Courtney Lum

Although in epic form, I felt as if the Iliad Books 1 and 22 were much more interesting and easier to read than our previous texts from class. What I found intriguing was the way that the gods of Greece played such an extensive role in the human world. I was surprised to see how vindictive and vain the goddess Athena was in the epic, and how she ignored Troy and Paris when they needed her most during the war just because she was jealous Paris chose Aphrodite over herself. Unlike the other epics and texts we have read in class, the gods and goddesses in the Iliad play a much larger role in the world of humans, and possess the same characteristics as those they control, making them unpredictable at times, prone to mistakes, jealous, compassionate, and greedy individuals.
Also having seen the movie “Troy”, I was quite surprised to see many similarities between the Iliad and the movie; however I feel the movie didn’t mention the gods and goddesses who played a major role in the actual story making the movie less accurate and detailed.