《伊里亚特》故事概要等.doc

Synopsis
As the poem begins, the Greeks have captured Chryséis, the daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and given her as a prize to Agamemnon. When Agamemnon threatens Chryses as he attempted to ransom his daughter, Apollo sends a plague against the Greeks. At an assembly called by Achilles, the Greeks compel Agamemnon to restore Chryséis to her father to stop the sickness. Agamemnon agrees reluctantly but also takes for himself Briséis, whom the Achaeans had given to Achilles as a spoil of war. This causes Achilles, widely seen as the best warrior of the war, to withdraw from the fighting.

In counterpoint to Achilles' pride stands the Trojan prince Hector, son of King Priam, a husband and father who fights to defend his city and his family. With Achilles on the sidelines, Hector leads successful counterattacks against the Greeks, who have built a fortified camp around their ships pulled up on the Trojan beach. The best remaining Greek fighters, including Odysseus and Diomedes, are wounded, and the gods favor the Trojans. When the Trojans finally threatened the Greek ships with fire, Achilles allows Patroclus, impersonating him by wearing his armor, to lead the Myrmidons back into battle. The death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector brings Achilles back to the war for revenge, and he slays Hector in single combat. Hector's body is abused for days until his father, King Priam, comes to Achilles alone (but aided by Hermes) to ransom his son's body, and Achilles is moved to pity. The funeral of Hector ends the poem.
Book summaries
Homer himself didn't name the 24 books of the Iliad, however, many translators have provided their own book titles. The number of books is identical to that of Homer's other epic, the Odyssey.
· Book 1: Nine years into the war, Agamemnon seizes Briseis, the concubine (prize) of Achilles, since he has had to give away his own; Achilles withdraws from the fighting in anger; in Olympus, the gods argue about the outcome of the war
· Book 2: Agamemnon pretends to order the Greeks home to test their resolve; Odysseus encourages the Greeks to keep fighting; Catalogue of Ships, Catalogue of Trojans and Allies
· Book 3: A truce is observed as Paris challenges Menelaus to single combat over Helen while she watches from the walls of Troy with Priam; Paris is quickly overmatched by Menelaus, but is rescued from death by Aphrodite, and Menelaus is seen as the winner.
· Book 4: The truce is broken and battle begins
· Book 5: Diomedes has an aristeia (a period of supremacy in battle) and wounds Aphrodite and Ares with the assistance of Athena
· Book 6: Glaucus and Diomedes greet each other during the fighting; Hector returns to Troy and speaks to his wife Andromache

Iliad, Book 8, lines 245-253, in a Greek manuscript of the late fifth or early sixth century AD
· Book 7: Hector battles Ajax
· Book 8: The gods withdraw from the battle
· Book 9: The Embassy to Achilles. Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to Achilles to obtain his help; his promises of honour and riches are spurned
· Book 10: The Doloneia. Diomedes and Odysseus go on a night mission, kill the Trojan Dolon, and ambush a camp of Thracians.
· Book 11: Paris wounds Diomedes; Achilles sends Patroclus on a mission
· Book 12: The Greeks retreat to their camp and are besieged by the Trojans
· Book 13: Fighting before the ships; Poseidon encourages the Greeks
· Book 14: Hera helps Poseidon assist the Greeks; Deception of Zeus
· Book 15: Zeus stops Poseidon from interfering; Hector brings fire to the ships
· Book 16: Patroclus borrows Achilles' armour, enters battle, kills Sarpedon and then is killed by Hector
· Book 17: The armies fight over the body and armour of Patroclus. Books 16 and 17 are collectively called the Patrocleia.
· Book 18: Achilles learns of the death of Patroclus and receives a new suit of armour. The Shield of Achilles is described at length
· Book 19: Achilles is reconciled in form with Agamemnon and enters battle
· Book 20: The gods join the battle; Achilles drives all the Trojans before him
· Book 21: Achilles does battle with the river Scamander but is led astray by Ares
· Book 22: Achilles kills Hector outside the walls of Troy and drags his body back to the Greek camp
· Book 23: Funeral games for Patroclus
· Book 24: Priam, the King of the Trojans, secretly enters the Greek camp. He begs Achilles for Hector's body. Achilles is moved to pity and grants it to him, and it is taken away and given a funeral, at which Helen and Andromache both make comments, and then his body is burned on a pyre.
