The Bacchi

A detailed Summary of The Bacchi

Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle

Would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal,

So neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost

Nor would I urge you into fighting where men win glory.

But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us

In their thousands, no man an turn aside nor escape them,

Let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield to others

Sarpedon speaks this passage to Glaukos, why Sarpedon was chosen to speak these words might be because he was the result of one of Zeus' many affairs. Sarpedon's courage is also mentioned in line 104 of book twelve, which helps to support his words in this passage. The passage itself deals with the build up of the Trojans breaking through the defense that the Achians had constructed to defend their ships and men. It is at the end of book twelve that Hektor with the aide of Zeus breaks through the Achian wall by throwing a massive rock, which appears to be Herculean in nature. What makes this even more remarkable is that the Trojan forces had bombarded the wall with all their might and had been unable to break through. Then, when it appeared that they would not be able to do it, Hektor stepped up and in true Heroic fashion sol

In Homer's world, as stated above everything revolved around glory. In his world, the wealthiest men, would more than likely have been the ones who had achieved the greatest glory in battle. While it is quite possible that many wealthy men did not have success in battle, they would not be seen as being as happy or fulfilled as the other. To Homer life was about the here and now, and what happened after was inconsequential, death was something that was supposed to happen on the field of battle.

It is true that the Greeks felt that it is better to die well then to live long and have a poor death, the same cannot be said about their gods. In the minds of the Greeks, the gods were immortal and such trivial things as life and death did not concern them. While they prayed to the gods for favors, and prosperity they knew that if they did grant their requests it was done out of either kindness or pity for the lesser humans. This is illustrated throughout the Iliad by looking at the actions of Zeus, Hera and the other gods. While they do take sides, who wins to them is more like a bet. The way in which the do take sides, is a result of who they feel has worshipped them more at that time. The fact that the Trojans lost the war could be interpreted that they had fallen out of f

Some common words found in the essay are:
Glaukos Sarpedon, Cleobis Biton, Zeus Hera, , Herodotus' Histories, heroic code, win glory, book twelve, life death, glory ourselves, glaukos sarpedon,

Approximate Word count = 869
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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