The Iliad

Study Questions: Iliad

Book One:

1. In one word, what is the theme of the Iliad?

2. What events lead up to the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles?

3. What happens between Agamemnon and Achilles in the council?

4. What decision does Achilles make?

5. What does Achilles do after the council?

6. What is the promise Zeus gives to Thetis, the mother of Achilles?

7. What confrontation assures us Zeus will fulfill the promise he gave to Thetis?


Book Two:

1. What does Agamemnon do that disrupts his whole army?

2. Who rallies the army and calls them back?

3. What is the omen or sign, given to the army before it left Greece, that there would be nine years of

         fighting before Troy would fall?

4. Synthesis: Generally, what kind of information is presented in the last half of Book Two?

5. Achilles towers over the other warriors but with his rage keeping him out of battle, who is considered

        the greatest Greek warrior?


Book Three

1. What is proposed to end the conflict?

2. How do the old men react to Helen as she approaches the wall to meet the king?

3. Who is the king of Troy?

4. Synthesis: Why does Helen point out and introduce Priam to the major fighters among the Greek        
        warriors when the fighting has been going on for ten years?

5. Who rescues Paris from the single combat?  Where is he taken?  Who meets him there?

6. What gods are allied to the Greeks, and which ones are allied to the Trojans?

7. What three names are used synonymously by the poet to refer to the Greeks armies?

Book 4

1. How do the feelings of Hera and Zeus for King Priam, and the city of Troy and its citizens compare?

2. How is the truce broken between the Achaean and Trojan armies?

3. What is literarily significant about lines 160-167 & 315-324?

4. How does King Agamemnon rally the troops in lines 275-285?

5. Synthesis: Book 4 ends with what dominant image—in one word?

Book 5

1. From the lecture material, what is an aristeia?

2. What happens the first time Diomedes is wounded, and what gift is he given? 

3. We see the enmity of what two goddesses in this section of the poem? 

4. Diomedes wounds two immortals—who are they?

5. What is the first immortal wounded doing when Diomedes inflicts the wound, and what is the immortal’s reaction?

6. What happens to Aeneas? 

7. Synthesis: What do we learn from his encounter with these two gods?

8. Synthesis: How does what happens to the two gods compare w/ the end of Book 4? 

9. Synthesis: What is Homer showing us here?

Book 6

1. What is interesting about the encounter of Diomedes and Glaucos (ll. 137-277)?

2. Where does Hector go during the battle and why?

3. What is Helen’s view of herself? Of Paris? 

4. Who comes to see Hektor before he goes back to battle? 

5. Why is Hector fighting? 

6. What does Hector pray for? 

7. What does Hector say about fate?  

8. Synthesis: One of the characteristics of the epic is a somewhat objective treatment of the participants by the author. What pattern do you see taking shape from the poem thus far to argue that the Iliad meets such an objective standard?

Book 7

1. What two heroes meet and fight in Book 7?

2. What Trojan proposes to end the war?

3. What is this Trojan’s proposal?

4. How is this proposal received and by whom?

5. What follows the fighting on both sides?

Book 8

1. What decree opens Book Eight?

2. What does Zeus weigh, and who loses?

3. Synthesis: How does this weighing and its results relate to actions in Book One?

4. What do Hera and Athena do when they are told they can’t fight?

5. Where is Achilles during this battle, and what are the consequences for the Achaeans?

Book 9

1. Synthesis: Why does Agamemnon send an embassy to talk to Achilles?

2. Synthesis: In general what does Agamemnon offer Achilles?

3. What three men are sent to Achilles?

4. Synthesis: Why these three?

5. What is Achilles doing as they arrive in his camp?

6. How does he receive them?

7. What incentive does Odysseus add to Agamemnon’s offer to persuade Achilles to fight?

8. How does Achilles receive their offers from Agamemnon?

9. What unusual fact do we learn about Achilles’ fate?

10. Does any of the three have any influence upon him and his decisions? If so, who and why?

11. What does Achilles say he will do? 

12. What is the state of morale of the Greek army at the close of Book 9?

From Lecture Material:

1. What is timê?

2. What is kleos?

3. Why is kleos important?

4. What is a geras?

5. What is the primary difference between a shame culture and a guilt culture?

Book 10

1. What two Argive warriors agree to go out at night?

2. Synthesis: Why is this mission important, or what do they hope to accomplish?

3. What Trojan agrees to go out at night?

4. What prize does the Trojan want for his attempt?

5. When captured by the Argive warriors, what does this Trojan spy immediately do?

Book 11

1. After rescuing Diomedes, what fighter is left perilously cutoff and alone?

2. What goddess protects this cutoff fighter?

3. What errand does Achilles ask Patroclus to perform?

4. What plan does Nestor propose to Patroclus?

Book 12

1. What does Sarpedon tell Glaucus about why they go fight in the front lines? 

2. Synthesis: What principle or Homeric cultural value is evident in Sarpedon’s speech?

Book 13

1. Who first defies Zeus's decree against the gods helping in the battle?

2. What does Idomeneus have a stock of in his shelter that he shares with Meriones?

3. From whom does Deiphobos summon help to fight Idomenus?

4. Ajax declares to Hector that the Argives, although currently in some extremity, will destroy Troy. What happens immediately after his declaration that cheers the Argive armies?

