Iliad as a war literature Essay

Homers epic poem, The Iliad, is probably one of the opera hat stories that tell us about war. In this poem, we see humans struggle with humans, gods armed combat with humans, and even gods exhorting with gods. Even though it was made some time around the 7th century BC, we can associate with our redbrick warf atomic number 18. In Homers Iliad, we see how the gods eluded the people in fighting their own wars, just comparable how policy-making leaders of different countries manipulate their army to fight another country.We can also see that novel wars, just like the Trojan war in the Iliad, can be caused by infinitesimal matters which were just blown up to huge proportions by those who manipulate these wars. The book can be seen as Homers perspective of war. It is somewhat an anti-war literature because it showed how wars normally end. Both sides baffled outstanding lives, including some of their respected heroes. In the Greeks side, they lost Achilles best friend, Patroc lus (23. 1-7). On the Trojans side, they lost their prince, Hector (24. 21-23).Achilles eventually died some time after, when he was shot by Paris, Hectors brother in the heel of his foot which was his weakness. It showed that no one really reigns victorious, even after winning the war. This is because both sides commence great losses, not only in properties, but also the lives of those who are involved in the war, both armies and civilians. Some attitudes towards war that Homer interpret in Iliad were the possible motors of engaging in wars. The most evident motive in the Trojan War was to retrieve the wife of Menelaus, the brother of the Greek King Agamemnon.They decided to launch an all out war, deploying a lead of more than a thousand ships in order to retrieve Helen (of Troy) who was abducted by a Trojan prince, Paris (3. 29-31). Another attitude towards war shown in this epic poem was the intervention by higher powers. With the intervention of the exceeding gods and godde sses, the war to regain Helen of Troy was blown up to greater proportions. It became a personal war for these gods and goddesses, especially when they chose to take sides between the Trojans and the Greeks.The gods and goddesses who took the side of the Greeks take Hera, Athena, Poseidon, and Hermes (4. 37-49). On the other hand, the gods who took the side of the Trojans include Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto (1. 10-15). They backed up the soldiers whenever they fight and are unremarkably the ones who decide on how the fight would end. Only genus Zeus remained in the middle, wherein he for negativee the intervention of these gods in the war. Homer was able to pass a war which is similar to our modern day warfare.His depiction of gods was like the political leaders of various nations who would encourage their people to engage in wars against other nations. These are the leaders who are not physically in battle, but are the ones who actually dictate how the wars would go. Als o, the wars that they often start would usually mean great losses for both warring sides. The reasons for these wars were very practically the same like that of Homers the Iliad. These are usually small things which could be lap upd by negotiations, but the pride of the leaders is usually the ones that fuel the war.Leaders like Menelaus and Agamemnon are the same as the political leaders that we have today, who prefers violent negotiations rather than peaceful means to solve conflicts. This usually leaves the country with great problems, like loses of lives and property and a bad economy.Works Cited Homer. The Iliad. 2006. Spark Notes. October 15 2007. . Sienkewicz, Tom. The Gods in the Iliad. 2002. October 15 2007. .