An Introduction to Homer's Iliad Bk 4

Book 4 is broken up into three parts: It opens up with a scene up in Olympus where the gods plan how to continue the war; then, Athena leads the archer Pandarus to break the truce after the inconclusive duel between Menelaus and Paris; then finally, we get another review of the troops, somewhat like the catalogue of ships from Book 2, and like Helen’s review in Book 3; though here, there is more interaction between the reviewer, Agamemnon, and the reviewed. We will focus most of our attention on this third part. In the final moments we have occasion again to see Homer intrude into the poem as a shepherd at the end of book 4.