...and introduction
to the Iliad:
Books
I-XII • Diagram:
Structure of Bk. I • Books XIII-XVIII
• Book XVI • Books
XIX-XXIV • Final wrap-up
Literature Humanities, a flagship course of the Core Curriculum, is one of the experiences you share with all Columbia College students (and many Engineering students) for the last 64 years. (Contemporary Civilization goes back even further than that--to 1919.)
The following text is from the Core
Curriculum page at Columbia:
"Though celebrated for their content, [the Core] courses are equally
important for their small class format. Taught in seminars limited to
approximately twenty-two students, these courses ensure that education
at Columbia begins with an emphasis on active intellectual engagement.
In the Core Curriculum the pursuit of better questions is every bit
as important as the pursuit of better answers."
In these pages, as well as in class, we will work on coming up with
some really good questions.
"mênin aeide thea Pêlêïadeô Achilêos..."
Homer's epic of a few decisive weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan
War contains much more than meets the eye. Keep an eye out for the ways
in which Homer invokes the "big picture"--the entire history
of the Fall of Troy--within the scope of his selected portion. And don't
forget to ask yourself the big questions as you read: What is the poem
about? Why does it tell the parts of the story that it tells, and why
does it tell them the way it does? How do the various elements of the
poem (action, dialogue, characters, themes, language, structural devices,
images, key words, etc...) collaborate in the creation of its overall
effect, and how would you describe that effect?
Some key terms in the Iliad--words that appear with especial frequency in the poem and that would have had particular resonance for Homer's Greek audience--are the following:
|
menis |
wrath, divine anger; the first word of the poem (menin is the accusative form) |
| kleos | honor, in the sense of "noble reputation"--what lives on after you |
| moira | fate |
| eris | discord |
| nostos | return (to one's origins; cf. nostalgia) |
If you're interested in checking the frequency of these words in the Iliad, you can find a transliterated text of the original Greek at the Perseus Digital Library. Click on any word in the text to find out what it means, how frequently it is used in the Iliad, and how frequently it is used by other ancient Greek authors (for comparison). The interface also lets you switch between the transliterated Greek text and an English translation, so you can keep track of where you are in the poem.
In class, we will pay particular attention to books 1, 3, 6 and 9.
And don't forget to check out What is "Close Reading"? for more tips on how to read for Lit. Hum.!
Acknowledgments:
Much of the material on these pages has been informed by lectures given
at Columbia University by Professors Cathy
Popkin, Kathy
Eden, and Edward
Tayler. In addition, some of the study questions are adapted from
material originated by Professor Rachel
Adams (also at Columbia). The Web hosting and message board programming
are by Chris Snyder. The
background image you see on this page is also by Mr. Snyder, and was
inspired by a landscape
of Yayannis Apostolos.
All the original content on these pages is licensed under a Creative
Commons License. Under this license, you may copy, alter, and redistribute any of the
original content on this site to your heart's content, provided that you
(a) credit me and/or link
back to this page; and (b) allow others to make similarly free use of any
work you create that is based on material from these pages. In other words,
share the love. You might also like to drop
me a line and let me know if you're using my stuff -- it's the nice
thing to do!
