The Iliad Homer
Character List
The Achaeans (also called the “Argives” or “Danaans”)
Achilles - The son of the military man Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. The most powerful warrior in the Iliad, Achilles commands the Myrmidons, soldiers from his homeland of Phthia in Greece. Proud and headstrong, he takes offense easily and reacts with blistering indignation when he perceives that his honor has been slighted. Achilles' wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the maiden Briseis, forms the main subject of the Iliad.
Achilles (In-Depth Analysis)
Agamemnon (also called “Atrides”) - King of Mycenae and leader of the Achaean army; brother of King Menelaus of Sparta. Arrogant and often selfish, Agamemnon provides the Achaeans with strong but sometimes reckless and self-serving leadership. Like Achilles, he lacks consideration and forethought. Most saliently, his tactless appropriation of Achilles' war prize, the maiden Briseis, creates a crisis for the Achaeans, when Achilles, insulted, withdraws from the war.
Agamemnon (In-Depth Analysis)
Patroclus - Achilles' beloved friend, companion, and advisor, Patroclus grew up alongside the great warrior in Phthia, under the guardianship of Peleus. Devoted to both Achilles and the Achaean cause, Patroclus stands by the enraged Achilles but also dons Achilles' terrifying armor in an attempt to hold the Trojans back.
Odysseus - A fine warrior and the cleverest of the Achaean commanders. Along with Nestor, Odysseus is one of the Achaeans' two best public speakers. He helps mediate between Agamemnon and Achilles during their quarrel and often prevents them from making rash decisions.
Diomedes (also called “Tydides”) - The youngest of the Achaean commanders, Diomedes is bold and sometimes proves impetuous. After Achilles withdraws from combat, Athena inspires Diomedes with such courage that he actually wounds two gods, Aphrodite and Ares.
Great Ajax - An Achaean commander, Great Ajax (sometimes called “Telamonian Ajax” or simply “Ajax”) is the second mightiest Achaean warrior after Achilles. His extraordinary size and strength help him to wound Hector twice by hitting him with boulders. He often fights alongside Little Ajax, and the pair is frequently referred to as the “Aeantes.”
Little Ajax - An Achaean commander, Little Ajax is the son of Oileus (to be distinguished from Great Ajax, the son of Telamon). He often fights alongside Great Ajax, whose stature and strength complement Little Ajax's small size and swift speed. The two together are sometimes called the “Aeantes.”
Nestor - King of Pylos and the oldest Achaean commander. Although age has taken much of Nestor's physical strength, it has left him with great wisdom. He often acts as an advisor to the military commanders, especially Agamemnon. Nestor and Odysseus are the Achaeans' most deft and persuasive orators, although Nestor's speeches are sometimes long-winded.
Menelaus - King of Sparta; the younger brother of Agamemnon. While it is the abduction of his wife, Helen, by the Trojan prince Paris that sparks the Trojan War, Menelaus proves quieter, less imposing, and less arro-gant than Agamemnon. Though he has a stout heart, Menelaus is not among the mightiest Achaean warriors.
Idomeneus - King of Crete and a respected commander. Idomeneus leads a charge against the Trojans in Book 13.
Machaon - A healer. Machaon is wounded by Paris in Book 11.
Calchas - An important soothsayer. Calchas's identification of the cause of the plague ravaging the Achaean army in Book 1 leads inadvertently to the rift between Agamemnon and Achilles that occupies the first nineteen books of the Iliad.
Peleus - Achilles' father and the grandson of Zeus. Although his name often appears in the epic, Peleus never appears in person. Priam powerfully invokes the memory of Peleus when he convinces Achilles to return Hector's corpse to the Trojans in Book 24.
Phoenix - A kindly old warrior, Phoenix helped raise Achilles while he himself was still a young man. Achilles deeply loves and trusts Phoenix, and Phoenix mediates between him and Agamemnon during their quarrel.
The Myrmidons - The soldiers under Achilles' command, hailing from Achilles' homeland, Phthia.
The Trojans
Hector - A son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, Hector is the mightiest warrior in the Trojan army. He mirrors Achilles in some of his flaws, but his bloodlust is not so great as that of Achilles. He is devoted to his wife, Andromache, and son, Astyanax, but resents his brother Paris for bringing war upon their family and city.
Hector (In-Depth Analysis)
Priam - King of Troy and husband of Hecuba, Priam is the father of fifty Trojan warriors, including Hector and Paris. Though too old to fight, he has earned the respect of both the Trojans and the Achaeans by virtue of his level-headed, wise, and benevolent rule. He treats Helen kindly, though he laments the war that her beauty has sparked.
Hecuba - Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, and mother of Hector and Paris.
Paris (also known as “Alexander”) - A son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Paris's abduction of the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, sparked the Trojan War. Paris is self-centered and often unmanly. He fights effectively with a bow and arrow (never with the more manly sword or spear) but often lacks the spirit for battle and prefers to sit in his room making love to Helen while others fight for him, thus earning both Hector's and Helen's scorn.
Helen - Reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the ancient world, Helen left her husband, Menelaus, to run away with Paris. She loathes herself now for the misery that she has caused so many Trojan and Achaean men. Although her contempt extends to Paris as well, she continues to stay with him.
Aeneas - A Trojan nobleman, the son of Aphrodite, and a mighty warrior. The Romans believed that Aeneas later founded their city (he is the protagonist of Virgil's masterpiece the Aeneid).
Andromache - Hector's loving wife, Andromache begs Hector to withdraw from the war and save himself before the Achaeans kill him.
Astyanax - Hector and Andromache's infant son.
Polydamas - A young Trojan commander, Polydamas sometimes figures as a foil for Hector, proving cool-headed and prudent when Hector charges ahead. Polydamas gives the Trojans sound advice, but Hector seldom acts on it.
Glaucus - A powerful Trojan warrior, Glaucus nearly fights a duel with Diomedes. The men's exchange of armor after they realize that their families are friends illustrates the value that ancients placed on kinship and camaraderie.
Agenor - A Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles in Book 21. Agenor delays Achilles long enough for the Trojan army to flee inside Troy's walls.
Dolon - A Trojan sent to spy on the Achaean camp in Book 10.
Pandarus - A Trojan archer. Pandarus's shot at Menelaus in Book 4 breaks the temporary truce between the two sides.
Antenor - A Trojan nobleman, advisor to King Priam, and father of many Trojan warriors. Antenor argues that Helen should be returned to Menelaus in order to end the war, but Paris refuses to give her up.
Sarpedon - One of Zeus's sons. Sarpedon's fate seems intertwined with the gods' quibbles, calling attention to the unclear nature of the gods' relationship to Fate.
Chryseis - Chryses's daughter, a priest of Apollo in a Trojan- allied town.
Briseis - A war prize of Achilles. When Agamemnon is forced to return Chryseis to her father, he appropriates Briseis as compensation, sparking Achilles' great rage.
Chryses - A priest of Apollo in a Trojan-allied town; the father of Chryseis, whom Agamemnon takes as a war prize.
The Gods and Immortals
Zeus - King of the gods and husband of Hera, Zeus claims neutrality in the mortals' conflict and often tries to keep the other gods from participating in it. However, he throws his weight behind the Trojan side for much of the battle after the sulking Achilles has his mother, Thetis, ask the god to do so.
Hera - Queen of the gods and Zeus's wife, Hera is a conniving, headstrong woman. She often goes behind Zeus's back in matters on which they disagree, working with Athena to crush the Trojans, whom she passionately hates.
Athena - The goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts; Zeus's daughter. Like Hera, Athena passionately hates the Trojans and often gives the Achaeans valuable aid.
Thetis - A sea-nymph and the devoted mother of Achilles, Thetis gets Zeus to help the Trojans and punish the Achaeans at the request of her angry son. When Achilles finally rejoins the battle, she commissions Hephaestus to design him a new suit of armor.
Apollo - A son of Zeus and twin brother of the goddess Artemis, Apollo is god of the arts and archery. He supports the Trojans and often intervenes in the war on their behalf.
Aphrodite - Goddess of love and daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus but maintains a romantic relationship with Ares. She supports Paris and the Trojans throughout the war, though she proves somewhat ineffectual in battle.
Poseidon - The brother of Zeus and god of the sea. Poseidon holds a long-standing grudge against the Trojans because they never paid him for helping them to build their city. He therefore supports the Achaeans in the war.
Hephaestus - God of fire and husband of Aphrodite, Hephaestus is the gods' metalsmith and is known as the lame or crippled god. Although the text doesn't make clear his sympathies in the mortals' struggle, he helps the Achaeans by forging a new set of armor for Achilles and by rescuing Achilles during his fight with a river god.
Artemis - Goddess of the hunt, daughter of Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo. Artemis supports the Trojans in the war.
Ares - God of war and lover of Aphrodite, Ares generally supports the Trojans in the war.
Hermes - The messenger of the gods. Hermes escorts Priam to Achilles' tent in Book 24.
Iris - Zeus's messenger.
The Iliad Homer
Analysis of Major Characters
Achilles
Although Achilles possesses superhuman strength and has a close relationship with the gods, he may strike modern readers as less than heroic. He has all the marks of a great warrior, and indeed proves the mightiest man in the Achaean army, but his deep-seated character flaws constantly impede his ability to act with nobility and integrity. He cannot control his pride or the rage that surges up when that pride is injured. This attribute so poisons him that he abandons his comrades and even prays that the Trojans will slaughter them, all because he has been slighted at the hands of his commander, Agamemnon. Achilles is driven primarily by a thirst for glory. Part of him yearns to live a long, easy life, but he knows that his personal fate forces him to choose between the two. Ultimately, he is willing to sacrifice everything else so that his name will be remembered.
Like most Homeric characters, Achilles does not develop significantly over the course of the epic. Although the death of Patroclus prompts him to seek reconciliation with Agamemnon, it does not alleviate his rage, but instead redirects it toward Hector. The event does not make Achilles a more deliberative or self-reflective character. Bloodlust, wrath, and pride continue to consume him. He mercilessly mauls his opponents, brazenly takes on the river Xanthus, ignobly desecrates the body of Hector, and savagely sacrifices twelve Trojan men at the funeral of Patroclus. He does not relent in this brutality until the final book of the epic, when King Priam, begging for the return of Hector's desecrated corpse, appeals to Achilles' memory of his father, Peleus. Yet it remains unclear whether a father's heartbroken pleas really have transformed Achilles, or whether this scene merely testifies to Achilles' capacity for grief and acquaintance with anguish, which were already proven in his intense mourning of Patroclus.
Agamemnon
Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and commander-in-chief of the Achaean army, resembles Achilles in some respects. Though not nearly as strong, he has a similarly hot temper and prideful streak. When Agamemnon's insulting demand that Achilles relinquish his war prize, Briseis, causes Achilles to withdraw angrily from battle, the suffering that results for the Greek army owes as much to Agamemnon's stubbornness as to that of Achilles. But Agamemnon's pride makes him more arrogant than Achilles. While Achilles' pride flares up after it is injured, Agamemnon uses every opportunity to make others feel the effects of his. He always expects the largest portions of the plunder, even though he takes the fewest risks in battle. Additionally, he insists upon leading the army, even though his younger brother Menelaus, whose wife, Helen, was stolen by Paris, possesses the real grievance against the Trojans. He never allows the Achaeans to forget his kingly status.
Agamemnon also differs from Achilles in his appreciation of subtlety. Achilles remains fiercely devoted to those who love him but devotedly vicious to those who do him harm; he sees no shades of gray. Agamemnon, however, remains fundamentally concerned with himself, and he has the cunning to manipulate people and situations for his own benefit. He does not trust his troops blindly, but tests their loyalty, as in Book 2. Although he reconciles with Achilles in Book 19, he shirks personal responsibility with a forked-tongued indictment of Fate, Ruin, and the gods. Whereas Achilles is wholly consumed by his emotions, Agamemnon demonstrates a deft ability to keep himself—and others—under control. When he commits wrongs, he does so not out of blind rage and frustration like Achilles, but out of amoral, self-serving cunning. For this reason, Homer's portrait of Agamemnon ultimately proves unkind, and the reader never feels the same sympathy for him as for Achilles.
Hector
Hector is the mightiest warrior in the Trojan army. Although he meets his match in Achilles, he wreaks havoc on the Achaean army during Achilles' period of absence. He leads the assault that finally penetrates the Achaean ramparts, he is the first and only Trojan to set fire to an Achaean ship, and he kills Patroclus. Yet his leadership contains discernible flaws, especially toward the end of the epic, when the participation of first Patroclus and then Achilles reinvigorates the Achaean army. He demonstrates a certain cowardice when, twice in Book 17, he flees Great Ajax. Indeed, he recovers his courage only after receiving the insults of his comrades—first Glaucus and then Aeneas. He can often become emotionally carried away as well, treating Patroclus and his other victims with rash cruelty. Later, swept up by a burst of confidence, he foolishly orders the Trojans to camp outside Troy's walls the night before Achilles returns to battle, thus causing a crucial downfall the next day.
But although Hector may prove overly impulsive and insufficiently prudent, he does not come across as arrogant or overbearing, as Agamemnon does. Moreover, the fact that Hector fights in his homeland, unlike any of the Achaean commanders, allows Homer to develop him as a tender, family-oriented man. Hector shows deep, sincere love for his wife and children. Indeed, he even treats his brother Paris with forgiveness and indulgence, despite the man's lack of spirit and preference for lovemaking over military duty. Hector never turns violent with him, merely aiming frustrated words at his cowardly brother. Moreover, although Hector loves his family, he never loses sight of his responsibility to Troy. Admittedly, he runs from Achilles at first and briefly entertains the delusional hope of negotiating his way out of a duel. However, in the end he stands up to the mighty warrior, even when he realizes that the gods have abandoned him. His refusal to flee even in the face of vastly superior forces makes him the most tragic figure in the poem.
Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Glory of War
One can make a strong argument that the Iliad seems to celebrate war. Characters emerge as worthy or despicable based on their degree of competence and bravery in battle. Paris, for example, doesn't like to fight, and correspondingly receives the scorn of both his family and his lover. Achilles, on the other hand, wins eternal glory by explicitly rejecting the option of a long, comfortable, uneventful life at home. The text itself seems to support this means of judging character and extends it even to the gods. The epic holds up warlike deities such as Athena for the reader's admiration while it makes fun of gods who run from aggression, using the timidity of Aphrodite and Artemis to create a scene of comic relief. To fight is to prove one's honor and integrity, while to avoid warfare is to demonstrate laziness, ignoble fear, or misaligned priorities.
