"Iliad" and "Odyssey" Homer. "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - great ancient Greek poems

The great epic of ancient Greece has come down to us in the form of two works by Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey. Both poems are devoted to events of approximately the same time: and its consequences. The war has just ended. Odysseus proved himself to be an excellent warrior and an intelligent strategist. Thanks to his cunning decisions, more than one battle was won. This is evidenced by his own story in the poem, or rather, its summary. Homer's Odyssey (and his second poem, the Iliad) not only beautifully depict historical events, but also have excellent artistic presentation. The facts are decorated with the rich imagination of the author. It is thanks to this that history went beyond the usual chronicle or chronicle and became the property of world literature.

Homer's poem "Odyssey". Summary

After the war, Odysseus went home to his native Ithaca, where he was ruler. There his old father Laertes, wife Penelope and son Telemachus are waiting for him. Along the way, Odysseus is captured by the nymph Calypso. He spends several years there. Meanwhile, in his kingdom there is a struggle for the throne. There are many contenders for Odysseus's place. They live in his palace and convince Penelope that her husband is dead and will not return, and she must decide who she will marry again. But Penelope is faithful to Odysseus and is ready to wait for him for many years. To cool off the contenders for the throne and her hand, she comes up with various tricks. For example, she knits a shroud for old Laertes, promising to make a decision as soon as the work is finished. And at night she unties the already tied one. Meanwhile, Telemachus matured. One day a stranger came to him and advised him to equip a ship and go in search of his father. She herself was hiding in the image of a wanderer. She patronized Odysseus. Telemachus followed her advice. He ends up in Pylos to Nestor. The elder says that Odysseus is alive and is with Calypso. Telemachus decides to return home, please his mother with good news and ward off annoying contenders for the royal place. The events of the poem are conveyed by a summary. Homer portrays the Odyssey as a fairy-tale hero who went through terrible trials. Zeus, at the request of Athena, sends Hermes to Calypso and orders him to release Odysseus. He builds himself a raft and sets sail. But Poseidon again interferes with him: in a storm, the logs of the raft break. But Athena saves him again and brings him to the kingdom of Alcinous. He is received as a guest, and at the feast Odysseus talks about his adventures. Homer creates nine fantastic stories. “The Odyssey” (the summary conveys these stories) is a fairy-tale framing of real historical events.

The Adventures of Odysseus

First, Odysseus and his companions found themselves on an island with a magical lotus that deprives them of memory. Local residents, lotophages, treated the guests to lotus, and they forgot about their Ithaca. Odysseus with difficulty took them to the ship and went on. The second adventure is a meeting with the Cyclopes. With difficulty, the sailors manage to blind the main cyclops Polyphemus and, hiding under the skins of sheep, leave the cave and escape from the island. You can find out about further events by reading the summary. Homer's "Odyssey" leads the reader along with its hero and covers a large period of time - about twenty years. After the island of the Cyclops, Odysseus ended up on the island with Aeolus, who gave the guest one fair wind and hid three more winds in a bag, tied it and warned that the bag could only be untied in Ithaca. But Odysseus's friends untied the sack while he was sleeping, and the winds brought their ship back to Aeolus. Then there was a clash with cannibal giants, and Odysseus miraculously managed to escape. Then the travelers visited Queen Kirka, who turned everyone into animals, in the kingdom of the dead; by cunning they managed to pass by the seductive Sirens, and sail in the strait between the monsters on the Island of the Sun. This is the poem, its summary. Homer returns Odysseus to his homeland, and he, together with Telemachus, expels all Penelope’s “suitors.” Peace reigns in Ithaca. The ancient poem is of interest to the modern reader both as a historical work and as classical fiction.

The legendary ancient Greek poet Homer entered the history of world literature as the creator of the unsurpassed epic poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, which were not written down for almost three centuries and were kept only in popular memory.

There is no reliable biographical information about Homer; it is even impossible to say exactly when he lived. Some scientists believe that in the 12th century. BC, the second - in the 11th century, the third - in the 10th century, the fourth - in the 7th and even the 6th century. BC. It is difficult to establish exactly the place where he lived. Even in antiquity, a popular epigram was that seven cities argued among themselves for the honor of being called the homeland of Homer:

Seven cities argued and were called Homer's fatherland:

Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Samalin, Iros, Argos and Athens.

