The Iliad is the quintessential epic. It is full with gods, goddesses, heroes, war, honor, and glory. However, for just a short while near the very conclusion, Homer avoids all of those epic qualities. The banquet scene in Book XXIV is the most touching, the most "human" scene in the entire poem. In the midst of the dreadful gulf of war and anger, there occurs an intimate moment between two men who ironically have much …showed first 75 words of 1020 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1020 total…reaching out to Priam, Achilles, for a moment, brings these two bitterly warring nations into a zone of peace. However, there is no pretty ending. Troy will soon be destroyed. Patroclus is dead. Hector is dead. Priam and Achilles will soon be killed. Yet somehow, in the midst of war, destruction and suffering, there is a sense of hope that no matter how cruel one can be, there exists some good in all of us.