Though countless works of art and literature originated from ancient Greece, Homer’s epic poem the Iliad is particularly significant for its portrayal of the religion and culture of Odysseus’ time along with depicting the aesthetics of Homer’s time.
In the Iliad there is a recurrence of traditional Greek literary themes, one of which is “Nostos,” homecoming, which is spotlighted many times in the poem. The near-continuous warfare with other city-states made the homecoming of soldiers a very important and joyous event, but also led to difficulties due to the soldiers’ long absences, another theme explored in the poem. “Kleos,” glory earned in heroic battle, also plays a tremendous role in the poem- most notably, when Achilles chooses to stay and fight against Troy’s forces instead of going home and enjoying a long life. At the time, most Greeks used the idea of heroism as a way to become forever immortal and in some ways cheat mortality. Their religion also supported this idea by exalting those who died in battle in ‘heavenly’ ways.
Lastly, “Fate” plays a major part in the Iliad. Once set, gods and men abide with it, neither truly able nor willing to contest it. How Fate was set was unknown to the Greeks and their gods, but the Fates and Seers who made predictions about such things were blindly followed by many of the Greek people. The Greeks believed that they could not change their fate, which lead to a very structured society with little rebellion, and also compelled men to go to battle without question. Such a society was organized through religious beliefs, not scientific or aesthetic principals.
Dibs. - Asher period 3, Team 8
ReplyDeleteKatie, Victoria, Josh, Taci
One of the main problem we find with the analysis is the avoidance of the main question. While religion is briefly mentioned in the paragraphs, the main content involves details about the Iliad and Greek war. While some of the content deals with culture in general, virtually none of the content describes how these details affect religion, science, or aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we take issue with the statement that Greek citizens believed their fates were immutable and accepted it. Many may have believed their fate could not be changed, however both in Greek history and literature, heroes are in a constant struggle with the gods and with their fate. It seems it is heroic to fight against the will of the gods and attempt to create your destiny. This is blatantly ignored in the analysis.
Lastly, the statement that Greece rarely dealt with rebellion seems vague and inaccurate. In fact, many significant events affecting change towards cultural and governmental progress (such as the introduction of democracy following the Greek Civil War) were marked by military intervention to subdue violent revolt. In fact, rebellion remained a vivid reality throughout Greek history.
While well-written, the analysis seems vague towards the main issues and certain statements seem to be assumptions.
-Asher period 3, group 8