doesn’t listen to their prayers for victory, but he does accept the sacrifice. They slaughter a couple of cows and feast on the meat.
      Odysseus also suggests to Agamemnon that he divide the troops by their clan, so that the King can see which clans are most valiant. Agamemnon takes the advice and gets his heralds to call the troops to battle, so everyone marches across the Scamander plain.
From there Homer goes on to describe each clan and its leader on both the Greek and Trojan side.

Summary by Charles Alex Pellett

Iliad: Book 3

"Two armies,
Troops in divisions,
Under their commanders,”
      The gates of Troy are opened, and from them a sea of gleaming bronze deluges the barren plain surrounding the city’s impenetrable walls. From the coast, a cloud of dust approaches thick as a morning fog. The Trojans assemble themselves; a wall to defend yet another. The Greeks move in silence, acknowledging their pledge to fight to the death for pride and brotherhood. From the ranks of the Trojans one emerges. It is the divine Paris, son of Priam. Defiantly, he shakes two bronze spears at the Greeks and mockingly challenges their best warrior to engage him.

“When Menelaus, who was Ares’ darling, saw him
Strutting out from the ranks, he felt
As a lion must feel when he finds the carcass
Of a stag or wild goat, and, half-starving,
Consumes greedily even though the hounds and hunters
Are swarming down on him.”

The hunter, Menelaus, eyes his prey menacingly, lusting for revenge as he steps down from his chariot. At the sight of the Menelaus, the audacity possessing Paris flees as he to attempts to seek refuge among his fellow Trojans out of cowardice. For this his brother Hector, commander of the Trojan army, starts on him with abusive epithets.

“Paris you desperate, womanizing boy!
…Can’t you just hear it, the long-haired Greeks
Chuckling and saying that our champion wins
No. don’t stand up to Menelaus: you might find out
What kind of man it is whose wife you’re sleeping with.”

With this, he goes on to slander his brother’s good looks, the gift bestowed upon him by the goddess Aphrodite. Paris defends himself from this slander by asking his brother not to put shame on him for those gifts he has inherited from the gods, ‘fore it is not his fault that he was not blessed the tenacity of a warrior at birth. It appears that the source of conflict arises not from the mortals, but the interplay of the gods in their lives. He then pleads with his brother to…

“Have the Trojans and Greeks sit down,
And Menelaus and I will square off in the middle
To fight for Helen and all her possessions.
Winner take all.”

Hector agreed to this idea, pleased to see courage restored within his brother. Addressing all, he laid the idea before them; a battle for pride and the love of an unsurpassed enchantress. From this suggestion rose utter silence, broken only by booming voice Menelaus. He agrees to the challenge and requests that a sacrifice to the gods be made to seal the pact before the battle.
      Inside the walls of Troy Helen sits at her loom as the gods’ herald Iris approaches her disguised as Loadice, her sister-in-law and daughter of Priam. Iris entices Helen to go join Priam and his council to view the events unfolding between her present and former lover. Yet again it appears that the gods are meddling with the lives of mortals.

“The veterans sat on the wall by the Western Gate,
To old to fight now, but excellent counselors.
Think of cicadas perched on a branch,
Their delicate voices shrill in the woods.
Such were the voices of these Trojan elders…”

As Helen is seated, Priam questions her concerning the prominent figures guiding the opposing army. One by one he picks them out of the crowd and Helen places a history behind each face. There is the king-like Agamemnon, leader of the Greek force; the scheming war General Odysseus, stout in stature and quick of mind; the towering Ajax, the army’s mountain; and with them, many more notable figures of Ancient Greece. As the warriors on the plain return with the sacrificial rams, Priam is called down to partake in the ritual to appease the gods.
      Only with Priam at hand are the blood of the sacrificial rams spilt and the stipulations of the battle set forth by Agamemnon.

“[Gods] Witness and protect these Oaths:
If Paris Alexander kills Menelaus,
Helen and all her goods are his,
And we shall sail away in our ships.
But if Menelaus kills Paris,
The Trojans will surrender Helen
With all her goods and pay the Argives
A fit penalty for generations to come.”

He then continues to ask for Zeus to wreak havoc on whoever breaks this oath and truce. Ironically, Homer states immediately after this that Zeus would not fulfill their prayers, possibly foreshadowing the events that are to unfold and the siege that is to take place later in the Epic. Priam then departs with the ritual’s completion, and Hector and Odysseus prepare the field for battle. The assailants arm themselves and the battle ensues with Paris striking first, his spear throw deflected by the shield of Menelaus. Retaliating, Menelaus launches his spear behind which flies a prayer to Zeus. With the force of the gods guiding it, the spear penetrates both Paris’ shield and breastplate, nicking his ribs and bringing to his knees. Seizing the opportunity, Menelaus strikes down upon Paris’ head with his sword only to have it shatter upon impact with his helmet. Enraged, Menelaus chastises Zeus for interfering with his revenge and begins to drag Paris by his helmet to the waiting Greek army. If not for Aphrodite aiding Paris by cutting his chinstrap and whisking him away in a veil of smoke, Menelaus would have surely slain him. With this, Paris finds himself in the security of his bedroom. His wife, Helen, is present only to reproachfully question him why he had not died on the battlefield as he was beaten by a real hero, her former husband. Hurt, Paris requests not to be insulted and for Helen to make love to him, as he wants her now like never before. While the two of them sleep, Menelaus searches the ranks of the Trojans for Paris to no avail. With this, the truce is broken and thus begins the siege of Troy with only the gods to blame for the woes of the mortals.