In ancient times, Homer 1 was portrayed as a blind wandering singer who had the gift of a seer and knew everything about the past and future. The ancient Greeks highly revered Homer, only they called him the word “poet” and used the epithet “divine” in relation to him. Plato believed that Homer “educated all of Hellas.”

Homer's heroes - Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Penelope, Andromache - became favorites not only of the ancient Greeks, but also of all subsequent generations of readers. Sculptures of Homeric heroes were used to decorate ancient temples, scenes from poems were depicted on antique vases, and they were used to decorate weapons. For the ancient world, the Homeric epic was a book of books, just as the Bible later became for the Christian world. The Iliad and Odyssey served as school textbooks not only in Ancient Greece, but also in Rome. Homer's heroes were models for raising children, and the poems themselves ruled the moral code of the ancient world.

The dissemination of Homeric poems took place with the help of the Aeds - singers, whom Homer himself mentions (Demodocus in Alcinous, Phemius in Ithaca). Later, the performers of the epic became rhapsodies, who no longer improvised, but recited epic poems in a solemn atmosphere during the holidays. It is believed that Homer's poems were written down in the 6th century. BC. in Athens by a special commission created by order of the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus, precisely from the words of the rhapsodists.

Nikolai Gnedich, translator of the Iliad in Russian, called the Homeric epic “the most amazing encyclopedia of old.” Both poems reproduce in vivid realistic terms the phenomena of real life and life of the Greek tribes: in the Iliad material of military-heroic content is used, and in the Odyssey - of trade and fairy-tale content. They talk about agriculture and cattle breeding, about traveling and making clothes and weapons, about hairstyles and shaving, about military tricks and religious rites, etc. The entire text of the poems is rich in data of a geographical, ethnographic, astronomical, medical and other nature.

The poems are based on the Trojan cycle of myths. The Iliad describes one episode from the tenth year of the Trojan War, and the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus returning home after the end of the war.

The name of the first of the poems - “The Iliad” - is associated with another name for Troy - Ilion, a city that the Greeks kept under siege for ten years. Judging by the title, the poem should have covered all the events of the Trojan War, but the poem only describes the events of 51 days before the fall of Troy. Also, the poem does not cover either the causes or the course of the war. The plot of the poem is precisely determined by its opening lines:

Wake up with wrath, O goddess, the descendant of Achilles Peleus...

The content of the Iliad is a song about the wrath of Achilles, Achilles is its main character. There were many glorious warriors among the Achaeans - Ajax and Menelaus and Agamemnon, Odysseus - but among them there was not the strongest of Achilles. Achilles knows that he is destined for a short life, and wants to live it in such a way that his descendants will remember his valor. Homer in the character of Achilles emphasizes not only military valor. Most of all, Achilles places a sense of duty: for the sake of revenge for the death of a friend, he is ready to sacrifice his life. Driven almost to madness by the death of Patroclus, frantically killing the Trojans, Achilles finds the strength to stop. Touched by the grief of Hector's father Priam, who begs the hero to give him his son's body, Achilles does not refuse him. Achilles appears in different ways in the poem: bold, courageous, impulsive, immeasurable and in anger, in despair. He feels personal grievances acutely, but can forget about enmity in the face of great grief. He may make mistakes, but he always admits his mistakes and is ready to correct them. Some may blame Achilles for desertion from the battlefield, but at that time Achilles acted quite naturally - he went to this war at the call of Agamemnon, and he, in front of all the Achaean warriors, disgraced his honor, his self-esteem. And honor for the Greeks of that time was above all else.

An equally important hero of the poem is Hector. Despite the fact that Hector is the leader of the enemy camp, Homer portrays him with considerable sympathy. In the most difficult moments, the victorious Trojan is always ahead of everyone and is in the greatest danger. He is characterized by a high sense of honor, he suffered national love and respect. It is difficult for Hector to think that he will be blamed for the death of his people, so he remains alone on the battlefield, while everyone hid behind the walls of the city. Neither his father's pleas nor his mother's tearful requests can touch him: duty is above all!

Or the least tragic scene in all ancient literature is the scene of Hector’s farewell to Andromache. Hector understands that he is Andromache’s only support, because her entire family died. If he is killed, who will take care of her and their little son? On the scales - love for a woman and love for the Motherland. And Hector, like a real hero, chooses his homeland.

