The+Iliad

== =The iliad=

What is the time period and how does it affect the literary style?
Homer’s The Iliad was written sometime in the eighth century B.C. The time period when Iliad was written was called the Archaic period (6,500 - 800 B.C.). This was the time of Ancient Greece, when the Greeks started to think ‘outside of the box’. They were very interested in life in general and everything about the world. In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce citizens trained in the arts, to prepare citizens for both peace and war. It marks the time of when people began to live in larger groups and with more permanent villages. The ancient Greeks were very proud of their religion and often made stories about their gods and their powers. There were men and women in these stories who offended the gods and were punished or they pleased the god and were given rewards.

What is the author's purpose in writing the selected piece?
He wrote this book about the Trojan War. The novel was to inspire people to believe in gods and to fear the gods’ wrath. This is a short story of the Iliad and this piece is between Achilleus and Hektor and they are about to engage in a fight to the death. Hektor was just tricked by the Goddess, Athene and has to fight the greatest Greek warrior. Hektor tells Achilleus that if he were to die in the fight, he would be given back to the Greeks so that they may grieve for him in an honorable way. Achilleus is too enraged to agree to the deal. The author chose this specific scene for its descriptive battle scene. It’s an unforgettable scene between two good warriors. The reader can’t help but admire the way he’s written it. It’s written with a lot of emotion.

What literary techniques does the author employ in achieving his or her purpose?
The language is a language of emotion and of reason. In the sense that both Hecktor and Achilleus have reason to fight each other and they use language to show their anger. One example would be when Achilleus says no defiantly to Hektor's agreement of giving back his corpse to their people. The whole piece is so that feeling may be evoked. “So he spoke, and pulling out the sharp sword that was slung at the hollow of hi side, huge and heavy, and gathering himself together, he made his swoop, like a high-flown eagle who launches himself out of the murk of the clouds on the flat land to catch away a tender lamb or a shivering hare”(page 69, line 68) It’s very descriptive and it uses symbolism to invoke the feelings of the audience or reader. Reading it aloud makes the story powerful and very interesting. It was made for storytelling.

How is the literature characteristic of the time period?
The ancient Greeks wrote these stories to educate people about religion, honor, and pride. They all had morals in the sense that if they followed the rules of the gods, they would live a pleasant life. Most of the stories of the time period were about men angering gods and doing things that were not right but the all learned from their mistakes and led much better lives. At the time, the ancient Greeks were learning to be a better state.

Citations for Iliad

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