How the Iliad Portray the Ideal Epic World in Terms of Ancient Greek Values - Essay Example

The Iliad is a combination of vast concepts that include the presence of the gods, the role of women and numerous characters, and other various concepts. This paper will literally analyze how heroism and mortality were among valued aspects of the ancient Greek, and how the two concepts interrelate. Heroism and death concepts Like other ancient epics that demonstrated might, power, heroism, and other positive values, the Iliad does not exempt the same cultural values. However, the Greek concept of heroism is more different because the heroes were both male and female as depicted by Iliad.

Amazingly, the ancient Greeks strongly perceived that heroes descended from the immortal gods hence possessed superhuman abilities (Burgess 6). To prove this point, the poet introduces Achilles the greatest Greek hero whose mother Thetis was a sea-goddess. More so, other heroes in the Iliad died and miraculously got restoration to life as depicted by the story of Herakles, which deeply explains the connection between mortality and gods. This situation also means that gods played a significant role in the Iliad by determining life and death matters as well as heroism and inferiority among other concepts.

In spite of the fact that the ancient Greeks glorified heroism and prosperity, mortality determined the end life of such glory (Burgess 6). This means that the dominant gene in the epic world of the Greek was mortality because they perceived all the supreme heroes as immortal beings.  Prior to the presence of the gods, the presence of war in the ancient Greek society contributed to the mortality factor. This is shown by the fact that the epic starts in the middle of a war scene that had lasted for ten years before the Iliad was narrated, hence depicting how the society accepted and embraced war as part and parcel of their lives.

Therefore, the presence of war, gods, and other vast factors contributes to the heroism and mortality factor. The Iliad goes further to explain how normal human beings were immortal because they were prone to death as seen when the Achaeans army died as a result of a plague sent by Chryseis god called Apollo after refusing to return back the two captured beautiful brides named Chryseis and Briseis (Burgess 6). Additionally, the people of the Trojan-allied town suffered greatly because of the plague that lasted for a period of ten days until the Achaean people accepted to abide by the Chryseis wish of returning them back to their homeland.

 This brings forth the clear picture that the affected human beings suffered due to their immortality unlike the gods or the mortal beings like Achilles who were untouched by the plague. However, the concept of mortality and heroism changes towards the end of the Trojan War when Achilles changes the mind of the ancient Greek by claiming that he preferred being a slave than an unhappy hero (Burgess 6). This shows that the Greeks later changed their perception towards mortality and glory and embraced the gift of life as the most important concept a human being should yearn for.

Conclusion The Iliad chronicles an extremely short period in the middle of a very long war, but the destination of each human being is uncertain due to changing times. The Iliad is trying to prove a point and remind its readers that everything changes with time and that glory power and honor might not be of much significance compared to the future or the eternal life of an individual. This explains why the Greeks shunned the concept that heroism and mortality were the most valued aspects and accepting death as part of their lives (Burgess 6).