The Iliad book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Books 1 to 9

1. When does refusing to help become a defense of honor, and when does it become harmful anger?
2. How does Venus's rescue of Paris change what the duel can fairly settle?
3. How should Hector weigh his wife's fears against his decision to return to battle?
4. What does ancestral friendship interrupting combat suggest about the limits of loyalty to an army?
5. How much credit should Diomed receive for his fighting when Minerva strengthens him?

Meeting 2: Books 10 to 16

6. How should we judge Patroclus's decision to pursue beyond Achilles' orders after saving the ships?
7. Does Minerva's protection make the attack on sleeping Thracians seem more acceptable, or more troubling?
8. How should leaders weigh a troubling omen against the chance to break through enemy defenses?
9. What might make refusing retreat courageous, and what might make it reckless?
10. How do repeated changes brought by divine aid affect your sense of the warriors' control over battle?

Meeting 3: Books 17 to 24

11. What makes pity possible between enemies who have suffered such personal losses?
12. What does the struggle over Patroclus reveal about what warriors owe their fallen companions?
13. How does divine deception affect your judgment of Hector's defeat?
14. What can contests offer mourners that burial alone might not?
15. How does Priam's appeal change what strength looks like beside Achilles' earlier pursuit of revenge?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.