Discuss the themes of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, focusing on the key aspects of Greek culture they represent

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

1. The Iliad provides a vivid verbal picture of war, as a realm in which the Greek soldier is able to demonstrate one of the most important values in Greek culture: his areté, “being the best you can be.” It also shows the brutality in war, however, and emphasizes the power of anger and lust as driving factors in human behavior. At the same time, it provides a portrait of the virtues and, indeed, of the necessity of compassion (e.g., in Achilles’ treatment of Priam in his grief at the loss of Hector).
2. The Odyssey narrates the adventures of Odysseus on his ten-year journey home from the war in Troy, but its true subject is Odysseus’ passionate desire to once more see his wife, Penelope, and their son, Telemachus. Penelope’s fidelity to Odysseus and Telemachus’ drive to find his father and, failing that, to become a man and reclaim their kingdom are also key elements of the narrative. Unlike the Iliad, then, the Odyssey is in a sense a domestic drama, portraying the values the Greeks prized that belonged properly to home and family life.
Learning Objective: 4.2 Define the formal features of the Homeric epic, and compare and contrast