The Iliad: Synopses of Books II-VI

Book Two:

Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon in an effort to aid Achilles. Nestor visits Agamemnon and convinces him that he should launch a full-scale assault on Troy. The following day when he gathers his troops, Agamemnon decides to test their fidelity by announcing that he has ‘given up the war’ and will return to Greece. He is surprised when his soldiers turn and desert.  Hera observes this and calls on Odysseus whose powerful rhetoric convinces the troops to return. He reminds them of the prophecy of Calchas, who witnessed a watersnake devour a nest of nine sparrows, who concluded that the war would rage on for nine more years before the Achaens took Troy.

Book Three

As the Trojan army steadfastly approaches the Achaens, Paris, in a fit of bravado, challenges a single combat between a Trojan and one of the Achaen warriors. When Menalaus steps forward, Paris retreats back into Trojan ranks. When Paris’s brother Hector repudiates him for his cowardice, Paris agrees to fight the Spartan king, reasoning that this duel will decide who will claim Helen.

Meanwhile, the messenger goddess, Iris disguises herself to visit Helen at the Trojan royal palace. Iris persuades Helen to go to the city gates and observe the battle over her. King Priam asks Helen to identify some of the Achaen soldiers, but the king doesn’t linger: he is unable to watch the duel between Paris and Menelaus.

The two opponents commence a knock-down, drag-out duel: Menelaus breaks his spear on Paris’s helmet and proceeds to drag the young prince through the dirt. Aphrodite witnesses this scene and magically severs the strap of Paris’s helmet and whisks the young man away, leaving Menelaus to search in vain for him on the battlefield. Agamemnon is convinced that Menelaus has won the duel and Helen should be returned to her husband.

Book Four

On Mt. Olympus the gods are at a stalemate as to whether to accept the truce that has been reached, or to provoke the war to rage on. Hera is not satisfied to accept the truce, as she has invested so much toward Achaen support: she will not rest until Troy has been destroyed. Zeus initially resists, but later relents, sending Athena down among the troops, disguised as a Trojan, to incite further battle. The goddess cajoles an archer to fire an arrow at Menelaus, but she deflects the arrow, leaving Menelaus with a flesh wound instead.

Further battle and bloodshed ensues, this time with Athena aiding the side of the Achaens and Apollo on the side of the Trojans. Various other gods infiltrate the battlefield disguised as mortals.

Book Five

Pandarus wounds Diomedes, an Achaean hero; Diomedes calls on Athena for help, and the goddess of wisdom grants him the ability to distinguish gods from mortals on the battlefield; however she cautions him not to challenge these gods, save for Aphrodite, who sides with the Trojans—for obvious reasons. Diomedes brutally kills the archer Panarus and wounds Aeneas (later to become the protagonist of the Aeneid). When Aphrodite, Aeneas’s mother comes to avenge her son, Diomedes recognizes her and wounds her as well: he cuts her wrist, for which she hurries back to Mt. Olympus to her mother Dione, hoping for a little sympathy. Instead she receives taunts from Hera and Athena, and a stern talking-to from Zeus about interfering in war doings. Dione heals the wound. Meanwhile on the battlefield, Apollo steps in to take Aphrodite’s place, and Diomedes wounds Apollo as well—summarily breaking his vow to Athena, in which he swore not to challenge any god on the battlefield. Apollo takes Aeneas from the battlefield, leaving a likeness in his place, and calls on Ares (Mars), the god of war, to aid in the effort. Fighting with the gods alongside them, the Trojans have a decided advantage and wage on to hoped victory.

Hector and his divine ally, Ares form a formidable scene in battle--so terrifying in fact that Diomedes is intimidated. Sarpedon, a Trojan, and Zeus's son kills Tlepolemus, Acheaen. Tlepolemus is the son of Hercules and Zeus's grandson. More slaughter ensues on either side: Trojans and Spartans lose great numbers until Athena withdraws her order to Diomedes not to challenge the gods in battle; she even joins him in his attack on Ares. The collision is cataclysmic; Ares returns to complain to Zeus, but Zeus insists that Ares got what he asked for. All gods return to Olympus and the mortals are left on the battlefield.

Book Six

Now that the gods have left the battle, the Achaens gain the advantage over the Trojans, who now retreat. Menelaus contemplates a ransom from Adrestus, but his brother Agamemnon insists he kill the man instead. Nestor advises that the Achaen troops continue fighting with a fury while they maintain a lead in the battle; the sage Helenus instructs Hector to return home to Priam and Hecuba, and to ask his mother and her noblewomen to make an offering to Athena. The goddess ignores the offering and their plea for mercy. Hector speaks with Paris, who has retreated from the battleground. Helen and Hector upbraid Paris for sitting out of battle until he is shamed into returning. 

Before returning to battle, Hector visits Andromache, his wife, and their infant son Astyanax. Andromache nervously oversees the battle going on in the distance and begs her husband not to return. Hector argues that it is his fate to return--a fate he cannot escape. He kisses his son, who initially shrieks at the sight of his father's helmet. Hector leaves his wife who is convinced he will not return. She begins to mourn the loss of her husband. 

The 'backstory', if reconsidered in light of the developing story, lends fresh interpretation to Achilles' character and his role as hero. 

In the years leading up to the battle between the Trojans and the Spartans, the god Zeus fell in love with a sea goddess called Thetis. Zeus discovered a prophecy that revealed that if he were to wed Thetis, she would bear him a son that would become 'more powerful than its father.' Fearing the potential of being overpowered by his own offspring, Zeus demurred. 

Later, when Thetis married Peleus, a Myrmidon (mortal), the goddess Iris (Eris) hurled a golden apple into the crowd. The fruit was inscribed 'for the most beautiful.' Paris discovered the apple and promised it to one of the three prominent goddesses: Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. Though all three claimed the apple as her own, Paris awarded Aphrodite. And, we know the rest (1). 

Note that the oracle that dissuaded Zeus from pursuing Thetis did not name the father. What does this suggest about Achilles?

Further, as the battle develops in the fifth book while Achilles retreats and sulks, Diomedes appears to take on the role of hero of the piece in Achilles' absence; yet Diomedes never seems to reach the same level of prominence as does Achilles. What conclusions can be made concerning 'fate' and its role in the Iliad? Recall that Diomedes had assistance from the gods in battle where Achilles did not. 

Another question for consideration: though the gods initially take either a hostile or indifferent role in the lives of the mortals, they intercede considerably in the fourth and fifth books, using mortals as tools, or instruments to serve their own agendas. However, when they leave the battlefield, the Aechaens have the upper hand. How do the gods' actions help us to understand the role of fate in the development of this battle? Aeneas is a clue.

All the military characters seem to be war-weary in many ways: i.e., Agamemnon’s troops leap at the chance to drop the war and return to their ships; then there is the hope that a duel between Menelaus and Paris will end the war. However, scholars point out that the gods seem to be the only characters enthusiastically urging on the battle. How can we comment on this aspect of the narrative in terms of human plight and human virtue? 

The Trojans gain an advantage when the gods intercede in battle, yet when the gods depart, the Achaens gain momentum. What can we interpret about the Achaens' ability to succeed in battle without the help of the gods? Could the narrative suggest something about the 'rightness' or 'righteousness' of the Achaens' plight?