Summary by Rohit Reddy

Book IV

      At the beginning of Book IV Zeus or Jove/Jupiter was sitting in council with his wife Hera or Juno and his daughter Athena or Minerva. Athena was born to Metis and is the Goddess of Wisdom and the first daughter of Zeus. Zeus pokes fun at Hera and Athena because they claim to be friends of Menelaus but they sit idly by and watch from above. Hera and Athena go through with sacking the city of Ilius which displeases Zeus so Hera offers not to defend one of her three favorite cities if Zeus feels the need to attack them.
      Zeus then sends Athena to start a conflict between Troy and the Achaeans (Greeks). Athena convinces Pandarus to shoot an arrow at Menelaus but then Athena deflects the arrow so that Menelaus does not receive a fatal wound. The fact that someone shot Menelaus upsets Agamemnon and Agamemnon states that the perpetrator will suffer the wrath of the gods.
      Next, the Trojans attacked the Greeks. During the conflict Agamemnon ran around to his various captains and legions giving commands and trying to encourage his troops to stand fast and counter the Trojans. Agamemnon believed that the gods would enact revenge upon the Trojans for breaking their oath with the Greeks. Agamemnon came upon Nestor who is older and skilled in military tactics. Agamemnon gives approval of his ability to keep all of his soldiers engaged in the conflict by surrounding the weak with his mounted knights and his foot soldiers. A conversation then begins between Agamemnon and Nestor start a conversation in the middle of the battle. As Agamemnon progresses through the ranks he comes upon Ulysses who doesn’t take kindly to the criticisms of Agamemnon. After Agamemnon apologizes out of fear he moves on to Diomed and Sthenelus. Agamemnon guilt’s them into taking a more aggressive action by discussing the bravery and valor of their fathers.
      The point of Book IV is to show the role Agamemnon places in battle and to prove that Achilles would not fight when the Greeks were in need. It also shows the obedience of the soldiers and the leadership that governs the various legions of the Greek army.

compiled by Ben Stokes

Book Five

     The fifth book of The Iliad begins with Athena’s granting tremendous power to Diomedes shortly before convincing Ares that the two divinities should let the battle take shape independent of their actions. The next two pages consist of a listing of the people killed and those who killed them. Soon, Pandarus, the man responsible for hitting Menelaus with an arrow, wounds the raging Diomedes as well by shooting an arrow into his shoulder. Diomedes survives, and he appeals to Athena to get him near to the man who hit him with an arrow. Athena responds by reinvigorating Diomedes and granting him the ability to distinguish between gods and men. She also warns him not to harm any god or goddess save Aphrodite. Following Athena’s intervention, Diomedes returns to his rampage and slays many more Trojans. The slaughter draws the attention of Aeneas, Priam’s cousin and Aphrodite’s son, and he seeks Pandarus to help him kill Diomedes. The pair get into Aeneas’ chariot and rush out to fight Diomedes, resulting in, through the help of Athena, the death of Pandarus and the crippling of Aeneas due to a rock heaved at his hip. Aphrodite then tries to get her son out of danger, only to be cut on the wrist by Diomedes. Aphrodite retreats to Olympus, leaving Apollo to get Aeneas to safety. Still Diomedes pursues Aeneas, and he stops only because Apollo commands that he do so. Apollo takes Aeneas to Pergamum where Artemis and Leto heal the warrior. In Aeneas’ place Apollo leaves an illusory form identical to Aeneas as a focus for the battle between the Greeks and Trojans. Ares, at Apollo’s request, enters the battle and rallies the Trojan troops, and Apollo reintroduces Aeneas to the battle. The opposing armies meet and trade many casualties, with neither side retreating. This changes, however, when Diomedes sees Ares fighting beside Hector and advises his men to make a limited retreat. Seeing that the Greeks were in danger of defeat, Athena and Hera return to the battle and, in conjunction with Diomedes, Athena went after Ares. With Athena’s guidance Diomedes stabbed Ares in the stomach with his spear, sending the god back to Olympus. Athena too returned to Olympus, having taken Ares out of the battle.
     Book Five of The Iliad has an abundance of tangential departures from the main story line to describe the history of the people who had just been killed. Coupled with the graphic accounts of severed shoulders, pierced temples, and countless other atrocities, these anecdotes portray warfare as equal parts brutality and waste. When recalling the death of Pedaeus at the hands of Meges, one does not focus as much on Meges’ skill as on the sorrow to be felt by his parents and the horror of his demise. As Stanley Lombardo puts it on page 85 of his translation, “Now Meges got close enough to him to send his spear through the tendon at the back of his neck and on into his mouth, cutting away the tongue at its root. He fell into the dust, his teeth clenched on cold bronze.”
--Jonathan Thompson