To be sure, the Iliad doesn't ignore the realities of war. Men die gruesome deaths; women become slaves and concubines, estranged from their tearful fathers and mothers; a plague breaks out in the Achaean camp and decimates the army. In the face of these horrors, even the mightiest warriors occasionally experience fear, and the poet tells us that both armies regret that the war ever began. Though Achilles points out that all men, whether brave or cowardly, meet the same death in the end, the poem never asks the reader to question the legitimacy of the ongoing struggle. Homer never implies that the fight constitutes a waste of time or human life. Rather, he portrays each side as having a justifiable reason to fight and depicts warfare as a respectable and even glorious manner of settling the dispute.
Military Glory over Family Life
A theme in the Iliad closely related to the glory of war is the predominance of military glory over family. The text clearly admires the reciprocal bonds of deference and obligation that bind Homeric families together, but it respects much more highly the pursuit of kleos, the “glory” or “renown” that one wins in the eyes of others by performing great deeds. Homer constantly forces his characters to choose between their loved ones and the quest for kleos, and the most heroic characters invariably choose the latter. Andromache pleads with Hector not to risk orphaning his son, but Hector knows that fighting among the front ranks represents the only means of “winning my father great glory.” Paris, on the other hand, chooses to spend time with Helen rather than fight in the war; accordingly, both the text and the other characters treat him with derision. Achilles debates returning home to live in ease with his aging father, but he remains at Troy to win glory by killing Hector and avenging Patroclus. The gravity of the decisions that Hector and Achilles make is emphasized by the fact that each knows his fate ahead of time. The characters prize so highly the martial values of honor, noble bravery, and glory that they willingly sacrifice the chance to live a long life with those they love.
The Impermanence of Human Life and Its Creations
Although the Iliad chronicles a very brief period in a very long war, it remains acutely conscious of the specific ends awaiting each of the people involved. Troy is destined to fall, as Hector explains to his wife in Book 6. The text announces that Priam and all of his children will die—Hector dies even before the close of the poem. Achilles will meet an early end as well, although not within the pages of the Iliad. Homer constantly alludes to this event, especially toward the end of the epic, making clear that even the greatest of men cannot escape death. Indeed, he suggests that the very greatest—the noblest and bravest—may yield to death sooner than others.
Similarly, the Iliad recognizes, and repeatedly reminds its readers, that the creations of mortals have a mortality of their own. The glory of men does not live on in their constructions, institutions, or cities. The prophecy of Calchas, as well as Hector's tender words with Andromache and the debates of the gods, constantly remind the reader that Troy's lofty ramparts will fall. But the Greek fortifications will not last much longer. Though the Greeks erect their bulwarks only partway into the epic, Apollo and Poseidon plan their destruction as early as Book 12. The poem thus emphasizes the ephemeral nature of human beings and their world, suggesting that mortals should try to live their lives as honorably as possible, so that they will be remembered well. For if mortals' physical bodies and material creations cannot survive them, perhaps their words and deeds can. Certainly the existence of Homer's poem would attest to this notion.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.
Armor
One would naturally expect a martial epic to depict men in arms, but armor in the Iliad emerges as something more than merely a protective cover for a soldier's body. In fact, Homer often portrays a hero's armor as having an aura of its own, separate from its wearer. In one of the epic's more tender scenes, Hector removes his helmet to keep its horsehair crest from frightening his son Astyanax. When Patroclus wears Achilles' armor to scare the Trojans and drive them from the ships, Apollo and Hector quickly see through the disguise. Then, when a fight breaks out over Patroclus's fallen body, the armor goes one way and the corpse another. Hector dons the armor, but it ends up betraying him, as it were, in favor of its former owner. Achilles' knowledge of its vulnerabilities makes it easier for him to run Hector through with his sword. By this point in the story, Achilles has a new set of armor, fashioned by the god Hephaestus, which also seems to have a life of its own. While Achilles' mortal body can be wounded—and indeed, the poem reminds us of Achilles' impending death on many occasions—Homer describes the divine armor as virtually impervious to assault.
Burial
While martial epics naturally touch upon the subject of burial, the Iliad lingers over it. The burial of Hector is given particular attention, as it marks the melting of Achilles' crucial rage. The mighty Trojan receives a spectacular funeral that comes only after an equally spectacular fight over his corpse. Patroclus's burial also receives much attention in the text, as Homer devotes an entire book to the funeral and games in the warrior's honor. The poem also describes burials unconnected to particular characters, such as in Book 7, when both armies undertake a large-scale burial of their largely unnamed dead. The Iliad's interest in burial partly reflects the interests of ancient Greek culture as a whole, which stressed proper burial as a requirement for the soul's peaceful rest. However, it also reflects the grim outlook of the Iliad, its interest in the relentlessness of fate and the impermanence of human life.
Fire
Fire emerges as a recurrent image in the Iliad, often associated with internal passions such as fury or rage, but also with their external manifestations. Homer describes Achilles as “blazing” in Book 1 and compares the sparkle of his freshly donned armor to the sun. Moreover, the poem often compares a hero's charge or an onslaught of troops to a conflagration sweeping through a field. But fire doesn't appear just allegorically or metaphorically; it appears materially as well. The Trojans light fires in Book 8 to watch the Achaean army and to prevent it from slipping away by night. They constantly threaten the Achaean ships with fire and indeed succeed in torching one of them. Thus, whether present literally or metaphorically, the frequency with which fire appears in the Iliad indicates the poem's over-arching concern with instances of profound power and destruction.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Achaean Ships
The Achaean ships symbolize the future of the Greek race. They constitute the army's only means of conveying itself home, whether in triumph or defeat. Even if the Achaean army were to lose the war, the ships could bring back survivors; the ships' destruction, however, would mean the annihilation—or automatic exile—of every last soldier. Homer implies that some men shirked the war and stayed in Greece, while others, such as Peleus, were too old to fight. However, to Homer's original audience, the Achaean warriors at Troy represented more than a mere subpopulation of the Greek race. Homer's contemporaries believed that the heroes represented here actually lived historically, as real kings who ruled the various city-states of Greece in their earliest years. Ancient audiences regarded them as playing definitive roles in the formation and development of Greece as they knew it. The mass death of these leaders and role models would have meant the decimation of a civilization.
The Shield of Achilles
The Iliad is an extremely compressed narrative. Although it treats many of the themes of human experience, it does so within the scope of a few days out of a ten-year war. The shield constitutes only a tiny part in this martial saga, a single piece of armor on a single man in one of the armies—yet it provides perspective on the entire war. Depicting normal life in peacetime, it symbolizes the world beyond the battlefield, and implies that war constitutes only one aspect of existence. Life as a whole, the shield reminds us, includes feasts and dances and marketplaces and crops being harvested. Human beings may serve not only as warriors but also as artisans and laborers in the fields. Not only do they work, they also play, as the shield depicts with its dancing children. Interestingly, although Homer glorifies war and the life of the warrior throughout most of his epic, his depiction of everyday life as it appears on the shield comes across as equally noble, perhaps preferable.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/iliad/section1.html [Book Title Summary]
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Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Iliad Homer [Plot Preview]
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The Iliad Homer
Plot Overview
Nine years after the start of the Trojan War, the Greek (“Achaean”) army sacks Chryse, a town allied with Troy. During the battle, the Achaeans capture a pair of beautiful maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean forces, takes Chryseis as his prize, and Achilles, the Achaeans' greatest warrior, claims Briseis. Chryseis's father, Chryses, who serves as a priest of the god Apollo, offers an enormous ransom in return for his daughter, but Agamemnon refuses to give Chryseis back. Chryses then prays to Apollo, who sends a plague upon the Achaean camp.
After many Achaeans die, Agamemnon consults the prophet Calchas to determine the cause of the plague. When he learns that Chryseis is the cause, he reluctantly gives her up but then demands Briseis from Achilles as compensation. Furious at this insult, Achilles returns to his tent in the army camp and refuses to fight in the war any longer. He vengefully yearns to see the Achaeans destroyed and asks his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, to enlist the services of Zeus, king of the gods, toward this end. The Trojan and Achaean sides have declared a cease-fire with each other, but now the Trojans breach the treaty and Zeus comes to their aid.
With Zeus supporting the Trojans and Achilles refusing to fight, the Achaeans suffer great losses. Several days of fierce conflict ensue, including duels between Paris and Menelaus and between Hector and Ajax. The Achaeans make no progress; even the heroism of the great Achaean warrior Diomedes proves fruitless. The Trojans push the Achaeans back, forcing them to take refuge behind the ramparts that protect their ships. The Achaeans begin to nurture some hope for the future when a nighttime reconnaissance mission by Diomedes and Odysseus yields information about the Trojans' plans, but the next day brings disaster. Several Achaean commanders become wounded, and the Trojans break through the Achaean ramparts. They advance all the way up to the boundary of the Achaean camp and set fire to one of the ships. Defeat seems imminent, because without the ships, the army will be stranded at Troy and almost certainly destroyed.
Concerned for his comrades but still too proud to help them himself, Achilles agrees to a plan proposed by Nestor that will allow his beloved friend Patroclus to take his place in battle, wearing his armor. Patroclus is a fine warrior, and his presence on the battlefield helps the Achaeans push the Trojans away from the ships and back to the city walls. But the counterattack soon falters. Apollo knocks Patroclus's armor to the ground, and Hector slays him. Fighting then breaks out as both sides try to lay claim to the body and armor. Hector ends up with the armor, but the Achaeans, thanks to a courageous effort by Menelaus and others, manage to bring the body back to their camp. When Achilles discovers that Hector has killed Patroclus, he fills with such grief and rage that he agrees to reconcile with Agamemnon and rejoin the battle. Thetis goes to Mount Olympus and persuades the god Hephaestus to forge Achilles a new suit of armor, which she presents to him the next morning. Achilles then rides out to battle at the head of the Achaean army.
Meanwhile, Hector, not expecting Achilles to rejoin the battle, has ordered his men to camp outside the walls of Troy. But when the Trojan army glimpses Achilles, it flees in terror back behind the city walls. Achilles cuts down every Trojan he sees. Strengthened by his rage, he even fights the god of the river Xanthus, who is angered that Achilles has caused so many corpses to fall into his streams. Finally, Achilles confronts Hector outside the walls of Troy. Ashamed at the poor advice that he gave his comrades, Hector refuses to flee inside the city with them. Achilles chases him around the city's periphery three times, but the goddess Athena finally tricks Hector into turning around and fighting Achilles. In a dramatic duel, Achilles kills Hector. He then lashes the body to the back of his chariot and drags it across the battlefield to the Achaean camp. Upon Achilles' arrival, the triumphant Achaeans celebrate Patroclus's funeral with a long series of athletic games in his honor. Each day for the next nine days, Achilles drags Hector's body in circles around Patroclus's funeral bier.
At last, the gods agree that Hector deserves a proper burial. Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector's father and the ruler of Troy, into the Achaean camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return Hector's body. He invokes the memory of Achilles' own father, Peleus. Deeply moved, Achilles finally relents and returns Hector's corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Hector receives a hero's funeral.
COMMENTARY ON THE ILIAD: BOOKS ONE, TWO AND THREE
COMMENTARY ON THE ILIAD: BOOKS ONE, TWO AND THREE
(all quotations from the Iliad are from the translation of Richmond Lattimore, ©University of Chicago Press, 1951)
HOW THE PLOT DEVELOPS: SOME OBSERVATIONS Homer begins by calling upon the goddess - the Muse, the goddess of poetry - to sing of the anger of Achilleus and its devastating consequences. The very first line reminds us of the oral character of this poetry - it will be sung and performed, and Homer calls upon a goddess to sing it, as if he were acknowledging that the poem is not his own, but the product of a tradition. This also gives his poem more authority - it isn’t just one man’s story, it’s a tale from the gods. The opening lines also refer to the “will of Zeus ” (line 5), raising right from the start the question of whether mortals (men and women) or the immortals (gods and goddesses) bear responsibility for the events of the poem. He continues this emphasis on the gods when he begins his story (line 8) by asking: “What god was it then set them together in bitter collision?” Now, he quickly goes backwards in time from the plague sent by Apollo , to the arrival of the priest at the Greek camp to ransom his daughter... (lines 11-12) Let me point out a few items that you should notice...use them to draw your own conclusions... -The priest offers a ransom for his daughter. He doesn’t simply demand her back. Whatever we may think of this situation, the priest is willing to recognize that Agamemnon should be compensated. (line 20) -The “rest of the Achaians cried out in favour” (line 22) - this is one of the places where we get a glimpse of “public opinion”. Evidently, the Greek troops believe that Agamemnon should accept the priest’s offer. -Agamemnon’s refusal is rude and insulting. He threatens the priest (line 26), and he insults the god, Apollo, by suggesting that the “god’s ribbons” will be of no help to the priest (line 28). He crudely refers to the priest’s daughter as his slave in bed with him (line 31). -When the old priest prays to Apollo for help, he does so on the basis of the personal service that he has rendered to the god. He has built a temple for him, and he has made many sacrifices for him (lines 39-41). There is no suggestion - whatever we may think - that Agamemnon has done something morally wrong, either in refusing the ransom or holding the girl in the first place. Rather, he has not taken into account that the priest has a very powerful ally, the god, Apollo, who owes him favors. In effect, he has dishonored Apollo (line 21), provoking his anger, just as later he will dishonor Achilleus, provoking his anger. -When the Greeks finally assemble to discuss the plague, they have already been afflicted for ten days (lines 53-54). That suggests an absence of leadership: nine days have gone by, Agamemnon has done nothing for the men, and it is Achilleus - inspired by the goddess, Hera - who decides to act (lines 54-55). We might think that he is “only” acting on the goddess’ inspiration, but it is a mark of his importance that the goddess chooses to inspire him and not one of the other leaders. -When the prophet, Kalchas , hesitates to speak for fear of offending a powerful king (lines 75-83), it is Achilleus that he looks to for protection. Not only does he promise to protect Kalchas, but he mentions Agamemnon (line 90), already anticipating, perhaps, that Agamemnon will be named as the cause of the plague. -Agamemnon is infuriated with Kalchas. When he says “never yet have you told me a good thing” (line 106), the audience may recognize an allusion to another event that formed part of the story of Troy (though not mentioned in the Iliad): the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. It is said that Agamemnon sent for his daughter, Iphigeneia, and sacrificed her to appease the goddess, Artemis, and obtain favorable winds for the expedition to proceed to Troy. According to the story, the prophet, Kalchas, had interpreted the gods’ will and indicated what had to be done. -Despite Agamemnon’s anger, he does agree to give the girl back. He says clearly, “Still I am willing to give her back, if such is the best way (line 116).” True, he asks for a prize, so that he won’t be without one (line 118), but he does not make this a condition of the return. It seems clear that, at this point, he knows better than to resist Apollo. -Achilleus immediately abuses him, calling him “greediest for gain of all men”(line 122). He does not acknowledge that Agamemnon will give the girl back, and, instead, he tells him to do so (line 127). -Agamemnon responds to this challenge by threatening to take a prize - not necessarily from Achilleus (lines 137-39), but he also seeks to put off that discussion - and cool tempers - by saying, “Still, these are things we shall deliberate again hereafter (line 140).” He proceeds with the arrangements for the proper return of the girl, and he even suggests that Achilleus - who has just insulted him - might lead the expedition to return the girl to her father (lines 145-46). Achilleus insists on pursuing the argument and abusing Agamemnon even further. Here, we begin to get to the heart of the matter, when Achilleus says: “Never, when the Achaians sack some well-founded citadel of the Trojans, do I have a prize that is equal to your prize. Always the greater part of the painful fighting is the work of my hands; but when the time comes to distribute the booty yours is far the greater reward, and I with some small thing yet dear to me go back to my ships when I am weary with fighting (lines 163-68).” In a word: I do the work, you get the prizes. Clearly, there is more to this dispute than just this one incident and Agamemnon’s threat - still not directed exclusively at Achilleus - to take away a prize. At the same time, for an understanding of how the quarrel develops, it’s important to see that material possessions - captives, wealth, booty - are at the heart of it. When Achilleus refrains from killing Agamemnon, he holds back after the goddess, Athene, has promised him that one day he’ll receive three times as many shining gifts (lines 213-14). I offer these observations just to call your attention to some key points in the opening scene that might help us understand what’s at stake, and how Homer is presenting the quarrel - the trigger for Achilleus’ anger - to his audience...
