The Iliad vs. The Burial at Thebes

From literature to philosophy to art

Homer

• b. sometime around 800 b.c.e.?

• creator of epic poetry• wrote The Iliad and The

Odyssey• we know NOTHING of

him

The Iliad• Agamemnon and the Greeks are

beginning their 10th year of fighting the Trojans

• Achilles, the best fighter, will not enter the battle because of his rage toward Agamemnon

• through the intervention of the Gods, the Greeks eventually begin to overpower the Trojans

• culmination of the battle occurs when Achilles defeats Hector

• we are foretold of events to come, e.g. Achilles’ death

• the poem focuses on great heroic battle

Tensions and Themes

• Rage• Heroic Acts• Duty and Honor• Ideal representation of

Greek manhood• Intervention of the Gods• Guide to proper behavior

Sophocles

• b. 496 b.c.e.• d. 406 b.c.e.• most prolific Greek

tragedians, wrote 125 plays

• only 7 of these plays survive

The Burial at Thebes• written around 442 b.c.e.• simple plot line of conflict between

Creon and his niece Antigone• Antigone, name means “born to

oppose” in Greek• against the law of Creon, she buries

her brother• she is sentenced to death for the

crime• she hangs herself• Creon’s son and wife kill themselves

in response to Antigone’s death• What happens to Creon at the end?

– he gives up the throne after “seeing the light”

Tensions and Themes• tyranny vs. democracy

– Creon vs. Haemon

• who might the Athenian people have sided with?

• fate– Oedipus as source of

destiny

• The Gods and Heroes– What role do they play?– Who are they?

Greek Philosophy

• Sophists– offered wisdom to

students– emphasis on

development of practical skills like public speaking

– committed to humanistic values

– “man is the measure of all things”

– human beings have the power to make judgments about themselves and their world

– helped to free the human spirit to become more creative– tendency toward skepticism – undermined traditional values of the power

of the Gods

• Socrates (470-399 b.c.e.)– opposed Sophists– also focused on human problems

and empowerment of humans to make moral choices

– belief in an enduring moral and intellectual order in the universe

– the psyche is the most important thing

– it must be nurtured by knowledge– one gains knowledge through

stimulating conversations, debates, and abstract thinking

– he was seen as a heretic and a corruptor and was sentenced to death after Athens falls to the Spartans in 404 b.c.e.

– died by ingesting hemlock

How does Philosophy relate to The Iliad and The Burial at Thebes?

• The Iliad– traditionally philosophical

text– uses the Gods as the

controllers of human fate– Achilles = hero b/c he is

godlike

• The Burial at Thebes– Sophist or Socratic?– role of the Gods?– what defines a hero?

How does Art figure into this?