Homer: The Iliad

July 2006

CAMI

Jake asked me if The Iliad was good and after a long pause I said, "I don't know how to respond to that question." I guess I didn't have in mind that I was reading for pleasure. However, unlike some books I've read for pleasure, I did look forward to picking it up, I did enjoy reading it (even though it often put me to sleep), and I do feel like I've accomplished something. So I guess that makes it a "good" book. I'm not sure I actually get to make that judgment for the world, but for myself, I'm glad I have conquered it.

No one was really noble, good, or especially more heroic than anyone else. I was glad to know that as this story was told orally, the audience was made up of people from all over, so each of their local heroes were given their day in the sun. I could appreciate more the new and short-lived characters knowing that they were there for a reason. But, Achilles or Hector . . . who am I rooting for? Even Zeus didn't know the answer to that question. . . . But to me, it seemed like the mortals were at the mercy of the will of the ever-changing gods. Really, the only thing you could do is try to make good decisions, give the glory to the gods, and hope their will is for you to conquer in the end. What do you know. It has more application than I realized.

JANICE

Aside form all the craziness, I feel good about making this effort. I am getting a teeny tiny inkling of how the ancient Greeks had their effect on western civilization in the last 3000 years. Homer pulls no punches in exposing human nature. Even his gods and goddesses and kings and heros are pathetically petty and flawed, always wanting glory, jumping to conclusions, worried about what everyone else thinks about them, self-interested above all. Isn't mankind still dealing with these same old issues? It gives you a sense of timelessness and spacelessness, like Mom alluded to in her letter. We are all children of one God and this earth is really a very small place.

JULIA

I'm almost finished with this marathon of a book. It reminds me of reading Moby Dick. I felt so virtuous. The patterns of defeat, battle, victory, intervention, fate, ego, greed, power, violence, continue with each page. It is all becoming familiar, especially the constant metaphors and when I pick it up to read, it is like something I've read before, mythical, like our own unpredictable lives. Because of the gods, wounded warriors can be miraculously healed. Responsibility still rests on the soldiers, the care to put on their armour and helmets, to hold up their shields.