Learning outcomes
This course has been designed to enable you to:
- Have an understanding of the structure of the Iliad
- Have an understanding of differently inscribed ‘heroic values’ as expressed by key figures
- Have an understanding of the complexities of narratorial voice and ‘layerings’
Course sessions:
1. Heroic Values: in search of ‘immortal fame’
We start with Book 1, the ‘fatal dispute’ between Agamemnon and Achilles, which ruptured the ‘heroic exchange’ between Summoner and the ‘first and best’ of the fighters.
We will situate that dispute by looking at that exchange – both the values and the victims – and compare Achilles with that straightforwardly ‘heroic’ fighter, Diomedes (Book 5). Finally to the gods: their conflict implicates Mount Olympus.
2. Troy and Myth – Paris and Helen
Ours is just one of many stories about the Fall of ‘Ilium’ – Troy: stories have always been woven around Helen of Troy. We will explore both the history and the fables of Paris, Helen and the Trojan War before turning, in lecture 2, to the Iliad’s many reflections of and on heroes and ‘heroic values’.
3. The wrath of Achilles; the deaths of Sarpedon and Patroclus
We will continue tracing the course and consequences of ‘The wrath of Achilles’ on both the Greeks and the Trojans, with crucial scenes inside both the Greek camp and Troy (Books 9 and 12). We will view the battlefield from many viewpoints: Hektor’s and the gods, victims as well as heroes: examining the narrator’s framing in Book 16 of the deaths of the two most sympathetic characters, Sarpedon and Patroclus.
4. Achilles, Hektor and Tragedy
The death of Patroclus brings Achilles back into the fighting, battle mad. The final encounter between him and Hektor is gradually built up; Hektor’s confidence ironised by our knowledge that Troy must fall, Achilles’ bloody progress horrifying gods and audience alike.
5. What is resolved in Book 24?
The scene of Priam begging Achilles, his son’s killer, for Hektor’s body back is unforgettable and unforgettably tragic. We will look back at this ‘wrath’ and track its psychological and human dimensions.
Finally, we will look to Homer’s greatest ‘translator’, Vergil and modern novels such as those of Pat Barker, Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller, to discuss what is timeless as well as timely in this great work.
Certificate of Participation
At the end of your Winter Festival course(s) a Certificate of Participation will be sent to you electronically.
Non-credit bearing
Courses on our Virtual Winter Festival of Learning are non-credit bearing.