Cultural And Religious Rituals In Homer's The Iliad

Life’s a Drag There are various cultural and religious rituals within the dense book and classic of The Iliad, riddled with hints and motifs, communicating with the gods by offerings and looking for divination, along with sacrificial settings and prayers, letting us catch a glimpse into the Greek and Roman ceremonies during the times before, in the midst, and after the war. These epics, which we still read today, help us understand how these armies strategized, and how they took on the burden of war. War at that time was a time of respect for the death of the men upon your side of war, even so that there were so many casualties that a day was taken off to gather and burn these bodies, or return to the Roman soldiers’ families.

Now dipping up wine from winebowls into golden cups, the captains tipped their offerings and prayed to the gods who never die. Here is the way the Trojans and Akhains prayed:“ - Iliad, Book Three, Lines 345-353 Langdon 2 Preparing a funeral for Hector for nine days and lighting his body aflame on the tenth is, to me, relatable to another death ritual, an exequy--one of the few used by the Vikings. Being set up on a ship and with (sometimes) their severalty belongings, burned to ash, and then set aflame by a torch tossed into the ship, moving out to sea. Of course, the Vikings would never stand for such a thing as their enemy dragging their leader around by a chariot, which is simple enough to say that is a major difference. The Vikings didn’t take any crap from anyone if the dead were disrespected. “ A dustcloud rose above the furrowing body: the dark tresses flowed behind, and the head so princely once lay back in dust. Zeus gave him to his enemies to be defiled in his own fatherland.