It's great that we're reading the Iliad, but sometimes it feels like you've walked into a party that where everyone knows everyone--except you!

This week my son and Classics scholar Jack joins me to talk about the backstories in the Iliad. There are many, but the three we break down in particular are:

• The backstory of the Atrides family: Agamemnon and Menelaus come from a house that has been cursed from a child sacrifice several generations earlier. And Agamemnon in particular has perpetuated that curse himself. How does that affect his leadership and Menelaus' quest for his wife Helen?
• The backstory of the House of Priam: The king of Troy watched his city destroyed, and he returned to rebuild it from ashes. And how did Paris bring the entire Helen debacle onto his head? Will Troy burn to the ground again?
• The birth story of Achilles: from his mother Thetis' relationship with Zeus to his own relationship with the gods, especially Athena, there is a lot to open up here. When last we left Achilles, I thought he was acting a little bratty, to be honest. Can Jack change my mind?
• How exactly the Trojan War started: The Iliad starts nine years into war, and the Iliad itself never tells how Paris came to meet Helen at all! Jack fills in the blanks with this one.

Since we ran out of time on this episode, I cover Books 7 through 12 over on the Substack.

I hope you found this week's look at "what came before" helpful. Of course it's totally possible to enjoy the story without knowing backstories. But for me, knowing how everyone got to the battlefield in Troy makes the story much richer.

Join us next week as we pick up the narrative again!

BOOKS IN THIS EPISODE

The Iliad: Fagles, Rouse, and Wilson.

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