“For Homer, fate was purely a literary device,”
Jones (fate)
“Fate is an immutable force that even the gods themselves cannot entirely subvert,”
Weil (fate)
“The Iliad… is a poem of heroic war; it glorifies war and glorifies those who kill most successfully”
Taplin (war)
“War is not the main subject of the Iliad, nor heroism, but human suffering and death.”
Hammond (war/heroism)
“The most important theme of the Iliad is Achilles’ drawing recognition of his mortality”
Barker and Christensen (mortality)
“A warrior’s kleos is more important than life itself, as Achilles’ ultimate choice makes clear,”
Segal (kleos/timē)
“Achilles fights simply and solely for glory,”
Silk (honour/Achilles)
“The motivation for fighting was kleos and timē”
Redfield (kleos/timē)
“Like all women in the Iliad, all [Andromache] can do is watch to see what will happen,”
Farron (women)
“Women are seen in relation to men”
Jenkyns (women)
“Morality and justice are the responsibility not of the gods but of human beings,”
Anhalt (gods/mortals/Xenia)
“Achilles does not win by superior ability or strength but by divine intervention”
Wilcock (gods/Achilles)
“[The story] is reliant on Achilles’ temperament,”
Jenkyns (Achilles/menis)
“The female characters are as formally developed as any of the male warriors”
Betancourt (women)
“The men and Gods are so alike”
Jenkyns (gods/mortals)
“The gods do no have a depth of emotion”
Jenkyns (gods)
“the gods are a destructive driving force,”
Silk
