Iliad Essay - 1502 Words

quot;The Iliadquot;, an epic tale told by the famous Greek author Homer, is focused primarily on the Trojan War between the Greeks, or Argives, and the Trojans. This war was filled with bloody battles and a massive loss of life. Homer tells stories about a duration of time during this fighting, and not the entire war. He uses his story-telling abilities to focus the audience on the garish and sometimes mundane drudgery of war. Due to his removal from the actual time of these battles, his stories may be embellished or not completely accurate descriptions of what did or did not happen. Overall, however, the Iliad is believed to be mostly true. Homer was born, most likely, in the 8th Century B.C. He is widely believed to be the best and†¦show more content†¦Most of the clues as to ancient Greek life come as no surprise. It is not surprising to find that the Greeks recognized the Moon during this period: quot; the massive shield flashing far and wide like a full round moon quot; (p. 500, 422) Nor is it shocking to hear of lions in Greece at this time: quot; like a great bearded lion the dogs and field hands drive back quot; (p.446, 126-127) However, even though these similes sometimes may seem unimportant or even redundant, every situation they are used in is different. A lion may be just another lion, but no two conflicts that they describe are exactly alike. Homer uses this thought to convey the energy, and even at times beauty, of his fighting scenes. The one main theme of the plot to The Iliad is its raging battle. So, most of the similes throughout the book are about warfare. Battles are compared to things such as animals, weather, or even fire. In consideration, these three things are actually connected by their inherent naturalness. Animals, weather, and fire are all parts of what we refer to as quot;naturequot;. By evaluating Homers similes with quot;naturequot; included, we today can see what ancient Greek quot;naturequot; may have been like. First of all, most of the similes from The Iliad are comparing something to an animal. Several animals that are mentioned throughout the book are,Show MoreRelatedThe Iliad Of The Homer s Iliad Essay1475 Words   |  6 PagesThe Iliad ranks as one of the most important and most influential works in terms of world literatures since its establishment. Between the underlying standard to which the Iliad offers us as audience members, along with the plethora of writers that have followed in the footsteps to which Homer’s Iliad paved, the impact that the Iliad has played is remarkable in itself. 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