What role do the gods play in the Iliad? Compare and contrast this role with the role of the divine in a contemporary religious tradition (your own or another that interests you).

In his book Homer: The Poet of the Iliad, Mark Edwards writes: "From the very first lines, Homer will raise the origins of human suffering." What does Homer conclude about those Origins? Contrast Homer's conclusions about "the origins of human suffering" with the precepts of modern psychology or anthropology.

Consider the interaction between Glaucus and Diomedes that begins at line 119 of Book 6. Compare this story with the story of Baucis and Philemon in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 8, 619ff.), the story of Abraham at the oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-8), or the reception of Telemachus by Nestor (Odyssey, Book 3, 31ff.) or Menelaus (Odyssey, Book 4, 30ff.). What can you conclude about the proper...