HOMER:  THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES

  Homer's Iliad originated at the beginnings of Western
civilization.  Its power is so timeless that it has been read
continuously for more than 2500 years.  Yet its origin lies
shrouded in mystery, tangled in mythology, religion, and ancient
tribal history.  Aside from these elements, the real excitement
of the Iliad lies in its brilliant poetry, which is sustained
for more than 15,000 lines, bringing an age of heroes and their
exploits to life with clarity, complexity, and depth of
feeling. 

  Homer has been known since classical Greek times as the
author of the Odyssey and the Iliad--and that is about all that
can be said for certain about him.  The ancients regarded him as
practically a god, equal to the muses (who were the divine
inspiration for all arts).  Facts about Homer the man have long
been the subject of hot debate among scholars.  Perhaps Homer
also wrote a group of long poems, still called the Homeric
Hymns.  Perhaps Homer didn't actually write the two great epic
poems but merely pieced together small sections written by many
different poets over centuries.  Perhaps there was no Homer at
all, and the poems were a kind of oral history, written and
recited by numerous poets and much later collected into the
books we now know.  Each of these theories has been offered as
true, and each remains unproven. 

  What is certain is that the ancient Greek scholars and
commentators were convinced that Homer was real and lived in the
9th or 8th century B.C.  Modern scholars generally agree that
the Iliad was composed around 725 B.C.  (the earliest written
versions we have are hundreds of years later than that, so
there's plenty of room for conjecture).  But though we don't
have the earliest texts, the ancient Greeks did, and Homer was
written about, discussed, and analyzed throughout the classical
Greek period. 

  One of the key controversies among Homeric critics is whether
Homer composed his poems orally or whether he actually wrote
them down.  We do know that Homer's poems were recited in later
days, at festivals and ceremonial occasions, by professional
singers called rhapsodes, who beat out the measure with rhythm
staffs.  (There is a similar poet/singer in the Odyssey who
sings a poem about the Trojan War.  He is an old man, and blind;
that may be the source behind the legend that Homer himself was
blind.) Whether or not Homer actually wrote down his poems, it
now seems certain that the Iliad and the Odyssey are part of an
ancient literary tradition of oral composition.  The stories on
which they are based had probably been sung aloud for hundreds
of years, and recited and memorized by one generation of poets
after another before Homer took them in hand.  After all, in
Homer's time, writing was used mostly for inventories and
business transactions.  Recitation was the accepted means of
relating myth and history. 

  The Iliad was part of a group of ancient poems known as the
Epic Cycle, which dealt with the history of the Trojan War and
the events surrounding it.  Homer probably had at his fingertips
most of these stories and characters, ready-made.  His genius
lay in choosing to focus on the story of Achilleus and in
bringing a tragic depth to the story of the battle for Troy.
Homer was writing about events that took place four or five
hundred years before his own time, events already enlarged by
the glamor of the past.  However tall Achilleus and Hektor
actually were, by Homer's time their size was legendary, rather
like that of comic book superheroes.  For the Greeks, these
heroes represented the ideals on which their civilization was
based.  At the same time, they symbolized elements of the human
psyche, with its yearning for nobility and honor. 

  The world of the Iliad is based on history but grows into
metaphor:  we must look beneath the facts to its deeper meaning.
Archaeologists have indeed discovered the remains of a supposed
Troy on the coast of Turkey and the majestic ruins of palaces
and tombs in Mykenai on the plains of Greece.  Through the lines
of the Iliad, however, the Greeks and Trojans still live for us,
echoing in the human imagination. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  A COMPARISON OF TRANSLATIONS 

  Over the centuries there have been many translations of
Homer's two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey.  While the
translations of course differ, none is more accurate than
another.  Each translator's understanding of Homer is influenced
by his own personality and the time in which he lived.  Some
translations are in verse, others in prose.  The quotations in
this guide are from Richmond Lattimore's prose version of the
Iliad (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1951).  This
translation is easy for modern readers to understand and comes
close to what Homer was saying. 

  It is interesting to compare the various translations.  Here
are four versions of some lines from Book II. 

  Say, Virgins, seated round the Throne Divine, 

  All-knowing Goddesses!  Immortal Nine! 

  Since Earth's wide Regions, Heav'n's unmeasur'd Height, 

  And Hell's Abyss hide nothing from your sight, 

  (We, wretched Mortals!  lost in Doubts below, 

  But guess by Rumour, and but boast we know) 

  Oh say what Heroes, fir'd by Thirst of Fame, 

  Or urg'd by Wrongs, to Troy's Destruction Came? 

  To count them all, demands a thousand Tongues, 

  A Throat of Brass, and Adamantine Lungs. 

  Daughters of Jove assist!  inspir'd by You 

  The mighty labour dauntless I pursue: 

  What crowded Armies, from what Climes they bring, 

  Their Names, their Numbers, and their Chiefs I sing. 

  -Alexander Pope 

  Tell me now, ye Muses that dwell in the mansions of
Olympus--seeing that ye are goddesses and are at hand and know
all things, but we hear only a rumour and know not anything--who
were the captains of the Danaans and their lords.  But the
common sort could I not number nor name, nay, not if ten tongues
were mine and ten mouths, and a voice unwearied, and my heart of
bronze within me, did not the Muses of Olympus, daughters of
aegis-bearing Zeus, put into my mind all that came to Ilios.  So
will I tell the captains of the ships and all the ships in
order. 

  -Lang, Leaf, and Myers 

  Tell me now, Muses, dwelling on Olympos, as you are heavenly,
and are everywhere, and everything is known to you--while we can
only hear the tales and never know--who were the Danaan lords
and officers?  The rank and file I shall not name; I could not,
if I were gifted with ten tongues and voices unfaltering, and a
brazen heart within me, unless the Muses, daughters of Olympian
Zeus beyond the stormcloud, could recall all those who sailed
for the campaign at Troy.  Let me name only the captains of
contingents and number all the ships. 

  -Robert Fitzgerald 

  Tell me now, you Muses who have your homes on Olympos.  For
you, who are goddesses, are there, and you know all things, and
we have heard only the rumour of it and know nothing.  Who then
of those were the chief men and the lords of the Danaans?  I
could not tell over the multitude of them nor name them, not if
I had ten tongues and ten mouths, not if I had a voice never to
be broken and a heart of bronze within me, not unless the Muses
of Olympia, daughters of Zeus of the aegis, remembered all those
who came beneath Ilion.  I will tell the lords of the ships, and
the ships numbers. 

  -Richard Lattimore 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  THE PLOT 

  For nine years the Achaians have besieged Troy.  During one
of their raids on a nearby town they take as captives two women:
Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, priest of Apollo, and Briseis.
Chryseis is given to King Agamemnon as a war prize; Briseis is
allotted to Achilleus.  When Chryses the priest comes to the
Argive camp seeking to ransom his daughter, Agamemnon refuses.
At Chryses' behest Apollo sends a plague on the Achaians. 

  Achilleus calls an assembly of the army, and the soothsayer
Kalchas explains the anger of the god.  He says that to appease
Apollo, Agamemnon must return Chryseis to her father.  A violent
quarrel ensues, and Agamemnon says if he is forced to give up
his prize he will take someone else's to replace her.  When
Achilleus expresses outrage at this demand, Agamemnon takes
Briseis from him. 

  Furious at the public insult, Achilleus vows to refrain from
fighting until he feels he is once again properly valued.  To
effect this, he prays to his mother, Thetis, to plead his case
before Zeus so that the Trojans will have victories, showing how
sorely Achilleus is missed.  Zeus assents to the plan. 

  All the Achaian army is marshaled before us in its splendor,
but to little avail.  Things go badly for them in battle.  A
long day of fighting seesaws between the Trojans and the
Argives.  Hektor returns briefly to Troy and speaks to Helen and
Paris, to his mother Hekabe, and to his wife Andromache, who
brings along their child, Astyanax. 

  After more inconclusive fighting a truce is proposed, during
which time the Achaians build up their defenses with a large
ditch and a fortified wall. 

  The next day the Trojans press the Argives, camping on the
plain of Troy within striking distance of the Argive ships.
Sensing defeat, Agamemnon admits his mistakes and offers to
return Briseis to Achilleus, along with numerous other gifts.
An embassy is sent to Achilleus with the proposal, but Achilleus
refuses.  The depth of his anger and shame forces him to hold
out. 

  Diomedes and Odysseus carry out a nighttime spying
expedition, during which the unfortunate Trojan Dolon is
captured and made to talk.  The two warriors then raid the
outskirts of the Trojan camp. 

  Though Agamemnon in particular fights bravely, he and all the
other major Achaians except Aias are wounded and forced to
retire temporarily from battle.  They are vulnerable to attack,
and Hektor leads the Trojans crashing through the wall to reach
the ships and burn them.  But Achilleus is watching as the ships
are torched.  Neither he nor his comrade Patroklos can endure
the defeat.  Patroklos dons Achilleus' armor to fight against
the Trojans, hoping they will mistake him for Achilleus and be
demoralized.  Patroklos rouses the Achaian army, and the Trojans
are swept back to their city walls.  Finally Hektor meets
Patroklos face to face.  Unarmed and shaken by Apollo, Patroklos
is an easy victim for Hektor's spear. 

  A furious battle over the body of the dead Patroklos follows.
The fierce fighting swings back and forth.  Though Hektor seizes
the armor, the Achaians are able to rescue the body.  Pressed
hard by Hektor and his forces, the Achaians retreat to their
ships.  By then Achilleus has been brought the terrible news of
the death of his friend.  Enraged and brokenhearted, Achilleus
turns his anger from Agamemnon to Hektor.  Though Achilleus has
no armor, his mere appearance on the battlefield sends the
Trojans fleeing in terror.  Hephaistos crafts a stupendous set
of armor for him, and after calling an assembly in which he and
Agamemnon make their peace, Achilleus dons his new armor and
rages into battle.  Virtually all the Trojans are slaughtered.
Achilleus brings Hektor down, ties him to his chariot, and drags
him through the dust back to the ships. 

  The Achaians solemnly and elaborately bury Patroklos, while
Achilleus laments and continues to brutalize the corpse of
Hektor.  The gods decide it is time to end this situation, and
through Zeus' efforts Priam is sent to the Achaian camp to
ransom the body of his son.  Achilleus and Priam weep together
over their mutual losses; then Priam returns to Troy with the
body of Hektor. 

  Within the city walls the Trojans formally mourn their slain
hero.  Andromache, Hekabe, and Helen lament his passing.  Hektor
is buried. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ACHILLEUS (ACHILLES) 

  Achilleus, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, is
the leader of the Myrmidon contingent in the Trojan War.  He is
clearly the greatest of the Achaian warriors, in the judgment of
both friend and enemy.  The very sight of him on the battlefield
is enough to send the Trojans fleeing in terror.  Part of this
power comes from his divine connections (his mother, Thetis, is
a goddess), part from divine favor (at crucial points Hera and
Athene look out for him and help him).  This may also be a way
of telling us of the enormous personal resources Achilleus has
at his command. 

  Achilleus' vast emotional and physical powers are not always
at the service of clearheadedness.  Though his initial anger at
Agamemnon is based on a sense of moral justice, his rage
transcends his sense of morality.  His emotions motivate him
more than his thoughts, for he holds onto his fury even after
Agamemnon offers to return Briseis with an apology.  At that
point he is no longer operating for a principle of fairness but
is playing out his anger and punishing his enemies.
Unfortunately, his comrades must pay the price of his passions.
Not until his friend Patroklos has been sacrificed does
Achilleus realize he has held his position too long. 

  Yet he is a complex, vital man.  There is little doubt that
he is right in taking a stand against Agamemnon's arbitrary
decisions.  He is one of those people who will fight to the
death for what they believe in.  Though his anger is fierce and
relentless, there is nevertheless something noble in it.  His
sheer intensity demands respect.  Because he is the one
character actually to undergo change, the Iliad is really his
poem.  He loses much along the way but finally tempers his anger
and reaches out in a gesture of compassion and peace toward
Priam.  Achilleus is first in the line of great Greek tragic
heroes:  his power makes him a hero, and his human blindness
makes him tragic. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  AGAMEMNON 

  Although many of the Greek commanders are kings in their own
right, Agamemnon as commander-in-chief is king of them all, the
"lord of men." We don't know whether he was given this position
by virtue of the size or wealth of his home city, Mykenai, or
because he is the powerful brother of the wronged Menelaos, or
if he was voted as leader by all the other Achaians.
Agamemnon's position, however, is the key to his character.
Behind his actions in his quarrel with Achilleus lies a need to
protect the trappings of his office, his rank.  Quite simply,
the king cannot have less than his subjects; respect must be
shown.  Yet Agamemnon, too, is rash, and there is pride in his
actions as much as in Achilleus'.  Though in battle he proves
himself a strong fighter, he seems to be less sure as a leader.
Several times he suggests that the Achaians give up their
struggle, and an uncertainty about his position may make him too
quick to jump at Achilleus.  He is fast to recognize his wrong
and make an apology (within the limits of his sense of rank),
and shows a tender care for his brother, Menelaos.  He seems to
have genuine concern for his army; yet his judgment is none too
sharp and he waffles.  For all his kingliness, he is somewhat
more bureaucratic than noble.  His arbitrariness with Achilleus
brings the heroic code into question. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  AIAS (AJAX) 

  Son of Telamon (hence called Telemonian Aias), he is, after
Achilleus, the most imposing of the Argive warriors.  He is
frequently compared to a wall, and, in fact, as the last hero on
the field after all the others have been wounded, he practically
single-handedly defends the ships, roaming the fortified wall
and then fighting from the prow of a boat.  In a way, he is the
Achaian defensive wall personified.  He rarely speaks in
council.  What he does is defend his comrades to the end by
sheer bulk and human will, and he does not give up until, the
last man left, his very spear is hacked from his hands. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  DIOMEDES 

  Diomedes is one of the great fighters for the Achaians.  A
true warrior, he supports Agamemnon when he feels the
commander-in-chief is right and criticizes him when he is wrong.
He is aided by Athene and is also responsible for wounding both
Aphrodite and Ares--a remarkable feat for a mortal (although it
is accomplished with the aid of Athene).  He does not have
Odysseus' spark of insight, but he speaks seriously, if
haltingly.  This may be because he is the youngest of the
Achaian commanders.  At times he seems too eager for battle, and
his killing of Dolon has a touch of ruthlessness about it. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  MENELAOS (MENELAUS) 

  The original husband of Helen, brother of Agamemnon, and king
of Sparta, Menelaos has the unlucky distinction of being the
person on whose behalf the war is being fought.  He is dogged
but not quite illustrious.  He fights hard, though not
particularly skillfully, and seems at times to be protected by
Agamemnon.  He is willing to bear the burden of responsibility
but is not quite up to the challenge. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  NESTOR 

  Nestor, the aged king of Pylos, is one of the most
elaborately conceived characters in the Iliad.  He has not only
a consistent set of ideas, but a consistent way of talking.  He
is forever long-winded and rambling.  His characterization is
due largely to his age:  he is the oldest of the warriors at
Troy.  His wayward speeches are the product of a mind not quite
as quick as it used to be, and also filled with a bit of
blustery memory to pad the way.  Yet he always has a point to
make, and his age is not ridiculed.  His experience gives him
the justification to draw forth moral examples.  That these
examples come mostly from his own life shows a kind of fond
respect for him on the part of Homer.  Though no longer able to
fight the way he used to, he is eager to aid the cause in
whatever way he can. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ODYSSEUS 

  Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is seen in many ways as the
counterpart to Achilleus.  He is the hero of the other epic by
Homer, the Odyssey.  Where Achilleus is passionate, Odysseus is
resourceful.  Achilleus is often seen as archaic man, the
idealist, while Odysseus is viewed as modern man, the pragmatic
survivor.  In the Iliad he seems to have the quickest mind of
all and is able to interrupt arguments with just the right
measure of understanding and criticism.  He always tries to keep
things in order so that the matter at hand--the battle for
Troy--can move forward.  He is a great fighter and can be
ruthless as well as tricky.  He is also a true friend, the kind
that does not mince words but tells you honestly (but with tact)
what is the matter. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  PATROKLOS (PATROCLUS) 

  Companion to Achilleus and son of Menoitios, Patroklos is the
most sympathetic character in the Iliad.  He is shown more often
in friendship than in battle, and he is spoken of in the kindest
terms by Achilleus and Briseis, both of whom he befriended.
Though faithful to Achilleus, he can't endure the sight of his
comrades being slaughtered, and if he can't rouse Achilleus to
fight, he begs to be able to fight in Achilleus' place.  The
enormity of Achilleus' affection for him and the funeral rites
held for his sake make him seem particularly noble. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ANDROMACHE 

  Andromache, wife of Hektor, is the most emotionally up-front
character in the Iliad.  Her speeches to Hektor are filled with
passion and intensity.  She is a devoted wife and mother and
also shows her knowledge of the pleasure of emotional intimacy.
Her grief is so directly communicated that she seems to stand
for all Trojan women who have lost husbands and sons in the war.
Her devotion and immediacy make us feel how much is wasted by
the conflict at Troy, and add to our appreciation of Hektor. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HEKABE (HECABE) 

  Wife of Priam and mother of Hektor, Hekabe incorporates the
wisdom of women who understand intuitively the value of life.
In urging Hektor not to go back into battle she reminds us of
all the positive social aspects of existence.  Her response to
Priam's mission of recondition is similarly a primal concern:
she has seen too much loveliness destroyed to trust anymore in
the vicious war and its participants.  She has a mother's
instinctual protectiveness and rage, and says she would devour
the liver of the hated Achilleus if she could--but her fury is
born of grief and desperation. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HEKTOR (HECTOR) 

  Son of Priam and Hekabe, and husband to Andromache, Hektor is
the most beloved and greatest fighter for the Trojans.  Because
the war is being fought at Troy, and Homer presents a picture of
life within the city walls, we have a sense of Hektor as a
domestic man as well as a fighter, which is unique in the Iliad.
Though at times his fame as a fighter seems to outstrip his
actual combat ability, he often single-handedly inspires the
Trojan successes.  By the time he crashes through the Achaian
defensive wall, you could say he stands for the Trojan army.  He
can be impetuous and almost deluded in his fighting frenzy; he
misreads omens and doesn't follow the advice of his comrades
even when it's eminently worthwhile.  Like Achilleus, he pursues
his destiny with a single-minded force. 

