Iliad - Book 4 ("The Truce Erupts in War")

Aphrodite Saves Paris, Alan Lee, 2008

Discussion points:

1.  How does Zeus' book-opening action/musings help develop one of the Iliad's themes concerning male-female relationships (145)?
2. Why does the war continue? Who is it really for (146)?
3. Consider how Zeus and Hera view their favorite cities 146.35-67). 
4. Consider how their view and treatment of cities reflects their father's character (Cronus) (147.68-?).
5. What is the connection between the gods' actions and natural phenomena (148.84-98).
6. How is Pandarus' temptation like that of Paris (148.107-)
7. Nestor muses on the old days (like he normally does): what does he reveal about the nature of man (156.366-376)?
8. Agamemnon accuses Odysseus of holding back from a "feast." Muse upon the different kinds of feasts here and also their relationship to the gods and sacrifice (156.390-404). 
9. What is the main difference between the Greek army and the Trojan (159.496-509)? What might Homer be saying with this difference?
10. Consider what Homer is saying in the final pages of this book, once the battle clash begins (160-163). What is the soldiers' fates? Do you remember a particularly poignant image of two slaughtered lambs? Though opposites, how are the two armies depicted as one?