What is there to say that hasn’t already been said of Homer’s Iliad? Still, I will try to add a few thoughts, filtered through a contemporary perspective. First, a summary.
Brief Synopsis of “The Iliad”
Though most people have heard of the Trojan War, the Iliad covers a brief period of it, just a few weeks, very near the end of the ten year conflict. The abduction of Helen and all the stories leading up to the events in the poem are only mentioned in passing. This synopsis includes elements before the actual events of the Iliad.
Three goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, vied for the title of the most beautiful. Reluctant to make a choice himself, Zeus, the king of the gods on Mount Olympus, demurred and instead elected Paris, a Trojan, to choose the fairest. During the contest, he was bribed by Aphrodite with the prize of the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen, who was then the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite and thereby won Helen, whom he proceeded to abduct with the assistance of the goddess and bring her to Troy as his new wife.
Unbeknownst to Paris, when Helen, “of the lovely hair”, had been courted by many powerful suitors, they swore an oath to come to the assistance of the winning suitor if ever Helen were taken from the eventual winner. When Helen left Sparta with…