“The Iliad” is a poem about war, the main attention in it is paid to descriptions of battles, weapons, and military valor. But, despite this, the poem is imbued with humanistic pathos. War is a terrible disaster from which both the Achaeans and the Trojans suffer. Even Homer’s Zeus says that he hates the god of war, and characterizes war with the most brutal epithets. Homer declares people in war to be pawns in the hands of the gods. And even Achilles, the bravest and bravest among all Greek warriors, condemns the Trojan campaign. Homer justifies only a just war, which is fought in defense against attackers. And therefore the poet sympathizes with Hector, who gives his life for the liberation of his homeland.

Unlike the Iliad, the Odyssey depicts the events of peaceful life. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus' return to his homeland, Ithaca, which lasted 10 years and was accompanied by amazing fabulous adventures. Odysseus visited the Phaeacians and their king Alcinous, the country of lotus eaters, the Laestrygonians, the nymph Calypso and the sorceress Kirkei, who turned his companions into pigs. Odysseus overcame obstacles that no one else would have overcome: he escaped from the clutches of the Sirens, defeated Scylla and Charybdis, and competed with Poseidon and Zeus himself. The most interesting adventure of Odysseus is his victory over the one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus, the son of the god of the seas Poseidon. When Odysseus ended up in the Cyclops' cave, Polyphemus ate several of Odysseus's friends and wanted to deal with him too, asking his name. Odysseus replied that his name was Nobody. Odysseus then gave the Cyclops wine and a sleeping pill, and burned his eyes with a hot club. Devastated by pain and rage, Polyphemus began to catch Odysseus and his friends, but he did not succeed. Then he stood at the exit of the cave, waiting. But the cunning Odysseus tied himself and his companions to the bellies of the rams and the domestic animals got out of the trap. Polyphemus threw himself at the other Cyclops so that they could help him take revenge. When asked who took his eye, Polyphemus answered: No one. Surprised, the Cyclops decided that he had gone crazy and did not help him. But the god Poseidon took revenge for his son Odysseus. One by one, Odysseus lost all his ships and all his friends. Many difficulties still awaited Odysseus on his way to his home. But even on Ithaca there were adventures, because insidious admirers wanted to steal his wealth and his wife Penelope, who selflessly waited for her husband’s return and guarded his treasures. Using various tricks, she delays her marriage with these “suitors” (having promised to choose a husband for herself after finishing work on the carpet, she weaves it every day and unties it at night). Odysseus removes the appearance of a beggar to find out what happened in his own house. He killed all the suitors, punished the unfaithful servants, met Penelope, who had been faithfully waiting for him for 20 years, and even tamed the uprising of the inhabitants of Ithaca directed against him. Happiness reigned in the house of Odysseus, which was interrupted by the ten-year Trojan War and ten years of adventures.

Homer does not avoid depicting economic life: here is a description of the lush gardens of Alcinous, and the stables of Eumaeus, and the economy of the Cyclops Polyphemus. We also get acquainted with the economic work of women: Homer admires the Phaeacian princess Nausika, who, together with her slaves, is changing clothes at sea; praises Penelope, who has been managing Odysseus’s household for ten years; and even the nymph Calypso and the sorceress Kirkeya do housework like simple maids.

The protagonist of the Odyssey, like Achilles and Hector in the Iliad, is also the embodiment of the ideal hero. But if Achilles is the personification of strength and courage, then Odysseus is the personification of wisdom. Homer, even in the Iliad, constantly emphasizes that Odysseus is “wise.” It was Odysseus who put an end to the Trojan War by creating a horse that helped destroy Troy. Odysseus is an extraordinary speaker: let us remember how he persuades Achilles to return to the battlefield. His talent as a diplomat is combined with great strength, courage, dexterity, and skill in battle. All these qualities helped him emerge unscathed from his ten-year wanderings and prevent the disaster that threatened his home. Odysseus attracts with his devotion to his homeland, wherever he is, no matter what charms he is tempted by, he dreams of returning to his little Ithaca. Odysseus’s love for Penelope is also worthy of respect: the gods placed many adventures and many women on his path, but even the beautiful nymph Calypso did not make him forget about his beloved wife. Odysseus is amazingly bizarre - the episodes of his flight from the cyclops Polyphemus, his fight with Measles, his victory over Scylla and Charybdis are no worse than the pages of modern adventure novels.

Homer glorifies not only the heroism of Odysseus, but also the fact that he can do everything with his own hands and does not shy away from any work. Odysseus appears in the poem of the same name as a hero and a man, a devoted father and husband, an ardent patriot of his homeland, the small island of Ithaca.

