Mas Poderoso Que Un Mito.

Tatiana Berríos

Advanced English

Prof. Burgos

October 30, 2012

More Powerful Than A Myth.

As defined by the Oxford dictionaries website, a culture is the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. Even though I believe that culture isn't something so easily defined or described as the people who created this website have done, after reading Homer'sIliad, my perspective changed. I had always assumed that the greeks were these people who lived in Europe and believed in about thirty different gods and praised them so that they could reserve a good spot up in Mount Olympus with the gods once they died. However, Homer changed my thoughts completely, a 180° twist if you may. The way that Homer describes the events that occurred throughout the TrojanWar, the way he describes Achille's anger, Paris' sorrow after losing his son, Hector's argument with his wife about returning to war, the conflict of honor and greed between Agamemnon and Menelaus, is something that gives such a realistic view on this ancient culture that it makes you wonder wether it really happened or was it all made up by some blind guy centuries ago. Whether real orfictitious, Homer's Iliad, I believe, is one of the most important pieces of literary work, especially because of the exceptional work it does at representing such an ancient culture's beliefs, ideals, and values..

The greek culture, according to what I read in the Iliad, is full of so many specific criteria many had to live up to. Death rituals, point of view on honor, a woman's place, and theinfluence the gods had over the humans, make up so much of what this culture is about. According to the Department of Greek and Roman Art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-honored rituals. Ancientliterary sources emphasize the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity (Iliad, 23.71). Here we see the value they give to life; it was something that had to be honored. In the Iliad, we see that even though Achilles didn't respect Hector's body as he dragged him thought the ground, the gods still protected the body until Paris, Hector'sfather, came to take his son back home to Troy. Even though Achilles had dragged Hector's body around, he still behaved in an honorable and respectful way to Paris when he came to pick up his son. Achilles gave him time to perform a formal ritual, and also took time to clean Hector's body before giving it back to him. This is one of the most curious scenes to me because even though he acted on instinctby dragging the body around, he still acted according to the culture's belief when it came to Hector's body and the right the family had to perform a formal ritual.

Another characteristic Homer mentions is the one of honor. Honor, from what I read, was something extremely important to the Greeks, maybe even more than life. Dying in war was not a big deal to them, as long as they died honoringtheir country, their people, and the gods. As Hector, one of the greatest warriors on the Trojan army, is telling his wife about his decision to go back to war, we see how Homer described the Greeks idea of honor. “But I would dies of shame to face the men of Troy / and the Trojan ome trailing their long robes/ if I would shrink from battle now, a coward./ … always to fight in the front ranks ofTrojan soldiers,/ winning my father great glory, glory for myself./” (The Language of Literature. Iliad translated by Robert Fagles. 197 – 198) Here we see how great the idea of honor was to the Greek man, how he would sacrifice himself an his family to be able to find honor and glory, to not leave his men behind; to not look like a coward. Another way Homer describes honor is when Menelaus...