Sunday, June 7, 2020

Homer's Illyad




I am listening to the audiobook by the Greek Poet Homer. Set in 340 BC, it tells of the challenges the gods of Greece had and their squabbles amongst themselves (Zeus,Apollo,Athena and Achilles to name but a few) about glory and honor. I can't help but chuckle at how human like they are just like the bickering humans, amongst husband and wife and also of their subjects. The gods were supposed to be immortal and their children if they were consumated by ordinary humans were mortal. So Archilles knew he was mortal and was not going to live long. So he aspired to live a glorious life and die fighting. 

Surely these gods were created  again by the overactive imagination of Homer, who wrote this epic Illyad about the fight over a woman, Helen, who was the wife of one Agememnon, the king of Greece. Helen had eloped with her lover, the pitiful Paris to Troy and that started the war between the power hungry Greeks and the peace loving Trojans.

This story highlights the Trojan Horse idea where the enemy gives the opponent a 'gift' which is actually a decoy to get into their home ground and ultimately lead to the sacking and conquering of Troy. 

Achilles died in that fight, being shot first in the heel by Paris, and then more times by Paris.

  





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