Homer's heroic epic determined the historical development of all European literature. Virgil did not hide the fact that he considered Homer’s poems as a model for his “Aeneid”; Dante called Homer "the king of poets"; Goethe was his spiritual companion throughout all the milestones of his life; Grigory Skovoroda - for the first prophet of the ancient Greeks. Homer's poems still inspire writers, poets, composers, and artists.

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1 The word “Homer” in antiquity had several interpretations, namely: from the ancient Greek “omereo” - passer-by, oncoming person; from the ancient Greek “om-eros” - hostage; from the ancient Greek "omeros" - blind.

Homer's epic poems "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" are priceless and ingenious works of literary art that have not lost their relevance and deep meaning over many centuries. The plots of these famous two poems are taken from an extensive and multifaceted cycle of legends about the Trojan War. The Iliad and Odyssey depict only small episodes from a huge cycle.

"Iliad"

The Iliad tells about the events of the tenth year of the Trojan War, and at the same time the work ends with the death and burial of Hector, the main Trojan warrior. There is no mention of subsequent events of the war.

In general, war is the main “thread” of the poem “Iliad” and the main element of its heroes. One of the many features of this work is that the battle is mainly depicted not in the form of bloody battles of the masses, but as the performance of individual heroes demonstrating exceptional courage, strength, resilience and skill. Among all the battles, the main duel between Hector and Achilles can be highlighted. The martial arts of Agamemnon, Diomedes and Menelaus are described with less expressiveness and heroism. The Iliad very clearly depicts the traditions, habits, morality, moral aspects of life and life of the Greeks of that time. An example is an episode that describes how the winner hurries to remove the armor from the dead man and take possession of his corpse in order to ask his relatives for a ransom for him. According to the ancient Greeks, remaining after death without burial promised enormous and endless misfortunes in the afterlife.

"Odyssey"

As for the Odyssey, we can say with full confidence that this is a more complex work than the Iliad. The Odyssey has a huge number of features that are still being studied from a literary point of view to this day. Basically, this epic poem narrates the return of Odysseus to Ithaca after the end of the war with Troy.

In conclusion, we can say that Homer’s poems are a real treasury of the wisdom of the entire Greek people, as his great works “Iliad” and “Odyssey” perfectly demonstrate. Homer did not know writing and was an oral storyteller. But despite this, he was distinguished by incredibly high poetic technique and skill. And his works were filled with absolute unity. The Iliad and Odyssey share several characteristics, particularly their epic style. Unhurried thoroughness, sustained narrative tone, unhurried development of the plot, complete objectivity in everything - from events to persons - all these are characteristic features of these great works of Homer.

In the second act of Shakespeare's Hamlet, a traveling troupe appears, and one of the actors, at the request of the prince, reads a monologue in which the Trojan hero Aeneas talks about the capture of Troy and the cruelties of the victors. When the story comes to the suffering of the old queen Hecuba - in front of her eyes, Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, mad with anger, killed her husband Priam and violated his body - the actor turns pale and bursts into tears. And Hamlet utters the famous, proverbial words:

What is he to Hecuba? What does Hecuba mean to him?

And he's crying...

Translation by B. Pasternak

What is Hecuba to modern man, what is Achilles, Priam, Hector and other heroes of Homer to him; What does he care about their torments, joys, love and hatred, adventures and battles that died down and burned out more than thirty centuries ago? What takes him back to antiquity, why does the Trojan War and the return to the homeland of the long-suffering and cunning Odysseus touch us, if not to tears, like a Shakespearean actor, then still quite vividly and strongly?