  We sense that Hektor is not fighting a war he particularly
believes in.  He is quick to criticize Paris but is staking his
life on defending Paris' actions.  Hektor is the upholder of the
heroic code par excellence.  He understands that his city must
stand or fall as one man.  He defends its interests to the end
for honor. 

  In his family relations Hektor exhibits sensitivity and
sanity, a sharp contrast to his furious warring.  He is
courteous to Helen and devoted to Andromache.  Though he tells
his wife he must fight for the honor of the city, he also admits
to her that her safety is his greatest worry--he would rather
die than endure the sight of her made captive.  He is tender and
playful with his son, Astyanax, kissing him and actually
laughing out loud--a rare occurrence in the Iliad! 

  While Achilleus seems somehow to stand above the Achaian
cause and infuses the poem with his own tragic dimension,
Hektor's tragedy is the tragedy of Troy.  Though the gods admit
he has always dutifully made his sacrifices to them, he gets
embroiled in a web of fate that goes beyond his personal life.
He is the "defender," and when he falls Troy falls.  The burial
of Hektor is the final act of the poem. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HELEN 

  Even more so than Paris, Helen is the unwitting agent of
Aphrodite.  In her one important scene with the goddess she is
literally forced to go to Paris against her wishes.  Helen has a
mysterious quality throughout the poem--as she will throughout
Greek history--and her descent from Zeus (and Leda) may give her
a special divine aura.  Renowned for her beauty, she appears in
the poem in flowing, sheer robes that only intensify her
spectral quality.  She frequently regrets her abduction by Paris
and sometimes longingly thinks of her past with Menelaos.  She
furiously rebukes Paris for his cowardice, even expressing a
wish that he die in battle so that she won't have to be with him
any longer.  By recognizing that Aphrodite has misled and used
her, she also recognizes her own mistake.  In the Iliad, Helen
is a love goddess against her will. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  PARIS (ALEXANDROS) 

  Pampered, beautiful, and slightly scandalous, Paris is the
actual cause of the Trojan War--he stole Helen from his host,
Menelaos.  He is chided by Hektor for his womanizing and his
prettiness, and even Helen seems to be fed up with his
shamelessness and lack of modesty.  He is an adequate fighter,
but clearly his heart is somewhere else.  While others are
busying themselves with the gruesome realities of war, Paris is
making love to Helen.  Helen expresses regret but Paris never
apologizes for bringing war down on his people and making them
defend his rather indefensible actions.  It is important to note
that he achieves what he does through the aid and insistence of
Aphrodite.  He both benefits from and is used by her power. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  POULYDAMAS (POLYDAMAS) 

  Poulydamas, comrade of Hektor, embodies some of the spirit of
both Patroklos and Odysseus, and fulfills a similar role as they
do to Achilleus.  He is the confidant of Hektor, and they seem
to have had a long-standing relationship, but he is also
clear-sighted when Hektor is impetuous, and the advice he
gives--though not always followed--is careful and cleverly
reasoned. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  PRIAM 

  Priam is the Trojan counterpart to Nestor, the elder
statesman and ruler with a dynasty.  He is gentle and wise with
his people, and is a fond (and prolific) father.  Though his
temper flares momentarily after the death of his son, Hektor, he
treats even Helen respectfully.  In his nighttime voyage to the
Achaian camp he shows extreme courage.  He is a man who
cherishes his family and is able to reach out to Achilleus on
this basis of human connections. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  THE IMMORTALS 

  Just who or what the gods and goddesses are is one of the
Iliad's most intriguing questions.  Sometimes they are religious
figures, sometimes allegorical, sometimes psychological.  Their
relation to humans is extremely complex. 

  One way of looking at the gods is as a way of explaining how
or why an event took place.  Thus, if a warrior throws a spear
at another warrior and misses, Homer might say that Athene
caused the spear to overshoot its target.  Similar to this
approach is a psychological reading of the gods.  When Helen is
arguing with Aphrodite about going to Paris in Book III, we
could say that's another way of Helen talking to herself and
trying to figure out her true desire. 

  Sometimes the immortals in the Iliad can be seen as
abstracted powers.  Ares, for instance, is sometimes conceived
of as war itself, not as a character.  When the ground springs
into bloom beneath Hera and Zeus in Book XIV, we could say that
these two immortals themselves are possessed of the abstracted
power of Aphrodite or, simply, love and fertility. 

  It is also clear that the gods and goddesses are characters
in the Iliad, and as such display individuality and will in
their actions.  They are used as comic relief from the war,
mimicking and mocking mortals.  They are even parodies of
humanity, and since they are supposedly so powerful (they're
quite literally "above it all" on Olympos), their squabbles and
tricks seem foolish in comparison.  As characters, Homer uses
the immortals skillfully to further his plot.  They can
intervene, favor one side or another, and force mortals to do
things against their will.  Though they can manipulate human
lives, it is not at all clear that they can change human
destiny.  Thus, all their machinations may just be another way
of saying this or that event took place.  Comic or terrifying,
they have this distinction in the poem--they are entirely
creatures of the imagination.  Unless, of course, they are
real!... 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  APHRODITE 

  Goddess of love, Aphrodite fights in support of the Trojans,
backing Paris in his judgment among the goddesses.  She is not
particularly successful in the battle and is wounded by
Diomedes.  She is not, however, all free and easy.  She
ruthlessly threatens Helen to do her bidding, and in a way the
Trojan War is due to her manipulation.  The power of love she
governs is able to bring men to battle. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  APOLLO 

  The far-shooting god who causes the initial plague against
the Achaians, Apollo is a defender of Troy and supporter of
Hektor in battle. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ARES 

  Ares is the cold-blooded and bloodthirsty god of war.  He
aids the Trojan side and is sometimes pictured, allegorically,
as war itself.  Those who fight well are said to be "dear to
Ares." 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ATHENE (ATHENA) 

  Athene, in league with Hera against the Trojans--and for the
same reason--is nevertheless more closely allied to Achilleus.
Their relationship seems to be one of mutually powerful
warriors.  Athene, with her aegis that she shares with Zeus, is
the most powerful war force of all.  She is unflinching in
combat, but her warrior stance is mediated by wisdom.  She is
the fiercest possible ally and is there for Achilleus at his
most crucial moments. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HEPHAISTOS (HEPHAESTUS) 

  The lame god of the blacksmith's art (and its fire),
Hephaistos fashions in his smithy a stupendous set of armor for
Achilleus.  Hephaistos can make himself a jester to amuse the
other immortals but can also bring a fiercer power to bear.  He
sends a raging firestorm against the river Xanthos to aid
Achilleus. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HERA 

  Hera, wife of Zeus, is one of the great troublemakers in the
Iliad.  Her anger and trickery keep things moving any time they
threaten to go slack.  She resents Zeus and his power as much as
she may love him, but she has found ways of circumventing his
will.  She supports Achilleus chiefly because she loathes the
Trojans--evidently because Paris insulted her by choosing
Aphrodite as the loveliest of the immortals.  She lies to both
Zeus and Aphrodite to get her way, and her eye is that of a
relentless housewife who does not miss a thing. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  POSEIDON 

  Poseidon is the god of the sea and is also known as the
shaker-of-the-earth.  He sides with the Achaians and bristles
under the authority of his older brother, Zeus.  He is extremely
powerful, and when he commits himself to battle it feels as if
the earth were coming apart. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  THETIS 

  Divine mother of Achilleus, Thetis is emotional and devoted
to her son.  She pleads his case before Zeus and is
ever-watchful from her domain in the sea.  She knows of
Achilleus' fated death and mourns him before he has actually
died.  As fiercely protective of her son as Hekabe is of Hektor,
she arranges for Hephaistos to craft divine armor for Achilleus.
In her sea caves she is surrounded by the company of the
Nereids, the sporting sea nymphs. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ZEUS 

  Zeus, the most powerful god of all--and quick to let everyone
know it--is, in a way, the author of the poem.  His plan to
bring about the redemption of Achilleus really creates the plot
structure.  Zeus is the great sky god, one of the powerful
second generation of Greek deities who took over the world from
its primal forces.  His father was Kronos, and his brothers are
Poseidon and Hades.  Among the immortals, his will is absolute;
not absolute enough, however, to prevent him from being tricked
by his wife Hera when she sets her mind to it.  He has a fierce
and merciless vengeance, and his will is crossed only at great
peril.  The face he shows to mortals is usually one of thunder
and lightning, though he can also communicate via bird omens,
usually in the form of an eagle.  He tolerates the squabbles and
feuds of the other gods and goddesses as if they were all his
children.  He demands--and rewards--absolute respect.  He may or
may not be able to influence fate, but he certainly has the
scales in his possession. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

  When the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated
the site of Mykenai in the late 19th century, he found amid an
extraordinary series of royal graves a magnificent gold mask of
a man.  Schliemann announced to the world that he had gazed upon
the face of Agamemnon, the "lord of men." Later scientific
analyses proved that the mask predated Agamemnon by several
generations, but nevertheless Schliemann's discoveries brought
Homer's Iliad squarely into the real world.  The historical
reality of the Trojan War was established. 

  The thing that led Schliemann--as well as readers for several
thousand years--to believe that Mykenai really existed was the
vividness of Homer's descriptions.  The world of the Iliad is
filled with minute details of life in the Bronze Age.  Even
though most of Homer's information must have been handed down
through centuries of memorized refrains, the pictures he
presents often have the accuracy of documentary film.  His
descriptions of the bronze-armored Achaians, with their
horse-plumed helmets, long spears, and figure-eight shields,
give a picture of ancient Greek battle gear, which has since
been proven accurate by archaeologists' discoveries.  The
detailed catalog of ships in Book II is practically a geography
lesson, ranging over the entire Greek world.  Today we still can
walk around the foundations of the walled cities of Troy and
Mykenai and see the remnants of the great-halled megarons and
their battlements that Homer described.  We can learn of
weaving, hunting, and shipbuilding from Homer; of plowing and
shepherding and how to make offerings to appease the gods.  His
battle scenes show a startling knowledge of human anatomy, and
though they occur again and again--often in the same words--the
episodes throw us right into the crunch of combat. 

  Greek tradition says that the Trojan War took place in the
12th century B.C., and archaeological and linguistic evidence
supports the claim.  The Greeks--Homer refers to them at
different times as Argives or Achaians or Danaans--were an
alliance of small kingdoms, each with its own rulers, powerful
clans, and legends.  In the Trojan War, a federation of these
Greek kingdoms mounted a great political expedition across the
Aegean Sea.  They sailed to Troy, on the west coast of Asia
Minor, also known as Ilios (that's where the name Iliad comes
from). 

  Why did these Greeks undertake such a complicated and faraway
venture?  If we are interested only in history, we might suggest
that they wanted to capture the lucrative merchant trade
monopolized by Troy, which was strategically located on the edge
of the Black Sea, between Asia and the West.  If we are
intrigued by poetry--and the Iliad, for all its historical
accuracies, is above all a work of poetry--we must take into
account the legend of Helen of Troy and move into the world of
myth that surrounds the Argive warriors. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  MYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND 

  The Iliad focuses on one small part of the Trojan War, nine
years into the siege.  (Homer's audience would already have
known the details of how the war started and how it ended.  Each
poem in the Epic Cycle dealt with a particular part of the
story, and even if the other poems were written later than the
Iliad, the whole story most likely was common knowledge.) There
are really two wars narrated in the Iliad:  one between the
Greeks and Trojans, and one among the gods themselves.  And two
legends explain the beginnings of the Trojan War. 

  The first concerns Helen, the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda
(though she is also said to have been sired by Zeus, who tookthe form of a swan to ravish Leda).  Helen was the most
beautiful woman in Achaea.  When she was of marrying age,
suitors flocked from all over Greece to offer her gifts and
marriage.  Her father Tyndareus was afraid to antagonize any of
these powerful kings and princes by choosing one of them.
Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, suggested that they all swear to
support whoever among them was chosen.  The lucky winner was the
very rich Menelaos of Sparta, brother to King Agamemnon of
Mykenai, which was the most powerful of the Greek kingdoms. 

  The second legend concerns Paris, one of the sons of King
Priam of Troy.  Handsome young Paris was placed in a predicament
by Zeus.  At the wedding of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis,
Eris (whose name means "strife") threw down a golden apple, with
the inscription "for the fairest" written on it.  Unwilling to
decide whether the apple should go to Aphrodite, Athene, or
Hera, his wife, Zeus turned the sticky question over to Paris,
who happened to be wandering on Mount Ida near Troy.  Each
goddess tried to bribe Paris to choose her, but Aphrodite
offered him the love of Spartan Helen which, backed up with the
goddess's own undeniable beauty, swayed Paris to her cause.
From that point, Hera and Athene vowed revenge on Paris' home
town, Troy. 

  The two legends then came together. 

  Paris went to Sparta as a guest of Menelaos.  While Menelaos
was away on a mission, Helen ran off to Troy with her handsome
guest, becoming Helen of Troy.  The Greeks, having sworn to
defend whoever married Helen, gathered together a massive naval
force to sail for Troy.  Some say raising the army took ten
years.  According to the figures in Book II of the Iliad, the
force assembled had more than 1100 ships and between 50,000 and
100,000 men.  The Achaians camped on the beachhead near the
plain of Troy and besieged the city unsuccessfully for nine
years, making occasional forays into neighboring towns, looting
gold and carrying off women for their pleasure.  This is where
the Iliad begins--occupying a few weeks in the siege of Troy and
centered around the great Argive warrior Achilleus and his
battle with the Trojan prince, Hektor. 

  The Iliad never shows us the fall of Troy, though it
foreshadows it.  According to legend, the Greeks later persuaded
the Trojans to accept an offering of a giant wooden horse.  Once
the horse was inside the gates, the Greeks jumped out from their
hiding place within it, opened the gates of the city, and sacked
Troy.  Helen was taken back by Menelaos, and the Achaians sailed
for home.  Of course, another poem--the Odyssey--tells us about
that journey home, focusing on Odysseus' voyage back to
Ithaca. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  THEMES 

  1.  WAR AND PEACE 

  The Iliad takes place during a fierce war between the Trojans
and Achaians.  Almost the entire poem is devoted to the
fighting, from an initial overview of the forces to minute
descriptions of combat.  The descriptions of battle wounds and
death are shockingly accurate; reading them, we cannot help but
feel the bitterness of war.  Since the two major
characters--Hektor and Achilleus--either die or have their death
foreshadowed, a sense of futility is also built into Homer's
chronicle.  And yet, posed against the viciousness is a sense of
heroism and glory that adds a glamor to the fighting.  Homer
both abhors war and glorifies it. 

