Adventures of a Trojan Man

Today I finished Homer's "The Iliad" at work. Last Sunday I bought both "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." I'd read "The Odyssey" in High School, but not "The Iliad." I thought it was pretty good. It suffered from the same problem of The Lord of the Rings series...where a character or place or thing can't just be named. Oh no, we have to know all about it's history (who begat who, and what every ancestor of these people did). And the character names were all very similar Hippoclodes, Hippoclides, hippopotamus! I was surprised that the whole Trojan horse thing doesn't actually happen in "The Iliad." I thought the entire war was covered, but actually, when the story begins the Greeks had been fighting the people of Troy for like 10 years. We don't see it begin or end!

I felt bad for Hector. Poor bastard never had a chance against Achilles. No chance! How can you fight someone who has God in there corner? Sure he had a few Gods who favored him...but Achilles had Zeus. It's easy for someone like Achilles to be brave-I could be a super hero if I knew I was all but invincible. Hector had real courage, because he was just a mortal guy. His parents weren't immortal, and Zeus wasn't slinging lightning bolts just for him. He was a prince yes, but mainly a guy who said "no, you Greek fuckers aren't getting my wife and child and all my worldly goods while I live and breathe."

There are no bad guys in "The Iliad," which I also liked. Sure, I admired Hector for his bravery, but Achilles wasn't a bad person either. He gave up Hector's body to King Priam, so his family and Kingdom could properly mourn him. Achilles was a soldier, not a monster--though he did monstrous things, in the end he's able to tame the beast living inside him. His anger is brought under control in the end, and I liked that too. But back to the whole 'no bad guys' thing...I think "The Iliad" is the best depiction of war (despite the unrealistic Gods/magical happenings) because the people on both sides are just people. They have good reasons to fight. Both sides are given multiple opportunities to end the violence, and the all the bloodshed but because of hubris and pride are trapped in a self defeating prophecy. I think people should look at this story and notice the parallels with all the other wars that have ever been fought. The people who fight us aren't monsters, they're people like you and me. They come from a different perspective, one where they can see how we've wronged them. And we have, the United States has wronged many, many people. Just like the people of Troy and the Greeks...we've had chances to end the cycle of hate and violence...but we opt not to act. Why should we? God is on our side.

Right. Go ask Hector how that line of thinking turns out.