Welcome to Greek Keyline Blog 2009!You have just crossed the river Styx and are ready to join Aeschylus and Euripides in a great line contest. Fortunately for you, you don't have to invent your own lines. Just pick out a great line from whatever Greek writer we happen to be studying in History 440 this week and explain why this line is key to understanding the whole work or particularly worth remembering and applying to real life.
Brek-ek-ek-ek, koax, koax....
Annie Merkel
ReplyDeleteTaking a quick glimpse at Homer's "The Iliad," the first page has quite a quote. It says, "What god drove them to fight with such a fury?" I think this line is definately worth remembering. Because there are so many different religions that exist, and each one seems to have a different 'god', I think this line is perfect. On the whole, instead of rejecting others' religion, people should just accept that some people believe in a different god than they do. This line from Homer is just brilliant.
Sam Merkel
ReplyDeleteI went with the Penguin History Of Greece, and in it I found a quote saying "Twice the palace at Knosos was shattered by earthquakes/ it stands, we now know, on a fault, an earthquake line. But the people apparently still felt solidarity with their rulers/ they did no revolt, but cleared the wreckage and built again." For me this showed how devoted the people were towards the town. Even though it seems that the town is just going to be destroyed again due to an earthquake, they don't blame the people above them and stick with them still and just rebuild the town once again. It shows me how devoted the towns people are and that perhaps the leaders of the town know what they are doing in order for the people to stay.
In The Iliad, Achilles is a killer. Apollo speaks of him as a beast:
ReplyDelete"--like some lion going his own barbaric way, giving in to his power, his brute force and wild pride..."
Hera on the other hand views him as a god.This just goes to show that the villain is also the hero depending upon which side his actions are viewed. Everything in life is influenced by one's perspective.
Kelsey Leddy
Brian Johnson
ReplyDeleteIn the Iliad Agamemnon says "The girl-I won't give up the girl. Long before that, old age will overtake her in my house, in Argos, far from her fatherland, slaving back and forth at the loom, forced to share my bed."
I think this passage is worth remembering because it reminds us of how much we have to be thankful for. We don't live in a society in which people are enslaved to someone else. We are all free (men and women) to achieve our full potential. And we should be very thankful for that because obviously that has not always been the case.
I liked the line that andromach says to her husband Hector before he goes out to fight again "reckless one, my hector your own fiery courage will destroy you! have you no pity for him, our helpless son? or me, and the desitny that weighs me down, your widow..."
ReplyDeleteI picked this because often today we see in america pictures of our soldiers going off to wars and coming back from iraq and you can see the raw emotions of sadness and happiness from their family and this has been true through out human history and its important to remember the sacrifice the soldiers make and what it puts their familly through
Ruth Wilson
ReplyDeleteAs Kieth M said, this sceen does show how similer feelings of war are, both then and now. The sceen continues to show how Hector takes his son from his wife to hold close and that the baby is scared of his great war helmet. Its poinient and could be written of as just plain sappy, but i think there is somthing more to it than that: clearly Hector loves his baby boy and is sad to leave him. One could take that and imply two things about his leaving for war anyway; either Hector's love for the cause is stronger than that of his love for his son or he goes to fight to preserve his son's way of life. Either way, when one looks at the picture of todays soldiers, the same emotions are visible on our soldiers faces. Duty still runs strong, even if we arent quite so sure of the reason behind the war.
David Ellsworth
ReplyDeleteI found that Burn in the Penguin History of Greece, made an interesting observation on p. 37 while discussing Mycenaean and Cretan groups. "Among the differences we may infer, from the visible remains and the literary evidence of later times, two contrasting religions; no necessary source of enmity, since men had not yet been taught to hate each other's religions, but still significant."
I felt this significant because he makes a point that hate for religious differences is something that is learned. For all our modern developments and achievements we have made none that even compared to the achievement of this state.
I have to agree with both Keith and Ruth on this one. After watching many American soldiers be in the same situation it is easy to see how the scene with Hector relates to real life today. I am not sure how accurate the movie Troy is, but during the movie you can see the similiarity between Hector talking to his wife and American soldiers when they are leaving there loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI also found the religion quote from p. 37 of Burn's to be very provocative. I personally believe each person is entitled to believe whatever they want as long as they allow me the same liberty, the problem arises when a person's religion says others don't deserve that right. "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." I think this quote sums it up. People fear that they have chosen the wrong religion and they may not make it to their afterlife, and as a result they get angry. Angry at themselves, angry at their god, but most of all angry at everyone else who isn't along side them in their folly. This can then lead to irrational decision making and cause much pain and suffering to others as we've all heard about in the last years.
ReplyDelete--Nikolas Aberle
I think the line “He lacks the sense to see a day behind, a day ahead, and safeguard the Achaeans battling by the ships,” is one that should be remembered. It shows that Agamemnon was more focused on his own gain than on the good of his army, and as a result had made his best warrior his enemy. I think it also shows that there will be problems for their army later on in the story. This idea is still in effect today as well. In anything where there is one person in charge, that person needs to be mindful of the well-being of the people below them, otherwise the workers will become dissatisfied and their work will be less efficient as a result.
ReplyDelete--John Rawerts
"No man, against my fate, sends me to Hades'.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for fate, I'm sure no man escapes it,
Neither a good nor bad man, once he's born."
From the Iliad lines 487-489
The greeks have a strong belief in the spiritual world, and have a great respect for the gods. This quote illustrates this reverence very well, and shows that no greek felt the control of man, there fate was firmly held by the gods. I believe these ideas and feelings are still felt by most human beings everywhere. This is seen in all major religions, our fate as people of this earth are not tied from man to man, but held by the God the controls all things.
Zach Anderson
"Seer of evil, you never yet prophesied smooth things concerning
ReplyDeleteme, but have ever loved to foretell that which was evil. You have
brought me neither comfort nor performance.” Agamemnon says in anger toward Thereon in the Iliad.
This part of the explanation from Agamemnon stuck out to me. When it comes to religion, some people feel it should be all good news to comfort them and make them feel better about themselves and their sins just asking for forgiveness for their selfish acts. However, this shows that religion is not always that way and evils do exist. It takes true believers to stay with their faith and conduct selfless acts to their god, unlike Agamemnon.
Yvette Waters
I think the very beginning of the story is a good example of how the Greeks could use the story as a sort of bible. It starts with a priest of Apollo bringing a request to Agamemnon. When Agamemnon refuses him and dishonors Apollo, the god brings a plague to Agamemnon's army as payback. But it also showed what would happen if they stayed on the gods' good side. When Achilles was betrayed by Agamemnon he prayed to his mother to help him pay Agamemnon back. His mother spoke to Zeus and convinced him to help Achilles. So this story shows that if you honor the gods good things will happen, and if you don't bad things will happen.
ReplyDeleteJohn Rawerts.