  Against the conflicts taking place on the plain of Troy, the
domestic scenes within the city walls have a sweetness and
sorrow.  Along with the similes that tell of peacetime efforts
back home in Greece, these scenes serve as contrast to the war,
reminding us of what human values are destroyed by fighting, as
well as what is worth fighting for. 

  2.  THE HEROIC CODE 

  The concept of heroism and the honor that results from it is
one of the major currents running through the poem.  Achilleus'
struggle revolves around his belief in an honor system opposed
to Agamemnon's royal privilege.  In a way, his struggle is one
of faith:  can he continue to believe in the ideals for which he
has fought so valiantly and relentlessly?  If not, what values
can he hold onto?  His conflict is not just with Agamemnon.  War
itself threatens the very code it supports.  We see fighter
after fighter enter the fray in search of honor; fighter after
fighter is slain before our eyes.  These men are certainly
heroes:  they are strong and courageous and larger than life.
But posed against the backdrop of war, is their struggle worth
the sacrifice? 

  3.  ANGER AND RESPONSIBILITY 

  In the original Greek, "anger" is the word that opens the
Iliad--Achilleus' anger and the destruction it brought to the
Achaians.  One of the major themes of the poem is thus
Achilleus' coming to terms with his anger.  In a broader sense,
we can read this as man's need to take responsibility for his
actions and emotions.  Viewed this way, the Iliad is a poem of
psychological and emotional growth.  Achilleus must learn to
civilize his rage.  The tragic stake for this lesson is the
death of his closest friend, Patroklos.  Similar to Achilleus'
anger is Agamemnon's ate, the moral blindness that descends on
him and causes him impulsively to mistreat Achilleus.  He, too,
must learn responsibility for his actions and apologize. 

  4.  MORTALS AND IMMORTALS 

  The gods and goddesses on Olympos, all-powerful and often
ridiculous, are contrasted to the mortals, so seriously engaged
on earth.  The immortals are gigantic; they live forever and
have nothing to fear.  Beside them, humanity seems small, yet at
the same time it gains tragic stature.  Though the mortals are
puny in comparison, there is something ennobling about their
struggle to find value and moral meaning in their lives, and
something heroic in the wholehearted way they engage in their
pursuit.  These men, whose lives are so clearly bounded by time
and the fates, play out their destiny with fervor and depth of
feeling.  It is the gods, in fact, who often seem casual and
small-minded.  The Iliad shows us a human world filled with
struggle and brutality, a world nevertheless in which mortals
exercise will in the face of divine intervention--to create
their lives according to their own terms of value, to suffer
existence and discover its possible meaning. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  STYLE AND STRUCTURE 

  The Iliad is composed in a traditional epic measure known as
dactylic hexameters.  This means each line is made up of six
metrical feet.  The first five feet in the line can be either a
dactyl (one long and two shorts, --' ') or a spondee (two longs,
----); the last foot is always a spondee.  Thus the poem has a
formal rhythm that is consistent throughout and yet varied from
line to line.  This regularity made it easier to memorize, while
the variety prevented it from being monotonous (imagine hearing
the same beat over and over again for 15,000 lines!). 

  Though the version we have is divided into 24 books, this was
probably the work of later editors of the poem, or perhaps the
books marked natural breaks in the work where the reciting poets
took a rest or the reciters were changed. 

  You will notice many phrases--sometimes whole
passages--repeated verbatim throughout the Iliad.  These
formulaic sequences are probably part of a whole fund of stock
phrases that the oral poets had at their disposal.  It has been
shown recently that many of these formulas are based on metrics;
they occur mostly at the ends of lines so they can fulfill the
demands of the meter.  In the same way, many of the descriptive
phrases that are linked with a certain character happen to match
the number of syllables in a hero's name. 

  The epithets are one of the most famous stylistic elements of
Homer's verse.  Such phrases as "swift-footed Achilleus,"
"Diomedes of the great war cry," "Hektor of the shining helm,"
or "Agamemnon the lord of men" are repeated again and again.
Sometimes they seem to become part of the characters' names
themselves.  They define the characters by putting them in their
social roles--such as "the lord of men"--or by showing how their
heroic stature is due to a particular skill or virtue.  Even if
the epithets were added simply to fill out the metrical line,
each time we hear them we feel their force.  The warriors grow
to legendary dimension from having their qualities as well as
their names repeated. 

  It has been estimated that one third of the Iliad is repeated
phrases, and perhaps much more than that is part of a formulaic
oral tradition.  Yet Homer's use of these handed-down words
becomes his own virtue.  He has been compared to an artist
working in mosaic:  the brilliant blue, red, and gold glass
pieces are his stock phrases; the final design and its execution
are his alone. 

  The epithets show Homer working with his traditional
material, but the extended similes bring vivid, firsthand
experience into the poem.  A simile compares one thing to
another, in the Iliad, the comparisons take us out of the battle
and into other areas of human experience, where events are
equally tense and crucial. 

  Often, the similes depict scenes of domestic life, cultural
and agricultural settings that take us back to daily life in
Achaia.  They inform us of the Homeric world in its larger
context and make the poem almost a social encyclopedia. 

  Other similes are about animals.  Creatures of the hunt,
especially lions and boars, call to our attention savage,
instinctive qualities, making the battlefield seem at times like
a jungle.  We realize how war tears at the thin fabric of human
culture, exposing the beast beneath. 

  Sometimes the similes are about natural catastrophes,
extremes of weather that topple fragile trees and flood the
land.  Just as natural destruction is inevitable, so is the fate
of the armies as they clash in battle.  The longer these similes
grow, the more details Homer works in. 

  Two other stylistic elements are worth noting here.  Homer
often introduces a character and then offers a capsule history
either of his noble genealogy or of his heroic deeds.  Sometimes
the characters tell their own histories.  Nestor, for example,
will recite his accomplishments the first chance he gets.  These
stories may seem like digressions, but they generally heighten
the social nature of the poem.  They place these characters
within the context of their homelands and their families.  More
than that, these telescopic stories must have given Homer's
listeners a sense of their own past, of their ongoing social
order and values.  One of the functions of a poet in a
traditional oral society was to give this historical dimension,
to connect his listeners with their past and project a future
for them.  In a culture like theirs, where few people, if any,
could read, history itself was passed on by word of mouth.  In
the Iliad, if the warriors feel that their deeds are worthy of
history, they imagine themselves being sung of by the bards of
future generations.  In Book VI, Helen even goes so far as to
suggest that Zeus had wrapped her and Paris in his web of
destiny "so that hereafter/we shall be made into things of song
for the men of the future." 

  It is also good to keep in mind that the Iliad is composed in
large part of long speeches, either in dramatic monologues or
informal dialogues.  This format may have offered opportunities
for dramatics during recital of the poems.  It's certainly
easier to follow a long poem like the Iliad when the voices do
not just alternate back and forth, but take time to express
their characters in depth.  This also gives the poem an
immediate presence.  We hear of people doing things, but if they
have something to say they say it to each other right before us.
Similarly, there is almost no interior dialogue in the poem.
These are characters who speak, rather than just think.  Even
Homer communicates with his muse in direct speech:  "Sing,
goddess," he implores in the first line of the Iliad, and the
poet sings. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK I 

  Homer opens the Iliad by calling on the goddess or muse for
divine inspiration.  Then he tells us the theme of his poem--the
anger of Achilleus and the resulting troubles it brought to the
Achaian warriors.  He sets forth another important theme, too:
"the will of Zeus." 

  NOTE:  The Trojan War is not mentioned by name.  Homer
assumed that the readers (or listeners) would be familiar with
the legend and characters.  What's really important to Homer is
the dramatic and psychological dimension to this legend.  That's
why he centers his poem on a human story--the tragedy of
Achilleus. 

  Homer quickly fills us in on the details of an argument in
the Achaian camp.  During their siege of Troy, the Achaians have
been raiding neighboring towns.  In one such raid they take as
prizes two women:  Chryseis, the daughter of the priest Chryses,
and the fair Briseis.  As the poem begins, Chryses has come to
the Achaian camp to ransom his daughter.  Although the Argive
army agrees to the ransom, Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief,
who had taken her as his prize, refuses.  Chryses then turns to
a higher authority; he prays to his god, Apollo, who favors him
by sending a plague on the Achaians, which rages for nine
days. 

  On the tenth day Achilleus, the greatest warrior among the
Achaians, calls a general assembly of the army and suggests they
ask their soothsayer Kalchas why Apollo is angry with them and
what can be done to appease him.  The seer reluctantly tells
them the truth:  unless Agamemnon gives the girl back, the
plague will continue. 

  Kalchas was right to be nervous; Agamemnon is outraged.  He
insists that the girl is his prize, and if he's forced to give
her up he will demand someone else's.  At this point Agamemnon
is the one who appears hot-tempered and unreasonable; Achilleus
is calm.  He responds that all the prizes have already been
distributed, but Agamemnon will be awarded riches from a later
expedition.  Achilleus and Agamemnon here begin to stake out
their opposition, which will underlie the plot of the entire
poem. 

  NOTE:  Keep in mind that the Achaian army was made up of many
kings and their followers, each with its own tribal pride.
Prizes determined in part the honor of each group.  As the
quarrel develops, this sense of social honor and rank will
support Agamemnon's position.  Achilleus' reaction is more
emotional:  Why should he or another be forced to give up
something he's rightfully won?  Two definitions of honor clash,
one based on rank, the other on a person's actual ability. 

  The quarrel increases.  Agamemnon threatens to take Briseis,
Achilleus' prize.  Achilleus, furious at this provocative
insult, reminds Agamemnon that he has been fighting--and
fighting valiantly--for ten years, not only for his own sake but
for Agamemnon and his brother Menelaos.  Formerly, Achilleus was
content to accept small gifts while Agamemnon always got the
best.  He has respected the social organization that far.  But
now Achilleus threatens to leave the war with his men and sail
for home.  You can imagine how the warriors would gasp at that
threat. 

  Agamemnon is adamant:  if he must return Chryseis he will
take Briseis.  Achilleus' anger mounts.  He considers killing
Agamemnon then and there, but as he begins to draw his sword,
Athene comes and stays his hand.  The old counselor Nestor also
tries to calm the quarrel, but without success.  After freeing
Chryseis, Agamemnon claims Briseis, and Achilleus, in turn, vows
to fight no more on behalf of the Argive cause. 

  Weeping in desolation, Achilleus calls to his mother, the sea
goddess Thetis, and asks her to intercede with Zeus on his
behalf so that the Trojans will be temporarily victorious,
dramatic proof that the Achaians can't win without Achilleus.
As the gods assemble on Olympos, Thetis pleads her case to Zeus
who agrees reluctantly, for he knows that his wife Hera favors
the Achaians. 

  NOTE:  Two motifs announced at the beginning will work
through the entire poem:  "the anger of Peleus' son Achilleus"
and "the will of Zeus." Achilleus leaves the poem in Book I, not
to return until Book IX, and not actually to rejoin the battle
until Book XVIII.  Yet all the time his presence is hovering
over the poem, since we know that at any moment his arrival
could turn the tide of battle in favor of the Achaians.  During
this time Achilleus, the great man of action, is inactive, and
this forces us to probe his mind instead of his deeds, to figure
out why he is behaving the way he does.  You will probably find
that your feelings toward Achilleus change over the course of
the poem.  When the Argives are being slaughtered you may feel
his holding back is self-indulgent in the worst way.  On the
other hand, you may also be aware of the enormity of his
idealism, his willingness to sacrifice everything for what he
believes to be right and just.  His own feelings and their
context are extremely complex; all his actions--sulking, raging,
and fighting--are written large for the Achaians. 

  The will of Zeus is demonstrated in his plan, which becomes a
kind of scaffolding on which the Iliad rests.  As readers you
are privy to the devices of this plan, while the Trojans and the
Achaians are at its mercy.  Zeus' plan is another way of
describing the consequences of Achilleus' anger.  To the Greeks,
the world was acted out in harmony with the gods:  whatever took
place was part of a divine plan.  In the Iliad only you and the
immortals are clued in beforehand as to what will take place. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK II 

  Zeus sends Agamemnon a false message in a dream, saying that
now is the time to marshal the Argives for victory.  Agamemnon
calls the army into assembly but instead tells them it's time to
return home; they are getting nowhere in the war.  Perhaps he is
testing their valor or assuming that the force of their honor
will give them a greater enthusiasm to fight than if they were
merely obeying his command.  Much to his surprise, the men leap
to their feet and run to their ships, eager to sail.  Athene,
alerted by Hera, appears to Odysseus and urges him to stop the
soldiers from fleeing. 

  Obediently, Odysseus reassembles the forces.  When they are
gathered, Thersites, an ugly man of no rank, abuses Agamemnon.
His speech is a kind of parody of Achilleus' former scolding.
For the Greeks, physical beauty was a sign of moral beauty, so
we might see in Thersites' misshapenness a lack of heroic
character as well; after all, he's urging them to give up.
Odysseus and Nestor, on the other hand, rouse the Achaians to
stay and fight.  Agamemnon agrees, and retires with the highest
commanders to make offerings to Zeus.  We, however, know this
won't have any effect.  "He spoke," Homer tells us, "but none of
this would the son of Kronos accomplish,/who accepted the
victims, but piled up the unwished-for hardship." 

  Much of the rest of Book II urges us to feel the scope of
this drama.  The first long simile of the poem compares the
assembling army to "swarms of clustering bees that issue
forever/in fresh bursts from the hollow in the stone...
fluttering in swarms together this way and that way." We are
told the earth groaned under the weight of the multitude.
Agamemnon reminds the army that there are ten Achians to every
Trojan.  Most important, a series of similes emphasizes the size
of the Achaian army:  their bronze shields light up the scene
with the force of a forest fire; their numbers are compared to
flocks of wild marsh birds; the sound of their horses' feet
makes the plain of Skamandros thunder.  And as they take their
position in the fields, they are themselves compared to the
innumerable wildflowers that appear in spring.  Finally, 

  Like the multitudinous nations of swarming insects 

  who drive hither and thither about the stalls of the
sheepfold 

  in the season of spring when the milk splashes in the milk
pails: 

  in such numbers the flowing-haired Achaians stood up 

  through the plain against the Trojans, hearts burning to
break 

  them. 

  The entire Achaian host is then marshaled for the so-called
"Catalog of Ships." This section of almost 300 lines describes
all the ships, commanders, and contingents assembled for the
Trojan War. 

  NOTE:  It isn't important to read and remember every name on
this long list.  Many of the figures described here have little
part in the rest of the poem.  Many scholars have even suggested
that the Catalog of Ships wasn't written by Homer.  It seems,
nevertheless, to be a fairly accurate account of the geography
and politics of Mykenaian Greece.  Whether or not it was written
by Homer, he places it here to great effect.  Its sweeping power
gives the poem a sense of epic dimensions.  In reading it, you
are actually forced to experience the grand scale of the poem.
It's like a long, slow sweep of a movie camera over a huge crowd
scene.  The longer it goes on, the more actors it reveals, until
we feel awed by such a monumental event. 

  After the Achaian army is inventoried, Zeus sends a messenger
to the Trojans, and there follows a somewhat shorter catalog of
the Trojan army and its allies.  Though the battles in the rest
of the poem are almost always described man to man, the size of
the army has now been set up as a dramatic background.  Many
human lives will be involved in every turn of the armies'
fortunes. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK III 

  The Trojans and Achaians meet for combat.  Menelaos and Paris
(Alexandros) single each other out, but then Paris shrinks from
the encounter.  His brother Hektor chides him for his good looks
and his running after women, and especially for refusing to
fight the man he wronged.  Paris explains that his beauty is the
gift of Aphrodite, not of his own doing. 

  Paris suggests that he and Menelaos meet in single man-to-man
combat.  The victor will win Helen, and the lives of the
warriors will be spared.  Everyone agrees to the terms, and the
Trojan king, Priam, is sent for to seal the pledge.  This duel
sets up the symbolic nature of the war:  it's being fought over
Helen, and for the sake of Menelaos and Paris.  These two
fighters also stand for the two armies that face each other
throughout the poem. 

  Meanwhile Helen is in her chamber at Troy, weaving a robe on
which is depicted the battle of the Trojans and Achaians.  Note
that she is embroidering a pattern of events that she herself
has brought about.  Later, in Book VI, she'll say that the war
is being fought for the sake of the poem that will sing about
it.  We are kept conscious that the events here will echo
through time. 