Any literary work of the distant past is capable of attracting and captivating a person of modern times with the image of a disappeared life, which in many ways is strikingly different from our life today. Historical interest, characteristic of any person, a natural desire to find out “what happened before” is the beginning of our path to Homer, or rather, one of the paths. We ask: who was he, this Homer? And when did you live? And did he “invent” his heroes or do their images and exploits reflect true events? And how accurately (or how freely) are they reflected and to what time do they relate? We ask question after question and look for answers in articles and books about Homer; and at our service are not hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands of books and articles, an entire library, an entire literature that continues to grow even now. Scientists are not only discovering new facts related to Homer’s poems, but also discovering new points of view on Homer’s poetry as a whole, new ways of assessing it. There was a time when every word of the Iliad and Odyssey was considered an indisputable truth - the ancient Greeks (in any case, the vast majority of them) saw in Homer not only a great poet, but also a philosopher, teacher, natural scientist, in a word - the supreme judge of the world. all occasions. There was another time when everything in the Iliad and Odyssey was considered fiction, a beautiful fairy tale, or a crude fable, or an immoral anecdote that offended “good taste.” Then the time came when Homer’s “fables,” one after another, began to be supported by archaeological finds: in 1870, the German Heinrich Schliemann found Troy, near whose walls the heroes of the Iliad fought and died; four years later, the same Schliemann excavated “rich in gold” Mycenae - the city of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army near Troy; in 1900, the Englishman Arthur Evans began excavations unique in terms of the wealth of finds on Crete, the “hundred-degree” island repeatedly mentioned by Homer; in 1939, the American Bligen and the Greek Kuroniotis found ancient Pylos - the capital of Nestor, the “sweet-voiced Vitius of Pylos”, the tireless giver of wise advice in both poems... The list of “Homeric discoveries” is extremely extensive and has not been closed to this day - and is unlikely to be closed in the near future . And yet it is necessary to name one more of them - the most important and most sensational in our century. During excavations on the island of Crete, as well as in Mycenae, Pylos and some other places in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, archaeologists found several thousand clay tablets covered with unknown writings. It took almost half a century to read them, because even the language of these inscriptions was not known. Only in 1953, thirty-year-old Englishman Michael Ventris solved the problem of deciphering the so-called Linear B script. This man, who died in a car accident three and a half years later, was neither an ancient historian nor an expert in ancient languages ​​- he was an architect. And yet, as the remarkable Soviet scientist S. Lurie wrote about Ventris, “he managed to make the largest and most striking discovery in the science of antiquity since the Renaissance.” His name should stand next to the names of Schliemann and Champollion, who unraveled the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Its discovery put into the hands of researchers authentic Greek documents from approximately the same time as the events of the Iliad and the Odyssey, documents that expanded, clarified, and in some ways overturned previous ideas about the prototype of the society and state depicted in Homer.

At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Tribes of Greek-Achaeans appeared on the Balkan Peninsula. By the middle of this millennium, slave states had formed in the southern part of the peninsula. Each of them was a small fortress with lands adjacent to it. Each was headed, apparently, by two rulers. The rulers-kings and their entourage lived in a fortress, behind mighty, cyclopean masonry walls, and at the foot of the wall a village populated by royal servants, artisans, and merchants arose. At first, the cities fought with each other for supremacy, then, around the 15th century BC. e., the penetration of the Achaeans into neighboring countries, overseas, begins. Among their other conquests was the island of Crete - the main center of the ancient, pre-Greek culture of the southeastern region of the Mediterranean. Long before the Achaean conquest, Crete had states with monarchical power and a society clearly divided into classes of free and slave. The Cretans were skilled sailors and merchants, excellent builders, potters, jewelers, artists, knew a lot about art, and were fluent in writing. The Achaeans had previously been strongly influenced by the high and refined Cretan culture; now, after the conquest of Crete, it finally became the common property of the Greeks and Cretans. Scientists call it Creto-Mycenaean.

The land that constantly attracted the attention of the Achaeans was Troas in the north-west of Asia Minor, famous for its favorable location and fertile soil. Campaigns were launched more than once to the main city of this land - Ilion, or Troy. One of them, a particularly long one, which brought together a particularly large number of ships and soldiers, remained in the memory of the Greeks under the name of the Trojan War. The ancients dated it to 1200 BC. e. - in terms of our chronology - and the work of archaeologists who dug the Hissarlik Hill following Schliemann confirms the ancient tradition.

The Trojan War turned out to be the eve of the collapse of the Achaean power. Soon, new Greek tribes appeared in the Balkans - the Dorians - as wild as their predecessors, the Achaeans, were a thousand years ago. They marched across the entire peninsula, displacing and subjugating the Achaeans, and completely destroyed their society and culture. History reversed: in place of the slave state, a clan community reappeared, maritime trade died out, the royal palaces that had survived destruction were overgrown with grass, arts, crafts, and writing were forgotten. The past was also forgotten; the chain of events was broken, and individual links turned into legends - into myths, as the Greeks said. Myths about heroes were for the ancients the same indisputable truth as myths about gods, and the heroes themselves became the subject of worship. Heroic legends were intertwined with each other and with myths about the gods. Circles (cycles) of myths arose, united both by the sequence of facts underlying them and by the laws of religious thinking and poetic fantasy. Myths were the soil on which the Greek heroic epic grew.

