Iliad

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Iliad
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Essential Questions

1. Has human nature fundamentally changed over the
   past 2800 years?
2. Have human attitudes and values fundamentally
   changed over the past 2800 years?

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Homer
Composed the Iliad and the Odyssey
Lived around 800 BCE
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Understanding the Context
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Ancient Greek Civilization

• Politically
• Greece was separated into areas known as
  city-states
• Each city-state was run by a king/warlord
• City-states did not always get along and were
  very independent of each other

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Ancient Greek Civilization

• Three basic types of beings
• Humans
• Gods
• Muses/Nymphs

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The Greek Gods/Nymphs

• Greek gods often intervened in wars, fighting for
  one side or the other along with the humans.
• Greek gods would often fight with each other
  about who should win the war.
• Greek gods sometimes had children with humans to
  create half-human, half gods

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Ancient Greek Civilization Video
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Trojan War

• Iliad covers only a few weeks of the 10th and
  final year of the war
• The war basically started because a Trojan
  (Paris), stole a Greek warlords (Menelaus) wife,
  Helen. She was supposedly the most beautiful
  woman in the entire world

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Trojan War Cont.

• The war took place in about 1250 BCE
• War was fought much differently then than it is
  now
• Much of the fighting was done with spears rather
  than swords like you see in most movies

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Equipment

• Ancient Greek ship

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Equipment

• Fighting was an honor. Shields and weapons
  were often customized for the fighters. This
  shield was supposedly made for Achilles by one of
  the Greek gods.

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Geography of the War

• Greece and Troy

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Geography of the War

• Greek camps during the Trojan War.

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Trojan War/Iliad Background Video