  Helen is summoned by Zeus' messenger Iris to appear on the
Trojan fortification wall.  While there, she describes to Priam
the different commanders of the Argive army. 

  NOTE:  This is one of the most famous passages in the Iliad,
known as the "teichoscopia" ("view from the wall").  Some
readers have suggested that this episode, as well as the single
combat, would have been more likely to occur in the beginning of
the war, not in its tenth year.  But though Homer is not at the
beginning of the war, he is at the beginning of his poem, and he
must set up certain poetic structures.  On the wall, Helen is a
vision of beauty, and her divinelike presence will drift through
the entire poem, as its cause and inspiration. 

  On the battlefield, Menelaos and Paris prepare to do battle.
This is the first of many one-on-one fights that Homer uses to
personalize his battle scenes.  Paris carefully puts on his
armor, one of several similar descriptions in the Iliad.  It's
as if, like an athlete warming up or an actor putting on his
makeup, the soldier heightens his nerve for battle with each
separate piece of equipment he puts on. 

  Paris throws his spear at Menelaos but misses.  Menelaos hits
Paris but doesn't wound him; as he moves in on the Trojan,
Aphrodite snatches Paris away, spiriting him back to Troy.
Aphrodite then appears to Helen and urges her to go to Paris.
Helen argues with the goddess, suggesting that Aphrodite go
herself if she thinks he's so beautiful.  But in the end, under
the goddess's threats, Helen goes to Paris and lies with him in
bed.  Why does Helen argue here?  Perhaps she's acting out her
own conflict:  should she be with her lover, Paris, or her
husband, Menelaos?  When she gives in to the will of the
goddess, it's as if she's giving in to her own desires for
Paris.  The two of them meet in love while the battle is set to
clash about them; Homer shows us his understanding of the
"blind" nature of love and sexual attraction, which set this
whole tragic situation in motion. 

  Meanwhile, Menelaos is left raging on the battlefield,
looking for his vanished opponent. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK IV 

  Now we move to Mount Olympos, where the gods sit in council.
Zeus suggests that since Menelaos seems to have won the battle
(by default), perhaps it's time to stop the fighting.  But Hera
and Athene are intent on bringing further destruction to the
Trojans, and at their urging Zeus gives the command to let the
war continue.  This scene has a mixture of friviolity and
bloodthirstiness.  The gods' councils are almost parodies of
human ones--yet their power is so much greater, it seems foolish
for them to be quibbling like mortals.  Their morals sometimes
even seem lower than those of the warrior heroes.  Since gods
and goddesses are already immortal, they aren't concerned with
heroic action as mortals are.  Homer shows us how capricious and
indifferent the destiny that rules us can be.  But it is also
clear that Homer uses his deities simply for comic relief. 

  Athene convinces a Trojan, Pandaros, to break the truce by
shooting an arrow at Menelaos.  The arrow draws blood although
it doesn't seriously wound Menelaos.  Agamemnon is tenderly
concerned about his brother.  As a physician comes to attend
Menelaos' wound, the Achaians and Trojans again prepare
themselves for battle. 

  Agamemnon, as commander-in-chief of the forces, rouses his
men to fight, passing among the ranks and stopping to encourage
his greatest commanders.  The scene shows Homer's understanding
of psychology; each of these great warriors reveals his
personality in the way that he replies.  First Agamemnon speaks
glowingly to Idomeneus, leader of the Kretans, then to the two
Aiantes (Telemonian Aias and Aias, son of Oileus).  Next he
rouses the old commander Nestor, who, mentally vigorous in spite
of his age, urges his troops and charioteers to hold their ranks
in battle.  Agamemnon then encounters Odysseus, whom he chides
for not getting ready more quickly.  Odysseus responds angrily,
defending his past valor.  Agamemnon is quick to apologize,
laughing.  Either he was playing with Odysseus, or he has
already learned enough from his quarrel with Achilleus to keep
his fighters' tempers in check.  Agamemnon visits Diomedes and
rebukes him too for holding back.  In contrast to Odysseus,
however, Diomedes accepts the king's words, respecting his rank
and understanding his motivation:  he's not rousing the men to
anger; he's rousing them to fight. 

  The Trojans and Achaians meet in a furious battle, attended
by the war god Ares and three allegorical figures:  Terror,
Fear, and Hate.  (Put yourself in a soldier's boots.  Aren't
these the most likely emotions you'd feel?) The fighting is
severe and many men are killed.  Apollo urges on the Trojans,
reminding them that the Argives are without their greatest
warrior, Achilleus, who "beside the ships mulls his heartsore
anger." Athene, for her part, prods the Achaians, guiding their
hands to destruction. 

  NOTE:  The battles in the Iliad are methodical and progress
logically from step to step, keeping our interest with very
sharp detail.  As the poem goes on, you'll notice that opponents
in battle seek not merely to kill each other but to dishonor
each other's corpses by removing their armor.  Homer uses this
to further the fighting:  a warrior who steps forward to remove
his victim's armor becomes a likely target for another's spear.
But the act is a matter of honor, not to be taken lightly; a
warrior's armor is an important sign of his dignity.  Both will
be of immense importance later in the battle between Achilleus
and Hektor. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK V 

  The furious battle continues.  On the Achaian side Diomedes
distinguishes himself most of all.  This book has been known
since ancient times as the Diomedeia, because it is here that
Diomedes achieves his aristeia, his highest moment of glory in
the war.  He is fighting so fiercely and thoroughly that Homer
tells us we might not be able to tell which side he is on.  When
he's shot by Pandaros' arrow, he has it pulled out without
flinching. 

  The gods are now flinging themselves into the battle.  Athene
comes to Diomedes and promises to guide and protect him.  Note
that the goddess visits Diomedes when he is exhibiting true
heroic grit:  we could see this as not a physical visit, but
another way of describing his heroism and prowess.  Athene tells
him not to fight the gods if he recognizes them--except
Aphrodite. 

  Diomedes rages against the Trojans, killing many and wounding
Aineias, Aphrodite's son.  When she comes to carry her son off
the battlefield, Diomedes strikes her with his spear, piercing
her skin so that the ichor, which immortals have instead of
blood, flows from it.  This is a shocking moment and must have
been especially so for Homer's audience.  Aphrodite's beautiful
form should be above the ravages of war, and Diomedes might be
going too far.  The goddess departs in pain to Olympos, where
she's comforted by her mother Dione, but Zeus simply warns her
to keep away from war. 

  Ares, the bloodthirsty god of war--sometimes he's referred to
as war itself--now enters the battle on the side of the Trojans,
inspiring Hektor to rally his forces.  The Danaans fight
bravely, but they're steadily pushed back by Hektor and his
Ares-inspired men.  Hera and Athene--who hate Trojans,
remember--are furious with Ares for interfering, and they plead
with Zeus to let them interfere on behalf of the Achaians.  He
agrees, and Athene dresses herself for battle, arming herself
with the terrifying shield called the aegis, hung with the
figures of Terror, Hatred, Battle Strength, Onslaught, and the
grim Gorgon. 

  NOTE:  The aegis, belonging to Zeus but frequently wielded by
Athene, is the ultimate offensive and defensive weapon.  Homer,
whose descriptions are usually so specific, seems almost to back
away from anything so powerful.  The aegis is essentially a
goatskin shield, but its name in Greek also suggests
"stormcloud" or "hurricane wind." When it is shaken in the face
of the enemy, the effect is one of total terror.  In the middle
of the shield sits the literal head of Medusa, the snake-haired
creature whose face had the ability to turn men to stone.
Perseus killed Medusa, cut off its head, and gave it to Athene
to use on the aegis.  The aegis will be used later in the Iliad
by both Apollo and Achilleus, and in the end it will cover the
corpse of Hektor. 

  Thus armed, Athene together with Hera rouses the courage of
the Argives.  Athene appears to Diomedes, who has been keeping
back from the fray, both because of his wound but also because
Athene had earlier warned him not to fight any god but
Aphrodite--and Ares was clearly present in the murderous Trojan
attack.  Athene not only lifts her ban but also pushes aside
Diomedes' charioteer and rides with him into battle herself.
They meet Ares, and Diomedes spears him in the belly.  Howling
"with a sound as great as nine thousand men make, or ten
thousand,/when they cry as they carry into the fighting the fury
of the war god," Ares flees to Olympos.  Thus Diomedes wounds a
second god during his aristeia.  Again, Zeus shows little
sympathy; he simply finds Ares' bloodthirstiness offensive. 

  Diomedes' success seems stunning.  He has killed many Trojans
and wounded two gods.  We wonder:  Will the Argives have to pay
for his boldness?  Athene and Hera return to Olympos, leaving
the mortals to fight it out for themselves--for the time
being. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK VI 

  Diomedes continues his aristeia, and the Achaians fight
strongly.  Menelaos captures Adrestos alive, and he's just about
to spare his life for ransom when Agamemnon hotly urges him to
kill Adrestos and all the rest of the Trojans, even "the young
man child that the mother carries/still in her body." Agamemnon
stabs the captive.  This scene seems particularly cold-blooded.
Maybe Homer is offering us a contrasting character study in the
different attitudes of the two brother-kings.  Or he may be
contrasting two views of war; perhaps Agamemnon is right--since
they are at war they should ruthlessly kill all the Trojans, and
then we may feel differently about the casualties of war.  Homer
is certainly shading his story, but there is no easy answer to
the problem of what is moral in a time of war. 

  Meanwhile, Glaukos and Diomedes face each other for combat,
but when they discover their ancestors had been friends, they
put down their spears and exchange armor in a gesture of
friendship.  This is in stunning opposition to the scene with
Menelaos and Agamemnon, and shows a nobler side to the Achaians.
It also lets us ease into the gentle, domestic scenes within the
walls of Troy. 

  At the same time, this scene sets a note of sorrow, of mortal
loss, that pervades Book VI.  Glaukos' lines to Diomedes are
some of the most beautiful and saddest in the poem.  "Why ask of
my generation?" he says; 

  As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. 

  The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live
timber 

  burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring
returning. 

  So one generation of men will grow while another dies. 

  There is simple wisdom in the statement, but also the sense
that it's vain for mortals to strive after immortality.  This is
a key to the heroic concept, where it's important to die well. 

  Hektor arrives at the city, planning to make offerings to
Athene to calm her rage against the Trojans.  First he meets his
mother, Queen Hekabe, and urges her to gather the women to offer
prayer to Athene.  Then Hektor goes to Paris' house and
criticizes him for hanging back from the fighting.  Helen adds
her own, surprisingly not very flattering description of Paris
and bemoans her fate that will be sung by the poets to come.
Paris and Helen seem antagonistic here, after their lovemaking.
In dramatic contrast, we next see the loving relationship
between Hektor and his wife Andromache. 

  Hektor goes to find his wife, who has been watching the
battle in distress from the city towers.  Andromache, crying,
runs to greet her husband and pours out her heart to him,
begging him to stay home.  Throughout this scene Homer's
descriptions are extremely emotional, and the feeling he shows
between husband and wife (and child) seems absolutely modern,
especially compared to the formal, heroic tone of the rest of
the poem.  Based on these passages, many modern readers have
decided they felt more sympathy for the Trojans than for the
Achaians, and they assume that Homer had similar feelings.  But
any compassion we may feel for the Trojans should heighten our
sense of the tragedy of Achilleus, as well.  Homer's intimate
portrait of life in Troy highlights the terrible conflict
between war and peace.  Even though Hektor would rather stay
with Andromache, he offers instead what is practically a credo
for the heroic age: 

  All these 

  things are in my mind also, lady; yet I would feel deep
shame 

  before the Trojans, and the Trojan women with trailing
garments, 

  if like a coward I were to shrink aside from the fighting; 

  and the spirit will not let me, since I have learned to be 

  valiant 

  and to fight always among the foremost ranks of the
Trojans, 

  winning for my own self great glory, and for my father. 

  Hektor reaches out to hold his son, but the boy is at first
frightened by his father's helmet.  Hektor then leaves to join
Paris. 

  Up until now we've understood what Menelaos and His Argives
are fighting for, now we know what Hektor is fighting for--Troy,
his home.  Yet we know Troy is doomed:  Hektor himself tells us
"there will come a day when sacred Ilion shall perish." The book
is full of tragic foreshadowing.  Hektor carefully describes how
he has imagined his wife being taken captive after the fall of
Troy; it is a heartrending account.  Andromache has already told
us she is an orphan, and now she tells Hektor that "you are
father to me, and my honoured mother,/you are my brother, and
you it is who are my young husband." Yet we know that Hektor too
is doomed to die, and we ache for Andromache's loss.  Andromache
departs from Hektor, "turning to look back on the way, letting
the live tears fall." 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK VII 

  Hektor and Paris return to battle.  Athene and Apollo meet
and decide it's time for a break in the fighting.  Under their
guidance Hektor's brother Helenos proposes that Hektor challenge
the Argives to man-to-man combat.  Athene and Apollo watch the
scene disguised as vultures--rather disturbing forms for gods to
take. 

  Hektor issues his challenge, and though the Achaians at first
cower at the suggestion, they eventually draw lots and Aias is
chosen.  Hektor and Telemonian Aias battle, with Aias getting
the upper hand.  Before anything conclusive happens, the heralds
break up the fight on the grounds that night is coming.  Hektor
and Aias exchange gifts in a display of formal tribal etiquette.
Interestingly, anthropologists have discovered that certain
peoples today still follow similar customs. 

  Nestor, the wise old strategist, proposes that the Achaians
take time out to burn their dead, and then build a ditch and
fortifications to protect their ships.  Meanwhile at Troy,
Antenor rises and suggests that the Trojans return Helen and all
her possessions to the Argives.  Paris refuses to give Helen
back, but he does agree to return her possessions.  Priam urges
Idaios to go to the Achaians with Paris' offer and adds the
suggestion that a truce be made so that the dead may be gathered
and burned.  Both sides need to take a rest from war. 

  The Achaians resist any ransom but agree to the temporary
truce.  The Trojans gather their dead.  In a solemn scene they
wash the corpses and lift them onto wagons.  They're bursting
with sorrow, yet Priam commands them to stay silent.  The
Achaians also gather and burn their dead, and then build
fortifications around a ditch.  These battlements will figure
heavily in the fighting to come. 

  On Olympos, Poseidon (who with Apollo had built the giant
walls of Troy) says he's annoyed with the Achaians for not
making a sacrifice before building their walls, but really he is
afraid their Mykenaian workmanship will outlast his.  Zeus
promises Poseidon that after the Achaians return home he can
swallow their walls in his waves.  (Some commentators have
suggested that in this scene Homer was offering a reason why
these marvelous Achaian walls were no longer standing.) Zeus
thunders disagreeably all night long.  The solemn image of the
two burning funeral pyres remains. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK VIII 

  This book really belongs to Zeus.  We feel his ability to be
present everywhere, watching every little action.  At no other
point in the Iliad does he influence the action so directly.
The Greeks understood that thunder and lightning were the
language of Zeus, the means by which he spoke directly to
mortals; watch how he uses them, to warn mortals and to threaten
the other gods. 

  Dawn rises.  At an assembly of immortals Zeus warns the gods
and goddesses not to interfere in the Trojan War.  In a
muscle-flexing speech, he warns them that in a tug of war
against all of them he would still be the victor. 

  The battle continues at Troy.  Zeus, having come down to
Mount Ida, raises his golden scales, placing in each end the
fates of the Trojans and the Achaians.  The Achaian fate lowers
as the Trojan fate rises, so we know beforehand that the Trojans
will triumph today.  Zeus shoots a flash of lightning over the
terrified Greeks.  Many readers have wondered whether Zeus
controls fate or is controlled by it:  the answer isn't entirely
clear from this passage.  Zeus has already announced to us the
plan of his will, so in a sense the scales are merely
demonstrating poetically what he has already decided.  On the
other hand, the scales of fate may really be the means by which
Zeus reaches his decisions.  Zeus uses the scales again in Book
XXII to decide the fates of Hektor and Achilleus. 