THE ROOTS OF THE INITIAL QUARRELIn the simplest terms, Achilleus becomes angry at Agamemnon and withdraws from the battle because Agamemnon takes Briseis, his captive woman, from him as compensation for his own loss of Chryseis, the daughter of the priest of Apollo. As the quarrel unfolds, we see that it had much deeper roots. For his part, Agamemnon did not resist returning Chryseis to Apollo - though he was not happy about it. Nor did he demand compensation as a condition of returning Chryseis. In fact, even when he did threaten to take a captive woman from one of the other men - Achilleus, Aias, or Odysseus, he tried to “cool things down” by returning to the matter of organizing the return of Chryseis and deferring the matter of compensation: “Still, these are things we shall deliberate again hereafter.” This offered a facesaving way for the two men to stand down, but it was Achilleus who forced the issue, and, by doing so, challenged Agamemnon’s authority. It was this broader challenge to his authority which led Agamemnon to assert it by seizing Achilleus’ captive. He tells Achilleus at line 134, “Are you ordering me to give this girl back?” When he finally decides to take Briseis, he tells Achilleus (line 185) that he is doing it so “that you may learn how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink from likening himself to me”. Finally, in reply to the effort of Nestor , the aged king - and voice of wisdom - to mediate, he says (line 287), “Yet here is a man who wishes to be above all others, who wishes to hold power over all, and to be lord of all, and to give them orders...” Agamemnon has reason to think Achilleus is usurping his authority: it was Achilleus who called the assembly (line 54), Achilleus who called for a prophet (line 62) to explain Apollo’s anger, Achilleus who agreed (line 85) to protect the prophet, Kalchas, and Achilleus who (line 90) first named Agamemnon, anticipating his responsibility. Once Agamemnon agreed to return Chryseis, it was Achilleus who jumped in to protest his demand for compensation. For his part, Achilleus clearly has a longstanding resentment of Agamemnon’s authority. Simply put, he feels he is the greater fighter and does more of the hard fighting, while Agamemnon’s position allows him to divide up the spoils and claim the greater rewards. He says this quite clearly (lines 163-68), when he complains about the unfair distribution of prizes. We also see the deeper roots of his resentment later, when, at line 366, he summarizes the story for his mother, Thetis , and begins with the sacking of the city that led to the capture of the women and the initial distribution of prizes. When Nestor, the old and wise king, attempts unsuccessfully to settle the quarrel, we see that it is about the two men’s competing claims to authority, to honor and to the wealth and prizes that are the signs or tokens of honor. He tells Agamemnon (line 275), “You, great man that you are, yet do not take the girl away but let her be, a prize as the sons of the Achaians gave her... But, he also warns Achilleus, “(do not) think to match your strength with the king, since never equal with the rest is the portion of honour of the sceptred king to whom Zeus gives magnificence. Even though you are the stronger man, and the mother who bore you was immortal, yet is this man greater who is lord over more than you rule.” There is the problem: Achilleus is recognized as the strongest warrior and the son of a goddess, but Agamemnon is wealthier, rules over more men, and holds some special authority from Zeus symbolized by the SCEPTER or royal staff. This is more fully explained in book two (lines 100-109) where it is described as made by the god, Hephaistos and passed down from Zeus to Agamemnon’s grandfather, Pelops. This is a more fundamental conflict over honor and status, and one that will be hard to resolve in a world that lacks some of the kinds of institutions or beliefs we may take for granted: a code of law and recognized authorities to enforce it, accepted systems of arbitration, divinities who represent a higher moral standard. Nestor can offer good advice...but no one has to listen.
MORTALS AND IMMORTALS One part of Achilleus’ anger stems from his unwillingness to acknowledge Agamemnon's authority, and to accept the ways the warriors give out honor and the prizes that go with it. Beyond this, we get a clue about why honor is so important to Achilleus, and why his anger will prove so deep and difficult to resolve, when he complains to his mother, the goddess Thetis (line 352), “Since, my mother, you bore me to be a man with a short life, therefore Zeus of the loud thunder on Olympos should grant me honour at least...” Thetis echoes this complaint when she asks Zeus to grant honor to Achilleus “short-lived beyond all other mortals” (line 505). While they might be referring to the specific prophecies that predicted Achilleus’ death at Troy, it is also true that a “short life” - “short” by comparison with the eternal life of his mother and the other immortal gods - separates Achilleus (and all mortals) from the gods, even from his own mother. Achilleus must feel this separation all the more acutely as the son of a goddess. Of all men, he might aspire to be “godlike”...in more than just a formulaic way. Honor offers one form of compensation - however inadequate - for mortality, and this is an issue that will grow in importance in the course of the poem, and, eventually, overshadow Achilleus’ initial conflict with Agamemnon. This contrast between the immortal gods and goddesses, and mortal men and women raises the question of the role that the gods and goddesses play in the poem. After all, Homer emphasizes their importance by referring to the “will of Zeus” (line 5) in the opening lines, and he begins the story by asking what god set up the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilleus (line 8). In many respects, the gods behave rather like humans: Apollo helps his priest, because his priest did things for him. Apollo is angry when he is dishonored by the treatment of his priest. Thetis asks Zeus for a favor because she had once helped him. Throughout the battles, the gods and goddesses will support the warriors on the side they favor. Homer also contrasts the gods and goddesses with human beings. After Zeus agrees to Thetis’ request to honor Achilleus, book one closes with a scene in which he bickers with his wife, Hera , who, as a partisan of the Greeks, is angry at his plan. In this scene, their lame son, Hephaistos , the craftsman of the gods, calms Hera down and reminds her of the dangers of trying to fight with Zeus. The scene provides a bit of comic relief - the gods themselves burst into laughter - with a parody of the earlier quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilleus and the efforts of Nestor to resolve it. But, it also reminds us of the deadly seriousness, by contrast, of the men’s quarrel which will result in the deaths of many, something the gods need never fear. That contrast between the immortality of the gods and human mortality is fundamental, and it may be that Homer uses the gods and goddesses, in part, to highlight what it means to be human, to have a short life, and to give that life meaning.
FEATURES OF ORAL POETRY In class, I talked about how we see the tradition of oral poetry in the Iliad. You can choose almost any passage and find examples of the Homeric formulas, the repeated phrases and lines that are the building blocks of oral epic: “Achilleus of the swift feet”, “Apollo beloved of Zeus”, “the goddess of the white arms, Hera”... There are also numerous places where you can see how Homer “pads” his text with unnecessary words. This “padding” is part of the oral poet’s art: it buys time for the poet who is composing his tale as he performs it, and it helps a listening audience follow the story without necessarily catching every word. The first two books also offer examples of longer formulaic passages: the nearly identical descriptions of the sacrifices and meals in book one (line 458) when the Greeks returned Chryseis, and in book two (line 421) before the Greek chiefs assembled their troops. At the beginning of book two, within the space of less than eighty lines, Zeus tells the “evil dream” what it should tell Agamemnon, the dream repeats it, and Agamemnon narrates it to the other warriors - each time repeating the same five-line passage. This kind of repetition is not always mechanical - it leaves room for purposeful choices. Achilleus, for example, summarizes the story for his mother, Thetis, in book one (line 366). Sure, this helps the listeners - by recapitulating the story - and it buys time for the poet, but Homer also made this a summary from Achilleus’ own point of view. For him, the story began not with the coming of the priest of Apollo, but with the raid against Thebe and the distribution of the prizes. And, when he describes the assembly, he omits his own role in calling it and naming Agamemnon, but he does say - wrongly - that he was the first to urge the god’s appeasement. The first book also provides examples of how Homer draws on the wider body of myths and legends that formed part of the oral traditions: Nestor refers to a battle between Greek heroes and centaurs; Achilleus reminds Thetis of how she helped save Zeus from the other gods; Hephaistos reminds the gods - more comically - of how he was hurled from Olympus the last time they ganged up on Zeus. And, there are times when we can only speculate about whether Homer is hinting at stories his audience likely knew. Does he, for example, expect their knowledge of the myths surrounding Thetis to explain her persuasive powers over Zeus? And, what do make of Agamemnon's nasty reference to his own wife, Klytaimestra, when he says (1.113) that he likes Chryseis “better than Klytaimestra, my own wife”. Is Homer counting on the audience thinking ahead to the story of his murder by Klytaimestra upon his return? These are just a few examples of how Homer relies on a vast body of myths and legends to deepen the impact of his story. Most important, Homer works in a series of references to the larger story of the Trojan War: Odysseus ’ recollection of the prophecy at Aulis when the Greeks set out for Troy (2.299-329), the marshalling of the troops and the catalog of the ships (2.484-759) listing all of the contingents, the Trojans’ first sight of the advancing Greeks (2.786-806), Paris ’ proposal of a duel with Menelaos to settle their dispute (3.67-75), Helen ’s identification of the Greek warriors for Priam (3.161-242), the gods’ council and decision that the Trojan War should go on until the destruction of Troy (4.1-72), the introduction - yet again - of the individual Greek warriors in book four as Agamemnon rallies them to fight the Trojans - even the scene with Paris and Helen (3.437-448), almost a flashback to the original seduction scene. All of these scenes could fit just as well (or even better) in a poem about the beginning of the Trojan War. After all, it’s hard to believe that after nine years of war, Priam needs to ask Helen who the Greek leaders are, or that it would take nine years for the idea of a single combat between Paris and Menelaos to occur to someone! With these references, Homer draws upon the oral tradition of stories told in verse to enlarge his story of Achilleus’ anger, and set it against the backdrop of the whole story of the Trojan war.
THE CATALOG OF THE SHIPS Perhaps the oddest part of that set of episodes drawn from the larger story of the Trojan War is the catalog of the ships, a particularly good illustration of the oral tradition at work. For historians, this has been a section of particular interest, because it shows how the oral tradition did preserve the memory of sites populated in the Bronze Age - many centuries before Homer’s time - but later abandoned. To us, it may seem like the most boring section of the poem, but Homer underscores its importance by calling upon the Muse at the beginning of it, and, in the middle of it, telling a story of how the Muses silenced a poet who challenged them. Isn’t this the poet’s way of calling attention to the tremendous feat he is achieving by remembering and passing on this long and complex list of all of the heroes on the Trojan expedition and the places they came from?
SIMILES (There is a short discussion of similes in the introduction to the Iliad, pp. 40-44.) He calls attention to the importance of the catalog in another way as well: before invoking the Muses, he shows his own poetic originality with a long series of complex similes. These show another side of the poet’s art. Similes are explicit comparisons: one thing is explicitly compared with another: “his words were like arrows”. Metaphors are implicit comparisons; the comparison is not stated directly, but merely implied: “his words cut to the heart of the problem”. In this example, “cut” and “heart” are used metaphorically. Words do not actually “cut” anything; by using this word, the speaker is implicitly comparing words to sharp, cutting objects. Likewise, a problem does not have a “heart”; the speaker is implicitly comparing a problem to a living being. Homer’s similes are typically long, and often introduce scenes from the natural world. The set of similes (2.455-483) before the Catalog of the Ships is particularly artful: Homer is comparing the massed and marching troops with a series of different scenes from nature, and he cleverly links the scenes together. He begins by comparing the shine of the bronze armor with the light of a distant forest fire, and he moves smoothly from the “gleam...dazzling all about through the upper air to the heaven” to a description of flocks of birds. The birds (compared with the masses of troops) are described as settling in the meadow, and Homer slips from this comparison to another involving the numberless leaves and flowers in the meadow. The simile of the flowers leads, in turn, to another, comparing the men with swarms of insects in the sheepfold, and this merges into another that describes the leaders of the men as goatherds separating their flock. Throughout the poem, the similes repay close reading: individually, they are more complex than they seem, for they often involve multiple points of comparison and contrast; together, the similes can be linked to create a parallel narrative that seems to comment more extensively on the main story.
