Question

iup, fall semester 2025
unit 1 foundational knowledge and caring:
fill - in (all levels): iliad, book 6 “hector and andromache”
directions: read book 6 of the iliad. in this book, hector (hektor) dashes back to troy for help during a temporary reverse for the trojans, and while there, he has a touching conversation with his wife.
→ synopsis of the previous books:
book 1: achilles and agamemnon argue over briseis, a “trophy woman.” agamemnon takes briseis from achilles, who withdraws from fighting in retaliation for this shaming insult.
book 2: the greeks resolve to fight without achilles. long catalogues of the “ships” (various allies) of the greek and trojan forces.
book 3: the two sides advance. before clashing, it is decided that menelaos and paris will decide the contest through single combat. menelaos gets the better of the fight, but aphrodite magically spirits paris away to helen’s bedroom before menelaos can kill him.
book 4: the truce is broken when athena, in the guise of another trojan, persuades pandaros to shoot menelaos. fighting resumes.
book 5: the aristeia (“berserking”) of diomedes, the greatest hero after achilles. diomedes fights so well that he even wounds ares, the god of war.
→ answer from your reading on separate paper:

1. the beginning of book 6 (lines 1 - 65, through the discussion between menelaos and agamemnon about what to do with the trojan captive adrestus) comprises a typical homeric battle scene, with a mix of idealization of valor, a strongly “scripted” quality, and shockingly gory detail. snap/safe/shine: quote a line or phrase or otherwise point to 1/2/3 specific details the combat in book 6 relevant to each of these categories, where “fake” and “real” themselves are battling it out:

a. glory and beauty of battle
b. choreography in fighting (like an action movie)
c. bloody/graphic/anatomical detail (and the bitterer side of fighting)

1. why is homer hard to read or “slow” sometimes? snap/safe/shine: list 2/3/4 specific reasons why you find reading of this material to be slow going, at least here with our first iliad reading.
2. there are two key moments in this book that lift it to “classic” status among the 24 books of the poem. the first one is the encounter between diomedes (“son of tydeus”) and glaucus (“son of hippolochus”) in lines 119 - 236. it turns out that they share a family connection, and so instead of fighting, they exchange armor (diomedes gets a better deal). one especially exceptional passage is glaucus’s use of a simile to describe the ephemerality of individual human lives versus the hope that human life and culture as a whole continues on. copy down the famous “leaf simile” in lines 145 (“high - hearted son of tydeus…”) through line 151 (“…plenty of men who know it”).
3. the other “classic moment” in book 6 is the meeting between hector and andromache and the charming fear of their son when the baby sees his father wearing his intimidating helmet. best soldier - coming - home - moment of all time. copy down the tragic reasons why hector fights from line 447 (“i know this thing well…”) through line 465 (“…that they drag you captive”).

Explanation:

This set of questions pertains to the literary analysis of Iliad, Book 6. It asks for details from the text related to battle - scene elements, reasons for the difficulty in reading Homer, and copying down significant passages.

Answer:

1)
a. For glory and beauty of battle, one could quote a passage that describes the valor of the warriors in an idealized way.
b. For choreography in fighting, look for a description of the movements and actions of the combatants as if in a staged fight.
c. For bloody/graphic/anatomical detail, find a passage with gory descriptions of the fighting.

1. Reasons Homer can be hard to read may include archaic language, complex narrative structures, and a large number of characters and their relationships.
2. Copy down lines 145 - 151: "High - hearted son of Tydeus...plenty of men who know it".
3. Copy down lines 447 - 465: "I know this thing well...that they drag you captive".