  Now Nestor and Diomedes charge at the Trojans.  Zeus lets
loose a bolt of lightning that lands in front of their chariot,
scaring the horses.  Nestor, recognizing Zeus' work, advises
Diomedes to turn back.  Diomedes is loath to flee from his
heroic duty (remember, after yesterday he has quite a reputation
to keep).  He's afraid that Hektor will taunt him as a
coward--and, indeed, Hektor does just that.  Diomedes ponders
whether to turn his horses around and fight Hektor.  Three times
he starts to turn, and each time Zeus thunders a warning not to.
Diomedes and Nestor finally leave, and Hektor boasts to the
Trojans that the tide is turning in their favor.  Here the
intervention of the gods seems more solemn and definite than the
free-for-all of the day before. 

  Hera inspires Agamemnon to rouse the Argives, and their
spirits revive.  Teukros, brother to Telemonian Aias, kills
several Trojans with his bow and arrow, darting out and then
running back to find cover beneath his brother's shield.  But
Hektor stops Teukros with a stone that breaks his collarbone.
Again the Trojans push the Achaians back toward their ditch. 

  Hera and Athene can't bear to sit back and do nothing; they
prepare to go down to aid the Achaians.  Watching all, Zeus
sends them a warning via his messenger Iris:  if they interfere,
he will lame their horses and give Athene and Hera lightning
wounds that won't heal for ten years.  The goddesses think
better of their plans. 

  Zeus returns to Olympos to speak to the sulking Hera and
Athene, explaining his intentions: 

  For Hektor the huge will not sooner be stayed from his
fighting 

  until there stirs by the ships the swift-footed son of
Peleus 

  on that day when they shall fight by the sterns of the
beached 

  ships 

  in the narrow place of necessity over fallen Patroklos. 

  Thus Zeus clearly announces his plan, which is actually the
plot of the poem.  We are reminded that the events taking place
are leading up to the return of Achilleus.  From here on the
immortals generally interfere less in the doings of the war;
Zeus' plan simply works itself out, inexorably. 

  Hektor assembles his forces for the night, and they camp on
the plains of Troy, their fifty thousand campfires burning like
the stars in heaven.  Again, imagine this as a vast panorama in
a movie, the night sky reflecting the army camps. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK IX 

  Agamemnon once again summons the Achaians together.  He notes
that victory seems to be with the Trojans and suggests they turn
their ships toward home.  Diomedes, still high on his recent
success, furiously rebukes him and vows to stay.  The other
Achaians shout their agreement.  These are the same men who fled
to their ships in Book II; they seem nobler now.  Again, Nestor
adds the voice of wisdom, saying that Diomedes' argument is
incomplete.  It's time, he says, for a feast, and then Agamemnon
should follow the advice of his best counselors. 

  At the council of the lords of the Achaians, Nestor speaks
the rest of his mind.  He urges Agamemnon to apologize to
Achilleus so they can get him back fighting for their side. 

  Maybe Agamemnon's had time to cool down; maybe he realizes
that the battle's getting serious and he has to put his people's
interest before his pride; or maybe it's just easier to give in
during a privy council than in front of his army.  At any rate,
Agamemnon now admits he's been blind and rash.  He reels off the
numerous treasures he will offer to Achilleus--gold, horses, the
girl Briseis, land, even his own daughters, and more.  He can't
resist adding at the end, however, that Achilleus should yield
to him because he is "kinglier" and the elder.  Odysseus,
Telemonian Aias, and Phoinix (an old family friend of Achilleus)
are sent as ambassadors to Achilleus. 

  NOTE:  At his hut Achilleus is singing with a lyre a poem
about heroes.  This poem within a poem is a special
self-conscious touch by Homer.  (In the Odyssey a poet sings to
Odysseus a poem about the Trojan War.) No one but Achilleus
sings poetry in the Iliad; it's like the highest honor Homer, a
poet himself, could give to a character. 

  Most of the rest of this book is six long speeches, in which
the ambassadors try to persuade Achilleus to accept Agamemnon's
apology, and he refuses.  Homer shows his knowledge of the
classical art of rhetoric--polished formal argument--but more
than that, he subtly reveals these characters' personalities in
the way they talk and what they say.  Odysseus explains the
situation to Achilleus.  He recounts the gifts Agamemnon is
offering (cleverly leaving out the last part of Agamemnon's
speech).  Achilleus answers Odysseus brilliantly, and his
argument is worth studying; it's the deepest insight we get into
his thinking.  He uses a complex series of rhetorical
strategies, and readers have had many differing opinions about
them. 

  Why, asks Achilleus, should anyone fight, so long as the weak
and the strong are honored alike?  In other words, if a
warrior's gifts of honor (such as Briseis was) may be taken away
at a whim, he's left with no honor gained.  Achilleus claims he
feels especially dishonored since he was the only one whose
prize was taken away. 

  Also, he cleverly points out, isn't the war being fought for
the sake of a woman--Helen--who was taken from one man by
another?  His case is pretty similar; why shouldn't he be
allowed to be as outraged as Menelaos was?  Agamemnon can keep
his gifts, Achilleus says.  They're worthless without honor.  He
tells Odysseus that Thetis had told him he had two fates:
either to win glory at Troy and die young, or to go home safely
but live unknown and unhonored.  What would be the point of
dying for glory, if it can be so easily taken away?  Thus
Achilleus reveals that he's not just hurt beneath his anger; he
also feels the heroic code is being questioned.  We can see how
profoundly he's shaken by that. 

  Some readers have felt, however, that Achilleus' arguments
here are the beginning of his downfall.  Agamemnon has admitted
his fault and offered a generous recompense, yet Achilleus holds
onto his anger.  This seems mean-spirited, and it seriously
imperils the lives of his fellow fighters. 

  Phoinix tries to convince Achilleus to return to battle by
telling him the story of Meleagros who, in a similar situation,
waited too long and regretted it.  This is clearly the speech of
an old man; like Nestor's speeches, it's full of digressions and
parables, and he adds a tug on the heartstrings, reminding
Achilleus that he practically reared him. 

  NOTE:  Included in Phoinix's argument is the allegory of the
prayers.  This describes the relationship between prayers, or
asking forgiveness, and the ruin, or blindness, that follows one
who does not have the sense of courage (or humility) to admit
wrong.  These figures are startlingly personified by Homer, and
their purpose is right to the point of the argument.  Agamemnon
has already admitted to his blindness; shouldn't Achilleus be
next?  The root word for blindness is ate, conceived as
something that takes over a person, clouding his judgment.
Along with anger, it is one of the major moral themes of the
Iliad. 

  Aias also tries to convince Achilleus, but he won't be moved.
The messengers return glumly to Agamemnon.  Diomedes recognizes
that Achilleus will fight only when he's ready in his heart.
They all retire for the night. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK X 

  In contrast to the formal, noble councils of Book IX, we
plunge now into an episode of night, confusion, secrecy.  Some
scholars believe this book was at one point a story on its own
and was only later worked into the Iliad, either by later
editors or by Homer himself.  It is, in any event, a gripping
interlude.  It isn't easy to get a moral handle on it:  it has a
ruthlessness that may be meant to counteract the heroics of
war. 

  Neither Agamemnon nor Menelaos can sleep, they're both so
distraught with the way the battle's going.  They decide to send
a spy to the Trojan camp to discover the enemy plans.  Diomedes
volunteers and chooses Odysseus as his companion.  Under cover
of night, the two stealthily make their way toward the Trojans,
guided by the cries of a heron sent by Athene. 

  Hektor and his commanders can't sleep either.  Hektor too
sees the need for espionage; he offers a reward to the scout who
will steal toward the Achaian ships.  A man named Dolon rises to
the bait.  This book is, in fact, often called the Doloneia,
after this unfortunate Trojan scout.  He's a kind of Trojan
counterpart to Thersites in Book II.  Dolon is described as
evil-looking, exhibiting greed rather than intelligence.  He
wears a wolf pelt and martin's cap, which may leave you with a
weasily impression of him. 

  Dolon is sighted by Diomedes and Odysseus before he can get
very far, and he's clearly no match for them.  Homer describes
the two Achaians as "rip-fanged hounds" after some wild prey,
and Dolon is literally trapped by them.  You may even feel that
Diomedes and Odysseus toy with Dolon as a cat toys with a mouse
before it gobbles it up.  Such behavior doesn't reflect much
glory on the Achaians-or on the Trojans, if Dolon is their
representative.  Dolon gibbers with his teeth chattering.
Odysseus tells him not to fear or worry about being killed, but
his smooth talk is just a way to get information from Dolon on
the setup of the Trojan camp.  Dolon tells all, particularly
mentioning the recently arrived contingent of Thracians, led by
King Rhesos, who has in his possession some extraordinary white
horses.  Having gotten all the information they need, Diomedes
abruptly beheads Dolon; his "head still speaking dropped in the
dust." 

  NOTE:  Some readers have seen these actions of Odysseus and
Diomedes as barbarous and deceitful.  Others defend them
legalistically, saying that although Odysseus promises Dolon no
fear of death, Diomedes is the one who kills him. 

  Notice that the Achaians never get a chance to use any of
this information.  This episode does nothing to further the
plot.  It does, however, show a seamier side of war.  The Greek
audience, too, probably enjoyed Dolon's stupidity, and Diomedes
and Odysseus' easy victory over him. 

  Odysseus and Diomedes surprise the Thracians while they are
sleeping.  Diomedes kills thirteen men, including the king, and
Odysseus drags their bodies out of the way to clear a path for
the horses.  Again, the action is so calculated it makes you
feel these two heroes are very bloodthirsty.  The Achaians
escape with Rhesos' fabulous horses and return to camp.
Diomedes and Odysseus cleanse themselves in the sea, as if to
wash away the gore. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XI 

  At sunrise the allegorical figure of Hate mounts the ship of
Odysseus and gives a terrible cry to rouse the Achaians. 

  Agamemnon elaborately dons his armor.  The arming of
Agamemnon is very carefully detailed:  his rich armor with its
heraldic symbols emphasizes the power of his rank rather than
his personal qualities.  Athene and Hera cap off his arming with
a crash of thunder, "doing honour to the lord of deep-golden
Mykenai." Later we'll see Achilleus' divinely crafted armor,
especially in Book XVIII.  The elaborately wrought panorama of
Greek life shown on his shield will give Achilleus human and
moral stature, as well as supernatural strength, in contrast to
Agamemnon's kingly status.  This is the longest of Homer's
ritualistic arming scenes.  It prepares us for the coming
aristeia, this time Agamemnon's.  With enormous power, Agamemnon
kills Trojan after Trojan.  He's compared to a lion--as befits
his royal station--and to an obliterating fire that "comes down
on the timbered forest/and the roll of the mind carries it
everywhere, and bushes/leaning under the force of the fire's
rush tumble uprooted." Under Agamemnon's leadership the Achaians
push the Trojans back toward their city wall, as far as the
Skaian Gates.  But it's only a temporary triumph; Zeus gives
word to Hektor that after Agamemnon is wounded victory will be
with him.  Agamemnon is soon stabbed through the elbow with a
spear and is forced to leave the battlefield. 

  One by one the great Argive heroes are wounded.  It's as if
Homer is creating a vacuum, which will cry for someone
(Achilleus we hope) to fill it.  Diomedes is pierced through the
foot by an arrow from Paris (Alexandros).  Homer, who's always
careful to add characterization to his war scenes, shows Paris
laughing at his own work (archers never look as dignified in
Homer's poems as spear-throwers or sword-fighters do).
Diomedes, not at all frightened, scoffs at Paris, and with
characteristic unflinching bravado, has Odysseus pull out the
arrow. 

  Odysseus' short speech to himself is interesting.  This is
the closest Homer comes to actually presenting a character's
thoughts in the Iliad, Odysseus is literally thinking out loud.
Odysseus feels the pressure of the heroic code of honor:  "[I]f
one is to win honour in battle, he must by all means/stand his
ground strongly, whether he be struck or strike down another." 

  But Odysseus is wounded next.  Telemonian Aias steps forward
to cover the flanks as the Argives retreat.  When Machaon, a
physician, is hit, Nestor drives him in his chariot back to the
encampment.  Hektor spurs the Trojans on.  Eurypylos is the
fifth Achaian commander to be wounded. 

  Achilleus has been watching the rout while perched on the
stern of his ship.  We can tell from this that Achilleus is by
no means unconcerned for the Achaians.  He is double-minded,
wanting to fight for glory and yet wanting to hang back for
honor.  He asks his best friend Patroklos to find out if the man
he sees being led from battle is Machaon--though perhaps he is
also hoping Patroklos will find out more about the battle in
general.  This is the beginning of Patroklos' involvement,
acting as a surrogate for Achilleus.  It's also the beginning of
his downfall. 

  Patroklos meets Nestor, the garrulous old man, who regales
him with some long anecdotes.  Nestor has an ulterior motive:
he wants Patroklos to urge Achilleus to join the fight or, if
that fails, to put on Achilleus' armor himself to fool the
Trojans.  Nestor is one of the most elaborately conceived
characters in the Iliad, and his long-winded speeches are
consistently of the same order.  They bring in history--often
Nestor's own--and legend to serve as moral examples to whomever
he is addressing.  Nestor tends to wander, and he loves to dwell
on a past glory that he can no longer achieve in battle, but he
is clearly the elder statesman of the Iliad, and his councils
are often the deciding factors that turn the plot. 

  Patroklos is persuaded by Nestor's speech.  Before returning
to Achilleus he stops to help the wounded Eurypylos. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XII 

  The Trojans move closer to the defensive wall of the
Achaians.  Notice how clearly Homer makes us see the battlefield
layout; we're always conscious of that wall.  We know from the
opening lines that it's doomed to fall, but we're on the edge of
our seats waiting for it to happen.  At first the wall seems
enormous--so large, we've been told, that it stood through the
rest of the war and took the combined might of Apollo and
Poseidon to bring it down.  Its strength comes to stand for the
strength of the entire Argive army.  But as Hektor and his
forces approach, the focus on the wall narrows. 

  Poulydamas suggests to Hektor that the Trojans dismount from
their chariots and move on foot through the ditch, which is
stuck with pointed stakes.  Some readers have noted that
Poulydamas is a foil for Hektor, showing by contrast his
superior qualities.  Poulydamas is Hektor's counterpart to
Achilleus' comrade, Patroklos, but they aren't so loyal to each
other.  Though Hektor here agrees with the advice of Poulydamas,
they seem to have been enemies somewhere in the past. 

  The Trojans arrange themselves in five companies to attack
the wall from different directions.  We skip around to various
parts of the wall where the fighting is continuously furious.
As Poulydamas, Hektor, and their men debate by the edge of the
ditch, a sign from Zeus appears.  A high-flying eagle clutches
in its talons a blood-red snake that writhes backward and bites
the eagle.  The snake falls amid the battle as the eagle flies
away, screaming in pain.  This is serious.  Omens were part of
religion in those days; this isn't just a bad luck charm, like a
black cat, but a definite warning of the gods' displeasure. 

  Poulydamas suggests to Hektor that the omen portends a turn
of events for the Trojans even though things now appear to be
going well.  Hektor indignantly scoffs at the reading:  "[O]ne
bird sign is best," he said, "to fight in defense of our
country." Thus Poulydamas' prudent counsel is contrasted to
Hektor's impetuous and heroic nature. 

  The Trojans press against the fortifications from one side
and another.  The two Aiantes seem to be everywhere, fending off
the attack for the Argives.  Finally Hektor picks up a gigantic
stone, hurls it at the main battlement gates, and crashes
through them.  Hektor's breach of the gates is achieved in a
cinemalike montage:  first the gate, then the stone, then the
doors of the gate, the double door-bars, the holding pin, back
to the stone, the gates groaning, door-bars breaking into
splinters, and the face of Hektor following the stone through
the broken doors.  It's one of the most careful and artistic
delineations of battle in the Iliad, and it is a decisive
turning point for the Argive forces. 

  In through the wall pour the raging Trojans, eager to burn
the Achaian ships.  Hektor's dark face is like night, but his
eyes gleam fire.  The Achaians flee in terror among the ships.
The Iliad has reached its halfway point. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XIII 

  While Zeus is preoccupied, Poseidon harnesses his underwater
chariot and drives across the sea to help the Achaians.  He
appears to the Achaians in various disguises and inspires them.
The book descends into a long and vicious battle, giving the
second rank of Argive heroes a chance to shine. 

  The fighting in Book XIII is the most ruthless in the poem
and is described by Homer in particularly bloody detail.  There
can be no doubt that we are in the midst of a terrible war, and
constantly the hideous details of battle counteract the heroic
struggle.  Eyeballs pop out of a severed head, a head is thrown
at the enemy like a bowling ball, and taunts are made over dead
warriors in a way unlike other battle scenes.  The combatants
are vicious and merciless.  But Homer's goals are always poetic.
The vividness of the fighting makes war real, and just as the
relentless mortality critiques the heroic code, it also brings
it to life poignantly--and in deadly seriousness. 