Famous passages
· Catalogue of Ships (Book 2, lines 494-759)
· Teichoscopia (Book 3, lines 121-244)
· Deception of Zeus (Book 14, lines 153-353)
· Shield of Achilles (Book 18, lines 430-617)
After the Iliad
Although the Iliad scatters foreshadowings of certain events subsequent to the funeral of Hector, and there is a general sense that the Trojans are doomed, Homer does not set out a detailed account of the fall of Troy. For the story as developed in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama, see Trojan War. The other Homeric poem, the Odyssey, is the story of Odysseus' long journey home from Troy; the two poems between them incorporate many references forward and back and overlap very little, so that despite their narrow narrative focus they are a surprisingly complete exploration of the themes of the Troy story.
Major characters
Main article: List of characters in the Iliad
See also: Category:Deities in the Iliad
The Iliad contains a large number of characters. The latter half of the second book (often called the Catalogue of Ships) is devoted entirely to listing the various commanders and their contingents. Many of the battle scenes in the Iliad feature minor characters who are quickly slain. See Trojan War for a detailed list of participating armies and warriors.
· The Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί) - the word Hellenes, which would today be translated as Greeks, is not used by Homer. Also called Danaans (Δαναοί) and Argives ('Aργεĩοι).
o Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, and leader of the Achaeans.
o Achilles, King of the Myrmidions, foremost Achaean warror, he clashes with Agamemnon and sits out much of the combat. After the death of Patrolocus, he returns to battle and slays Hector.
o Odysseus, King of Ithaca, the most clever Achaean commander. The hero of the Odyssey.
o Ajax the Greater, a large warrior, tied with Diomedes as second to Achilles in fighting prowess.
o Menelaus, King of Sparta and husband of Helen.
o Diomedes, the youngest Achaean king; he is king of Argos.
o Ajax the Lesser, another Achaean leader, frequently partnered with Ajax the greater.
· The Trojan men
o Hector, son of the Trojan king Priam and the foremost warrior of Troy, slain by Achilles.
o Aeneas, son of Anchises and Aphrodite.
o Deiphobus brother of Hector and Paris.
o Paris, son of King Priam, he is the lover who stole Helen and started the Trojan war.
o Priam, the aged king of Troy
o Polydamas, a young Trojan commander who sometimes figures as a foil for Hector by proving cool-headed and prudent when Hector charges ahead. Polydamas gives the Trojans sound advice, but Hector seldom acts on it.
o Agenor, a Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles in Book 21.
o Dolon (Δόλων), a Trojan who is sent to spy on the Achaean camp in Book 10.
o Antenor, a Trojan nobleman, advisor to King Priam, and father of many Trojan warriors. Antenor argues that Helen should be returned to Menelaus in order to end the war, but Paris refuses to give her up.
o Polydorus, a Trojan prince and son of Priam and Laothoe.
· The Trojan women
o Hecuba (Ἑκάβη), Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector, Cassandra, Paris, etc.
o Helen (Ἑλένη), wife of Menelaus, now espoused to Paris
o Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη), Hector's wife and mother of their infant son, Astyanax (Ἀστυάναξ)
o Cassandra (Κασσάνδρα), daughter of Priam, prophetess, first courted and then cursed by Apollo. As her punishment for offending him, she accurately foresees the fate of Troy, including her own death and the deaths of her entire family, but does not have the power to do anything about it.
The Olympian deities, principally Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Hades, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Hermes and Poseidon, as well as the lesser figures Eris, Thetis, and Proteus appear in the Iliad as advisers to and manipulators of the human characters. All except Zeus become personally involved in the fighting at one point or another (See Theomachy).
Technical features
The poem is written in dactylic hexameter. The Iliad comprises 15,693 lines of verse. Later ancient Greeks divided it into twenty-four books, or scrolls, and this convention has lasted to the present day with little change.
Themes
Nostos
Nostos (Greek: νόστος) (pl. nostoi) is the ancient Greek word for homecoming. The word νόστος is used seven times in the Iliad (2.155,251, 9413,434,622, 10.509, 16.82) and the theme is heavily explored throughout Greek literature, especially in the fortunes of the Atreidae returning from the Trojan War. The Odyssey, dealing with the return of Odysseus, is the most famous of these stories, but many surrounding other characters such as Agamemnon and Menelaus exist as well. In the Iliad, nostos cannot be obtained without the sacking of Troy, which is the driving force behind Agamemnon's will to win at any cost.
Kleos
Kleos (Greek: κλέος) is the ancient Greek concept of glory that is earned through battle.[3] For many characters, most notably Odysseus, their kleos comes with their victorious return home (Nostos).[4] However, Achilles must choose between the two. In one of the most poignant scenes in the Iliad (9.410-416), Achilles tells Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax about the two fates (διχθαδίας κήρας 9.411) he must choose between.[5]. The passage reads:
μήτηρ γάρ τέ μέ φησι θεὰ Θέτις ἀργυρόπεζα (410)
διχθαδίας κῆρας φερέμεν θανάτοιο τέλος δέ.
