- 1. What characteristics define a hero in 2004? What was characteristic of a hero in Homer’s day? How are they different, if they are? Using the characteristics of the epic, which character thus far epitomizes a modern hero? An ancient one?
- 2. WAR! What effect did Book V have on you? Do you think there is a reason for the realistic descriptions Homer uses? Whose death stood out the most to you and why?
- 3. The gods are directly involved now in the fighting, what might this mean? When they are wounded, how do they act differently from the mortals they are interfering with?
- Can you keep the gods and their sides straight? Can you follow the plot twists of Apollo and which side he is on?
- 4. The Trojans finally begin to react. Why are we just now seeing Hector take control? Which side seems the most reluctant to fight, the Trojans or the Greeks?
- 5. Does any character in Book V undertake an aristeia? (See Terms to Watch for above). If so, who do you see it in and does the intervention of the gods help or detract?
- 6. What IS the general effect in Book V of the intervention of the gods?
Book VI:
- 7. Force versus Reason: Book VI has several dialogues and exchanges, two between enemies, Glaucus and Diomedes, Adrastus and Menelaus, and one between Hector and Andromache.
In each of these dialogues, one person asks something of the other. What does the response of each mean to the poem?
- The scene between Hector and his wife Andromache is probably one of the most famous in literature, and illustrates another theme or conflict: military glory versus family life. Which is the most important to Hector, do you think?
What is the relationship between Hector and Andromache?
 - Hector does know how the war will come out, what does his knowing that do to the scene? Would you have made the same decision? If a modern day soldier made the same decision, would you applaud it or condemn it?
- 8. What choice, really, DOES Hector have at this point?
Let's be real a moment in our consideration of all the issues raised and ask ourselves (why is there ALWAYS always a practical issue?) what choices he had, in reality?
Aside from all the lofty thoughts, what WERE his choices?
He's sitting IN a castle (we assume from the description that there are walls and high halls and gates) and they're watching 1,000 ships on the shore filled with fighters and soldiers whom they assume are ready to kill. The women and children and old men are in the city, helpless. They are not going to sally forth? What are the choices? Stay with the old men and women and children and wait till the enemy penetrates the gates, forces its way into the city and THEN defend them, like a woman? Why am I suddenly thinking of the Alamo?
OR go forth with the army and see if possibly (they have got to be outnumbered) we can push them back, burn some ships, demoralize them and make them rethink, maybe (with the help of the gods) we can even turn the tide, get Ag or Menelaus or whoever, maybe we can make them go home.
Now he KNOWS, he somehow (gods?) has knowledge that Troy will fall, Andromache will be taken prisoner, his own baby thrown over the wall and his brains splattered out. What choice, then, does he have, except to go out with honor? What choice would he have had if he had NOT had this pre-knowledge, if he still had hope? Do the actions of the hero in any sort of war depend on some knowledge of the outcome? Why does Homer have him KNOW the outcome? Let's talk about Hectors and Homer's choices today?
- 9. Why is their meeting above the Scaean Gates important?
What effect does this scene have on the entire poem?
- 10. How would you say the narrator feels about Hector? About Agamemnon? What seems to motivate Hector to keep fighting? Is there anything wrong in his reasoning?
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