  Hektor moves against his enemies like a great stone (remember
he broke through the fortification wall also with a stone).  The
fighting all around is thick.  Idomeneus, leader of the Kretans,
is aiding a wounded comrade behind the battle lines.  He runs
into Meriones, his nephew, who is plucking out another spear,
and the two engage in a long duel of taunts.  Notice that much
of the inspiration to fight in the Iliad comes from fear of
shame; even the gods rouse the warriors by shaming them.
Idomeneus defines courage and cowardice by talking about an
ambush:  while a coward would turn colors and chatter his teeth,
a brave man would stand his ground, ready and eager for combat.
Idomeneus and Meriones take an inventory of the battle positions
around the wall and decide to enter on the left, where the
Argive defense is weakest. 

  Idomeneus fights famously--this is his aristeia.  We have
another of Homer's graphic descriptions of death, as Idomeneus
slays Alkathous: 

  He cried out then, a great cry, broken, the spear in him, 

  and fell, thunderously, and the spear in his heart was stuck
fast 

  but the heart was panting still and beating to shake the butt
end 

  of the spear. 

  The image of a spear throbbing with the last pulsations of a
dying heart epitomizes the beauty and horror of war.  Aineias
leads the Trojans against Idomeneus until Idomeneus' age forces
him to retire.  The gruesome fighting continues.  Menelaos
fights several Trojans. 

  In the center of the fray Hektor continues his ravaging,
while the two Aiantes defend the wall like yoked oxen.
Poulydamas once again counsels Hektor, telling him to draw back
temporarily and with his commanders devise a plan of attack.
Hektor agrees with the plan of action but, battle hungry, he
suggests that Poulydamas himself call the assembly while he,
Hektor, fights on. 

  NOTE:  As with most of the great fighters in the Iliad,
Hektor's fighting frenzy borders on madness.  In their
aristeias, these warriors rise to a lunatic state of prowess.
But this eagerness to fight is also at the root of the conflict
that we will later see hurling a hero to his fated end. 

  Hektor ranges the ranks looking for several of his
commanders, but all of them are dead.  He does find Paris and
once again rebukes him.  Paris defends his fighting, and
together the two enter the battle where it's thickest.  They
lead the Trojan advance like a tidal wave. 

  As Telemonian Aias defends the Argive position, an eagle
appears, a good omen for the Achaians.  Hektor again misreads
the sign, claiming it predicts a Trojan victory.  The hideous
sound of battle rises to Olympos. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XIV 

  Behind the lines the Achaian ships, so numerous they can't
all sit in the water, have been drawn up onto the beach.  There,
Nestor, Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Diomedes gaze woefully at the
ruined Argive defenses.  For the third time Agamemnon suggests
it might be time to head for home.  Odysseus and Diomedes insist
it's time to fight--even though they are wounded--and they
reenter the battle.  Agamemnon's continued desire to flee
certainly makes us question his ability as commander-in-chief. 

  Poseidon gives a battle cry to rouse the Achaians (much the
same yell as Ares gave when he was wounded in Book V).  Hera,
watching from Olympos, is happy with Poseidon's work but wants
to make sure that Zeus, who's still distracted off on Mount Ida,
doesn't notice that they're interfering again.  Hera devises a
plan to distract Zeus further.  The ensuing passages, known to
the ancient commentators as "The Deception of Zeus," offer some
comic relief in the middle of this most hideous battle.  Hera
prepares to seduce Zeus by bathing, perfuming, and dressing
herself up.  It's almost a parody of the way we've seen the
warriors arm for battle.  She enlists the aid of Aphrodite to
make her irresistible.  Hera also calls on the allegorical
figure of Sleep, brother of Death, to help her by visiting Zeus
with his mind-dulling power. 

  Hera makes her way to Mount Ida.  Before she's even finished
with her flattery and lying, Zeus, struck by her sexy beauty,
calls her to bed.  Hera suggests going to her underwater chamber
where they'll be safe from prying eyes (and also, she knows,
safe from Zeus' eyes seeing anything at Troy), but Zeus can't
wait.  He catches her in his arms and lays her down.  The earth
spontaneously blossoms into a cushion of "fresh/grass, and into
dewy clover, crocus, and hyacinth" beneath them.  The whole
scene provides not just comic relief (like most of the scenes on
Olympos in the Iliad), but also a sweet and sympathetic reminder
of the pleasures that go on far removed from the grim reality of
war.  This makes the war seem more tragic, especially when we
remember that sweet love scenes like this between Paris and
Helen started the war in the first place. 

  After the lovemaking, Zeus falls asleep, and once more
Poseidon goads on the Argives.  The fighting's as fierce and
gruesome as in the previous book; wounds are portrayed in
gut-wrenching detail.  Telemonian Aias stops Hektor with a large
rock, hitting him in the chest and bringing him to his knees.
The Trojans quickly take Hektor away from the battle as he spits
blood.  The Argives, growing bolder during Hektor's absence,
fight savagely, holding off the Trojan advance.  Aias, son of
Oileus, fights particularly well, chasing the retreating Trojan
troops. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XV 

  The Trojans are finally pushed back across the ditch.  Zeus
awakens and immediately discovers what's been happening.  He
scolds Hera, threatening to punish her; she offers a flimsy
excuse that stops just short of lying.  He commands her back to
Olympos to summon Iris, his messenger, and Apollo to him.  Then,
in the most explicit terms yet, he explains to Hera the outline
of his plan--that is, of course, the plot of the poem.  Notice
that Homer's drama doesn't depend on surprises:  he pushes his
characters toward a destiny we can easily foresee.  It's the
relentless approach of fate that provides the dramatic tension,
as the characters draw closer to their tragic ends. 

  Hera does not tarry or meander.  Homer tells us she goes fast
as "the thought flashes in the mind of a man who,
traversing/much territory, thinks of things in the mind's
awareness,/'I wish I were in this place, or this', and imagines
many things." This extraordinary image shows Homer's
understanding of how the mind works--how complex our desires
are, and how swiftly the brain functions.  Hera arrives at
Olympos and maliciously tries to goad Ares into interfering with
the battle by telling him of the death of his son, Askalaphos.
Only Athene's prudent hand stops Ares from getting involved. 

  Iris and Apollo go to Zeus, who's intent on manipulating the
war again.  Apollo wakens Hektor from his wound-stupor and
breathes new strength into him.  The Trojans attack once more,
led by Ares brandishing the aegis.  He stares straight into the
eyes of the Danaans, shakes the terrible aegis, and raises a
battle cry that terrifies them into a stampede.  Like a child
playing with sandcastles, Apollo kicks down the Achaian wall and
bridges the ditch for the Trojans.  They rush for the ships. 

  Patroklos, still tending the wounded Eurypylos, sees the rout
taking place.  He hastens to Achilleus to ask him to
intervene. 

  The battle continues, with Hektor and Aias in the thick of
things.  Teukros aims his bow at Hektor, but Zeus causes the
arrow to miss its target.  It is now clear that the gods have
abandoned the Achaians and are on the side of the Trojans. 

  Hektor urges his men to attack.  This is the great assault of
the Trojans, and Hektor is justly in his glory.  Yet he is, like
Ares, "insatiate of war," and while the beautiful horse goes to
his sweet river and pasture, Hektor goes into battle, where the
river is bloody.  Following this simile comes another in which
he is compared to a great lion that puts some hunting dogs to
flight. 

  Another powerful series of similes attends Hektor's battle
frenzy as he breaches the defense of the ships.  First the
Achaian defense is compared to a "towering sea cliff" that holds
back the shifting winds and huge waves.  Then Hektor is compared
to a "storm-fed wave" that batters a ship and shakes its sails
with a hurricane force.  Finally Hektor is compared again to a
lion that attacks a flock of oxen, and though the shepherd can
tend to the first and the last he cannot keep the lion from
devouring an ox in the middle and causing the rest to stampede.
These wild and naturalistic forces add an almost mystic fury to
the battle scenes, and they appropriately build up Hektor at the
moment when he is most dangerous to the Achaians. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XVI 

  Patroklos, weeping at the Achaian defeat, comes to the hut of
Achilleus and recounts the extent of their losses.  He accuses
Achilleus of being inhuman and asks to wear his armor so that
the Trojans will think Achilleus has reentered the fighting and
will lose heart. 

  This is the fatal turning of the plot for both Achilleus and
Patroklos.  Patroklos will take Achilleus' place and will, in
fact, die for him.  Achilleus' tragedy will take shape:  he will
move from shame over loss of honor to grief and guilt over the
death of Patroklos.  Achilleus repeats his reason for holding
out against Agamemnon--he refuses to accept that rank
(Agamemnon's) could eclipse honor (Achilleus').  Ask
yourself--do you think Achilleus has held out so long that his
anger makes him look petty?  The price he'll soon have to
pay--his friend's life--is extreme, and Achilleus himself will
wonder if it was worth it.  As he is hurled toward his fate,
notice how Achilleus' public anger turns into a private sorrow,
making him seem deeper, more human, and more of a tragic
figure. 

  NOTE:  Though he is sticking to his position, we can clearly
see that Achilleus is being moved closer to a decision to fight.
He's no longer standing aloof; he's watching the battle and is
seriously concerned.  That is why he goes along with Patroklos'
scheme. 

  Achilleus is beginning to plot military strategy, too:  he
tells Patroklos to push the Trojans back from the ships but not
to rout them all the way back to Troy.  He offers two reasons:
1) so that he may still win honor when he reenters the battle
and 2) because Apollo or another god may be aiding the Trojans
and will break him if he pushes too far. 

  Meanwhile, Telemonian Aias is still valiantly defending the
ships from the Trojans, but he's growing tired.  Hektor shatters
his spear, and the Trojans bring fire to the Achaian ships.
Achilleus sees it happening and hastens Patroklos toward the
fatal battle.  Patroklos slowly and ritualistically arrays
himself in the armor of Achilleus--all but the great spear,
which only Achilleus can lift.  Achilleus rouses his followers,
the Myrmidions, from their fifty ships, fetches his sacred
goblet, and makes a prayer to Zeus to grant Patroklos victory in
battle and to send him safely back to him.  Homer notes
forebodingly that Zeus "granted him one prayer, and denied him
the other." 

  Just as was planned, the Trojans tremble at the sight of
Patroklos, thinking Achilleus has returned.  Many are caught in
the spiked ditch and slaughtered; others are penned in between
the ditch and the beached ships.  In the fierce combat Sarpedon,
the son of Zeus, faces off against Patroklos.  Seeing what's
happening, Zeus starts to save his beloved son but Hera talks
him out of it.  She warns that if he interferes, other gods will
want to do the same on behalf of their favorites.  Death, after
all, is the inevitable lot of all humans.  That is summed up in
the very words used to describe the two classes of beings:
mortals (those who die) and immortals (those without death).
Zeus relents. 

  Sarpedon is slain.  Glaukos, magically healed of his wounds
by Apollo, brings news of Sarpedon's death to Hektor, which
reinspires him to fight.  Apollo retrieves Sarpedon's body from
the battlefield and brings it home for a proper burial. 

  Patroklos is on a rampage now and pushes the Trojans back to
the wall; he's forgotten the warnings of Achilleus.  He tries to
take the wall but Apollo warns him back. 

  Finally Hektor heads directly for Patroklos, and the two
battle over the body of Kebriones.  The two sides rage into the
afternoon.  Three times Patroklos rushes the Trojans.  On the
fourth try, Apollo hits him in the back, then literally unarms
him, striking off his helmet, spear, shield, and corselet.  This
process is the reverse of the ritualistic arming scenes, and you
may feel that a new ritual is being proposed:  preparation for
death.  The process is terrifying, and Patroklos himself is
frightened.  Stupefied, he is speared in the back by Euphorbos,
and there's little left for Hektor to do but finish him off.  In
his dying speech, Patroklos points out to Hektor that the Trojan
prince had little to do with his death.  "No," Patroklos says,
"deadly destiny...  has killed me." 

  NOTE:  We've seen many warriors killed in this poem, but
Patroklos' death seems supremely unfair.  That, of course, may
be all to Homer's purpose.  Do you find yourself sympathizing
with Patroklos?  Do you think Hektor's boasting is at best empty
and at worst murderous?  If so, you are probably feeling what
Achilleus will feel and will be able to identify with his
indignation and rage. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XVII 

  Menelaos stands astride the fallen body of Patroklos like a
cow lowing beside its calf.  A battle begins, both for
Patroklos' armor and for his body. 

  The heavy fighting shows how deep a dishonor it was for a
corpse to be stripped, and how great a prize it was for an enemy
to carry off the armor.  Patroklos, of course, was wearing the
armor of Achilleus, which would have been especially valuable.
The dishonor may be seen as reflecting on Achilleus as well. 

  The struggle finally centers around the body of Patroklos--as
it will later around Hektor's--and how it is about more than
honor.  It was believed that a corpse must have proper burial
rites in order for the soul of the dead person to pass through
the underworld.  In Book XXIII, in fact, we will see the shade
of Patroklos appear to Achilleus and beg him for proper rites so
he may pass through the gates of Hades.  Forbidding this ritual
would be like dealing a double death to an enemy. 

  The encounter between Menelaos and Euphorbos shows how
powerfully Homer can bring emotion to a single character in the
midst of a melee.  In a few lines Euphorbos is brought before us
and taken away, but because of Homer's detailed descriptions and
simile, his death is extremely touching.  He shows compassion in
his retort to Menelaos--concern not just for his fallen comrade
but for his grieving widow and parents back home.  And when
Euphorbos' lovely braided hair (Homer is careful to show us its
"locks caught waspwise in gold and silver") is bloodied in his
fall, Homer compares him to a 

  slip of an olive tree strong-growing that a man raises 

  in a lonely place, and drenched it with generous water, so
that 

  it blossoms into beauty, and the blasts of winds from all 

  quarters 

  tremble it, and it bursts into pale blossoming.  But then 

  a wind suddenly in a great tempest descending upon it 

  wrenches it out of its stand and lays it at length on the
ground; 

  such 

  was Euphorbos of the strong ash spear .  .  . 

  Though Euphorbos had a hand in the killing of Patroklos, his
youth and beauty are mourned in passing by the poet. 

  The fighting is furious, and Menelaos wonders if he should
stay and fight.  His soliloquy is much like Odysseus' in Book
XI.  This time, however, the warrior decides it is prudent to
flee.  Hektor, therefore, gets Patroklos' armor and proceeds to
arm himself.  Both sides clash over the body, and the tide turns
again and again.  Hektor and Aineias lead the attack for the
Trojans; Menelaos and the great Aias put up a noble Achaian
defense.  The two sides have a tug-of-war over the corpse, like
tanners stretching an ox hide.  The divine horses of Achilleus
weep over the death of their friend and will not be moved until
they are inspired by Zeus. 

  The battle rises to a high pitch, emotional and unclear.
Athene comes to rouse Menelaos in his warfare; Apollo comes to
Hektor.  The tide of victory shifts continually as Zeus rattles
his aegis.  Menelaos tells the news of the death of Patroklos to
Nestor's son, Antilochos, and bids him bring the terrible news
to Achilleus.  The Achaians gain the corpse and Menelaos and
Mariones carry it away from the battle.  But the Trojans press
against the weary Achaians like a roaring forest fire. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XVIII 

  Antilochos comes to the hut of the worried Achilleus and
delivers his message:  "Patroklos has fallen, and now they are
fighting over his body/which is naked.  Hektor of the shining
helm has taken his armour." This is his terrible moment of truth
and Achilleus' response is instantaneous.  He smears dust over
his head and face, falls to the ground, tears at his hair, and
cries hideously. 

  Realistically, at this emotional crisis there is no eloquent
speech Achilleus can make.  We must trace for ourselves what
brought him to this point.  This is the ironic fulfillment of
his own wishes that the Achaians might be brought low before
him; this is the result of his anger that began the poem.  At
his supposed moment of glory, he is hurled to the ground in
agony.  What started out as a stand for honor has become the
torture of guilt and terrible responsibility.  His honor is in
the dust.  Thetis hears his tortured cry; as she returns from
the sea we remember the first time she undertook this journey,
to set the plan in motion for Achilleus' revenge.  Now the
revenge has cruelly completed itself. 

