Homer's Iliad - story of war, heroism, valour and deceit ..

During this time of Dussehra holidays, I thought of making good use of the time. I am reading Iliad by Homer (lived in the 8th century BC) written and published around 750 BC on the Trojan war fought between Greeks and Trojans from Troy (modern day Northwest Turkey). Encyclopaedia Britannica claims Homer to be one of the all time greatest of the world's literary artists and Iliad, his first work to be one of the earliest literary works.

 

Throughout the book we see mention of the names of different Greek Gods, mainly Apollo as Gods did rule the lives of the people. King David of the Bible Old Testament would be born only 200 years after the Trojan war was over, around 1000 BC. Appeasement of the native ancient Gods through offerings and sacrifices was very much prevalent then, as we now also see. The full compilation of the Old Testament in the Bible was not ready, it had to wait till 600 BC.

 

Believers of the Old Testament Gods of Jehovah in Jewish belief have moved to the more convincing Triune God for Christians as a matter of conviction and convenience. One should remember that this shift happened as the old Gods were getting ineffective and their teachings were inadequate, feeble and weak.

 

Who knows whether in the coming years we too will not switch over to more powerful Gods, created from our imagination, more suited to the modern times, digital avatars in the digital and artificial intelligence domains ?

 

The main story line is the conflict between the Greeks – led by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae – and the Trojans – whose king was Priam – which took place in the Bronze Age around 1200 BC, and lasted 10 years.  The epic Iliad is about the tenth year of this ten-year war between Greece and Troy. It is a description of the events that took place during the tenth year of the war and told by the protagonist of the poem, Achilles, one of the most celebrated Greek warriors in the war. The other book by Homer, Ulysses is about the tale of the victor Odysseus making his way to his home country, Greece.

 

This singular book forms the basis and one of the most influential books of western literature. Written in poetic style in ancient Greek language and recited over the ages, the English translation has withstood the test of time and is as absorbing as the original one.

Gods, Kings and warriors united the people then while the people fought others who were following their own different Gods (as do the present day people). Wars described how nations (and people) were born, survived and went down under.

I am thoroughly and slowly enjoying each step of my trip to Troy, in the north west corner of Turkey, going back in time by 3200 years, to understand the minds, thoughts, beliefs and actions of people, their conversations, emotions and stories of heroism and valor during the time of the war. This helps us to gauge where the present day men are faltering in their steps, helping understand the weaknesses and limitations of the present day Gods. 

Achilles

Ancient Gods keep changing and increasing over time, man has not changed. Old Gods are forgotten, new Gods are invented and put in place. These Gods will be forgotten and new ones again invented in the future, in another five hundred to thousand years. The book is the defining one that paved the way to the birth of English literature. More reading will expose more facts to me in the coming days.

One of the events in the book mentions about the Trojan leader Chryses asking the Achean (Greek) leader Agamemnon to release his daughter Chrysues. The request is refused. The Trojan leader now requests God Apollo who brings in a plague to inflict the Acheans (Greeks). When Agamemnon realises the plague was due to the interference of God Apollo, he releases Chryseus.

Though I have not reached the end of the book, I understand, towards the end of the war the Greeks through an act of deception under the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, build a huge white wooden horse and leave it at the gate of Troy as an offering to the Gods. They pretend to give up the battle and sail away back to Greece. Sensing victory, the Trojans took the white horse inside the city of Troy, when the soldiers or warriors who were hiding inside the big wooden white horse came out and ransacked Troy, bringing the great ten year battle to an end.

Some comments need to be made about the age of this composition to know how important it is to world culture and specifically Western literature. The oldest Hindu epics (the oldest world religion) of Bhagavath Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharatha, as per Encyclopaedia Britannica were written around 500 - 300 BC, which qualifies Homer's work to be among the oldest in the western and eastern world. As per Columbia University sources, the Confucian Analects, the Confucian holy book, is believed to have been written after the death of Confucius in 479 BC and  between 476 and 221 BC. 

The Angams of Jainism were composed around the sixth century and written around the fourth and third century BC. The Tripitakas of Budhism were composed around 550 BC and written during first century BC. The other older religion Jewism, it's holy book Torah, which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, as per Britannica was composed in sixth century BC and revisions done in the fifth century BC. Christianity and Islam are too nascent and young to find mention in this writing.

The distance between Greece and Troy is just about 380 km, which in modern day driving one can do in 6-8 hours driving or an hour of flying. It took 10 years for the victorious Greek forces under Ullyses to reach Greece from Troy after the war ..

Though the story line for the events in the book is almost 3200 years old and told about 2800 years ago, the narration is very real and lively. It is great to see that people three thousand years back also had the same feelings and emotions of fear, confidence, anxiety,  valour etc.. as any one of us. Homer's writings will continue to dominate and influence global thoughts and actions for a long time to come.

George