Lessons Learned From The Illiad

This embarrassment clearly made Achilles mad. Achilles prayed to his mother, Thetis, and inquired for her power to restore his honor.  He then asks Zeus to bring distress to Agamemnon and the Achaean people. This small occurrence becomes the primary cause of elongated battles between the Achaeans and the Trojans throughout the story. Zeus proceeded by summoning evil Dream to Agamemnon, and told him that he would grant the Achaeans a win against the Trojans. Agamemnon believed that it was a symbol to attack Troy. The gods were very involved in this war commotion. Some gods favored and agreed with the Trojans, and others favored and agreed with the Achaeans. Agamemnon was foolish, and not aware that the war is a by his pride.

War after war took place. Many troops died in the battle ground. Homer lists name after name and describes in details how each man was killed. To make a long story short, the Achaeans were in a difficult situation, Agamemnon finally thought that they probably had to give up and go home. Nestor advised Agamemnon to ask Achilles for help and be reconciled with him. Agamemnon, according to the suggestion of Nestor, then sent Phoenix, Ajax, and Odysseus to come to Achilles. In book 9, we can see clearly the pride of Achilles. These delegates tried as best as they could to convince Achilles to return to the Achaeans and help them to fight against the Trojans. They were not able to convinced Achilles. He still felt the great pain of humiliation that Agamemnon has caused. Achilles refused to return.

The ending of this story is important to understand also. After Achilles killed Hector, he took Hector’s body along with him. Priam, the king of Troy, came to ask for the body of his son from Hector and provided a ransom. Achilles respected Priam and accepted his gifts. He gave the body of Hector back to his father with honor. They finally ate together in peace, even though Priam was in a great grief because of the loss of his son.

The message of this epic poem can be seen quite clearly. Homer wants to remind his reader to not be self-centered and arrogant. One’s arrogance will cause a lot of problems in his/her life and the lives of other people.