The Ambassadors to Agamemnon Visiting Achilles Jean Auguste-Dominique IngresBook IX begins with Agamemnon declaring that Zeus has tricked him and he is planning on going home. Unlike Book II’s ruse, this time he seems to mean it. This is an interesting time for him to feel that way. Things have gone badly during the recent […]

Aphrodite Wounded by Diomedes Jean Auguste-Dominique IngresBook V belongs to Diomedes despite Zeus’ agreement allowing the Trojans temporary ascendancy on the battlefield. I find the interplay between gods and humans fascinating, the gods protecting or abandoning people at the god’s whim. The battles that the gods wage against each other, using humans as intermediaries, must […]

The beginning of The Iliad Picture source Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus— that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies carrion food for dogs and birds— all in fulfilment of the will of Zeus. Start at […]