  Achilleus bemoans the loss of Patroklos and curses the day he
fed his anger.  Yet Achilleus knows he must live by the code he
has chosen.  If he has nourished himself on anger so far, he
will not turn to honey now.  Instead, he will turn his wrath
from Agamemnon to Hektor and avenge the death of Patroklos. 

  We must be careful not to lay an easy judgment on Achilleus,
for this isn't an easy road to take.  To reclaim his honor, he
chooses death--he pursues Hektor even though Thetis tells him
this will ultimately mean his own death.  The tragedy of
Achilleus is that he must play out the events he himself set in
motion.  Everything he does, he does on a heroic scale.  just as
he grieves to the fullest, so shall his revenge on Hektor be
fought to the height of heroic glory. 

  Thetis goes to fetch new armor for Achilleus and urges him
not to fight until she has brought it back from Hephaistos.  But
the Achaians are still struggling over the body of Patroklos,
and Hera notices that Hektor is about to drag it back to Troy.
Hera sends Iris to tell Achilleus to appear as he is before the
Trojans.  With the help of Athene, Achilleus makes his first
appearance on the battlefield--unarmed!  No one else, of all the
heroes we've seen in the Iliad, matches this superhuman
presence.  Suddenly the full character of Achilleus reveals
itself.  The aegis thunders about his shoulders; a cloud cracked
with flame circles around his head.  Is he one man or a whole
army?  Follow the similes:  he is likened first to an entire
encampment blazing with fires, then to the trumpet-cry of
attackers besieging a city.  With the stormy aegis above him,
his head flashing lightning, and bellowing a thunderous war cry,
he resembles no one so much as mighty Zeus.  It's no wonder the
Trojans are stricken with terror.  Such an entrance heightens by
contradiction our feelings toward Achilleus.  Perhaps, a moment
ago, you were ready to lay the finger of blame on him; now he is
simply awesome. 

  Poulydamas wisely counsels Hektor to return with the army to
the safe walls of Troy, but once again Hektor refuses his
friend's advice.  Now that Achilleus is on the scene, Hektor's
resistance to caution simply looks foolhardy.  He is hurtling
toward his own fate, with ate (delusion) attending him,
hastening him along.  Meanwhile, Achilleus and the Argives mourn
the death of Patroklos, cleansing his body and wrapping it in
sheets. 

  Thetis reaches the home of Hephaistos and tells him of
Achilleus' predicament.  In his smithy, with twenty bellows
blowing the fires, Hephaistos creates new armor for Achilleus,
particularly an extraordinary shield inlaid with gold and
silver.  The description of the shield of Achilleus is probably
the most famous section in the Iliad.  In this one extended
image, Homer depicts his ideal social order and cosmic order,
and places them both within a work of art.  Scholars disagree as
to whether the shield shows life during Homer's period or during
the Mykenaian period; probably it has parts of both.  But there
is no doubting the shield's symbolic value and its importance to
the poem. 

  The scenes drawn on the shield are so intricate, so full of
life, it's hard to imagine how any single picture could show it
all.  Of course, the shield is an object of wonder:  it was made
by a god.  The earth, sky, and sea are on the shield, and the
constellations of the stars.  Also on it are two cities.  In one
are festivities and celebrations, and though there's a dispute,
it's handled within the context of the Law.  But beside it is
another city, besieged by war, attended by Ares and Athene in
full battle gear.  Here are ambush and massacre, women and
children within a walled city, confusion and destruction in
battle.  Perhaps this reminds you of the city of Troy.  And yet
the other happy city is recalled in numerous similes throughout
the poem, of farming and shepherding, of marriages and rich city
life. 

  The shield is further elaborated with scenes of agricultural
life and with a fabulous dancing celebration where young men and
women perform elaborate maneuvers.  Around these all runs the
Ocean River, or primal Okeanos, the limits of the cosmos.
Suddenly we are able to place the world of war within the
context of total human existence.  Some readers have felt the
city at war on the shield seems out of kilter, implicitly
criticizing the battle world of the Iliad.  But others point out
that two cities exist within the shield, and both must be seen
together.  Perhaps when Achilleus takes this shield into battle
he is not simply fighting a battle, but protecting the values of
an entire civilization and universe.  What higher stakes could a
poet propose for the actions of his characters? 

  The shield, even within the story, is proposed as a marvelous
work of art.  Perhaps you remember Helen's saying that the war
of Troy is being fought for the sake of a poem.  The shield of
Achilleus is also a work of art within a work of art (the
Iliad).  What seems to be the divine craftwork of Hephaistos is
actually the writing genius of Homer! 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XIX 

  As dawn rises, Thetis returns with the divine armor for
Achilleus, who is still mourning Patroklos.  Before putting on
his armor, Achilleus calls an assembly of the Achaians.  He and
Agamemnon begin to heal the wounds caused by their feud.
Achilleus expresses grief over the outcome of events and
questions whether the results were worth it.  He resolves to put
away his anger.  Notice that Achilleus wraps up things
quickly--he is impatient to begin the real fight.  Remember, we
have seen that he has already transferred his anger to Hektor in
revenge for the killing of Patroklos.  The feud with Agamemnon
is old hat to Achilleus; his tragedy is taking him further than
that. 

  Agamemnon also apologizes and admits that he was under the
power of ate, or delusion.  You can see from their respective
speeches the different characters of Achilleus and Agamemnon.
The king admits he made a mistake but blames it on a kind of
outside influence that takes over someone.  He proposes to give
the gifts he offered before to Achilleus, worrying over
technical details of his "contract" with Achilleus.  Achilleus'
response is entirely emotional:  first grief and bitterness over
the death of his comrade, then a desire to head right into
battle, with no thought for the gifts, which, to him, are
insignificant.  To be fair, Achilleus never seemed to be holding
out for more gifts; his was a stand for honor, not for gold.
The physical, mortal world is not entirely his home (his mother
was a goddess).  He even suggests that the Achaians not eat, but
just go ahead and fight. 

  Odysseus, showing his usual good judgment, explains that men
must eat and will fight better because of it.  He urges too that
the gifts be delivered to Achilleus now, so that the affair can
be properly wrapped up.  After all, he says, the standoff
between Achilleus and Agamemnon was not merely a personal
quarrel.  It involved all of the Argives, and it's fitting that
they should all witness the healing exchange of gifts.
Achilleus had been insulted in front of them--shamed by their
eyes--and so he must be justified in the same social way.  The
exchange is made. 

  The girl Briseis is also returned to Achilleus.  First she
encounters the corpse of Patroklos and mourns his death.  Homer
once again brings a character to life in a flash.  This woman
who was previously a thing, a war prize, is suddenly revealed as
a tragic figure, a terrible victim of war, an orphan many times
(much like Andromache).  Achilleus, too, mourns aloud for
Patroklos, grieving his death more than if it were his father or
even his son.  Achilleus' lamentations are extreme; they border
on madness, like his anger and his warrior rage.  The closer we
get to him, the larger he appears.  Now the divine part of him
becomes clearer, and you will see in the next book that it will
take immortal power to counteract his seemingly immortal might.
With his supernatural armor he readies himself for war.
Mysteriously, one of his horses speaks to him, prophesying his
death.  "I myself know well it is destined for me to die here,"
Achilleus responds, "far from my beloved father and mother.  But
for all that/I will not stop till the Trojans have had enough of
my fighting." This man who communicates with animals is more
than human, and when he's in his fury he'll wage more than a
human fight. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XX 

  On Olympos, Zeus calls the gods together.  Afraid that
Achilleus will overpower the Trojans before the appointed time,
he urges them now to join the battle on whichever side they
choose.  It's as though Achilleus' entrance raises the fighting
to a new level so that the gods must participate; we're building
up to a great combat of mighty forces and terrifying intensity.
And though the battle of the gods does not really get underway
until Book XXI, Homer gives us an advance picture of the forces
ready.  Hades himself, god of the underworld, is afraid the
entire earth will crack open, "and the houses of the dead lie
open to men and immortals,/ghastly and mouldering." Such is the
tumult raised by the combating gods. 

  We may also see in this fury a foreshadowing of the battle to
come between the avenging Achilleus and Hektor, but we have to
wait awhile for it.  Achilleus slowly works his way to his
aristeia, killing numerous Trojan warriors along the way.
Aineias meets Achilleus face to face, the two hurling insults
back and forth.  But Aineias is fated to outlive the Trojan war
and take over from Priam the royal legacy. 

  The fight between Achilleus and Aineias gives an interesting
example of the way the passage of time is presented by Homer.
His method is not strictly chronological.  It can't be, because
the swiftness of the gods' actions moves in supernatural, not
mortal, time.  (Remember the speed of a thought?) A whole
conversation between Poseidon, Hera, and Athene takes place in
the instant when Aineias raises a stone and Achilleus draws his
sword.  Again it may be helpful to think of movies.  We are used
to seeing in films simultaneous events placed in sequence, as in
"meanwhile back at the ranch." This is Homer's method and, just
as in movies, there is no intrusion of a narrator telling us
what's taking place.  The scene cuts back and forth as action is
held in suspension.  Before the fight really gets going,
Poseidon snatches the Trojan from combat and places him down at
the outer edge of the battlefield.  His time for glory will come
later. 

  Now it is Achilleus' time, and he continues his slaughter.
When he kills Polydoros, Hektor's brother, Hektor moves in to
face Achilleus.  But once again a god interferes, delaying the
climactic moment, as Apollo hides Hektor in mists Achilleus
can't penetrate.  So the great Argive warrior fights on, corpses
in his wake, his revenge unfulfilled.  Over fallen bodies and
armor Achilleus makes his way, the wheels of his chariot
splattered with blood and his hands covered with gore. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XXI 

  Achilleus drives the Trojans back across the plain toward
Troy.  Half of them fall into the river Xanthos (also called
Skamandros) and in his war-frenzy Achilleus dives in,
slaughtering in a circle around him.  He chooses twelve live
Trojans to take as captives; really they are live sacrifices to
avenge the death of Patroklos.  Shrink as you may, this should
remind you that the Iliad portrays the values of its own age,
not modern ones.  Its society is still tribal, and its rites and
rituals do not always fit within our concept of civilization. 

  But even Achilleus seems to have reached a turning point in
his rage.  When the Trojan prince Lykaon reaches out to him to
spare his life, Achilleus won't listen, although he had spared
Lykaon in a previous encounter.  Achilleus is a changed
man--changed by his wrath and changed by his destiny.  As he
moves through his tragedy the niceties of civilization drop
away.  In a famous speech Achilleus explains to Lykaon that his
request for mercy is futile.  Before the death of Patroklos such
a thing might have been possible, but now no one can escape him.
All are fated to die, even Achilleus, but sorrow over mortality
cannot stand in the way of a heroic destiny.  Lykaon is killed,
sent to Hades.  His poignant plea only emphasizes the warrior
stature of Achilleus.  In his rage Achilleus furiously taunts
the corpse. 

  He fights on, killing many, stuffing the river with corpses.
Finally the river god can stand it no longer and asks Achilleus
to stop; his waters are being ruined.  Achilleus agrees, but
when the river god then calls out to Apollo to intervene on the
Trojans' behalf, Achilleus dives into the water as if to slay
the river god himself.  In a fury the water rises, and a
dramatic fight between Xanthos and Achilleus ensues.  There is
no other passage like it in the Iliad.  Suddenly all the
underlying forces of passion, rage, anger, and betrayal seem to
be unleashed and become active partners in the conflict.  As
Achilleus struggles through flood and tidal wave you may feel he
needed a god for a worthy opponent--mortals are not up to his
level.  Look at Achilleus now--caught in the furious current,
battered by waves of corpses, losing his grip--and you can see
the external manifestation of his internal conflict.  Order has
gone from his world, he is under sway of crazed passion, his
"natural" world confounded.  It takes the intervention of Hera
and Hephaistos, who bring fire to the plain and make the river
boil until it gives in, to calm things down.  Really we might
say Achilleus stands for his world, for the heroic values of
archaic Greece, and in the midst of the Trojan War that world is
being turned upside down.  It is moving from myth and legend to
tragedy. 

  After Hera and Hephaistos finish, all the gods join in the
battle, fighting each other with an almost comic frenzy.  Athene
fights and wounds Ares and Aphrodite, Apollo and Poseidon taunt
each other, and Hera smashes Artemis.  Through it all Zeus
remains impassive. 

  NOTE:  This fight is known as the theomachia, literally the
"battle of the gods." Some readers suggest it should be more
serious, coming at this point in the story.  A battle could
hardly be more powerful, however, than the one we've just seen
between Xanthos and Achilleus; perhaps we need a break at this
point.  Too, the idea of a mortal fighting a god is much more
frightening than immortals fighting each other.  They, after
all, can't be killed, and so there is something naturally
mocking in their actions.  The theomachia, in fact, seems to
mimic the horror of war, rather than heighten it.  The gods are
always amused at the foibles of mortals.  Nevertheless, the gods
fighting each other may show another example of the way war rips
apart a culture's values. 

  At the gates of Troy, Achilleus meets the Trojan Agenor, who
is being inspired by Apollo.  While his attention is temporarily
averted, the retreating Trojans stream through the open gates,
gaining safety--for a moment. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XXII 

  Achilleus realizes he has been tricked by Apollo and returns
to the battle.  Priam sees him coming from the walls and sadly
laments the fate that he fears awaits Hektor, his most princely
son.  This is the first of several speeches in this book that
give us the human reaction to the events of the war.  Priam may
be a great king, but his grief makes us pity him.  The order of
his life has been turned inside out.  He fears a horrifying and
undignified end:  that his own dogs will devour his body.  Those
who should be his domestic comfort will destroy him.  Hekabe,
Hektor's mother, also laments in anguish, both of them trying to
convince Hektor not to fight Achilleus. 

  NOTE:  In an action that is startling to our modern eyes,
Hekabe pulls out her breast as if to show it to Hektor.  Instead
of having her say, "I am your mother, I love you," instead of
telling us anything about their relationship, Homer presents the
object in the simplest and purest terms:  Hekabe nursed Hektor
at her breast, and that says all that needs be said about the
depth of their relationship. 

  This is a striking example of Homer's art of direct
presentation.  He doesn't talk about things; he shows them to
us.  Characters don't think; they speak.  He uses similes, not
metaphors.  In other words, things are not presented
figuratively; they are compared, one explicit thing to another
explicit thing.  The Iliad is a world of particulars--that is
one of the challenges of reading it.  You must draw the
conclusions yourself. 

  There are four speeches in the Iliad that read like a
character thinking to himself; we've read Odysseus' and
Menelaos' already.  Now Hektor ponders whether to fight or seek
safety in Troy.  But he must follow his heroic principles,
defending his family and citizens, even though it seems that
from the beginning the war and its cause were distasteful to
him.  He resolves to stand and fight--until he sees Achilleus
bearing down upon him.  As Achilleus blazes toward him, Hektor
turns and runs.  From what we have seen of Achilleus, that's
probably an appropriate response.  Hektor's running away doesn't
make him look like a coward as much as it shows us how awesome
Achilleus appears.  After all, we have just seen Hektor come to
the difficult but heroic decision to fight.  Now, however, he's
out of his mind with fear, no longer capable of logical thought.
Just as Achilleus is out of control in his wrath, he sends
others out of control from fright.  Hektor's running makes
Achilleus loom larger. 

  Around the city they run, Hektor escaping and Achilleus
pursuing.  They're like olympic runners racing for a prize,
Homer tells us, except they aren't running for a trophy:  "No,
they ran for the life of Hektor." Yet, as at a mere race, there
are spectators.  Watching from Olympos, Zeus wonders whether he
should save Hektor.  Athene reminds him that Hektor's destiny is
already written, and Zeus sends Athene on her way to speed
things up. 

  Achilleus continues chasing Hektor, who can't find a place to
hide and can't get help from his allies behind the walls.  Homer
tells us they run as though in a dream.  The inevitable weight
of fate has compressed their lives into this one suspended
moment.  But it can't last for long.  Zeus raises his scales,
and Hektor's fate pulls him down. 