ILIAD COMMENTARY: BOOK 9
ILIAD: PLOT SUMMARY
(all quotations from the Iliad are from the translation of Richmond Lattimore, ©University of Chicago Press, 1951)
HOW THE PLOT DEVELOPS: SOME OBSERVATIONS Homer begins by calling upon the goddess - the Muse, the goddess of poetry - to sing of the anger of Achilleus and its devastating consequences. The very first line reminds us of the oral character of this poetry - it will be sung and performed, and Homer calls upon a goddess to sing it, as if he were acknowledging that the poem is not his own, but the product of a tradition. This also gives his poem more authority - it isn’t just one man’s story, it’s a tale from the gods. The opening lines also refer to the “will of Zeus ” (line 5), raising right from the start the question of whether mortals (men and women) or the immortals (gods and goddesses) bear responsibility for the events of the poem. He continues this emphasis on the gods when he begins his story (line 8) by asking: “What god was it then set them together in bitter collision?” Now, he quickly goes backwards in time from the plague sent by Apollo , to the arrival of the priest at the Greek camp to ransom his daughter... (lines 11-12) Let me point out a few items that you should notice...use them to draw your own conclusions... -The priest offers a ransom for his daughter. He doesn’t simply demand her back. Whatever we may think of this situation, the priest is willing to recognize that Agamemnon should be compensated. (line 20) -The “rest of the Achaians cried out in favour” (line 22) - this is one of the places where we get a glimpse of “public opinion”. Evidently, the Greek troops believe that Agamemnon should accept the priest’s offer. -Agamemnon’s refusal is rude and insulting. He threatens the priest (line 26), and he insults the god, Apollo, by suggesting that the “god’s ribbons” will be of no help to the priest (line 28). He crudely refers to the priest’s daughter as his slave in bed with him (line 31). -When the old priest prays to Apollo for help, he does so on the basis of the personal service that he has rendered to the god. He has built a temple for him, and he has made many sacrifices for him (lines 39-41). There is no suggestion - whatever we may think - that Agamemnon has done something morally wrong, either in refusing the ransom or holding the girl in the first place. Rather, he has not taken into account that the priest has a very powerful ally, the god, Apollo, who owes him favors. In effect, he has dishonored Apollo (line 21), provoking his anger, just as later he will dishonor Achilleus, provoking his anger. -When the Greeks finally assemble to discuss the plague, they have already been afflicted for ten days (lines 53-54). That suggests an absence of leadership: nine days have gone by, Agamemnon has done nothing for the men, and it is Achilleus - inspired by the goddess, Hera - who decides to act (lines 54-55). We might think that he is “only” acting on the goddess’ inspiration, but it is a mark of his importance that the goddess chooses to inspire him and not one of the other leaders. -When the prophet, Kalchas , hesitates to speak for fear of offending a powerful king (lines 75-83), it is Achilleus that he looks to for protection. Not only does he promise to protect Kalchas, but he mentions Agamemnon (line 90), already anticipating, perhaps, that Agamemnon will be named as the cause of the plague. -Agamemnon is infuriated with Kalchas. When he says “never yet have you told me a good thing” (line 106), the audience may recognize an allusion to another event that formed part of the story of Troy (though not mentioned in the Iliad): the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. It is said that Agamemnon sent for his daughter, Iphigeneia, and sacrificed her to appease the goddess, Artemis, and obtain favorable winds for the expedition to proceed to Troy. According to the story, the prophet, Kalchas, had interpreted the gods’ will and indicated what had to be done. -Despite Agamemnon’s anger, he does agree to give the girl back. He says clearly, “Still I am willing to give her back, if such is the best way (line 116).” True, he asks for a prize, so that he won’t be without one (line 118), but he does not make this a condition of the return. It seems clear that, at this point, he knows better than to resist Apollo. -Achilleus immediately abuses him, calling him “greediest for gain of all men”(line 122). He does not acknowledge that Agamemnon will give the girl back, and, instead, he tells him to do so (line 127). -Agamemnon responds to this challenge by threatening to take a prize - not necessarily from Achilleus (lines 137-39), but he also seeks to put off that discussion - and cool tempers - by saying, “Still, these are things we shall deliberate again hereafter (line 140).” He proceeds with the arrangements for the proper return of the girl, and he even suggests that Achilleus - who has just insulted him - might lead the expedition to return the girl to her father (lines 145-46). Achilleus insists on pursuing the argument and abusing Agamemnon even further. Here, we begin to get to the heart of the matter, when Achilleus says: “Never, when the Achaians sack some well-founded citadel of the Trojans, do I have a prize that is equal to your prize. Always the greater part of the painful fighting is the work of my hands; but when the time comes to distribute the booty yours is far the greater reward, and I with some small thing yet dear to me go back to my ships when I am weary with fighting (lines 163-68).” In a word: I do the work, you get the prizes. Clearly, there is more to this dispute than just this one incident and Agamemnon’s threat - still not directed exclusively at Achilleus - to take away a prize. At the same time, for an understanding of how the quarrel develops, it’s important to see that material possessions - captives, wealth, booty - are at the heart of it. When Achilleus refrains from killing Agamemnon, he holds back after the goddess, Athene, has promised him that one day he’ll receive three times as many shining gifts (lines 213-14). I offer these observations just to call your attention to some key points in the opening scene that might help us understand what’s at stake, and how Homer is presenting the quarrel - the trigger for Achilleus’ anger - to his audience...
THE ROOTS OF THE INITIAL QUARRELIn the simplest terms, Achilleus becomes angry at Agamemnon and withdraws from the battle because Agamemnon takes Briseis, his captive woman, from him as compensation for his own loss of Chryseis, the daughter of the priest of Apollo. As the quarrel unfolds, we see that it had much deeper roots. For his part, Agamemnon did not resist returning Chryseis to Apollo - though he was not happy about it. Nor did he demand compensation as a condition of returning Chryseis. In fact, even when he did threaten to take a captive woman from one of the other men - Achilleus, Aias, or Odysseus, he tried to “cool things down” by returning to the matter of organizing the return of Chryseis and deferring the matter of compensation: “Still, these are things we shall deliberate again hereafter.” This offered a facesaving way for the two men to stand down, but it was Achilleus who forced the issue, and, by doing so, challenged Agamemnon’s authority. It was this broader challenge to his authority which led Agamemnon to assert it by seizing Achilleus’ captive. He tells Achilleus at line 134, “Are you ordering me to give this girl back?” When he finally decides to take Briseis, he tells Achilleus (line 185) that he is doing it so “that you may learn how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink from likening himself to me”. Finally, in reply to the effort of Nestor , the aged king - and voice of wisdom - to mediate, he says (line 287), “Yet here is a man who wishes to be above all others, who wishes to hold power over all, and to be lord of all, and to give them orders...” Agamemnon has reason to think Achilleus is usurping his authority: it was Achilleus who called the assembly (line 54), Achilleus who called for a prophet (line 62) to explain Apollo’s anger, Achilleus who agreed (line 85) to protect the prophet, Kalchas, and Achilleus who (line 90) first named Agamemnon, anticipating his responsibility. Once Agamemnon agreed to return Chryseis, it was Achilleus who jumped in to protest his demand for compensation. For his part, Achilleus clearly has a longstanding resentment of Agamemnon’s authority. Simply put, he feels he is the greater fighter and does more of the hard fighting, while Agamemnon’s position allows him to divide up the spoils and claim the greater rewards. He says this quite clearly (lines 163-68), when he complains about the unfair distribution of prizes. We also see the deeper roots of his resentment later, when, at line 366, he summarizes the story for his mother, Thetis , and begins with the sacking of the city that led to the capture of the women and the initial distribution of prizes. When Nestor, the old and wise king, attempts unsuccessfully to settle the quarrel, we see that it is about the two men’s competing claims to authority, to honor and to the wealth and prizes that are the signs or tokens of honor. He tells Agamemnon (line 275), “You, great man that you are, yet do not take the girl away but let her be, a prize as the sons of the Achaians gave her... But, he also warns Achilleus, “(do not) think to match your strength with the king, since never equal with the rest is the portion of honour of the sceptred king to whom Zeus gives magnificence. Even though you are the stronger man, and the mother who bore you was immortal, yet is this man greater who is lord over more than you rule.” There is the problem: Achilleus is recognized as the strongest warrior and the son of a goddess, but Agamemnon is wealthier, rules over more men, and holds some special authority from Zeus symbolized by the SCEPTER or royal staff. This is more fully explained in book two (lines 100-109) where it is described as made by the god, Hephaistos and passed down from Zeus to Agamemnon’s grandfather, Pelops. This is a more fundamental conflict over honor and status, and one that will be hard to resolve in a world that lacks some of the kinds of institutions or beliefs we may take for granted: a code of law and recognized authorities to enforce it, accepted systems of arbitration, divinities who represent a higher moral standard. Nestor can offer good advice...but no one has to listen.
MORTALS AND IMMORTALS One part of Achilleus’ anger stems from his unwillingness to acknowledge Agamemnon's authority, and to accept the ways the warriors give out honor and the prizes that go with it. Beyond this, we get a clue about why honor is so important to Achilleus, and why his anger will prove so deep and difficult to resolve, when he complains to his mother, the goddess Thetis (line 352), “Since, my mother, you bore me to be a man with a short life, therefore Zeus of the loud thunder on Olympos should grant me honour at least...” Thetis echoes this complaint when she asks Zeus to grant honor to Achilleus “short-lived beyond all other mortals” (line 505). While they might be referring to the specific prophecies that predicted Achilleus’ death at Troy, it is also true that a “short life” - “short” by comparison with the eternal life of his mother and the other immortal gods - separates Achilleus (and all mortals) from the gods, even from his own mother. Achilleus must feel this separation all the more acutely as the son of a goddess. Of all men, he might aspire to be “godlike”...in more than just a formulaic way. Honor offers one form of compensation - however inadequate - for mortality, and this is an issue that will grow in importance in the course of the poem, and, eventually, overshadow Achilleus’ initial conflict with Agamemnon. This contrast between the immortal gods and goddesses, and mortal men and women raises the question of the role that the gods and goddesses play in the poem. After all, Homer emphasizes their importance by referring to the “will of Zeus” (line 5) in the opening lines, and he begins the story by asking what god set up the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilleus (line 8). In many respects, the gods behave rather like humans: Apollo helps his priest, because his priest did things for him. Apollo is angry when he is dishonored by the treatment of his priest. Thetis asks Zeus for a favor because she had once helped him. Throughout the battles, the gods and goddesses will support the warriors on the side they favor. Homer also contrasts the gods and goddesses with human beings. After Zeus agrees to Thetis’ request to honor Achilleus, book one closes with a scene in which he bickers with his wife, Hera , who, as a partisan of the Greeks, is angry at his plan. In this scene, their lame son, Hephaistos , the craftsman of the gods, calms Hera down and reminds her of the dangers of trying to fight with Zeus. The scene provides a bit of comic relief - the gods themselves burst into laughter - with a parody of the earlier quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilleus and the efforts of Nestor to resolve it. But, it also reminds us of the deadly seriousness, by contrast, of the men’s quarrel which will result in the deaths of many, something the gods need never fear. That contrast between the immortality of the gods and human mortality is fundamental, and it may be that Homer uses the gods and goddesses, in part, to highlight what it means to be human, to have a short life, and to give that life meaning.
FEATURES OF ORAL POETRY In class, I talked about how we see the tradition of oral poetry in the Iliad. You can choose almost any passage and find examples of the Homeric formulas, the repeated phrases and lines that are the building blocks of oral epic: “Achilleus of the swift feet”, “Apollo beloved of Zeus”, “the goddess of the white arms, Hera”... There are also numerous places where you can see how Homer “pads” his text with unnecessary words. This “padding” is part of the oral poet’s art: it buys time for the poet who is composing his tale as he performs it, and it helps a listening audience follow the story without necessarily catching every word. The first two books also offer examples of longer formulaic passages: the nearly identical descriptions of the sacrifices and meals in book one (line 458) when the Greeks returned Chryseis, and in book two (line 421) before the Greek chiefs assembled their troops. At the beginning of book two, within the space of less than eighty lines, Zeus tells the “evil dream” what it should tell Agamemnon, the dream repeats it, and Agamemnon narrates it to the other warriors - each time repeating the same five-line passage. This kind of repetition is not always mechanical - it leaves room for purposeful choices. Achilleus, for example, summarizes the story for his mother, Thetis, in book one (line 366). Sure, this helps the listeners - by recapitulating the story - and it buys time for the poet, but Homer also made this a summary from Achilleus’ own point of view. For him, the story began not with the coming of the priest of Apollo, but with the raid against Thebe and the distribution of the prizes. And, when he describes the assembly, he omits his own role in calling it and naming Agamemnon, but he does say - wrongly - that he was the first to urge the god’s appeasement. The first book also provides examples of how Homer draws on the wider body of myths and legends that formed part of the oral traditions: Nestor refers to a battle between Greek heroes and centaurs; Achilleus reminds Thetis of how she helped save Zeus from the other gods; Hephaistos reminds the gods - more comically - of how he was hurled from Olympus the last time they ganged up on Zeus. And, there are times when we can only speculate about whether Homer is hinting at stories his audience likely knew. Does he, for example, expect their knowledge of the myths surrounding Thetis to explain her persuasive powers over Zeus? And, what do make of Agamemnon's nasty reference to his own wife, Klytaimestra, when he says (1.113) that he likes Chryseis “better than Klytaimestra, my own wife”. Is Homer counting on the audience thinking ahead to the story of his murder by Klytaimestra upon his return? These are just a few examples of how Homer relies on a vast body of myths and legends to deepen the impact of his story. Most important, Homer works in a series of references to the larger story of the Trojan War: Odysseus ’ recollection of the prophecy at Aulis when the Greeks set out for Troy (2.299-329), the marshalling of the troops and the catalog of the ships (2.484-759) listing all of the contingents, the Trojans’ first sight of the advancing Greeks (2.786-806), Paris ’ proposal of a duel with Menelaos to settle their dispute (3.67-75), Helen ’s identification of the Greek warriors for Priam (3.161-242), the gods’ council and decision that the Trojan War should go on until the destruction of Troy (4.1-72), the introduction - yet again - of the individual Greek warriors in book four as Agamemnon rallies them to fight the Trojans - even the scene with Paris and Helen (3.437-448), almost a flashback to the original seduction scene. All of these scenes could fit just as well (or even better) in a poem about the beginning of the Trojan War. After all, it’s hard to believe that after nine years of war, Priam needs to ask Helen who the Greek leaders are, or that it would take nine years for the idea of a single combat between Paris and Menelaos to occur to someone! With these references, Homer draws upon the oral tradition of stories told in verse to enlarge his story of Achilleus’ anger, and set it against the backdrop of the whole story of the Trojan war.
THE CATALOG OF THE SHIPS Perhaps the oddest part of that set of episodes drawn from the larger story of the Trojan War is the catalog of the ships, a particularly good illustration of the oral tradition at work. For historians, this has been a section of particular interest, because it shows how the oral tradition did preserve the memory of sites populated in the Bronze Age - many centuries before Homer’s time - but later abandoned. To us, it may seem like the most boring section of the poem, but Homer underscores its importance by calling upon the Muse at the beginning of it, and, in the middle of it, telling a story of how the Muses silenced a poet who challenged them. Isn’t this the poet’s way of calling attention to the tremendous feat he is achieving by remembering and passing on this long and complex list of all of the heroes on the Trojan expedition and the places they came from?
