HUM-8 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Achilles, Chryses, Homer
Document Summary
Does not have to do with doing great deeds. Obsession with respect and reputation which is in part compensation for being disrespected by mainstream society. Both achilles and agamemnon think they"re the best. Achilles is best in terms of martial prowess. Similar to greek heros but they were part of mainstream society. Reciprocity and failed reciprocity: supplication, kinship ties, hospitality ties. Supplication=ritual action in which you beg for a favor or a grace of some kind. Supplicating person goes down on one knee and extends their hand to the beard of the person they are supplicating. Throughout the iliad, people supplicate the person who is about to kill them to spare their life. Who accepts supplication and who denies it. If someone supplicates you, you should honor them. Over 200 years old, but the story it tells is even older. Starts in the 10th year of the war. The poet prays to the muse, the goddess of poetic inspiration.
