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Agamemnon In The Iliad

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More a warrior than a king Imagine the biggest bully you know. He 's big and strong, but not so smart. He picks on those smaller or weaker than himself, throws his weight around, and basically acts like a huge jerk just because he can. Now give that bully a kingdom and soldiers at his command, and you 're pretty close to the character of Agamemnon in The Iliad. Though he is a great warrior, he is not much of a king. He hurts his own family, makes dumb mistakes, ignores his commanders, and almost loses the Trojan War over his stubbornness. This lesson will focus on the role and character analysis of Agamemnon in Homer 's The Iliad. Agamemnon as a family man Agamemnon is the brother of Menelaus of Sparta, who married the most beautiful woman in the …show more content…

Unfortunately for Agamemnon, this plan backfires and the men all run for the ships. Agamemnon has to get divine help from Athena to get them to come back. Agamemnon is always happy to blame someone else for his shortcomings. He whines, in Book 19, ' I am not responsible/ but Zeus is, and Destiny '. Lesson Summary Agamemnon is a king of the Achaeans, but that does not make him worthy of the title. Through his actions and words in The Iliad, we can see that Agamemnon is not a great king at all. He 's a strong warrior, and his physical prowess is not contested. In fact, during the funeral games for his friend Patrokles, the great hero Achilles offers Agamemnon the prize without even holding the contest. He tells everyone that he knows Agamemnon is the best. That 's actually pretty magnanimous coming from Achilles, who has a lot of reasons to be upset with Agamemnon 's lack of leadership. Achilles lost Briseis, whom he loved, just because Agamemnon whined about it not being fair. Achilles ' subsequent withdrawal from fighting caused the Achaeans to lose a major battle. In short, Agamemnon is a jerk and bully, who blames others for his failings and sacrificed his own daughter so he could go to war. He is not

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The book, Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, by Victor Davis Hanson discusses the period of the Middle Ages. More specifically, it is an extensive breakdown of ancient Greek warfare. Hanson is going to determine and investigate the effectiveness of Greek infantrymen as a triumphant and professional fighting force, and analyze the core ideals that today’s modern society strives to uphold: honour, freedom, and courage. Greece was one of the most successful and feared empires in the world, given their remarkable battle strategies. Some important Greek hoplite battles included, The Persian Wars, The Spartan War with Tega, The Peloponnesian War, and the First Battle of Mantineia.

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In Greek culture, honor was immensely important and the Cyclops has none. In contrast, Odysseus brags about the great feats of Agamemnon yelling, “So great a city he sacked, such multitudes he killed”(9.298-299) That Odysseus sees pride in killing, shows that the Greeks valued killing, but only if honorable. There is a stark contrast between the killings of the Cyclops and those of King Agamemnon. In the eyes of the Greeks, Agamemnon’s killings were for his country, his people, and the greater good of society. These murders had a selfless purpose.

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It is often wondered how words are formed or created. Many of our words are derived from different older cultures, like the civilization of Ancient Greece. An example of this is the word museum which comes from the word muse. The Muses were greek goddesses of the fine arts who were prayed to by philosophers, musicians, and artists who seeked inspiration. The Greek poet and author of the famous stories The Iliad and The Odyssey was one of them.

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The Odyssey revolves around a household without its master, Odysseus, who has been lost for 10 years. Despite that, Agamemnons’ death by his faithless wife isn’t the main focus of the Odyssey, but it is still frequently mentioned. Aegisthus can be thought of as the suitors who are seen at the beginning of the Odyssey feasting and sipping wine all day. His affair with Clytemnestra, his murder of Agamemnon and then later on, his death by Agamemnons’ son Orestes, foreshadows the inevitable death waiting to consume the suitors’ lives for their efforts to destroy Odysseus household. The stories set up is similar in a way that there are two returning heroes, Agamemnon and Odysseus, their sons, Orestes and Telemachus, and their wives, Clytemnestra and Penelope respectively.

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However, in the end Agamemnon took Achilles’ girl, Briseis, which really hurt Achilles in the end. These warriors took a lot of pride in the things or people that they

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Achilles and Hector in The Iliad and Medea and Jason Medea all have characteristics that eventually led to their downfall. Achilles is a furious man, and it leads him to do unspeakable things. Hector is very prideful, and it clouds his judgement. In Medea, Medea is revengeful, and all she thinks about his getting revenge. Jason is insensitive, and it cost him his family.

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Throughout The Iliad, Homer highlights the gender inequalities between Helen and her male counterparts Agamemnon, Achilles, and Paris. Homer accentuates the objectification of women through conflicts between male characters. In Book 1, the audience is first introduced to this idea in a speech by the King of Mycenae, Agamemnon. The mighty king demands, “I don 't want to see the army destroyed like this. But I want another prize ready for me right away.

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Agamemnon’s taking of Briseis enrages Achilles and spurs him to remove himself from the war, leading to a massive death toll in the Achaean forces. In stealing Briseis from Achilles, he is not only robbing of him of a material prize, but also a symbol of honor, his geras, in Greek culture. In retaliation, Achilles removes himself from the war and prays to his mother, Thetis, that she will ask Zeus to damage the Achaean forces. Achilles’ only goal is that “even mighty Atrides can see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles” (1.488-490). Despite having no true grievance against the Achaean army as a whole, Achilles’ rage blinds him from the potential harm that may befall his troops.

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Achilles is maddened and appeals to his goddess mother saying, “If I am to die soon, shouldn’t I have what I want?” Feeling only sorrow for her son, Thetis requests Zeus to cause to Greeks to lose until Achilles fights again. Slowly the Greeks are pushed back farther and Agamemnon pleads with Achilles, offering Briseis back. Achilles declines due to his pride and the Trojans come close to burn the Greek ships. Even when a ship was burning, Achilles refused to fight and instead sends out Patroclus.

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He remained headstrong, stubborn and selfish in his actions, even warranting rebuke from the men on certain occasions. This is seen in the very first conflict that is witnessed on the pages of The Iliad. Agamemnon is faced with the request to give up his war prize, and immediately and indignantly decides against all the council of the army in order to keep his prize of a woman (28). With this decision, he sought his own desires selfishly and disconnected himself from the men he was meant to lead. Granted, he possessed a strong will, a thing very necessary for good leadership.

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The epic poem, The Iliad written by Homer shows the conflicts and events that occurred between the Greeks and Trojans during the Trojan War. Among both sides there are warriors who follow a distinct code, known as the heroic code. This Heroic code helps portray the characteristics of the warriors and their perspective on war. This distinct code is composed of many elements such as arete, acceptance of fate, honour, excellence in war, leadership, courage and power. These traits are shown within the main warriors, Hector and Achilles throughout the epic war poem and helps to guide their decisions.

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Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.

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