SIMILES (There is a short discussion of similes in the introduction to the Iliad, pp. 40-44.) He calls attention to the importance of the catalog in another way as well: before invoking the Muses, he shows his own poetic originality with a long series of complex similes. These show another side of the poet’s art. Similes are explicit comparisons: one thing is explicitly compared with another: “his words were like arrows”. Metaphors are implicit comparisons; the comparison is not stated directly, but merely implied: “his words cut to the heart of the problem”. In this example, “cut” and “heart” are used metaphorically. Words do not actually “cut” anything; by using this word, the speaker is implicitly comparing words to sharp, cutting objects. Likewise, a problem does not have a “heart”; the speaker is implicitly comparing a problem to a living being. Homer’s similes are typically long, and often introduce scenes from the natural world. The set of similes (2.455-483) before the Catalog of the Ships is particularly artful: Homer is comparing the massed and marching troops with a series of different scenes from nature, and he cleverly links the scenes together. He begins by comparing the shine of the bronze armor with the light of a distant forest fire, and he moves smoothly from the “gleam...dazzling all about through the upper air to the heaven” to a description of flocks of birds. The birds (compared with the masses of troops) are described as settling in the meadow, and Homer slips from this comparison to another involving the numberless leaves and flowers in the meadow. The simile of the flowers leads, in turn, to another, comparing the men with swarms of insects in the sheepfold, and this merges into another that describes the leaders of the men as goatherds separating their flock. Throughout the poem, the similes repay close reading: individually, they are more complex than they seem, for they often involve multiple points of comparison and contrast; together, the similes can be linked to create a parallel narrative that seems to comment more extensively on the main story.
ILIAD COMMENTARY: BOOK 9
ILIAD: PLOT SUMMARY
THE ILIAD: CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE ILIAD: CAST OF CHARACTERS
PRINCIPAL GODS AND GODDESSES
APHRODITE: goddess of love and daughter of Zeus, although in later legends she was said to have been born from the foam of the sea. She protected Helen, to whom she gave great beauty, and, in book three, she rescues Paris from Menelaos, and brings him to Helen.
PHOIBOS APOLLO: the archer god, cause of plagues, god of prophecy and a divine singer; the son of Zeus and Leto; a partisan of the Trojans. In the opening scene of the Iliad, he sends a plague upon the Achaians because Agamemnon has dishonored his priest, Chryses. Later, he helps Hektor in the killing of Patroklos, and, in the final book, his complaint about the treatment of Hektor’s corpse leads the gods to arrange the ransom of the body by Priam.
ARES: god of war, son of Zeus, and lover of Aphrodite. He supports the Trojans, and Zeus describes him as “the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos” (5.890). The comic story of his affair with Aphrodite is told in book eight of the Odyssey.
ARTEMIS: sister of Apollo, goddess of the hunt. It is said that Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigeneia, to appease her anger on the Greeks’ expedition to Troy. In book twenty-one, Hera beats her in the battle of the gods, and she is a protagonist in two stories told by warriors: Phoenix’ story of Meleagros (bk. 9), and Achilleus’ story of Niobe (bk. 24).
PALLAS ATHENE: Zeus' daughter, a warrior goddess, goddess of wisdom, patroness of the women's craft of weaving, a powerful ally of the Greeks and protectress of Odysseus; she hated the Trojans because of the judgement of Paris. She restrains Achilleus from killing Agamemnon in book one; inspires Odysseus to rally the Greek troops in book two; tricks the Trojan warrior, Pandaros, into breaking the truce in book four; and intervenes in support of the Greeks - and particularly on behalf of Odysseus - throughout the poem.
HADES: god of the underworld, the realm assigned to him when the sky, sea and underworld were divided among the three sons of Kronos. As a figure of unyielding death, he is described as “most hateful to mortals among all the gods” (9.159).
HEPHAISTOS: the divine smith and god of fire, son of Zeus and Hera. In book one, he urges Hera not to provoke Zeus’ anger. In book eighteen, he makes marvelous armor for Achilleus at Thetis’ request, and, in book twenty-one, he uses his fire to help rescue Achilleus in his battle with the river.
HERA: jealous wife - and sister - of Zeus; she is a vigorous patron of the Greeks because of her anger at the Trojans over the judgement of Paris, and she repeatedly bickers with her husband, Zeus, over his sympathy for the Trojans. In book one, she inspires Achilleus to call an assembly to deal with the plague, and, in book fourteen, she seduces her husband Zeus to distract him while the god of the sea, Poseidon, aids the Greeks on the battlefield.
HERMES: son of Zeus who guides souls to the Underworld; he is sent to guide Priam on his risky trip to the tent of Achilleus for the ransom of the body of his son, Hektor (bk. 24).
KRONOS: father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Hera; he was overthrown by Zeus.
POSEIDON: son of Kronos, brother of Zeus and lord of the sea. Though a supporter of the Greeks, he intervenes in book twenty (20.288-339) to save the Trojan hero, Aineias, lest he be killed by Achilleus against destiny.
THETIS: a sea goddess, wife of the warrior, Peleus, and divine mother of Achilleus. She foretold Achilleus' fate, intervened with Zeus on his behalf (bk. 1), mourned the death of Patroklos (bk. 18), and brought her son divine armor made by the god, Hephaistos (bk. 18).
ZEUS: the son of Kronos and most powerful of the gods; brother of Poseidon, Hades and the goddess, Hera, his wife; as lord of the sky, the thunderbolt is his most potent weapon. He responds to Thetis’ appeal by turning the battle against the Greeks, so that they will honor Achilleus. Throughout the Iliad, he acts as an overseer: he ensures that fated events, like the deaths of Patroklos and Hektor, take place, and he prevents Troy from falling at the hands of Achilleus against fate (bk. 20). At Hera’s insistence, he even allows his own mortal son, Sarpedon, to die, so that fate will not be overturned (bk. 16).
MORTALS
Greeks (called Argives, Danaans and Achaians by Homer)
ACHILLEUS: leader of the Myrmidons and central character of the Iliad; son of the goddess, Thetis, and the warrior, Peleus.
AGAMEMNON: son of Atreus, king of Mykenai, brother of Menelaos and most powerful Greek king. His quarrel with Achilleus (bk. 1) sparks Achilleus’ anger and sets in motion the plot of the Iliad. Achilleus spurns his offer of compensation in book nine.
AIAS (Telamonian Aias): duels with Hektor (bk. 7), forms part of the embassy to Achilleus (bk. 9), defends the ships (bk 15), and leads the effort to recover Patroklos' body (bk. 17).
AIAS OILEUS: the lesser of the two men named Aias, leader of the Lokrians, warriors famed as archers. Later authors tell the story of how he seized and raped Cassandra, a prophetess and daughter of Priam, during the sack of Troy. As a result, Poseidon and Athene destroyed his ship and drowned him on his return from Troy (Odyssey, bk. 4)
DIOMEDES: son of Tydeus, great warrior whose exploits form the subject of book five; he also accompanies Odysseus on a bloody spying mission to the Trojan camp (bk. 10)
HELEN: daughter of Zeus and Leda, step-daughter of Tyndareus; wife of Menelaos who eloped with Paris, causing the Trojan war; through the gifts of the goddess, Aphrodite, she was said to be the most beautiful of all women. She reflects on her actions in books three and six, and she concludes the lament for Hektor at the end of the Iliad.
KALCHAS: the seer or prophet of the Greeks; he identifies Agamemnon as the cause of the plague sent by Apollo in book one, and, in book two, Odysseus describes how he had interpreted omens and predicted victory - after nine years - when the Greeks set out for Troy.
MENELAOS: son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, lord of Lakedaimon (Sparta), husband of Helen.
NESTOR: aged king of Pylos and a wise counsellor who often uses stories from the past to advise and instruct the Greek warriors. He tries unsuccessfully to make peace between Achilleus and Agamemnon in book one, and he helps persuade Agamemnon to offer compensation to Achilleus in book nine. In book eleven, he urges Patroklos to ask Achilleus to let him lead his men into battle, the plan that leads to Patroklos’ death.
ODYSSEUS: son of Laertes, lord of Ithaka, famed for his wisdom and trickery; he rallies the troops in book two, forms part of the embassy to Achilleus in book nine, and urges Achilleus to put aside his grief in book nineteen.
PATROKLOS: son of Menoitios and companion of Achilleus. He was raised in Achilleus’ household (23.84-90), and accompanied Achilleus to Troy (bk 11, lines 764ff). He enters the battle in Achilleus’ place in book sixteen and his death at the hands of Hektor provokes Achilleus’ return to the battle. After his ghost visits Achilleus, Achilleus holds splendid funeral games in his honor in book twenty-three.
PHOINIX: aged tutor of Achilleus and one of the members of the embassy to Achilleus in book nine. He speaks as a surrogate for Achilleus’ father, and uses the story of Meleagros to try to persuade Achilleus to return to the battle.
Trojans and their allies
AINEIAS: leader of the Dardanians, a Trojan clan, and son of Anchises and the goddess, Aphrodite; he is rescued from Achilleus' onslaught by Poseidon (20.288-339) because he was destined to be a survivor who would continue the Trojan line; his legendary foundation of a kingdom in Italy is the subject of the Roman epic, the Aeneid, by Virgil.
ANDROMACHE: wife of Hektor; she describes how her father and brothers were killed by Achilleus in a raid (6.413-38), and tries to persuade Hektor to be more cautious.
BRISEIS: woman captured by the Greeks in a raid and given to Achilleus as a slave; Agamemnon took her from him by force (bk. 1), sparking their quarrel. She is returned to Achilleus in book nineteen, but Achilleus says then that it would have been better if she had died.
CHRYSEIS: daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo (at a place called Chryse!); she was captured by the Greeks in a raid and given to Agamemnon as a slave; Agamemnon's refusal to return her to her father led Apollo to send a plague on the Greeks (bk. 1)
GLAUKOS: an ally of the Trojans and Sarpedon's second-in-command; he exchanged armor with the Greek warrior, Diomedes, after they discovered that they were bound by ties of guest-friendship (their ancestors had entertained each other and exchanged gifts) (6.119-236)
HEKABE: queen of Troy, wife of king Priam and mother of Hektor. She leads the Trojan women in their (vain) prayers to Athene (bk. 6), and, later (bk. 22), she begs her son, Hektor, not to confront Achilleus.
HEKTOR: son of Priam and Hekabe and leading warrior of the Trojans. He duels with Aias in book seven, and leads the Trojan onslaught against the Greek ships in book fifteen. With Apollo’s help, he kills Patroklos in book sixteen. In book twenty-two, he is slain by Achilleus outside the walls of Troy before his parents’ eyes, and his body is brutally abused by Achilleus.
PARIS (Alexandros): a son of Priam; according to later legend, he had been asked to judge which of the three goddesses, Hera, Athene or Aphrodite, was the most beautiful; each goddess tried to bribe him and he accepted Aphrodite's offer of Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman. In book three, he challenges Menelaos to a duel, but is rescued from the fight by Aphrodite.
PRIAM: aged king of Troy, married to Hekabe, father of fifty sons; he ransoms the body of his son, Hektor, from Achilleus in book twenty-four.
SARPEDON: son of Zeus by a mortal woman, Laodameia; lord of the Lykians and the most important ally of the Trojans; in book twelve (lines 310-28) he offers an eloquent summary of the values by which these warriors lived - and died. Zeus permits him to be killed by Patroklos (bk. 16), as was fated.
PRINCIPAL GODS AND GODDESSES
APHRODITE: goddess of love and daughter of Zeus, although in later legends she was said to have been born from the foam of the sea. She protected Helen, to whom she gave great beauty, and, in book three, she rescues Paris from Menelaos, and brings him to Helen.
PHOIBOS APOLLO: the archer god, cause of plagues, god of prophecy and a divine singer; the son of Zeus and Leto; a partisan of the Trojans. In the opening scene of the Iliad, he sends a plague upon the Achaians because Agamemnon has dishonored his priest, Chryses. Later, he helps Hektor in the killing of Patroklos, and, in the final book, his complaint about the treatment of Hektor’s corpse leads the gods to arrange the ransom of the body by Priam.
ARES: god of war, son of Zeus, and lover of Aphrodite. He supports the Trojans, and Zeus describes him as “the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos” (5.890). The comic story of his affair with Aphrodite is told in book eight of the Odyssey.
ARTEMIS: sister of Apollo, goddess of the hunt. It is said that Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigeneia, to appease her anger on the Greeks’ expedition to Troy. In book twenty-one, Hera beats her in the battle of the gods, and she is a protagonist in two stories told by warriors: Phoenix’ story of Meleagros (bk. 9), and Achilleus’ story of Niobe (bk. 24).
PALLAS ATHENE: Zeus' daughter, a warrior goddess, goddess of wisdom, patroness of the women's craft of weaving, a powerful ally of the Greeks and protectress of Odysseus; she hated the Trojans because of the judgement of Paris. She restrains Achilleus from killing Agamemnon in book one; inspires Odysseus to rally the Greek troops in book two; tricks the Trojan warrior, Pandaros, into breaking the truce in book four; and intervenes in support of the Greeks - and particularly on behalf of Odysseus - throughout the poem.
HADES: god of the underworld, the realm assigned to him when the sky, sea and underworld were divided among the three sons of Kronos. As a figure of unyielding death, he is described as “most hateful to mortals among all the gods” (9.159).
HEPHAISTOS: the divine smith and god of fire, son of Zeus and Hera. In book one, he urges Hera not to provoke Zeus’ anger. In book eighteen, he makes marvelous armor for Achilleus at Thetis’ request, and, in book twenty-one, he uses his fire to help rescue Achilleus in his battle with the river.
HERA: jealous wife - and sister - of Zeus; she is a vigorous patron of the Greeks because of her anger at the Trojans over the judgement of Paris, and she repeatedly bickers with her husband, Zeus, over his sympathy for the Trojans. In book one, she inspires Achilleus to call an assembly to deal with the plague, and, in book fourteen, she seduces her husband Zeus to distract him while the god of the sea, Poseidon, aids the Greeks on the battlefield.
HERMES: son of Zeus who guides souls to the Underworld; he is sent to guide Priam on his risky trip to the tent of Achilleus for the ransom of the body of his son, Hektor (bk. 24).
