“The Iliad”: the Qualities Valued

In the Iliad the Ancient Greeks valued a few different qualities in their time that Homer showed. The threes most valued qualities were Courage, Piety, and Love. The qualities valued today are similarly and differently viewed by the Ancient Greeks.

One of the valued qualities was courage. One act of courage was shown by Priam when he kneeled down and got on one knee to kiss Achilles hand. This was a great act of courage because “He kissed the dread and murderous hands that killed so many of his sons.” (Homer). Another person who showed courage was Chryses he had courage when Agamemnon took his daughter , Chryseis. Chryses showed up on Agamemnon's doorstep. “ Chryses had come to the Greek beachhead camp, hauling a fortune for his daughters ransom.” (Homer). He demeaned Agamemnon to give him back his daughter by giving him a sum of money. Hector showed courage when fighting against Achilles, he was showing an act of bravery and courageousness.

Another valued quality is, piety. This is act of piety was shown by Achilles when he tells the others to respect the Gods. “When you two speak, goddess, a man has to listen no matter how angry. It’s better that way. Obey the gains and they hear you when you pray.” (Homer). He shows piety twice in the Iliad. He shows it again when he listens to the Gods when they tell him stop dragging Hector's dead body in the dirt for twelve days. He was showing piety and respect by automatically stopping when they tell him to stop.

The last valued quality was love. Love was shown by Andromache. She was showing love to Hector when she told him not to battle Achilles because she knew how it was going to end. Andromache said, “Don’t make your child an orphan, and your wife a widow.” (Homer). The God Achilles also showed love to his friend Patroclus and his family. Achilles was crying with Priam about the loss of loved ones. The fact that Achilles was crying was a act of love because he was showing that he cared. Another act of love was shown by Hector towards his son and also to his wife. He fought against Achilles so his wife wouldn’t be captured.

In the end, the Greeks greatly valued a lot of qualities, but the most valued were, courage, piety, and love. American citizens valued a lot of qualities. Some may be viewed the same as the Greeks but some are viewed differently. Americans really focus on the quality of love, wealth, and some people value equality. Americans view love as equally as much as the Greeks did. The most valued quality by Americans was wealth. Americans value wealth much more than the Greeks. Americans also value equality more too. 

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