Every nation has a heroic epic. This is a story about the glorious past, about events of paramount importance that were a turning point in the history of the people. Such an event (or at least one of such events) turned out to be the great campaign against Troy; tales about him became the most important plot basis of the Greek epic. But from the time when the epic was created, these events were separated by three or even four centuries, and therefore, to the pictures of a bygone life, remembered with extraordinary accuracy, were added details and details borrowed from the life that surrounded the creators of the epic unknown to us. In the very basis of the myth, much remained untouched, but much was reinterpreted in a new way, in accordance with new ideals and views. Multi-layeredness (and therefore inevitable inconsistency) was initially a characteristic feature of the Greek epic, and since it was in constant movement, the number of layers increased. This mobility is inseparable from the very form of its existence: like all peoples, the heroic epic of the Greeks was an oral creation, and its written consolidation marked the last stage in the history of the genre.

For most peoples, myths are composed primarily of gods. But Ancient Greece is an exception: the main, best part of them is about heroes. These are the grandchildren, sons, and great-grandchildren of the gods, born from mortal women. It was they who performed various feats, punished villains, destroyed monsters, and also participated in internecine wars. The gods, when the Earth became heavy from them, made sure that in the Trojan War the participants themselves destroyed each other. Thus the will of Zeus was accomplished. Many heroes died at the walls of Ilion.

In this article we will tell you about the work that Homer created - the Iliad. We will briefly outline its content, and we will also analyze this and another poem about the Trojan War - “The Odyssey”.

What is the Iliad about?

"Troy" and "Ilion" are two names of a great city located in Asia Minor, near the shores of the Dardanelles. The poem telling about the Trojan War is called "Iliad" (Homera) by its second name. Among the people before her, there were only small oral songs like ballads or epics, telling about the exploits of these heroes. Homer, the blind legendary singer, composed a large poem from them and did it very skillfully: he selected only one episode and developed it in such a way that he made it a reflection of an entire heroic age. This episode is called "The Wrath of Achilles", who was the greatest Greek hero of the last generation. Homer's Iliad is mainly dedicated to him.

Who took part in the war

The Trojan War lasted 10 years. Homer's Iliad begins like this. Many Greek leaders and kings gathered on a campaign against Troy, with thousands of warriors, on hundreds of ships: in the poem their list takes up several pages. Agamemnon, ruler of Argos, that strongest of kings, was the chief of them. Menelaus, his brother (the war began for his sake), the ardent Diomedes, the mighty Ajax, the wise Nestor, the cunning Odysseus and others went with him. But the most agile, strong and brave was Achilles, the young son of Thetis, the sea goddess, who was accompanied by Patroclus, his friend. Priam, the gray-haired king, ruled the Trojans. His army was led by Hector, the king’s son, a valiant warrior. With him were Paris, his brother (the war began because of him), as well as many allies gathered from all over Asia. These were the heroes of Homer's poem "Iliad". The gods themselves also took part in the battle: Silver-bowed Apollo helped the Trojans, and Hera, the queen of heaven, and Athena, the wise warrior, helped the Greeks. The Thunderer Zeus, the supreme god, watched the battles from high Olympus and carried out his will.

Beginning of the war

The war started like this. The wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the sea goddess, took place - the last marriage concluded between mortals and gods (the same one from which the hero Achilles was born). At the feast, the goddess of discord threw a golden apple, which was intended for the “most beautiful.” Three people argued over him: Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. Paris, the Trojan prince, was ordered by Zeus to judge this dispute. Each of the goddesses promised him their gifts: Hera - to make him the king of the whole world, Athena - a sage and a hero, Aphrodite - the husband of the most beautiful of women. The hero decided to give the apple to the latter.

After this, Athena and Hera became sworn enemies of Troy. Aphrodite helped Paris to seduce Helen, the daughter of Zeus himself, who was the wife of King Menelaus, and take her to Troy. Once upon a time, the best heroes of Greece wooed her and agreed so as not to quarrel: let the girl herself choose the one she likes, and if someone else tries to fight her off, everyone else will declare war on him. Every young man hoped that he would be the chosen one. Helen's choice fell on Menelaus. Now Paris took her away from this king, and therefore all her former suitors went to war against this young man. Only the youngest of them did not woo the girl and went to war only to show his strength, valor, and win glory. This young man was Achilles.