KRONOS: father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Hera; he was overthrown by Zeus.
POSEIDON: son of Kronos, brother of Zeus and lord of the sea. Though a supporter of the Greeks, he intervenes in book twenty (20.288-339) to save the Trojan hero, Aineias, lest he be killed by Achilleus against destiny.
THETIS: a sea goddess, wife of the warrior, Peleus, and divine mother of Achilleus. She foretold Achilleus' fate, intervened with Zeus on his behalf (bk. 1), mourned the death of Patroklos (bk. 18), and brought her son divine armor made by the god, Hephaistos (bk. 18).
ZEUS: the son of Kronos and most powerful of the gods; brother of Poseidon, Hades and the goddess, Hera, his wife; as lord of the sky, the thunderbolt is his most potent weapon. He responds to Thetis’ appeal by turning the battle against the Greeks, so that they will honor Achilleus. Throughout the Iliad, he acts as an overseer: he ensures that fated events, like the deaths of Patroklos and Hektor, take place, and he prevents Troy from falling at the hands of Achilleus against fate (bk. 20). At Hera’s insistence, he even allows his own mortal son, Sarpedon, to die, so that fate will not be overturned (bk. 16).
MORTALS
Greeks (called Argives, Danaans and Achaians by Homer)
ACHILLEUS: leader of the Myrmidons and central character of the Iliad; son of the goddess, Thetis, and the warrior, Peleus.
AGAMEMNON: son of Atreus, king of Mykenai, brother of Menelaos and most powerful Greek king. His quarrel with Achilleus (bk. 1) sparks Achilleus’ anger and sets in motion the plot of the Iliad. Achilleus spurns his offer of compensation in book nine.
AIAS (Telamonian Aias): duels with Hektor (bk. 7), forms part of the embassy to Achilleus (bk. 9), defends the ships (bk 15), and leads the effort to recover Patroklos' body (bk. 17).
AIAS OILEUS: the lesser of the two men named Aias, leader of the Lokrians, warriors famed as archers. Later authors tell the story of how he seized and raped Cassandra, a prophetess and daughter of Priam, during the sack of Troy. As a result, Poseidon and Athene destroyed his ship and drowned him on his return from Troy (Odyssey, bk. 4)
DIOMEDES: son of Tydeus, great warrior whose exploits form the subject of book five; he also accompanies Odysseus on a bloody spying mission to the Trojan camp (bk. 10)
HELEN: daughter of Zeus and Leda, step-daughter of Tyndareus; wife of Menelaos who eloped with Paris, causing the Trojan war; through the gifts of the goddess, Aphrodite, she was said to be the most beautiful of all women. She reflects on her actions in books three and six, and she concludes the lament for Hektor at the end of the Iliad.
KALCHAS: the seer or prophet of the Greeks; he identifies Agamemnon as the cause of the plague sent by Apollo in book one, and, in book two, Odysseus describes how he had interpreted omens and predicted victory - after nine years - when the Greeks set out for Troy.
MENELAOS: son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, lord of Lakedaimon (Sparta), husband of Helen.
NESTOR: aged king of Pylos and a wise counsellor who often uses stories from the past to advise and instruct the Greek warriors. He tries unsuccessfully to make peace between Achilleus and Agamemnon in book one, and he helps persuade Agamemnon to offer compensation to Achilleus in book nine. In book eleven, he urges Patroklos to ask Achilleus to let him lead his men into battle, the plan that leads to Patroklos’ death.
ODYSSEUS: son of Laertes, lord of Ithaka, famed for his wisdom and trickery; he rallies the troops in book two, forms part of the embassy to Achilleus in book nine, and urges Achilleus to put aside his grief in book nineteen.
PATROKLOS: son of Menoitios and companion of Achilleus. He was raised in Achilleus’ household (23.84-90), and accompanied Achilleus to Troy (bk 11, lines 764ff). He enters the battle in Achilleus’ place in book sixteen and his death at the hands of Hektor provokes Achilleus’ return to the battle. After his ghost visits Achilleus, Achilleus holds splendid funeral games in his honor in book twenty-three.
PHOINIX: aged tutor of Achilleus and one of the members of the embassy to Achilleus in book nine. He speaks as a surrogate for Achilleus’ father, and uses the story of Meleagros to try to persuade Achilleus to return to the battle.
Trojans and their allies
AINEIAS: leader of the Dardanians, a Trojan clan, and son of Anchises and the goddess, Aphrodite; he is rescued from Achilleus' onslaught by Poseidon (20.288-339) because he was destined to be a survivor who would continue the Trojan line; his legendary foundation of a kingdom in Italy is the subject of the Roman epic, the Aeneid, by Virgil.
ANDROMACHE: wife of Hektor; she describes how her father and brothers were killed by Achilleus in a raid (6.413-38), and tries to persuade Hektor to be more cautious.
BRISEIS: woman captured by the Greeks in a raid and given to Achilleus as a slave; Agamemnon took her from him by force (bk. 1), sparking their quarrel. She is returned to Achilleus in book nineteen, but Achilleus says then that it would have been better if she had died.
CHRYSEIS: daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo (at a place called Chryse!); she was captured by the Greeks in a raid and given to Agamemnon as a slave; Agamemnon's refusal to return her to her father led Apollo to send a plague on the Greeks (bk. 1)
GLAUKOS: an ally of the Trojans and Sarpedon's second-in-command; he exchanged armor with the Greek warrior, Diomedes, after they discovered that they were bound by ties of guest-friendship (their ancestors had entertained each other and exchanged gifts) (6.119-236)
HEKABE: queen of Troy, wife of king Priam and mother of Hektor. She leads the Trojan women in their (vain) prayers to Athene (bk. 6), and, later (bk. 22), she begs her son, Hektor, not to confront Achilleus.
HEKTOR: son of Priam and Hekabe and leading warrior of the Trojans. He duels with Aias in book seven, and leads the Trojan onslaught against the Greek ships in book fifteen. With Apollo’s help, he kills Patroklos in book sixteen. In book twenty-two, he is slain by Achilleus outside the walls of Troy before his parents’ eyes, and his body is brutally abused by Achilleus.
PARIS (Alexandros): a son of Priam; according to later legend, he had been asked to judge which of the three goddesses, Hera, Athene or Aphrodite, was the most beautiful; each goddess tried to bribe him and he accepted Aphrodite's offer of Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman. In book three, he challenges Menelaos to a duel, but is rescued from the fight by Aphrodite.
PRIAM: aged king of Troy, married to Hekabe, father of fifty sons; he ransoms the body of his son, Hektor, from Achilleus in book twenty-four.
SARPEDON: son of Zeus by a mortal woman, Laodameia; lord of the Lykians and the most important ally of the Trojans; in book twelve (lines 310-28) he offers an eloquent summary of the values by which these warriors lived - and died. Zeus permits him to be killed by Patroklos (bk. 16), as was fated.
ILIAD: SUMMARY
The Iliad is about the Wrath of Achilles arising from an affront to his honour by the hubristic Agamemnon... but, it is also about many other things, both human and divine: it is a work which, though now printed and finally consigned to a permanent recension, is paradoxically in a state of constant flux, for no two readings ever seem to be alike.
BOOK I
A quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon ensues over the return of Chryseis to her father. Athene dissuades Achilles from rash action, but he swears he will not fight again. He calls his mother Thetis from the depths of the sea and asks her to obtain from Zeus some gratification of his resentment. Thetis agrees to do so when the gods shall have returned from their twelve day banquet among the Ethiopians. Meanwhile Odysseus has returned Chryseis to her father, who placates the god towards the Greeks. Thetis lays her request before Zeus, who nods assent. His intentions are kept secret from all, including Hera, despite her bitter complaints. It is left for the cupbearer Hephaestus--lame and the butt of everyone's joke--to bring back the laughter which should accompany the feasts of the immortals.
BOOK XIII
Despite the commands of Zeus, the gods who favour the Achaeans can remain onlookers of their peril no longer. Poseidon, in the guise of Calchas, encourages them to fight bravely: later, in the shape now of Thoas, he is further grieved to see his grandson Amphimachus slain by Hector. In the long drawnout battle that follows, in which Idomeneus, king of Crete, plays a dominating part, Achaean resistance grows stiffer. Polydamas calls for a concentration of the Trojan force and in a council of war warns Hector that Achilles will not remain idle much longer. Hector accepts the advice to call his men together, but disregards the reference to Achilles. The battle goes on.
BOOK II
Zeus sends a dream commanding Agamemnon to attack Troy. The king tells the elders and assembles the army. It is now near the end of the ninth year, and it seems advisable to sound the feelings of the warriors. Agamemnon pretends a desire to return home, and the idea is more popular than he had thought. The attitude of the army delays the joining of battle, but Odysseus and Nestor rally the ranks for war: Thersites rails against the leaders, but is put to silence. A succession of highly wrought similes now describes the marshalling of the army: then follows a fresh invocation of the Muses to give an accurate account of Greek strength in the Catalogue of Ships, which is followed by a shorter catalogue of the Trojan Forces. BOOK XIV
Nestor now leaves Machaon, whom he has been tending in his pavilion, to find how the battle is going. He meets Diomede, Odysseus and Agamemnon, all returning wounded from the fray. For the third time Agamemnon speaks of withdrawal, now in terms of flight under cover of darkness. Odysseus and Diomede disagree: Poseidon encourages the king, and his voice puts heart into the army. Female cunning now enters the lists: Hera borrows Aphrodite's enchanted saltire and rouses Zeus' passion on Mount Ida, where he soon enough falls asleep. Her helper Hypnus hastens to the plain to tell Poseidon that he can now help the Greeks without thought of Zeus. The god vigorously encourages them, and soon a stone from Ajax lays Hector low. He is long senseless, and meanwhile the Trojans suffer other setbacks.
BOOK III
Despite these elaborate preliminaries, general battle is not yet to be joined. A new delaying device holds up the increasing pressure of events. Paris declares himself ready to settle the issue by single combat with Menelaus, and at the last minute an armistice is declared. Iris takes human form, speaks to Helen, and the latter goes up to the wall over the Scaean gate, where Priam and the elders are gazing onto the plain. At the king's request she names and points out the greatest warriors of the Achaeans. Priam is then called into the field to swear that he will abide by the issue of the single combat. Menelaus' sword breaks on Paris' helmet: he seizes him by the chinstrap and drags him towards the Achaean lines. Paris' fate seems sealed, but Aphrodite makes the strap break, and rescues Paris in a cloud, taking him back to his own house. Then, taking the shape of an old woman, she bullies Helen and drives her into Paris' arms. This striking deliverance of Aphrodite's favourite has created an ambiguous situation: Paris is dallying with Helen, while Menelaus rages over the field seeking him. Agamemnon claims victory for his brother and the return of Helen and the booty: the war, he declares, is at an end. BOOK XV
The Trojans have been driven back over the ditch when Zeus wakes up and sees how he has been deceived. Hera has to obey his command and send Iris and Apollo to him. Now for the first time she fully learns his plan: Iris is to summon Poseidon from the field; Hector, strengthened by Apollo, will drive the Greeks back to the ships of Achilles, whereupon the latter will send Patroclus into battle. Patroclus will have many successes - he will even slay Sarpedon - but in the end he will fall by Hector's hand. In revenge Achilles will kill Hector, and from then on the fate of the Trojans will be sealed. In the end their city will be overthrown by a device of Athene's (the wooden horse). Hera conveys the commands of Zeus to Olympus, where Athene restrains Ares from a rash intervention in the battle. Poseidon unwillingly obeys the command brought by Iris, and Hector with renewed strength drives the Greeks back into their camp. Apollo himself levels the ditch and breaches the wall: the Greeks are panicstricken as he shakes the aegis. As the Trojans enter, Patroclus leaves the wounded Eurypylus and runs to Achilles. Already the Trojans bearing firebrands are approaching the nearest ships, and only Ajax still offers effective resistance.
BOOK IV
The Achaean king may be in earnest in this view, but in the ensuing scene in Olympus Zeus propounds it only to anger Hera and Athene. Both demand the destruction of Troy; but we are not yet told the cause of their hatred. At Hera's request Zeus agrees there is no other way of keeping his promise to Thetis to send Athene to the Trojan field, where she provokes Pandarus to break the armistice by shooting at Menelaus. The latter is wounded, but speedily healed by Machaon, son of Asclepius and physician to the army. Fighting is to be renewed: Agamemnon urges on the heroes with words of praise or censure. Last to be addressed is Diomedes, whom Agamemnon singles out for reproach. Unlike Achilles, Diomedes takes rebuke patiently; but Sthenelus retorts sharply. BOOK XVI
Patroclus' tearful entreaties are wasted on Achilles, who still cannot forget the injustice done him and has no time for Achaean self-pity. Nevertheless he sends Patroclus with the Myrmidons and lends him his own armour, telling him to repel the Trojans from the ships, but to go no further, lest he diminish Achilles' reputation or meet some god who favours the Trojans. Ajax is now exhausted, and Achilles urges Patroclus to make haste, praying to Zeus of Dodona to grant him a safe return. Patroclus drives back the Trojans from the ships and performs prodigies of velour. Sarpedon falls by his hand, the son of Zeus himself. The battle rages around his body; Zeus allows Apollo to shield it, and Sleep and Death convey it to Lycia. Patroclus forgets his friend's warning and attacks the very walls of Troy. He is repulsed by Apollo, who takes the form of Asius and summons Hector to fight him. As the sun sinks, the god himself comes behind Patroclus and strikes him between the shoulders, so that his arms fall from him. Euphorbus wounds him from behind with a spear, and Hector transfixes him with his lance.
BOOK V
Diomedes is now to the fore: Pandarus' arrow cannot hurt him; Athene strengthens him; his prowess is not content with mortal adversaries. He wounds Aphrodite in the hand as she intervenes to protect her son Aeneas: she flies to Olympus to be comforted by her mother Dione. Next Apollo protects Aeneas: Diomedes prepares to attack him too, but the god's warning voice keeps him back. With the encouragement and support of Ares the Trojans attack boldly. Hera and Athene plunge into the fray the latter even serves as Diomedes' charioteer. With their help he wounds Ares, who flees to Olympus, and the goddesses also withdraw. BOOK XVII
A furious battle rages round the corpse. Menelaus slays Euphorbus, but retreats before Hector, who strips Achilles' armour from Patroclus' body and puts it on. The Achaeans defend the body, stoutly led by Ajax. Thick darkness overtakes the combatants. Achilles' divine steeds, mourning for Patroclus, are given fresh heart by Zeus. Athene and Apollo add further fury to the fight around the corpse. At the prayer of Ajax, Zeus takes away the darkness: now Menelaus can look for Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and send him to Achilles with the fatal tidings. Victory inclines towards the Trojans, but Menelaus and Meriones drag away the body, while the two Ajaxes defend them from the angry onslaughts of the enemy.
