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Violence In The Iliad Essay

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Honour and Divinity as Factors Influencing Violence in the Iliad Homer’s Iliad provides a description of ancient Greek society and ideology, and the factors which influenced violence in that time. Violence in the Iliad is caused by the cycle of revenge and dishonour, as well as by divine manipulation; conversely, it is mitigated by godly intervention, as well as empathy and respect. In the society depicted in the Iliad, honour was incredibly important, and dishonour necessitated retaliation to regain one’s status. This revenge often came in the form of physical violence, which in turn dishonoured the opponent and thus incited a vicious cycle. In the Iliad, the Trojan War is the result of Paris’ seduction and theft of Helen, which is not only a great dishonour to Menelaus but a challenge of his strength, which he cannot ignore. Achilles says the Greeks fight “to win back your honour from the Trojans,” (82) suggesting that Greek society prioritized honour over life and safety, which made it easy to justify a war for the sake of one dishonoured man. Likewise, Achilles kills Hector to avenge Patroclus, and dishonours Hector’s corpse. This suggests that the Greeks believed honour transcended death, which explains why they were willing to sacrifice their lives …show more content…

This is best seen when Athena prevents Achilles from killing Agamemnon despite the fact that Achilles has been dishonoured and therefore should retaliate, saying “Down from the skies I come to check your rage” (84). Here Athena, as the goddess of wisdom, is a metaphor for Achilles’ own voice of reason and moral compass, showing him that it would be unwise to kill a leader on his own side. Achilles is able to see reason through her and chooses a less violence act of retaliation by avoiding battle altogether. Just as the will of the gods is used to justify violence, it is also a force of moral and rational

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