The Iliad is the first great epic to depict War and the gruesome deaths
that the warriors inevitably faced. Some historians still question how the war
between the Greeks and the Trojans errupted. According to Homer, the ten year
war began due to Paris, Prince of Priam, stealing Menelaus’s wife Helen.
Menelaus, Achaean and brother of Agamemnon, naturally was angered and demanded
for his wife to be “returned”. The war soon broke out and the Gods began to
intervene complicating the war and stripping warriors from their agency. The
main objective of the war, according to Homer, was to retrieve Helen. Through
the very cause and objective of war, women were seen as prizes and property.
For example, Agamemnon leader of men stole Briseis from Achilles causing him to
flee the war and stop fighting. Achilles was enraged and believed he deserved
Briseis since she was his prize. Achilles’s tantrum and desire further
demonstrates women being objects/prizes to man. This very idea can be bridged
to wars fought for property or territory in the past. Of course nations did not
fight for women but they believed in expanding their powers by conquering land
and making it their property. They were ruthless if their property was taken
from them. According to the article “Mexican-American War” written by The
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, the Mexican-American War was fought between
the United States and Mexico (April 1846-February 1848) and it stemmed from the
annexation of Texas in 1845. President James K. Polk sent John Slidell on a
secret mission to Mexico City to attempt to negotiate a deal to purchase New
Mexico and California for up to thirty million dollars. Mexican President Jose
Joaquin Herrera refused the negotiation and Slidell fled back to report to
President Polk. On May 9, 1846, Polk began to prepare a war message to congress
justifying that their refusal to pay American claims was unacceptable. “Most
Whigs viewed Polk’s motives as conscienceless land grabbing. And abolitionists
saw the war as an attempt by the slave states to extend slavery and enhance
their power when additional slave states were created out of the
soon-to-be-acquired Mexican lands” (Britannica, paragraph four). The United
States felt as if they owned property that already belonged to Mexico just as
Agamemnon already claimed Briseis and took her from Achilles. Ultimately, wars can be fought for property and which reflect the Trojan War from The Iliad.
Works Cited
Fagles, Robert, and
Bernard Knox. The Iliad. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print.
The Editors of
Encyclopedia Britannica. “Mexican-American War” Britannica. 19 August. 2014.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379134/Mexican-American-War>
Image Sources
http://www.thejohnsongalleries.com/Achilles_Triumphant.jpg
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/1-mexican-american-war-battle-of-buena-everett.jpg
