The Iliad v Troy

                   A Comparsion Between The Epic Poem The Iliad And The Modern Film Troy

The film Troy is a movie released in 2004 and was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and has been influenced by the classical epic poem, The Iliad which has been credited of the Greek poet Homer. Both texts deal with the same subject, the siege of troy which was ended with the trickery of the wooden horse. However the characters themselves are shown with different actions between the two texts which revels different motives and thoughts.

These differences are what are to be discussed today from within the film and the Iliad:

Within the Iliad, the war upon Troy lasted for  10, presumably very long years before the wooden horse ploy was developed and put into play, this is very different from what the film Troy depicts, which only has the war last for 17 days before the walls of Troy are breached from within inside. This difference is pretty massive, however there is very likey a practical reason for this length difference, in that there is just too much time to cover over the entire film within three hours, others the film would have had to be split into multiple different parts which it is possible the directors wouldn’t have the budget to fund this massive project which would have been required over several films. The audience appeal would have very likely have diminished over the films, especially considering that there wasn’t always action occurring, such as during the nights with politics taking place.

One of the major differences between the two texts is the role of the Greek Gods. Within the Iliad, the Gods take sides within the Trojan War and are seen fighting amongst the common soldiers. However, in the movie Troy the Gods are barely even mentioned, and are only mentioned when referred to when signs are received. This major difference could be the result of the massive cultural differences between the two time eras, the Iliad, when it was thought to have been written around 8^th century BC  which would have the prime religion of the time, the Ancient Greek faith which has the 13 major gods on the pantheon. As a result, the gods would have been expected to be present in the stories to be accepted within their society. However with today's society being culturally friendly concerning religion, by having the gods play a major role like they did in the Iliad, the movie would have been very likely frowned upon considering today’s thoughts. However this theory doesn’t hold up that well since the Ancient Greek religion has too all accounts, died out. Perhaps therefore, they were unwilling to write the part of the gods with little information upon them? Afraid to get their facts wrong? I personally believe it was likely as a result of a smaller budget so they couldn’t hire more actors. Whatever the reason, the lack of the gods in Troy left the film with a sour taste in my mouth as i was interested to see how they would portray the gods and how big of a row they would have.

The lack of the gods in the film Troy also made the heroes stand out much more, as each indivual hero had less "blessings" for example, Achillies was said to be invincible since he was dipped into the river Styx except for his ankle within the Iliad. However in Troy, Achillies can be seen as a stronger warrior because he could still defeat everyone without having been dipped into the Styx (even if they did have Achillies die by being shot in the ankle).

However Troy since it is based off the Iliad, still has its similarities with which it shares. One of these similarities is of Achilles mother, Thetis, and more importantly, what she reveals to Achilles about his fate.
"For my mother the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, tells me that twofold fates are bearing me toward the doom of death: if I abide here and play my part in the siege of Troy, then lost is my home-return, but my renown shall be imperishable; but if I return home to my dear native land, lost then is my glorious renown, yet shall my life long endure, neither shall the doom of death come soon upon me." (Achilles to Odysseus. Homer, Iliad 9.410).

This dialogue here is mentioned within the movie troy when Achillies goes to consult his mother down at the beach, to which she tells Achillies of his fate, that how he will live a long life if he does not go to troy, and meet a loving wife and have children. However if he stays, his name will be forgotten within a few generations of his family. If he sails for Troy, he will be known throughout the ages, yet he will live a short life. Not only is this message similar, it shows the motivation which drives Achilles in the Trojan War, that he wishes to be remembered, for great glory. These two similarities help connect the audience with the film as it concedes with its roots within the epic poem the Iliad which some may already be familiar with. It also provides part of the backbone to the plot within both texts which involve Achilles battle for glory which will last forever.

 Messages conveyed

In Homer's Iliad, Homer shows his views on heroes, villains, and war. He shows that heroes have great qualities to them and that villains have evil qualities to them. He also shows that even heroes have villainous qualities. Homer also tries to convey that all warriors have a choice between a life of war and a life of peace. This is an extract from an essay from http://goo.gl/Hhg5l and it shows what i believe to be valid remarks about the messages conveyed within the Iliad and i would like to expand on these messages.