First attack of the Trojans

Homer's Iliad continues. The Trojans attack. They are led by Sarpedon, the son of the god Zeus, the last of his sons on earth, as well as Hector. Achilles coldly watches from his tent as the Greeks flee and the Trojans approach their camp: they are about to set fire to the ships of their enemies. From above, Hera also sees how the Greeks are losing, and in desperation decides to deceive, thereby diverting the attention of Zeus. She appears before him in the girdle of Aphrodite, which arouses passion, and the god unites with Hera on the top of Ida. They are enveloped in a golden cloud, and the earth blooms with hyacinths and saffron. After this they fall asleep, and while Zeus sleeps, the Greeks stop the Trojans. But the dream of the supreme god is short-lived. Zeus awakens, and Hera trembles before his anger, and he calls on her to endure: the Greeks will be able to defeat the Trojans, but after Achilles pacifies his anger and goes into battle. Zeus promised this to the goddess Thetis.

Patroclus goes to battle

However, Achilles is not yet ready to do this, and Patroclus is sent to help the Greeks instead. It pains him to watch his comrades in trouble. Homer's poem "The Iliad" continues. Achilles gives the young man his armor, which the Trojans fear, as well as the warriors, a chariot drawn by horses who can prophesy and speak prophetic words. He calls on his comrade to repel the Trojans from the camp and save the ships. But at the same time he advises not to expose yourself to danger, not to get carried away by persecution. The Trojans, seeing the armor, were frightened and turned back. Then Patroclus could not stand it and began to pursue them.

The son of Zeus, Sarpedon, comes out to meet him, and the god, watching from above, hesitates: to save his son or not. But Hera says, let fate take its course. Like a mountain pine, Sarpedon collapses, battle begins to boil around his body. Meanwhile, Patroclus is rushing further and further, to the very gates of Troy. Apollo shouts to him that the young man is not destined to take the city. He doesn't hear. Apollo then hits him on the shoulders, shrouded in a cloud. Patroclus loses his strength, drops his spear, helmet and shield, and Hector deals him a crushing blow. Dying, the warrior predicts that he will fall at the hands of Achilles.

The latter learns the sad news: Patroclus has died, and now Hector flaunts himself in his armor. Friends have difficulty carrying the dead body from the battlefield. The Trojans, triumphant, pursue them. Achilles longs to rush into battle, but cannot do so: he is unarmed. Then the hero screams, and this scream is so terrible that, shuddering, the Trojans retreat. Night begins, and Achilles mourns his friend, threatening his enemies with vengeance.

New Achilles armor

At the request of his mother, Thetis, meanwhile Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, forges new armor for Achilles in a copper forge. These are greaves, a helmet, a shell and a shield, on which the whole world is depicted: the stars and the sun, the sea and the earth, a warring and a peaceful city. In a peaceful situation there is a wedding and a trial, in a warring situation there is a battle and an ambush. Around there is a vineyard, pasture, harvest, plowing, a village festival and a round dance, in the middle of which is a singer with a lyre.

Then morning comes, and our hero puts on his new armor and calls the Greek army to a meeting. His anger has not faded away, but now it is directed at those who killed his friend, and not at Agamemnon. Achilles is angry with Hector and the Trojans. The hero now offers reconciliation to Agamemnon, and he accepts it. Briseis was returned to Achilles. Rich gifts were brought into his tent. But our hero hardly looks at them: he longs for a fight, for revenge.

New battle

Now the fourth battle is coming. Zeus lifts the prohibitions: let the gods themselves fight for whom these mythical heroes of Homer’s “Iliad” want. Athena clashes with Ares in battle, Hera with Artemis.

Achilles is terrible, as noted in Homer's Iliad. The story about this hero continues. He grappled with Aeneas, but the gods tore the latter out of his hands. It is not the fate of this warrior to fall from Achilles. He must survive both him and Troy. Achilles, enraged by the failure, kills countless Trojans, their corpses litter the river. But Scamander, the river god, attacks, engulfing him in waves. Hephaestus, the fire god, pacifies him.

Achilles pursues Hector

Our summary continues. Homer (The Iliad) describes the following further events. The Trojans who managed to survive flee to the city. Hector alone covers the retreat. Achilles runs into him, and he runs: he fears for his life, but at the same time wants to distract Achilles from the others. They run around the city three times, and the gods look at them from the heights. Zeus hesitates whether to save this hero, but Athena asks to leave everything to the will of fate.

