Help with Questions to The Iliad: What do you think of the gods’ behavior

1. What do you think of the gods’ behavior in Book 5? Can the gods be heroic? Why or why not? (For more on the gods, read Murnaghan’s Introduction xxv-xxix.) Why do you think Book 5 concentrates so much on Diomedes’ heroic feats? 2. Why do you think Diomedes and Glaucus exchange armor on pp. 118-119? Does their friendship pact make any sense to you? 3. Compare / contrast the three scenes in book 6: a) Agamemenon’s attitude (113-14), b) Glaucus and Diomedes (115-119), and c) Hector in Troy (119-127). 4. Why is it important that Menelaus not be killed? (See pp. 69-70, 100, 129-30.) 5. Why won’t they let Menelaus fight Hector in book 7? Do you think Pandarus wins glory by wounding Menelaus, as Agamemnon says he does (71)? 6. Does Paris tell his brother the whole truth at the top of p. 122? What do you think of Helen’s speech on the same page?