Week 3 Reading: Homer's Iliad

This week I'm reading Homer's Iliad by A.J. Church. This post will cover part B.

• I don't understand why these soldiers fight to claim the bodies of their "special" allies. I understand wanting to claim their possibly mythical arms and armor, but there is no mention of a specific burial rite or anything similar that requires the body of the fallen. Why don't they do this for the regular foot soldiers? Perhaps it is not so much that they want to recover the body, as prevent the enemy from recovering it and further humiliating the dead. 
• The humans seem willing to be pawns of the Gods in many ways. I don't know if that is because they have faith that the Gods will always do the right thing, or they are afraid of disobeying them. Maybe a little bit of both, Achilles certainly wasn't afraid to threaten Apollo. 
• Hector also seems to think he has no influence on the outcome of the battle between him and Achilles, thinking that Zeus will choose the winner and that he will have to accept that decision. 

Achilles (left) and Hector (right), from Mark Churms

• It almost feels as though the Greek soldiers are losing sight of the reason why they came to Troy in the first place - no one is worried about rescuing Helen, but rather they are fighting personal battles with the enemy and within their own group. I feel that no one is worried about King Agamemnon any longer. Why is King Priam negotiating with Achilles, who is a subordinate of Agamemnon, without contacting Agamemnon first? 
• I wish that this reading covered all the way to the end of the war, but I understand that Homer only wanted to cover these characters and the struggles that both sides faced in the war. The ultimate moral seems to be to fight with honor, and hope that your enemies give you the same kindness. 

Thanks for reading with me.