εἰ μέν κ’ αὖθι μένων Τρώων πόλιν ἀμφιμάχωμαι,
ὤλετο μέν μοι νόστος, ἀτὰρ κλέος ἄφθιτον ἔσται•
εἰ δέ κεν οἴκαδ’ ἵκωμι φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν,
ὤλετό μοι κλέος ἐσθλόν, ἐπὶ δηρὸν δέ μοι αἰὼν (415)
ἔσσεται, οὐδέ κέ μ’ ὦκα τέλος θανάτοιο κιχείη.[3]
Richmond Lattimore translates the passage as follows:
For my mother Thetis the goddess of silver feet tells me
I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either,
if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans,
my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting;
but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers,
the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life
left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly.
[4]
Here Achilles acknowledges that he must lose his nostos in order to obtain his kleos. However, Achilles is not offered just kleos, but kleos aphthiton (Greek: κλέος ἄφθιτον), or "fame imperishable."[6] The word ἄφθιτον is used five other times throughout the Iliad (2.46, 5.724, 13.22, 14.238, 18.370), each time describing an immortal object, specifically Agamemnon's sceptre, the wheel of Hebe's chariot, the house of Poseidon, Zeus's throne, and the house of Hephaistos, respectively.Lattimore translates the word to mean 'immortal forever' or 'imperishable forever.' Achilles is the only mortal to ever be referred to in this way, which highlights the immense glory that awaits him if he stays and fights at Troy.
Timê
Related to kleos is the concept of timê (Greek: тιμή), usually translated as "respect" or "honor". One's timê is properly determined by one's station in life, or one's accomplishments (e.g., on the battlefield). The Greeks' troubles begin when Agamemnon dishonors (1.11) the priest Chryses' attempt to ransom back his captive daughter; this insult prompts Chryses to call a plague down on the Achaeans. Later, Achilles' ruinous anger with Agamemnon stems from the disrespect (1.171) he feels the Argive king has shown him despite Achilles' obvious value to the Greek army.
The Wrath of Achilles

The Wrath of Achilles by Michel Drolling, 1819.
As mentioned above, the first word of the Iliad is the Greek μῆνιν (mēnin), meaning rage or wrath. In this Homer is immediately announcing a main theme throughout the epic, the wrath of Achilles. Achilles' rage and vanity, which sometimes seem almost childlike, drive the plot, from the Greeks' faltering in battle and the death of Patroclus to the slaying of Hector and the eventual fall of Troy, which is not explicitly depicted in the Iliad but is alluded to numerous times. The wrath of Achilles is first displayed in Book I in a meeting between the Greek kings and the seer Kalchas. Agamemnon had dishonored Chryses, the Trojan priest of Apollo, by taking his daughter Chryseis and refusing to return her even when offered "gifts beyond count."[5] Chryses then prayed to Apollo for help, who rained arrows upon the Greeks for nine days. At the meeting Achilles accuses Agamemnon of being "greediest for gain of all men."[6] At this Agamemnon replies:
"But here is my threat to you.
Even as Phoibos Apollo is taking away my Chryseis.
I shall convey her back in my own ship, with my own
followers; but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis,
your prize, I myself going to your shelter, that you may learn well
how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink back
from likening himself to me and contending against me."[7]
After this remark Achilles' anger can only be stayed by Athena and he vows to never take orders from Agamemnon again. Later, Achilles cries to his mother Thetis, who convinces Zeus on Olympus to favor the Trojans until Agamemnon restores Achilles' rights. This dooms the possibility of Greek victory in the near future, and the Trojans under Hector almost push the Greeks back into the sea in Book XII, causing Agamemnon to contemplate a defeated return to Greece.
"The Wrath of Achilles" turns the tide of the war again when his closest friend Patroclus is killed in battle by Hector while wearing Achilles' armor. When Nestor informs him, Achilles mourns grievously, tearing out his hair and dirtying his face. During his mourning, his mother Thetis again comes to comfort him. Achilles tells her:
So it was here that the lord of men Agamemnon angered me.
Still, we will let all this be a thing of the past, and for all our
sorrow beat down by force the anger deeply within us.
Now I shall go, to overtake that killer of a dear life,
Hektor; then I will accept my own death, at whatever
time Zeus wishes to bring it about, and the other immortals.[8]
In his desire for vengeance Achilles is even willing to accept the prospect of his own death as a reasonable price to avenge his lost friend. The rage of Achilles over the death of Patroclus persuaded him to enter battle again, dooming both Hector and Troy. After killing and wounding numerous Trojans, Achilles finds Hector on the battlefield in Book XXII and