5. Synthesis: What violation is Menelaus referring to in lines 716-23? Why would Zeus be angry also?



Book 14

1. Who rebukes Agamemnon for wanting to run to the ships and sail away?

2. What is Diomedes’ age compared to the other warriors?

3. What does Hera do in Book 14 to distract Zeus from the battle?

4. What two immortals does Hera seek help from in carrying out her plan?

5. As soon as Zeus is asleep, what happens?

6. What major Trojan warrior is seriously wounded in Book 14?


Book 15

1. How does Hera defend herself against Zeus’s accusation that she betrayed him?

2. Whose healing and what three deaths are foreshadowed by Zeus in his conversation with Hera?

3. What vow does Zeus promise to fulfill?

4. How does Poseidon respond to Zeus’s order to stop helping the Argives in battle?

5. What permits Hector to rejoin the fighting?

6. What Achaean is magnificent in defending the ships?

Book 16

1. What request does Patroclus ask of Achilles?

2. Syntheisis: Why does he make this request? Hint: Where is he coming from as Book 16 opens?

3. What two requests does Achilles make in prayer to Zeus?

4. What is Zeus’s answer to Achilles’ prayer?

5. What causes Zeus anguish and earns him a rebuke from Hera?

6. How many does Patroclus say killed him? Who are they?



Book 17

1. What two “things” does the battle wax hot over?

2. What is Hector’s attitude as he puts on the armor of Achilles stripped from Patroclus?

3. What is Zeus’s reaction to Hector’s attitude?

4. Synthesis: What significant reminder is presented in Zeus’s description of the condition of mortal man as he consoles Achilles’ immortal horses?

5. Who is sent to tell Achilles the news of Patroclus’ death?



Book 18

1. What prophecy is spoken of as this book opens?

2. What petition does Achilles make of his mother?

3. Why is Thetis sorrowful?

4. Since Achilles cannot yet fight, what does Iris tell him to do to stop the Trojan advance?

5. What happens when Achilles follows Athena’s instructions?

6. What is Hector’s attitude after the death of Patroclus?

7. To whom does Thetis go to fulfill Achilles’ request?

8. Identify four scenes from the shield of Achilles.

Lecture material:  Why do scholars consider the description of the shield one of the most important passages in the Iliad?


Book 19

1. What does Achilles receive from Thetis at the opening of this book?

2. In the assembly of the armies, what does Achilles say?

3. Where does Agamemnon place blame for their altercation? What does he offer Achilles?

4. How does Achilles respond to Agamemnon’s offer?

5. Achilles, impatient for battle, calls for an immediate attack. Who counters him and why? What does this tell us about these two characters?

6. “Who” speaks the prophecy of Achilles’ death? How does he respond to this prophecy?

7. Synthesis: Has Achilles truly put down his rage?


Book 20

1. Lines 26-29 are an example of what disparity?

2. What does Zeus tell the gods about the fighting?

3. Who is Achilles’ first opponent? What happens to him?

4. What happens when Achilles meets Hector in their first encounter?


Book 21

1. What favor does the river Scamander/Xanthus ask of Achilles?

2. What does the river do when Achilles ignores this request?

3. Lines 308-320 are an example of what motivation in Achilles?

4. How is the river stopped and by who?

5. What comment would you offer on lines 430-432?

6. What is happening among the gods?

7. Compare the motives of Agenor and Achilles. Why are they fighting?

8. Synthesis: What is the poet demonstrating in Achilles’ fight with river?

Book 22

1. Describe Hector’s thought process and state of mind as the battle with Achilles approaches.

2. The build up to the confrontation between Achilles and Hector covers the scope of the entire poem. What does Hector first do when he now meets Achilles?

3. Synthesis: Why do you think Hector does this?

4. What does Athena trick Hector into doing?  How does she do it?

5. What proposal does Hector make to Achilles, and what is Achilles’ answer?

6. What does this interaction suggest about their motivations for fighting?

7. What does Achilles do after he fights and slays Hector?

8. Synthesis: What would you say about Achilles and his rage at this point in the poem?



Book 23

1. Achilles in his grief has delayed the funeral of Patroclus. What occurs that finally causes his funeral to be held?

2. Who presides over the funeral games of Patroclus?

3. How do we see Achilles behaving?

4. Synthesis: What is the point of Book 23? Why do we witness the funeral in the poem?



Book 24

1. What does Achilles do with Hector’s body?

2. How long has Hector been dead?

3. Whose decree sets in motion the ransom of Hector’s body?

4. Who comes to Achilles to ransom Hector’s body?

5. What does Achilles imagine in this scene with his supplicant?

6. Synthesis: What do we know will happen after the days pass given for Hector’s funeral?

7. Synthesis: What do we learn of Achilles in this final scene of the ransom of Hector’s body?

8. Who receives the final tribute of the Iliad?

9. Who pays this tribute?