Skip to main content

Beauty and The Iliad // Haley Riddle

 

    There is so much I could say about the women in The Iliad. Not only are they seen as mere prizes, their significance is judged by, you guessed it, their beauty. How they look is typically all we learn about them. For example, in Book 1 line 15, Chryseis is described as "the girl with sparkling eyes." Later, line 168 says "Chryseis herself, in all her beauty." This becomes very common throughout The Iliad. When a character talks about a woman we are reminded of that woman's beauty or lack thereof. 

    Later in Book 1, Thetis goes to Zeus with a request. Maybe it's just me, but does it not seem as though Thetis seduces Zeus in order to get what she wants? Line 596 says: "And crouching down at his feet, quickly grasping his knees with her left hand, her right hand holding him underneath the chin, she prayed to the lord god Zeus". Zeus himself mutters about how fulfilling this request would cause trouble with his wife, Hera, and later we see that it does. While Hera is confronting Zeus about what she has witnessed, she describes Thetis as one with "glistening feet". This is a strange description, but it is obviously significant as it is quoted more than once. Is it not possible that Thetis' beauty plays a part in her achievement?

    Beauty and lack thereof is also significant in Book 2. We are introduced to a man named Thersites. We quickly discover that not only is this man notorious, he is seen as "the ugliest man who ever came to Troy". Lines 250-255 are dedicated to helping the reader understand just how ugly Thersites is. Now, I understand that Thersites is not the best at controlling what he says, but I do wonder if his appearance plays any part in how he is treated. 

   Not a sermon, just a thought... 😉

Comments

  1. Lily CaswellAugust 24, 2020 at 9:50 PM

    Wow, Haley! You make a very good point of beauty and ugliness within the Iliad. It seems that anything concerning Greek mythology and Greek epics, like the Iliad, always describe people in terms of their physical beauty. Aphrodite is considered to be the perfect woman, while Hephaestus is considered the ugliest of all the gods on Mount Olympus.

    ReplyDelete
  2. abbieheddenAugust 24, 2020 at 10:11 PM

    Haley, I think your post really hits the nail on the head! The term "evil beauty" appears several times in The Iliad, which alludes to the fact that the Greeks considered beautiful women to be able to bewitch even the strongest men just with their appearance. Honestly, that's goals! Overall I think that your post really encapsulates the meaning of beauty in The Iliad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haylee LyndAugust 24, 2020 at 11:14 PM

    Haley, you make a very good point about beauty controlling emotions, and I definitely thought the same thing regarding Thetis seducing Zeus. Whether mortal or immortal, individuals are swayed and motivated heavily by the beauty of a woman. I find it very odd that the Greeks worship gods who are moved and make life altering decisions based on mere appearances.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more