Discuss the concept of national identiy in the Iliad and the Aeneid Essay

Discuss the c one timept of subject field identiy in the Iliad and the Aeneid - Essay ExamplePeople of a certain region had their own home(a) symbols and Iliad as it is said to be based on arguably historical facts, it had much of national romanticism in it. Even though Homer was Greek, he writes Iliad with impartiality to struggleds Trojans too. The work covers one incident of Agamemnons refusal to return Chryseis to her start out then his decision to take Breseis, Achilles girl in the place of Chryseis, because he had to return his own to closure Greeks from dying due to some obscure disease and thus creating crime in Achilles who refuses to fight and this resulting in diminishing Greek strength and increasing Hectors and Trojans. It also covers Achilles dilemma about fighting or not fighting, his mothers prophecy etc. Talking about national identity, one can get surplus of it from Trojans and Greeks both. in truth Greeks fight with Trojans because it was a foreigner, Paris, w ho had taken Helen from her husband, as they were honor-bound to do so according to the oath and their existence was at bottom the national framework of the same identity. Paris was from another state and they felt a common hatred towards him. At the same time, Trojans fought the war, because they were united against the Greeks, who did not belong to their culture and the threat was against an action of their prince Paris. Even though the war (around 1200 BC) was about Helen and Paris, it lasted another ten years not because of the desire to bring Helen back, but because of the national identity and national pride that the war had unleashed. Both the armies fought for their own dignity and pride and Helen was simply an excuse. They did not want to end the war, because they did not want to hurt their national dignity. They dreaded the bad name that baron get attached to their region and their clan. So, both the sides had to win the war somehow and thus, it went on beyond either ex pectations. At the end of it all, Trojans burn the Hectors dead body as though it was a national event that unified them even in their disastrous defeat. We can see that the funeral of their adored Prince resurrects their national identity once again. And then they gat hither(predicate)d again in due order and held a glorious feast in the house of Priam, the god-ordained king (410). Heroes like Achilles, Hector, and even Paris are there because of the national identity. What we see here is a pure and undiluted form of national identity, and the glorification of the nation that has already existed before the war and gave strength to it. Another classic, Vergils Aeneid, has similarly strong national identity attached to it. Here it is the Roman nation, though provisional, against other ethnicities like Trojan, Italian, Greek and Carthaginian. But the national identity here is not what we see in Iliad. This roman identity is not absolutely stable, but adaptable. While Homer simply exp resses the already vivacious national identities impartially, Vergil tries to build the states identity by demonizing other states. This is another kind of narrative and is a unchewable story, and pitted against to Aeneid, Iliad becomes a sincere report. People who have failed in their duties towards the state are treated dreadfully by all the sides. While talking about war prisoners and the way of dehumanising them, the principle employed here is that they have failed in saving their national pride