09-04-2003, 10:03 PM
I.e., "There ain't no justice."
Hi,
So I was interested to see how they'd do the Iliad justice.
If they make Helen a main point of it, they'll do it no justice at all. In the original, Helen could as easily have been a prized horse, dog, or cooking kettle. No more than an excuse for war. Indeed, the only reason to bring a woman into it at all was to tie to the "beauty contest" where Paris gave Aphrodite the apple and pissed off Pallas Athena. The Iliad is, first and foremost, "the story of the anger of Achilles". In one translation from Project Gutenberg, it reads:
"Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles."
The only thing Helen actually gives the world is the unit of pulchritude: a millihelen is the beauty needed to launch one ship.
--Pete
Hi,
So I was interested to see how they'd do the Iliad justice.
If they make Helen a main point of it, they'll do it no justice at all. In the original, Helen could as easily have been a prized horse, dog, or cooking kettle. No more than an excuse for war. Indeed, the only reason to bring a woman into it at all was to tie to the "beauty contest" where Paris gave Aphrodite the apple and pissed off Pallas Athena. The Iliad is, first and foremost, "the story of the anger of Achilles". In one translation from Project Gutenberg, it reads:
"Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles."
The only thing Helen actually gives the world is the unit of pulchritude: a millihelen is the beauty needed to launch one ship.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?