BOOK VI
The Trojans' danger grows greater. The seer Helenus calls on Hector and Aeneas to rally the ranks; then he sends Hector into the city, where the women are to propitiate Athene with offerings and vows. Meanwhile Glaucus and Diomedes meet on the field of battle, recognize each other as guest friends, and exchange armour the Lycian's gold against the Argive's bronze. This encounter in the midst of the fighting serves as an example of knightly courtesy: it has another function also: to hold up the swift development of the action in the fifth book and to let us see what is happening in Troy. Hector hastens to his mother, and the Trojan women fall to their ineffective prayers. He next looks for Paris, to recall him to the field: he wishes to bid farewell to his wife and child, but they are not at home. He finds them by the Scaean gate, to which Andromache's fears have driven her. There is a conversation between husband and wife, full of love and grief, as if Hector were never more to return home. Andromache goes back to the house and mourns him as if he were already dead. Paris now joins Hector, and they return to the battle.
BOOK XVIII
Achilles is seized with such violent grief that Thetis and the Nereids come from the sea to comfort him. His mother offers him new arms, but says that Hector's death must shortly be followed by his own. The body of Patroclus is still in the gravest danger, and Achilles, directed by Iris and endowed with fearful stature by Athene, runs to the ditch, where his war-cry appals the Trojans. Hera hastily makes the sun set, and the battle ends. Polydamas repeats his warning, but Hector makes the Trojans camp in the field so as to renew the battle next day. Achilles bewails his dead friend, while Hephaestus at Thetis' entreaty makes new arms for him, in particular a wondrous shield with metal inlays displaying all the scenes of human life.
BOOK VII
Fighting now flares up again; but Athene and Apollo agree that it has gone far enough for the day, and that Hector should challenge one of the Achaeans to single combat. The seer Helenus transmits their decision, and Hector sends out his challenge. Ajax is chosen by lot to be his opponent. At the approach of night the combatants are separated by heralds, and the day ends as indecisively as it began. The Greeks decide to bury their dead next morning and to build a wall round their ships. The Trojans for their part ask for the return of the bodies of the fallen, and are willing, since Paris will not give up Helen, to return at all events the treasure. The Greeks reject the overture, but next morning the dead are collected and burned. The wall round the ships is built in the course of the next day BOOK XIX
At dawn Thetis brings these arms to her son, and preserves Patroclus' body with ambrosia. Achilles calls for a meeting of the host, briefly renouncing his resentment, while Agamemnon in a long speech laments the folly that Zeus had sent upon him and promises reparation. He also swears that he has never touched Briseis. Achilles' impatience will hardly brook delay while the army eats. The forces are marshalled and Achilles arms himself. His horse speaks, prophesying his death.
BOOK VIII
Zeus forbids the gods to take part in the battle, which he surveys from the summit of Ida. The fighting begins with the dawn, and at midday Zeus weighs the lots of the opposing armies: the scales decide for the Trojans. In the varying fortunes of the battle Diomedes remains the mainstay of the Achaeans, while Hector, confident of ultimate victory, is the champion of the Trojans. Hera is obstinate in her determination to break the commands of Zeus: she tries unsuccessfully to persuade Poseidon to intervene in the fighting, and gives fresh courage to Agamemnon, who prevails upon Zeus to spare the hard-pressed Achaean host. Hera tries to help them, but Iris brings her a peremptory command from Zeus. Now the Thunderer himself comes and explains his plan for the future: the next day is to bring even more misfortune to the Greeks, and Hector will remain unchecked until Achilles takes the field in defence of the ships and fighting rages round the corpse of Patroclus. Night ends the still indecisive battle, and Hector camps with his followers on the plain. BOOK XX
For the last battle, the most ferocious of all in the Iliad, Zeus leaves the gods free to do what they will. As they enter the lists, Zeus thunders, Poseidon sends an earthquake; but as yet they are spectators. Achilles first meets Aeneas, whom Poseidon rescues. Hector also is once more saved from death by Apollo. Achilles rages like a forest fire in dry woods.
BOOK IX
In his despondency Agamemnon now inclines to the counsel which in Book II he had proposed only to test reactions - to break off the war and go home. He is vigorously opposed by Diomedes: in a council of the princes Nestor suggests an appeal to Achilles. Agamemnon is willing to provide the necessary gifts for an embassy to Achilles, and Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix set out to his tent. They are well received, and make speeches to win him over. Odysseus speaks with skill and address; Phoenix is more human and emotional, with well-chosen examples; the speech of Ajax is brief and soldierly. They move Achilles' feelings, but his resentment still cannot be assuaged: he will fight when Hector artacks his ships, not before. The ambassadors return with their bad news, but Diomedes urges all to be calm and confident. BOOK XXI
The battle beside the river is on a level of elemental savagery. Achilles fills the Scamander with corpses, and takes twelve youths prisoner to be sacrificed for Patroclus. Lycaon, Priam's son, pleads in vain for his life: he too is slain and thrown into the river. The river god protests, Achilles rages on unheeding, and Scamander now threatens him with his waters. The gods now take a hand; Hephaestus with his fire dries up the plain and defeats the river. By now the gods are fighting after their various fashions: Athene wounds Ares with a stone, but Apollo declines to fight with Poseidon over mortal men. Artemis is more bellicose, until Hera breaks her bow and arrows over her head. All the gods now return to Olympus. Agenor posts himself before the gate to withstand Achilles' assault, but Apollo rescues him, takes his shape, and lures Achilles away, so that the fleeing Trojans can withdraw within the walls.
BOOK X
Everyone is asleep except Agamemnon and Menelaus, who wander anxiously about the camp. Meeting each other outside, near the sentinels, they decide to send Odysseus and Diomedes to reconnoitre. Hector also has sent out a spy, Dolon, promising him the horses of Achilles. He falls in with the two Greeks, who find out all that he knows and then despatch him, having thus learned of the arrival of the Thracian king Rhesus with his splendid horses. They kill Rhesus and twelve of his followers, and ride back to camp with the horses. BOOK XXII
Hector remains in the field, despite the prayers of Priam and Hecuba that he should take refuge in the city. He recalls now how he was thrice warned by Polydamas and how he led his countrymen to destruction. Achilles approaches, and he flees from him three times round the walls of the city. Zeus weighs the fatal lots: that of Hector sinks. Apollo now deserts his favourite, and Athene checks his flight by appearing in the form of Deiphobus and promising help. Hector falls at the hand of Achilles. As in his anger, so in his revenge Achilles knows no bounds. The dying Hector had begged that his body be given back for burial: Achilles drags the corpse to the ships behind his chariot. Priam, Hecuba and Andromache break into wild lamentation.
BOOK XI
The next day's fighting (the description of which lasts until book 18) begins with the aristeia of Agamemnon. His arms are described in great detail. Once again the expected development of the action is held up: Agamemnon's prowess seems likely to unsettle Zeus' plan for the discomfiture of the Achaeans, but the god knows what he is about. He sends Iris to Hector, telling him to hold back while Agamemnon is fighting: his time will come when Agamemnon is wounded and leaves the field. So it comes to pass, but Odysseus and Diomedes maintain the battle on equal terms. The wounding of Diomedes leaves Odysseus in sore straits, and even Ajax now gives ground before the numbers of the enemy. Nestor takes the wounded Machaon onto his chariot: Achilles, viewing the battle from the prow of his ship, wants to know whom Nestor is rescuing, and sends Patroclus to find out. The old man holds Patroclus long in conversation and urges him to persuade Achilles to fight, or alternatively to give his arms to Patroclus and send him into the fray. Patroclus, moved by this appeal, hurries back: on his way he meets the wounded Eurypylus, who needs medical help and gives but a poor account of Greek prospects.
BOOK XXIII
Two corpses now await the purifying flames. Three times the Myrmidons march round the corpse of Patroclus; finally they hold the funeral feast. His shade appears to Achilles and prays for speedy cremation. Next morning the pyre is made ready: the flames are fed with sumptuous offerings - among them the twelve Trojan captives. The next day the bones of Patroclus are gathered together, and elaborate funeral games with costly prizes are celebrated. In the various contests Odysseus and Ajax are pitted against each other - craft against strength. The indecisive wrestling-match is a foretaste of the later 'judgment of arms' - a theme probably known to Homer. It is significant that Achilles, not hitherto noted for temperance of emotion or expression, plays the part of the peacemaker in a dispute over the chariot-race. Here we have an anticipation of the Achilles of the ransom scenes.
BOOK XII
The first verses of book 12 begin a new section - lasting until the end of 15 - of the great battle. At the start we find the Achaeans fighting to defend the wall round their ships, although their retreat from the battlefield has not been described. In fact, by a technique unusual in epic, it has taken place while Patroclus has his scenes with Nestor and Eurypylus. By the end of 15 Hector is about to set fire to the Greek ships. The intervening four books contain a sequence - only substantially interrupted by the machinations of Hera in 14 - of fluctuating fortune in general and individual encounter, deeds of heroes and deaths of lesser mortals, clearly composed as an artistic whole. After the retreat of the Achaeans to their ships, the Trojans try to storm the wall. Hector's first proposal, to drive at it headlong in their chariots, is opposed by Polydamas, who more wisely wishes to leave the chariots at the edge of the ditch. This is his first appearance as adviser and amender of Hector's counsels - a role which he sustains up till book 18. The fate of Asius, who assaults the wall singlehanded in his chariot, shows that Polydamas cannot be disregarded with impunity. The Trojans, attacking in five companies, are appalled by an evil omen, and Polydamas counsels withdrawal. Hector rejects the warning and renews the attack. Sarpedon breaks down part of the palisade, and Hector shatters one of the gates with a great stone.
BOOK XXIV
The anger and grief of Achilles are far from assuaged. Every day he drags Hector's body three times round Patroclus' grave. On the twelfth day the gods intervene. Against the wishes of the gods who hate the Trojans - it is here that we are first told of the judgment of Parisl as the cause of Hera's and Athene's hatred - Thetis is sent to Achilles to ask him to return the body of Hector. Iris persuades Priam to face a visit to the Greek camp. By night he sets out with rich gifts for the man who slew the noblest of his sons. Achilles thinks of his own father: both men weep and dismiss their anger and resentment. The angry and implacable Achilles has learned to open his heart to another's grief. Priam returns with Hector's body and the promise of an armistice of twelve days. Andromache, Hecuba and Helen bewail Hector. For nine days the Trojans gather wood; then Hector's pyre is kindled and his burial mound is built.
BOOK I
A quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon ensues over the return of Chryseis to her father. Athene dissuades Achilles from rash action, but he swears he will not fight again. He calls his mother Thetis from the depths of the sea and asks her to obtain from Zeus some gratification of his resentment. Thetis agrees to do so when the gods shall have returned from their twelve day banquet among the Ethiopians. Meanwhile Odysseus has returned Chryseis to her father, who placates the god towards the Greeks. Thetis lays her request before Zeus, who nods assent. His intentions are kept secret from all, including Hera, despite her bitter complaints. It is left for the cupbearer Hephaestus--lame and the butt of everyone's joke--to bring back the laughter which should accompany the feasts of the immortals.
BOOK XIII
Despite the commands of Zeus, the gods who favour the Achaeans can remain onlookers of their peril no longer. Poseidon, in the guise of Calchas, encourages them to fight bravely: later, in the shape now of Thoas, he is further grieved to see his grandson Amphimachus slain by Hector. In the long drawnout battle that follows, in which Idomeneus, king of Crete, plays a dominating part, Achaean resistance grows stiffer. Polydamas calls for a concentration of the Trojan force and in a council of war warns Hector that Achilles will not remain idle much longer. Hector accepts the advice to call his men together, but disregards the reference to Achilles. The battle goes on.
BOOK II
Zeus sends a dream commanding Agamemnon to attack Troy. The king tells the elders and assembles the army. It is now near the end of the ninth year, and it seems advisable to sound the feelings of the warriors. Agamemnon pretends a desire to return home, and the idea is more popular than he had thought. The attitude of the army delays the joining of battle, but Odysseus and Nestor rally the ranks for war: Thersites rails against the leaders, but is put to silence. A succession of highly wrought similes now describes the marshalling of the army: then follows a fresh invocation of the Muses to give an accurate account of Greek strength in the Catalogue of Ships, which is followed by a shorter catalogue of the Trojan Forces. BOOK XIV
Nestor now leaves Machaon, whom he has been tending in his pavilion, to find how the battle is going. He meets Diomede, Odysseus and Agamemnon, all returning wounded from the fray. For the third time Agamemnon speaks of withdrawal, now in terms of flight under cover of darkness. Odysseus and Diomede disagree: Poseidon encourages the king, and his voice puts heart into the army. Female cunning now enters the lists: Hera borrows Aphrodite's enchanted saltire and rouses Zeus' passion on Mount Ida, where he soon enough falls asleep. Her helper Hypnus hastens to the plain to tell Poseidon that he can now help the Greeks without thought of Zeus. The god vigorously encourages them, and soon a stone from Ajax lays Hector low. He is long senseless, and meanwhile the Trojans suffer other setbacks.
BOOK III
Despite these elaborate preliminaries, general battle is not yet to be joined. A new delaying device holds up the increasing pressure of events. Paris declares himself ready to settle the issue by single combat with Menelaus, and at the last minute an armistice is declared. Iris takes human form, speaks to Helen, and the latter goes up to the wall over the Scaean gate, where Priam and the elders are gazing onto the plain. At the king's request she names and points out the greatest warriors of the Achaeans. Priam is then called into the field to swear that he will abide by the issue of the single combat. Menelaus' sword breaks on Paris' helmet: he seizes him by the chinstrap and drags him towards the Achaean lines. Paris' fate seems sealed, but Aphrodite makes the strap break, and rescues Paris in a cloud, taking him back to his own house. Then, taking the shape of an old woman, she bullies Helen and drives her into Paris' arms. This striking deliverance of Aphrodite's favourite has created an ambiguous situation: Paris is dallying with Helen, while Menelaus rages over the field seeking him. Agamemnon claims victory for his brother and the return of Helen and the booty: the war, he declares, is at an end. BOOK XV
The Trojans have been driven back over the ditch when Zeus wakes up and sees how he has been deceived. Hera has to obey his command and send Iris and Apollo to him. Now for the first time she fully learns his plan: Iris is to summon Poseidon from the field; Hector, strengthened by Apollo, will drive the Greeks back to the ships of Achilles, whereupon the latter will send Patroclus into battle. Patroclus will have many successes - he will even slay Sarpedon - but in the end he will fall by Hector's hand. In revenge Achilles will kill Hector, and from then on the fate of the Trojans will be sealed. In the end their city will be overthrown by a device of Athene's (the wooden horse). Hera conveys the commands of Zeus to Olympus, where Athene restrains Ares from a rash intervention in the battle. Poseidon unwillingly obeys the command brought by Iris, and Hector with renewed strength drives the Greeks back into their camp. Apollo himself levels the ditch and breaches the wall: the Greeks are panicstricken as he shakes the aegis. As the Trojans enter, Patroclus leaves the wounded Eurypylus and runs to Achilles. Already the Trojans bearing firebrands are approaching the nearest ships, and only Ajax still offers effective resistance.