 This essay mentions that every warrior has a choice between war and peace, and i agree on this which is shown from the Iliad. A perfect example of this is for Achilles. Achilles is given the choice of peace or war when his mother Thetis tells him his fate, of glory from sailing to troy but a short life, or staying home to live a long life with a family yet his name will be forgotten within a few generations. This is a very clear example of Homer's which shows that even if Achilles is displayed in the light of a villain, he is still offered the choice between war and peace. that Achilles whom is very obviously devoted to war and lives for war so that he may gain glory and be remembered is a very clear example of this theme which every warrior is given the choice since it could be assumed that by now if Achilles has already made this choice then he is given a final chance to redeem himself for his past actions which is given by his mother with what would happen if he was to sail for troy.

Homer conveys a message of that even the greatest man has his downfall, which can be changed to no matter how great a man is, he has a flaw within him which defiles the man so that he cannot be perfect. This is shown very clearly (as the essay says) of when Hector flees from Achilles whom is hell bent on killing Hector.

Like a dream in which a man cannot catch someone
who's running off and the other can't escape,
just as the first man can't catch up—that's how
Achilles, for all his speed, could not reach Hector,
while Hector was unable to evade Achilles. (22.247) [22.199]

However this theme is a bit more obscure as the defining elements of a "great man" changes from time to time and therefore what today may be seen as a flaw could have been when this was written considered a brilliant trait, and vice versa. An example of this is Hector fleeing (in my own opinion), I see it this way because Hector has been displayed as a loving father and family man, so Hector may have been trying to live so that he may protect his family whom are inside the walls of troy, so the option to flee, could have been seen by hector as a way to protect his family instead of fighting someone whom he was very obviously outmatched by (Achilles!) However to the soldiers of Troy in this time, it would have been an extremely signicant flaw in which their commander and greatest hero broke ranks to flee from the greatest warrior of the Greek army. However whatever the point of view, the theme does humble those whom read it. Even those, whom are considered great men and women, will contain their own personal flaw which stops them from remaining as a perfect specimen of the human species. Not to mention that one society’s definitions of a perfect human being is vastly different from other societies. It is a way of bringing the greats back down to earth amongst the common people (a modern day example of this has is Winston Churchill whom is considered one of the greatest leaders of the united kingdom, yet it is widely known that he had a drinking problem, this bringing the great man's image down due to the flaw within his nature). Within the Iliad, Hector whom is portrayed as a great man is brought back down to earth amongst the soldiers of the Trojan army by breaking ranks in times of great fear felt, and perhaps even degrades him under the common soldier, because even if some of them did break ranks, that their commander fled means he is less of a figure to those who didn’t flee whom idolise this man.

This message which is conveyed so strongly within the Iliad is much more diluted when it comes to the modern day film Troy. Troy moves away from its classical roots regarding the messages conveyed of how every the greatest have flaws, and instead chooses to disregard which could be argued as the predominant message which is contained within the Iliad and instead just adds more material to greaten the wedge between the great in the film, from the lesser, common solders which inhabited the armies who are based on the shores of Troy.

Cultural Rites

And as
a father mourns as he burns the bones of a son, who was married
only now, and died to grieve his unhappy parents,
so Achilleus was mourning as he burned his companion’s
bones, and dragged himself by the fire in close lamentation. (23.221-225)

This shows within the Iliad that the Greeks at the time did not use the commonly thought of method of burial, in which those who were buried has a gold coin place upon their eyes as shown in the film Troy, which was believed to be sued to pay the ferryman to cross the river Styx into the realm of Hades and their afterlife in the Underworld.

Limitation of sources of the Iliad

Since the Iliad was considered to be originally told in an oral format and passed down until it was finally written down, much of the original composition could very easily been lost in the telling of the “epic poem” which means that the written copy could actually be limiting our knowledge with the incorrect telling, for example even if it is extremely unlikely, in the original oral story, Achilles may have been a woman. Another limitation on the sources involves the translations from Greek to English. Since the English and Greek language are not 100% compatible, when translated, the Iliad in Greek will not be the same Iliad when translated to English which severely limits our understanding of the ancient epic poem. These massive limitations mean we can’t fully rely on the Iliad as a foundation for our understanding of Greek lore/literature.

 Sources that were not mentioned in post already~

http://damnationgreekmythology.blogspot.co.nz/2004/11/iliad.html

http://www.maicar.com/GML/Achilles.html

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliadessay6.htm

http://shell.cas.usf.edu/~demilio/2211unit1/homrlc23.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad