The Iliad

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Goddess, Sing the X of Y”

After thinking about characters’ development, arcs, and roles in The Iliad, students write their own retellings of one character’s story.

The Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad strikingly begins “Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’s son Achilles, / murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses” (Lines 1-2). Pick a character from The Iliad, whether they are a major figure like Achilles or a once-mentioned Trojan soldier. Then, choose from the following options. You can either:

• Imagine that they had a made a different choice (participating in the war, going to battle, fighting a particular person); or
• Tell a short version of the Trojan War from their perspective.

Imagine that you are Homer—or the many poets comprising Homer over time—and write this story like a poem. It should begin just as The Iliad does, except substituting a prominent quality and the name of your chosen character in the first line. For example, if you choose Hector, you might begin “Bravery—Goddess, sing the bravery of Priam’s son Hector.”

Take 20 minutes and write a stanza or two centered around your character. Then, get into groups of five and take turns reading these to your classmates, just as if you were participating in the oral tradition of The Iliad.

When everyone has finished, consider the following questions:

• How did you approach this activity?
• How did you decide between retelling a story from a different perspective or changing your character’s actions? Why?
• What might your myth reflect about our society?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to be creative; these retellings don’t have to even take place in ancient times. Perhaps provide them with a few examples of an opening line or concepts to get them started.

Paired Text Extension:

Read Cassandra by Christa Wolf (Content warning: Sexual violence)

This is a retelling of the events of the Trojan War told entirely from Cassandra’s perspective. Wolf’s retelling also focuses on the role of women in Greek society and the ways in which Cassandra was overlooked by her father, brothers, and peers, even though she predicted the city’s downfall. It does contain graphic sexual violence, and students should be warned of this.

Some sample discussion questions could include:

• Compare and contrast this story of the Trojan War with that of The Iliad.
• How is the role of women highlighted in Wolf’s text?
• How might this novel still speak to the role of women in today’s society?

After reading this text, students can follow a similar path for the activity, but they might offer a more nuanced retelling and should be required to address a contemporary issue in what they choose to highlight about their chosen character.

Teaching Suggestion: This text can be helpful for thinking about the political stakes of retellings and about who is or is not included in a narrative.