BOOK IV
The Achaean king may be in earnest in this view, but in the ensuing scene in Olympus Zeus propounds it only to anger Hera and Athene. Both demand the destruction of Troy; but we are not yet told the cause of their hatred. At Hera's request Zeus agrees there is no other way of keeping his promise to Thetis to send Athene to the Trojan field, where she provokes Pandarus to break the armistice by shooting at Menelaus. The latter is wounded, but speedily healed by Machaon, son of Asclepius and physician to the army. Fighting is to be renewed: Agamemnon urges on the heroes with words of praise or censure. Last to be addressed is Diomedes, whom Agamemnon singles out for reproach. Unlike Achilles, Diomedes takes rebuke patiently; but Sthenelus retorts sharply. BOOK XVI
Patroclus' tearful entreaties are wasted on Achilles, who still cannot forget the injustice done him and has no time for Achaean self-pity. Nevertheless he sends Patroclus with the Myrmidons and lends him his own armour, telling him to repel the Trojans from the ships, but to go no further, lest he diminish Achilles' reputation or meet some god who favours the Trojans. Ajax is now exhausted, and Achilles urges Patroclus to make haste, praying to Zeus of Dodona to grant him a safe return. Patroclus drives back the Trojans from the ships and performs prodigies of velour. Sarpedon falls by his hand, the son of Zeus himself. The battle rages around his body; Zeus allows Apollo to shield it, and Sleep and Death convey it to Lycia. Patroclus forgets his friend's warning and attacks the very walls of Troy. He is repulsed by Apollo, who takes the form of Asius and summons Hector to fight him. As the sun sinks, the god himself comes behind Patroclus and strikes him between the shoulders, so that his arms fall from him. Euphorbus wounds him from behind with a spear, and Hector transfixes him with his lance.
BOOK V
Diomedes is now to the fore: Pandarus' arrow cannot hurt him; Athene strengthens him; his prowess is not content with mortal adversaries. He wounds Aphrodite in the hand as she intervenes to protect her son Aeneas: she flies to Olympus to be comforted by her mother Dione. Next Apollo protects Aeneas: Diomedes prepares to attack him too, but the god's warning voice keeps him back. With the encouragement and support of Ares the Trojans attack boldly. Hera and Athene plunge into the fray the latter even serves as Diomedes' charioteer. With their help he wounds Ares, who flees to Olympus, and the goddesses also withdraw. BOOK XVII
A furious battle rages round the corpse. Menelaus slays Euphorbus, but retreats before Hector, who strips Achilles' armour from Patroclus' body and puts it on. The Achaeans defend the body, stoutly led by Ajax. Thick darkness overtakes the combatants. Achilles' divine steeds, mourning for Patroclus, are given fresh heart by Zeus. Athene and Apollo add further fury to the fight around the corpse. At the prayer of Ajax, Zeus takes away the darkness: now Menelaus can look for Antilochus, the son of Nestor, and send him to Achilles with the fatal tidings. Victory inclines towards the Trojans, but Menelaus and Meriones drag away the body, while the two Ajaxes defend them from the angry onslaughts of the enemy.
BOOK VI
The Trojans' danger grows greater. The seer Helenus calls on Hector and Aeneas to rally the ranks; then he sends Hector into the city, where the women are to propitiate Athene with offerings and vows. Meanwhile Glaucus and Diomedes meet on the field of battle, recognize each other as guest friends, and exchange armour the Lycian's gold against the Argive's bronze. This encounter in the midst of the fighting serves as an example of knightly courtesy: it has another function also: to hold up the swift development of the action in the fifth book and to let us see what is happening in Troy. Hector hastens to his mother, and the Trojan women fall to their ineffective prayers. He next looks for Paris, to recall him to the field: he wishes to bid farewell to his wife and child, but they are not at home. He finds them by the Scaean gate, to which Andromache's fears have driven her. There is a conversation between husband and wife, full of love and grief, as if Hector were never more to return home. Andromache goes back to the house and mourns him as if he were already dead. Paris now joins Hector, and they return to the battle.
BOOK XVIII
Achilles is seized with such violent grief that Thetis and the Nereids come from the sea to comfort him. His mother offers him new arms, but says that Hector's death must shortly be followed by his own. The body of Patroclus is still in the gravest danger, and Achilles, directed by Iris and endowed with fearful stature by Athene, runs to the ditch, where his war-cry appals the Trojans. Hera hastily makes the sun set, and the battle ends. Polydamas repeats his warning, but Hector makes the Trojans camp in the field so as to renew the battle next day. Achilles bewails his dead friend, while Hephaestus at Thetis' entreaty makes new arms for him, in particular a wondrous shield with metal inlays displaying all the scenes of human life.
BOOK VII
Fighting now flares up again; but Athene and Apollo agree that it has gone far enough for the day, and that Hector should challenge one of the Achaeans to single combat. The seer Helenus transmits their decision, and Hector sends out his challenge. Ajax is chosen by lot to be his opponent. At the approach of night the combatants are separated by heralds, and the day ends as indecisively as it began. The Greeks decide to bury their dead next morning and to build a wall round their ships. The Trojans for their part ask for the return of the bodies of the fallen, and are willing, since Paris will not give up Helen, to return at all events the treasure. The Greeks reject the overture, but next morning the dead are collected and burned. The wall round the ships is built in the course of the next day BOOK XIX
At dawn Thetis brings these arms to her son, and preserves Patroclus' body with ambrosia. Achilles calls for a meeting of the host, briefly renouncing his resentment, while Agamemnon in a long speech laments the folly that Zeus had sent upon him and promises reparation. He also swears that he has never touched Briseis. Achilles' impatience will hardly brook delay while the army eats. The forces are marshalled and Achilles arms himself. His horse speaks, prophesying his death.
BOOK VIII
Zeus forbids the gods to take part in the battle, which he surveys from the summit of Ida. The fighting begins with the dawn, and at midday Zeus weighs the lots of the opposing armies: the scales decide for the Trojans. In the varying fortunes of the battle Diomedes remains the mainstay of the Achaeans, while Hector, confident of ultimate victory, is the champion of the Trojans. Hera is obstinate in her determination to break the commands of Zeus: she tries unsuccessfully to persuade Poseidon to intervene in the fighting, and gives fresh courage to Agamemnon, who prevails upon Zeus to spare the hard-pressed Achaean host. Hera tries to help them, but Iris brings her a peremptory command from Zeus. Now the Thunderer himself comes and explains his plan for the future: the next day is to bring even more misfortune to the Greeks, and Hector will remain unchecked until Achilles takes the field in defence of the ships and fighting rages round the corpse of Patroclus. Night ends the still indecisive battle, and Hector camps with his followers on the plain. BOOK XX
For the last battle, the most ferocious of all in the Iliad, Zeus leaves the gods free to do what they will. As they enter the lists, Zeus thunders, Poseidon sends an earthquake; but as yet they are spectators. Achilles first meets Aeneas, whom Poseidon rescues. Hector also is once more saved from death by Apollo. Achilles rages like a forest fire in dry woods.
BOOK IX
In his despondency Agamemnon now inclines to the counsel which in Book II he had proposed only to test reactions - to break off the war and go home. He is vigorously opposed by Diomedes: in a council of the princes Nestor suggests an appeal to Achilles. Agamemnon is willing to provide the necessary gifts for an embassy to Achilles, and Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix set out to his tent. They are well received, and make speeches to win him over. Odysseus speaks with skill and address; Phoenix is more human and emotional, with well-chosen examples; the speech of Ajax is brief and soldierly. They move Achilles' feelings, but his resentment still cannot be assuaged: he will fight when Hector artacks his ships, not before. The ambassadors return with their bad news, but Diomedes urges all to be calm and confident. BOOK XXI
The battle beside the river is on a level of elemental savagery. Achilles fills the Scamander with corpses, and takes twelve youths prisoner to be sacrificed for Patroclus. Lycaon, Priam's son, pleads in vain for his life: he too is slain and thrown into the river. The river god protests, Achilles rages on unheeding, and Scamander now threatens him with his waters. The gods now take a hand; Hephaestus with his fire dries up the plain and defeats the river. By now the gods are fighting after their various fashions: Athene wounds Ares with a stone, but Apollo declines to fight with Poseidon over mortal men. Artemis is more bellicose, until Hera breaks her bow and arrows over her head. All the gods now return to Olympus. Agenor posts himself before the gate to withstand Achilles' assault, but Apollo rescues him, takes his shape, and lures Achilles away, so that the fleeing Trojans can withdraw within the walls.
BOOK X
Everyone is asleep except Agamemnon and Menelaus, who wander anxiously about the camp. Meeting each other outside, near the sentinels, they decide to send Odysseus and Diomedes to reconnoitre. Hector also has sent out a spy, Dolon, promising him the horses of Achilles. He falls in with the two Greeks, who find out all that he knows and then despatch him, having thus learned of the arrival of the Thracian king Rhesus with his splendid horses. They kill Rhesus and twelve of his followers, and ride back to camp with the horses. BOOK XXII
Hector remains in the field, despite the prayers of Priam and Hecuba that he should take refuge in the city. He recalls now how he was thrice warned by Polydamas and how he led his countrymen to destruction. Achilles approaches, and he flees from him three times round the walls of the city. Zeus weighs the fatal lots: that of Hector sinks. Apollo now deserts his favourite, and Athene checks his flight by appearing in the form of Deiphobus and promising help. Hector falls at the hand of Achilles. As in his anger, so in his revenge Achilles knows no bounds. The dying Hector had begged that his body be given back for burial: Achilles drags the corpse to the ships behind his chariot. Priam, Hecuba and Andromache break into wild lamentation.
BOOK XI
The next day's fighting (the description of which lasts until book 18) begins with the aristeia of Agamemnon. His arms are described in great detail. Once again the expected development of the action is held up: Agamemnon's prowess seems likely to unsettle Zeus' plan for the discomfiture of the Achaeans, but the god knows what he is about. He sends Iris to Hector, telling him to hold back while Agamemnon is fighting: his time will come when Agamemnon is wounded and leaves the field. So it comes to pass, but Odysseus and Diomedes maintain the battle on equal terms. The wounding of Diomedes leaves Odysseus in sore straits, and even Ajax now gives ground before the numbers of the enemy. Nestor takes the wounded Machaon onto his chariot: Achilles, viewing the battle from the prow of his ship, wants to know whom Nestor is rescuing, and sends Patroclus to find out. The old man holds Patroclus long in conversation and urges him to persuade Achilles to fight, or alternatively to give his arms to Patroclus and send him into the fray. Patroclus, moved by this appeal, hurries back: on his way he meets the wounded Eurypylus, who needs medical help and gives but a poor account of Greek prospects.
BOOK XXIII
Two corpses now await the purifying flames. Three times the Myrmidons march round the corpse of Patroclus; finally they hold the funeral feast. His shade appears to Achilles and prays for speedy cremation. Next morning the pyre is made ready: the flames are fed with sumptuous offerings - among them the twelve Trojan captives. The next day the bones of Patroclus are gathered together, and elaborate funeral games with costly prizes are celebrated. In the various contests Odysseus and Ajax are pitted against each other - craft against strength. The indecisive wrestling-match is a foretaste of the later 'judgment of arms' - a theme probably known to Homer. It is significant that Achilles, not hitherto noted for temperance of emotion or expression, plays the part of the peacemaker in a dispute over the chariot-race. Here we have an anticipation of the Achilles of the ransom scenes.
BOOK XII
The first verses of book 12 begin a new section - lasting until the end of 15 - of the great battle. At the start we find the Achaeans fighting to defend the wall round their ships, although their retreat from the battlefield has not been described. In fact, by a technique unusual in epic, it has taken place while Patroclus has his scenes with Nestor and Eurypylus. By the end of 15 Hector is about to set fire to the Greek ships. The intervening four books contain a sequence - only substantially interrupted by the machinations of Hera in 14 - of fluctuating fortune in general and individual encounter, deeds of heroes and deaths of lesser mortals, clearly composed as an artistic whole. After the retreat of the Achaeans to their ships, the Trojans try to storm the wall. Hector's first proposal, to drive at it headlong in their chariots, is opposed by Polydamas, who more wisely wishes to leave the chariots at the edge of the ditch. This is his first appearance as adviser and amender of Hector's counsels - a role which he sustains up till book 18. The fate of Asius, who assaults the wall singlehanded in his chariot, shows that Polydamas cannot be disregarded with impunity. The Trojans, attacking in five companies, are appalled by an evil omen, and Polydamas counsels withdrawal. Hector rejects the warning and renews the attack. Sarpedon breaks down part of the palisade, and Hector shatters one of the gates with a great stone.
BOOK XXIV
The anger and grief of Achilles are far from assuaged. Every day he drags Hector's body three times round Patroclus' grave. On the twelfth day the gods intervene. Against the wishes of the gods who hate the Trojans - it is here that we are first told of the judgment of Parisl as the cause of Hera's and Athene's hatred - Thetis is sent to Achilles to ask him to return the body of Hector. Iris persuades Priam to face a visit to the Greek camp. By night he sets out with rich gifts for the man who slew the noblest of his sons. Achilles thinks of his own father: both men weep and dismiss their anger and resentment. The angry and implacable Achilles has learned to open his heart to another's grief. Priam returns with Hector's body and the promise of an armistice of twelve days. Andromache, Hecuba and Helen bewail Hector. For nine days the Trojans gather wood; then Hector's pyre is kindled and his burial mound is built.
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