Exercise 1

Achilles, Ajax, Menelaus, Hector—just a few of the names that appear in Homer's Iliad, names of aristocratic men who burst out from the ranks of their respective armies and do great deeds of personal heroism.  Those characters represented one Greek ideal of martial excellence.  Now let's consider another.  Xenophon was an Athenian historian, political thinker, and soldier who is best known for leading a force of Greek mercenaries through Persia.  Read the following excerpt from Xenophon's Economics.  As you do so, think about what sort of soldier Xenophon envisions: where do the best soldiers come from, and what special skills or predispositions do they have?  Now take a look at a piece by the soldier and poet Archilocus.  When the page opens, scroll down to and read Fragment #114.  How does Archilocus envision the best soldier? How does his conception resemble and/or differ from Xenophon's.

When you finish, examine the following art works: a Black Figure vase depicting

Fighting Warriors, and two scenes from the Archaic Treasury of the Siphinians at Delphi, Battle of the Gods and Giants and Battle of the Gods and Giants II.  How do the warriors in these images engage in combat? Do they fight singly like the heroes of the Iliad, or they fight differently? How do they resemble Xenophon's and Archilochus' descriptions of the best soldier? What ideal of martial excellence is suggested by these texts and images?

Exercise 2

Whether exercising the myth-making or philosophical mind, the ancient Greeks pondered death and the possibility of an afterlife.  Consider one vision of the afterlife articulated by  Patroklos' Ghost in the Iliad.  How does Homer imagine the experience of death and life in the hereafter? Now look at two philosophical conceptions of the afterlife, one by the early philosopher Empedocles and the other by Plato.  How do these conceptions resemble and/or differ from Homer's? How do they resemble and differ from each other?

The Greeks explored death through images as well as words.  Examine the following steles, or grave markers: Archaic Grave Stele, Grave Stele of Hegeso, Grave Stele with a Family Group, and Grave Stele of a Little Girl.  What do these steles have in common? How can you tell which of the figures is the deceased? How do the figures representing the living appear to respond to the death of their loved-one? What conception of death and the afterlife do these sculptures suggest? How does that conception resemble and/or differ from those of Homer, Empedocles, and Plato?