The Iliad Book 5 Study Questions

1. Who is the main character portrayed in Book Five?
2. How is Athena’s clothing symbolic both before and after she changes in Book 5 of The Iliad?
3. Whom does Athena imbue with more boldness to turn the tide of the fighting in Book 5 of the Iliad?
4. What two things does Athene give to Diomedes?
5. What instruction goes with these gifts?
6. What is the exception to this rule, and why?
7. a)  Compare Diomedes and Ares, paying special attention to their man-to-god combat (lines 955ff)
8. b)  Read 431ff carefully.  What is Dione’s attitude toward mortals?  (Note:  only in Homer does Aphrodite have a mother, Dione–elsewhere she is born from the severed testicles of the Sky God, Ouranos)