Wedding of Thetis and Peleus: Occasion forcause of the Trojan War, unites 2 beings whose offspring A

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Wedding of Thetis and Peleus Occasion for/cause
of the Trojan War, unites 2 beings whose
offspring (Achilles) will signify the destruction
of Troy.

• Facsimile of François Vase (570 BCE)

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(No Transcript)
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• The gods are athanatoi (sg. athanatos) undying,
  deathless
• (from thanatos death)
• Thetis tries to make Achilles immortal 1) by
  dipping him in the river Styx (which flows in the
  underworld) 2) by holding him in immortalizing
  fire both are symbolic equivalents
• The figure of Achilles articulates the tension
  between
• llife and death
• mortality and immortality
• transiency and permanence
• remembrance and forgetfulness
• Achilles choice 1) nostos (safe return) but no
  glory OR 2) kleos (glory/reputation) but no
  return home
• The paradox of Achilles choice He must die at
  Troy to be remembered because to live is to be
  forgotten/committed to oblivion in choosing
  death, Achilles chooses immortality

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• Iliad Odyssey
• Achilles Odysseus
• Kleos, NO nostos kleos AND nostos (gets to have
  both!)
• Exceptional physical strength man of strategy
• No real patron god Athena

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• Helen sitting on Aphrodites
• Lap (430 BCE)

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Patroklos/Patroclus cousin, best friend of
Achilles //Gilgamesh and Enkiduerastes/eromenos
(active, older lover/passive, younger beloved)?
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• Achilles chooses kleos public recognition vs.
  Paris chooses private gratification
• Brothers (embody opposite qualities)
• Paris (youngest son) Hektor (eldest son)
• destroys his own oikos household he who
  defends his oikos
• and that of others
• The Greek and Trojan champions
• Achilles Hektor
• young single mature family man

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• Achilles feels menis anger (applied mostly to
  the gods)
• Iliad 1
• RageGoddess, sing the rage of Peleus son
  Achilles,
• murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans
  countless losses,
• hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy
  souls,
• great fighters souls, but made their bodies
  carrion,
• feasts for the dogs and birds.