Iliad: Week Three Discussion (Book 3)

Book Three: Events and Observations

- Encouraged by his dream, Agamemnon lines up his army, and Troy follows suit

-Hector accuses Paris of starting the war. Paris defends himself, but to placate him, offers to challenge the Greeks to a duel

-A challenge is made, and Menelaus accepts. Both sides take an oath that whoever wins get Helen, and then will leave each other alone in peace.

-Helen, notified by the gods, comes out to watch the duel between her past and current husbands. Homer uses this as a chance to give the Trojans’ views of the Greeks as Helen identifies the Greek warriors for Priam.

-Helen blames herself for the upcoming battle, and expresses regret that she ever left Menelaus.

-The duel begins, and Menelaus is winning. Just as he is about to kill Paris, Aphrodite intervenes and whisks Paris away to safety.

-Aphrodite tries to get Helen to go to Paris. Helen initially refuses, calling him a coward, but Aphrodite uses her power to make Helen fall back in love with him.

-Confused by Paris’ vanishing act, the two armies nonetheless declare Menelaus victor. He is to take Helen back to Greece, and the war will be over.

-Notable Quotation

“Let any parties to this oath who first

calamitously break it have their brains

decanted like these wine-drops on the ground-

they and their children; let their wives be slaves” Fitzgerald, Book 3, lines 357-360


Questions to think about:

-Homer describes the two armies as they prepare for battle. What are the differences between their behavior, and what might this represent?

- Who is/are the villain(s) here? Who is/are the victim(s)?

- Why might Homer split his narrative view between the three groups (gods, Greeks, Trojans)?

Iliad: Week Three Introduction (Book 3)

Book Three: Introduction

The next two books move away from the opening conflict of the Iliad and back towards the cause of the Trojan War. When Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world (the face that could launch 1,000 ships), married Menelaus (Agamemnon’s younger brother) all her other suitors promised to defend that marriage. So when Paris/Alexander “kidnapped” her (Helen’s participation in the event is debatable), all her former suitors, i.e. the princes and kings of Greece, have to uphold their vows and go to Troy to get her back.

Behind of the scenes of these human actions are the gods, specifically Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. They had asked Paris to judge which of them was the most beautiful, each one offering a bribe if he chose her. Hera offered a kingdom, Athena offered victory in war, and Aphrodite offered Helen. Paris chose Aphrodite’s offer, which explains why she supports the Trojans while Hera and Athena support the Greeks.

Book three begins with what the whole Trojan War should have been to start with: a duel between Menelaus (Helen’s wife) and Paris (the guy who kidnapped her). However, Aphrodite gets involved and the duel ends in an unexpected way. The rest of the book deals with the results of this duel, particularly with Helen’s reaction.

Questions to consider while reading:

-Hera is the goddess of marriage, Athena the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite the goddess of love. How do these things affect their interactions with humans? How powerful are each of them, respectively?

-What are the effects of Zeus constantly making bargains about how the war will go?

-Why does Homer wait until now to introduce the main conflict behind the Trojan War?

Discussions on these two books will begin on 
Friday, January 30th and continue through the weekend. 

Please post any questions you may have about the reading here as you go along, 

and I will answer them (or find someone who can). 

However, I ask that you try to save any big discussion questions for Friday. 

See you then!