Study Guide
IH
51
Homer:
The Iliad Books 22-24 (pages 122-157)
The
Action:
Book
22: Achilles pursues Hector, whose family watches from the
wall. As he flees, Zeus ponders the situation, 191-199, and
Athena answers. Gods (200-273) and men (274-374) contribute to Hector's
final defeat, which comes with a prediction of Achilles' own death ((374-400).
His mother, father and wife (Hecuba, Priam, and Andromache) grieve for him as
Achilles attempts to defile his body (401-575).
Book
24: Hermes guides Priam to the
Greek camp and the tent of Achilles, where he pleads successfully for the body
of his son Hector.
Suggestions
and Study Questions:
Book
22:
Note
the language of the similes in these books (e.g. p. 123), and the references to
fire, glare, flame.
How does the armor
Achilles dons here compare with that in earlier arming scenes (pp. 38, 83)
What motivates
Hector (pp. 125ff)?
Please read the
exchange of Zeus and Athena with care (pp. 127f.) What does it show you
about Zeus?
Book 24:
This is quite a
book. Priam, king of Troy, has
humbled himself completely. He appears before Achilles at night, completely helpless. This is a supplication scene, recalling
Thetis’Äô supplication of Zeus in Book I, but it’Äôs different: Achilles is in
certain ways a different person.
What was at stake
in the supplication in Book I, and what is at stake now? Does Achilles care about the issues he
raised so forcefully in the first book?
If not, why not?
A passage worth
dwelling on is 24.597-616. Why is Priam so edgy? Why is Achilles?
A sequence of
individuals mourn Hector’Äôs body ’Äì just as a sequence of individuals pleaded
with Achilles in Book 9. Jot down
in your book what each individual adds to the moment.
Words and Names to Remember (use the guide, page 158ff.):
Hecuba
Priam
Andromache
Eetion
Cassandra
Niobe
Achilles’Äô
speeches about the jars, 24.566ff., and about Niobe, 24.650ff.