The Comparison of Xerxes and Attossa's Relationship in Persians against Achilles and Thethis in the Iliad focusing on their role - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The rage between Achilles, the bravest of all, and Agamemnon, the powerful king among the Achaean allies prompted the Achilles to persuade her mother, Thetis, to intervene. She was an influential figure with the Zeus to bequeath the king of gods to inflict defeat and suffering on the Achaeans, so as to ruin Agamemnon. In this context, the comparison of the two is a reflection of the Persian wars, a time of incredible upheavals for the Greece (McDonald 90). The strife and standoff in between is a correspondence of city-states who fought against disheartening odds to preserve their autonomy and mortality. In affirming their mortality, the wars expose the expected tragedy as set along with striking lines. The quest of the two mothers (Attosa and Thetis) to grand their sons (Xerxes and Achilles) their rightful ego in the tumultuous year of the Persian invasion illustrates the evaluation. The events of Thetis to make Achilles immortal by holding him close to fire as an infant every night was to burn away the mortal parts as well as to rub him with ambrosia at the time (Philostrate et al 103). The acts of Attosa depict the return of bedraggled Xerxes to his royal court. This is the replica of Thetis. She inclines into consulting even gods for the sake of his son, Achilles. The mothers present dramatic acts in laying down a final coup to safe their status’ destiny. ...
The fact that each of these royal sons could only turn to their mothers to secure their political status beats the logic. Does it mean they could not reclaim their statuses? For example, the image of Persians as cowards is seen through the cowardly acting and melodramatic personality of Xerxes. An instance when he wails loud and tears his clothes is certain. There is also an indicative sign of the social and opinionated realities of the time. Much of the decision made by royal has less to do with what consequences will befall their people and this is what exactly the two sides extent to the immediate society they live. They present to one the certainties of the unknown knowledge of the Persians culture and customers. How these royal families operate is what has gone through many theatres of the time as highlighting a residual sense of fear that required some public exorcism of ridicule (McDonald 65). For example, there is an attempt to incorporate the Persian gods and customs. The depiction in the action of the mothers in deciding the destiny of their sons is that the gods were part of their reality. The standing fact is that Greeks did not know quite enough about the Persians rather than the grossly distorted caricatures of the time. This prompted unending discord to save each other’s autonomy and mortality (Philostrate et al 64). As history would reveal, the historical context stands to share that Persians, Greece had only met through war, and the danger of the strife is how it could not provide the basis for cultural exchange. This explains why the Persian nobles like Attosa and Thetis have to cry to Zeus. For example, Attosa offers libations to the dead ones and proprietary gifts to the gods in impression of Greek customs. At ...Download file to see next pagesRead More