Death of Hector

Zeus then raises the scales, on which are two lots - Achilles and Hectors. Achilles' cup flies up, and Hector's goes towards the underworld. The supreme god gives a sign: to leave Hector to Apollo, and to Athena to intercede for Achilles. The latter holds the hero’s opponent, and he comes face to face with Achilles. Hector's spear hits Hephaestus's shield, but in vain. Achilles wounds the hero in the throat, and he falls. The winner ties his body to his chariot and, mocking the murdered man, drives the horses around Troy. Old Priam cries for him on the city wall. The widow Andromache, as well as all the inhabitants of Troy, also lament.

Burial of Patroclus

The summary we compiled continues. Homer (The Iliad) describes the following events. Patroclus is avenged. Achilles arranges a magnificent burial for his friend. 12 Trojan prisoners are killed over the body of Patroclus. His friend's anger, however, does not subside. Achilles drives his chariot with Hector's body three times a day around the mound where Patroclus is buried. The corpse would have crashed on the rocks long ago, but Apollo invisibly protects it. Zeus intervenes. He announces to Achilles through Thetis that he does not have long to live in the world, asks him to give the body of his enemy for burial. And Achilles obeys.

The act of King Priam

Homer continues to talk about further events (The Iliad). Their summary is as follows. King Priam comes to the winner's tent at night. And with him - a cart full of gifts. The gods themselves allowed him to pass through the Greek camp unnoticed. Priam falls to the warrior’s knees and asks him to remember his father Peleus, who is also old. Grief brings these enemies closer together: only now does the long anger in Achilles’ heart subside. He accepts Priam's gifts, gives him Hector's body and promises that he will not disturb the Trojans until they bury the body of their warrior. Priam returns to Troy with the body, and relatives cry over the murdered man. A fire is lit, the hero's remains are collected in an urn, which is lowered into the grave. A mound is built over it. Homer's poem "The Iliad" ends with a funeral feast.

Further events

There were still many events left before the end of this war. Having lost Hector, the Trojans no longer dared to leave the city walls. But other peoples came to their aid: from the land of the Amazons, from Asia Minor, from Ethiopia. The most terrible was the Ethiopian leader Memnon. He fought with Achilles, who overthrew him and rushed to attack Troy. It was then that the hero died from the arrow of Paris directed by Apollo. Having lost Achilles, the Greeks no longer hoped to take Troy by force - they did it by cunning, forcing the city residents to bring in a wooden horse with knights sitting inside. In the Aeneid Virgil will later talk about this.

Troy was destroyed, and the Greek heroes who managed to survive set off on their way back.

Homer, "Iliad" and "Odyssey": compositions of works

Let us consider the composition of works dedicated to these events. Homer wrote two poems telling about the Trojan War - the Iliad and the Odyssey. They were based on legends about it, which actually took place approximately in the 13-12 centuries BC. “The Iliad” tells about the events of the war in its 10th year, and the fabulous everyday poem “Odyssey” tells about the return of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, one of the Greek military leaders, to his homeland after its end, and about his misadventures.

In the Iliad, stories about human actions alternate with the depiction of gods who decide the fate of battles, divided into two parties. Events that occurred simultaneously are presented as occurring sequentially. The composition of the poem is symmetrical.

In the structure of the Odyssey, we note the most significant one - the technique of transposition - the depiction of past events in the form of Odysseus’s story about them.

This is the compositional structure of Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey".

Humanism of poems

One of the main reasons for the immortality of these works is their humanism. Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" touch on important issues that are relevant at any time. The author glorified courage, loyalty in friendship, love of homeland, wisdom, respect for old age, etc. Considering Homer's epic "Iliad", it can be noted that the main character is terrible in anger and proud. Personal resentment forced him to refuse to participate in the battle and neglect his duty. Nevertheless, it contains moral qualities: the hero’s anger is resolved by generosity.

Odysseus is shown as a courageous, cunning man who can find a way out of any situation. He is fair. Returning to his homeland, the hero carefully observes the behavior of people in order to give everyone what they deserve. He is trying to remove from the crowd of those doomed to death the only suitor of all, Penelope, who greets the owner when he appears in the guise of a beggar tramp. But, unfortunately, he fails to do this: Amphinoma is destroyed by chance. Homer uses this example to show how a hero worthy of respect should act.

The general life-affirming mood of the works is sometimes overshadowed by thoughts about the brevity of life. Homer's heroes, thinking that death is inevitable, strive to leave a glorious memory of themselves.