Grex History Conference

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Grex History Item 39: The Trojan War Cycle
Entered by orwell on Thu Sep 21 05:16:48 UTC 1995:

Well, I have been a nuisanceon this conference tonite, os now i will enter
an item...hee hee

I am currently taking a classical civ course here at UM. It has recently
brought me back to my huge interest in the Greco-Roman world. 

I just got through reading the Iliad for this class, and it let me down. I
sympathized with the TRojans to a big extent and fell that they got a raw
deal. So what if Paris stole the woman from Menleus? The Greeks are absolutely
ruthless. They plan to kill everybody in Troy, womyn and children, especially.
It is hard to find myself sympathizing with the Greekd in any way whatsoever.

Even the follow-up book, The Odyssey, does not evoke my sympathy for
Odyesseus. I like the Aeneid much more. Aeneas is my favorite character in
all of literature. He survives the Trojan War and eventually founds Rome.

I know i have been ranting and raving endlessly, but what i want to see in
this item is some quality disucussion on the entire Trojan War cycle. Any
characters? plots? discussions that interest you? \

C'mon, let's get teh ball rolling!

4 responses total.

#1 of 4 by remmers on Tue Sep 26 09:59:40 1995:

The Greeks were ruthless, but so would the Trojans have been if they
had won. Life was rugged in those days.
  It's been a long time since I read the Iliad; my memory of details
is hazy. But isn't it more "about" internal squabbles in the Greek
camp than it is about the Greek/Trojan conflict? The poem is also
known as "The Anger of Achilles" and focuses on the conflict between
Achilles and Agamemmnon, who stole Achilles' chick.

#2 of 4 by remmers on Sun Oct 1 09:45:15 1995:

(Don't all jump in at once now...)

#3 of 4 by orwell on Mon Oct 2 21:53:08 1995:

The Greeks were bastards as portrayed in the Iliad. They were a bunch of
macho, dim-witted barabarians who simply wanted to kill everybody in Troy and
take their stuff. 

What is truly interesting about it is the match-ups of Gods on either side.
Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo (and to some extent Zeus) were on the Trojan side.
Posiedon and Athene stood by the Greeks. A very neat scene in the Iliad occurs
when Athene and Ares fight. Athene takes him out very easily and drags him
back to Olympus. I dont know if Aprhodite is the best god to have on your
side in a battle. Apollo at least helped kill Patroclus and Achilleus.

#4 of 4 by apollo on Wed Feb 7 02:01:18 1996:

The toughest part about the Iliad was getting through all of the death.  The
interesting part was, indeed, Achilles ' and his anger with Agamemnon.  I,
too found myself siding with Hector and the Trojans.  Maybe I just like to
side with the underdog.  Even though I know that Troy falls Hector at times
made me think that maybe, just maybe he could pull it off.  I found myself
even hoping in Andromache that Phyrus and Orestes would kill each other off
and Andromache would raise Hector's son up to glorious victory over Menelaus
and the Greeks.

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