  Appearing as Deiphobos, Hektor's brother, Athene tricks
Hektor into stopping to fight Achilleus.  Hektor faces his
opponent and suggests they first swear not to defile each
other's corpses.  Hektor, as usual, has something civil about
him.  He is fighting for home and country, fighting in front of
his people, and he wants to uphold the social virtues.  But
Achilleus is far from home, far from domesticity, far into the
depth of his passions, his war mania, and his revenge for
Patroklos.  No, he will swear no oaths.  Achilleus spears Hektor
through the throat.  With his dying breath Hektor again asks
that his body be returned to Troy for proper rites, but
Achilleus refuses.  The other Achaians come forward, and all
stab the fallen Hektor.  Achilleus strips the body of its armor
and brutally pierces holes in Hektor's ankles, stringing hide
through the holes and dragging the corpse behind his chariot,
its head dragging in the dirt. 

  Many readers--especially modern ones--have felt such sympathy
for Hektor in this passage that they have taken him to be the
hero of the poem.  Certainly Homer means us to feel the pathos
of Hektor's death, but don't you also feel pity for Achilleus?
Pity and awe, perhaps.  For he, too, is filled with grief--for
the death of his dearest friend.  His fighting Hektor is based
on that revenge.  If he is ruthless, he is ruthless in grief
now, not merely anger.  And yet his anger is terrible.  We see
the absolute depth of it. 

  At the same time, Achilleus' uncontrollable rage perfectly
expresses the deadly spirit of war.  As our sympathy is roused
for Hektor, it's also roused for the city of Troy and all that
it stands for--civilization, home, and family.  The tragedy of
Achilleus is also the tragedy of Troy. 

  So in the most dramatic and touching terms, Priam, Hekabe,
and Andromache mourn the death of Hektor.  Andromache faints at
the news, then laments out loud.  Hektor's death, they know, is
the end of the line for Troy.  Andromache speaks of her son,
Astyanax, who should be in line to rule the city.  Instead,
he'll be an orphan with a grim future; Priam's Troy is
finished. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XXIII 

  Achilleus and the Myrmidons drive their chariots solemnly
around the pyre of Patroklos and begin the funeral feast.  In a
dream, the ghost of Patroklos asks Achilleus to bury him quickly
so that he may pass fully into the realm of the dead.  In a
touching plea, reminding Achilleus of their eternal bond of
friendship, Patroklos asks that his bones or ashes be mingled
with those of Achilleus in one gold vessel.  A huge funeral
mound is built and many sacrificial offerings are piled on it,
including the bodies of twelve Trojan warriors.  Patroklos is
placed in the middle, and the pyre is lit, Achilleus mourning
and lamenting all night long.  In the morning Achilleus calls
for funeral games. 

  NOTE:  The scene reminds us that the world of the Iliad is
one of ritual, from its repeated formula phrases through its
stylized battle sequences and its code of honor and shame.  This
elaborate funeral and the rites of competition in the games show
how valued Patroklos was, but they also show the importance
attached to retrieving and burying the corpses of the warriors
(as well as their armor, which may have been symbolic of the
body itself).  Though sometimes the gods in Homer seem
frivolous, nevertheless mortals always give them their proper
worship and respect.  All must be done in specific order.  The
great funeral of Patroklos and the funeral games show us a
formal world in which life is played out almost like theater.
And we can assume that, as usual, the gods are watching. 

  A number of contests are waged:  a chariot race, a boxing
match, a wrestling match, a foot race, a fight with armor, a
discus throw, an archery match, a spear throw.  During these
contests we are able, for the last time, to meet all the great
Argive heroes:  Odysseus, Diomedes, Aias, Menelaos, Idomeneus,
Nestor, and Agamemnon.  Though the proceedings are light and
full of action, they may be seen as serving a function similar
to a wake--easing the burden of death.  We get to see Achilleus
in a social role as leader of the Argives, and he thus appears
human to us after the frenzy of his wrath.  Throughout the
games, Homer continues his vivid characterizations of the
Achaian heroes:  Odysseus the crafty; Nestor the long-winded,
full of memories of youth.  After the furious and bloody
fighting of the preceding books, the formal contests and combats
here return a sense of order to the poem, a hope for
civilization after war. 

  At the last contest, the spear throw, Achilleus defers
tactfully to Agamemnon.  He gives the king first prize, not for
winning the contest, but because they all know how much greater
than the rest Agamemnon is with the spear.  In a way, Achilleus
is paying respect to Agamemnon's rank, not his ability, and this
gesture--so opposite to the one that began all of the
madness--begins Achilleus' healing journey out of anger. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  BOOK XXIV 

  After the games are finished, Achilleus still doesn't stop
mourning the death of Patroklos.  Tossing and turning, he seems
at times to be mourning the past, the entire series of events
that make up the plot of the Iliad.  Perhaps this final bout of
grief prepared Achilleus for his final reconciliation.  But not
yet:  in a pathetic gesture, Achilleus continues to drag the
corpse of Hektor around the tomb of Patroklos, as if that might
bring back the dead friend or further hurt the dead enemy.  The
gods, however, preserve the body of Hektor from decay or
injury. 

  Zeus, once more looking from Olympos, sees there's no point
for either side in Achilleus' actions.  They do Achilleus no
moral good and simply make the Trojans sadder.  He calls Thetis
to him and has her tell Achilleus that now is the time for Priam
to ransom the body of his son Hektor.  For once the interference
of the gods is soothing.  Our final view of them, like the final
view of the Argives, shows things moving toward a more peaceful
and natural order. 

  At Troy, in the midst of weeping and sorrow, Priam is told of
Zeus' decision.  He prepares to make his dangerous way to the
Achaian camp.  Hekabe pleads for him not to put himself into the
hands of the man who has killed so many of his children, but
Priam is firm.  Firm, but not without fear.  His irritation as
he orders his relatives out of his house shows how nervous he
is--another glimpse of the subtle ways in which Homer
understands human psychology. 

  The god Hermes, called Argeiphontes, is sent to guide Priam
across the plain of Skamandros to the Achaian camp on the
beachfront.  (Remember the difficulties Dolon had navigating
this territory, and he would not have been nearly so great a
capture for the Achaians as Priam.) Hermes leads the Trojan king
past guards and watchpoints and lands him safely in the tent of
Achilleus.  Priam clasps Achilleus by the knees, and Homer seems
to stop the action for a moment to let us feel the intensity of
this extraordinary encounter.  All we have seen throughout the
poem is the hideous gulf of anger and war horror that can
consume these two people--actually two peoples, for Achilleus
and Priam now stand for the Achaians and the Trojans.  We can
feel as well the challenge implicit in the scene; it is
dangerous to both men.  Can Achilleus truly overcome his rage
and move toward peace?  Homer, always the master of his scene,
knows that Achilleus and Priam feel these questions and
tensions, too.  Priam, "caught the knees of Achilleus in his
arms, and kissed the hands/that were dangerous and
manslaughtering and had killed so many/of his sons." And
Achilleus "wondered as he looked on Priam, a godlike/man." 

  Priam urges Achilleus to think of his own father and then
pity Priam in his outrageous position, a king "who must put my
lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children." The
moment is not lost on Achilleus.  Both the Trojan king and
Argive warrior weep for their sons, fathers, and comrades.  This
sharing of common grief becomes a bridge back to human sympathy.
In an extraordinary speech Achilleus soothes Priam's sorrow by
painting a picture of their common misfortune and the inevitable
limits of mortality.  These, says Achilleus, cannot be changed
by grieving.  Though the human lot he portrays is grim, his
actions show a human decency that somehow softens our sense of
what it means to be human.  Grieving as one, they reinforce
their common humanity. 

  Priam asks not to be seated so he can more quickly attend to
the return of Hektor.  Suddenly Achilleus' anger flashes out--he
could kill the man in a minute!  Homer is no sentimentalist.
The complexities of Achilleus' character don't disappear
instantly.  But Achilleus puts away his anger, the word of
intemperate wrath that began the Iliad.  A strange healing power
surfaces.  There is no pretty ending; Troy, we know, will soon
be destroyed.  Yet by reaching out to Priam, Achilleus, for a
moment, brings these two bitterly warring nations into a zone of
peace.  The scene is uncompromisingly tragic:  Patroklos is
dead, Hektor is dead, Priam will soon be killed, Achilleus will
soon be killed.  Yet somehow, in the midst of suffering, moral
beauty survives. 

  Priam returns to Troy with the body of Hektor.  The three
great women of Troy lament him.  Andromache mourns on behalf of
their son and, for herself, mourns the loss of love's intimate
comforts; Hekabe mourns for Hektor's heroic purity; and Helen
(the last and the first) mourns and yet celebrates his kindness
and generosity.  Again, grieving becomes a testimony of human
virtue.  The Trojans build a great funeral pyre, and the rites
for the burial of Hektor are completed. 

  NOTE:  Observe how the plot structure of the Iliad completes
itself.  In the first book, a father (Chryses) comes to
Agamemnon to plead for the return of his child but is refused.
In the last book, a father (Priam) also pleads to Achilleus for
the return of a child; this time pity is shown.  Though this
symmetry is surely there, Homer is an artist who permits
complexities and contradictions.  As you begin to sum up your
feelings about the Iliad, test all the threads.  The question is
not simply is Achilleus right or wrong, or are the Trojans or
Argives the real heroes.  Homer values both cultures.  He sees
meaning in the heroic code but he also sees its shortcomings.
In that same way, he pictures the horrible sufferings of a world
at war and yet shows us the human dignity that can shine
through.  In the beginning Apollo says that mortals maneuver
through Destiny with "the heart of endurance." That is where the
Iliad begins and ends. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  GLOSSARY 

  ACHAIANS One of Homer's three interchangeable terms for
Greeks (also Argives, Danaans). 

  ACHILLEUS Greek hero, son of Peleus and Thetis.  A great
warrior, possessed of fierce ideals and emotional turbulence. 

  ADRESTOS Trojan warrior taken by Menelaos and Agamemnon, but
denied ransom and killed. 

  AEGIS The powerful shield used by Athene and Zeus, derived
from a thundercloud. 

  AGAMEMNON Commander-in-chief of the Greek forces, king of
Mykenai. 

  AGENOR Trojan warrior, killed by Achilleus. 

  AIAKIDES Another name for Achilleus, meaning "descendant of
Aiakos." 

  AIANTES Plural name for the two Greek warriors named Aias. 

  AIAS Son of Telemon (Telemonian Aias), a huge Greek warrior;
also the son of Oileus, another fighter. 

  AINEIAS Major Trojan warrior.  Virgil named his epic, The
Aeneid, after him. 

  ALEXANDROS Another name for Paris, Trojan prince, instigator
of the war due to his capture of Helen. 

  ANTENOR Trojan elder, who urges the return of Helen. 

  ANTILOCHOS Son of Nestor, a Greek warrior.  Figures heavily
in the funeral games for Patroklos. 

  APHRODITE Goddess of love and beauty, guider of Helen. 

  APOLLO Archer god, main protector of the Trojans. 

  ARES Furious god of war, often war itself. 

  ARGEIPHONTES Another name for Hermes, who guides Priam to the
Achaian camp. 

  ARGIVES One of three interchangeable terms for the Greeks
(also Danaans, Achaians). 

  ARGOS A Greek city, domain of Diomedes. 

  ARISTEIA The point at which a hero displays his most intense
courage and valor. 

  ARTEMIS Goddess of the hunt, Trojan supporter. 

  ASKALAPHOS Son of Ares. 

  ASTYANAX Child of Hektor and Andromache. 

  ATE Moral or spiritual blindness that overtakes a character
and causes ill judgment. 

  ATHENE Wise goddess of war, protectress of Achilleus and one
of the main Greek supporters. 

  ATREIDES Another name for Agamemnon usually, but also for
Menelaos; means "son of Atreus." 

  BRISEIS Captive girl originally awarded to Achilleus but
taken by Agamemnon, precipitating the "wrath of Achilleus." 

  CATALOG OF SHIPS Long descriptive passage in Book II
outlining all the battle contingents at Troy. 

  CHRYSEIS Captive girl taken by Agamemnon.  Apollo forces him
to return her by sending a plague on the Greek forces. 

  CHRYSES Father of Chryseis, priest of Apollo. 

  DACTYLIC HEXAMETER The metrical form used by Homer in his
epic poems, consisting of six feet of variable quantity. 

  DANAANS One of three interchangeable terms for the Greeks
(also Argives, Achaians). 

  DARDANIANS Trojan contingent headed by Aineias. 

  DECEPTION OF ZEUS Passage in Book XIV in which Hera seduces
Zeus. 

  DEIPHOBOS Brother of Hektor. 

  DIOMEDES Great Greek warrior, son of Tydeus (sometimes
referred to as Tydeides).  Book V is often called the Diomedeia
because of his powerful exploits. 

  DOLON Trojan spy caught by Diomedes and Odysseus in Book X,
which is called the Doloneia after him. 

  EPIC CYCLE Group of poems by various authors that make up the
entire story of the Trojan War. 

  EPITHET Short descriptive term used by Homer to describe a
character, frequently repeated throughout the poem. 

  ERIS Goddess of strife. 

  EROS Love-power governed by Aphrodite. 

  EUPHORBOS Trojan warrior, killed by Menelaos.  His death in
Book XVII is described in a famous simile. 

  EURYPYLOS Greek warrior, wounded in battle. 

  GLAUKOS Trojan warrior, ancestral friend of Diomedes, who
spares his life. 

  HADES Ruler of the underworld, brother of Zeus and
Poseidon. 

  HEKABE Wife of Priam, mother of Hektor. 

  HEKTOR Greatest and most beloved Trojan warrior, arch enemy
of Achilleus, son of Priam and Hekabe, husband of Andromache. 

  HELEN Beautiful woman; wife of Menelaos but mistress of
Paris.  The Trojan War is fought on her behalf. 

  HELENOS Trojan warrior, brother of Hektor. 

  HEPHAISTOS Lame god of the blacksmith's art, creator of
divine armor for Achilleus. 

  HERA Ever-scheming and powerful goddess; wife of Zeus, major
defender of the Greek cause. 

  HERMES Also called Argeiphontes, god who protects Priam. 

  HOMERIC HYMNS Group of narrative poems sometimes attributed
to Homer. 

  ICHOR Divine substance that runs through the immortals' veins
instead of blood. 

  IDA Large mountain near Troy. 

  IDAIOS A herald of Priam. 

  IDOMENEUS Kretan commander, a great Greek fighter. 

  ILION Another name for Troy, from which the Iliad gets its
name. 

  IRIS Messenger of Zeus. 

  KALCHAS Soothsayer for the Greeks. 

  KEBRIONES Trojan warrior killed by Patroklos, sparking a
fierce battle over his body. 

  KRETE Largest of the Greek islands, whose forces are led by
Idomeneus. 

  KRONOS One of the ancient Greek gods, overthrown by Zeus, his
son. 

  LEDA Mother of Helen, perhaps by mating with Zeus in the form
of a swan. 

  LYKAON Trojan warrior, killed by Achilleus. 

  MACHAON Physician for the Greeks. 

  MEDUSA The "Gorgon":  snake-haired creature whose severed
head stared from the aegis. 

  MEGARON Large Greek room. 

  MELEAGROS Legendary hero whose story is used by Phoinix to
persuade Achilleus to fight. 

  MENELAOS Ruler of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, cuckolded
husband of Helen. 

  MENOITIOS Father of Patroklos. 

  MERIONES Greek fighter, companion of Idomeneus. 

  MUSE One of the nine goddesses who inspire the various arts,
invoked by Homer to begin the Iliad. 

  MYKENAI Powerful Greek city, ruled by Agamemnon. 

  MYRMIDONS Greek contingent led by Achilleus. 

  NEREIDS Sea nymphs, companions of Thetis, daughters of
Nereus. 

  NESTOR Elder statesman of the Greeks, a great talker. 

  ODYSSEUS Brilliant Greek warrior and counselor.  His travels
home from the war are the subject of Homer's epic, the
Odyssey. 

  OILEUS Father of one of the fighters called Aias. 

  OKEANOS Primal waters surrounding the world, depicted on the
divine shield of Achilleus. 

  OLYMPOS Mountainous abode of the immortals. 

  PANDAROS Trojan warrior who breaks the truce in Book IV. 

  PARIS Another name for Alexandros, Trojan prince. 

  PATROKLOS Greek commander, comrade of Achilleus, whose death
causes Achilleus to reenter the war. 

  PELEUS Father of Achilleus. 

  PHOINIX An elder of the Greeks, old friend of Achilleus. 

  POLYDOROS Son of Priam, killed by Achilleus. 

  POSEIDON Fierce god of the sea and of earthquakes, brother of
Zeus and Hades, defender of the Greeks. 

  POULYDAMAS Trojan warrior and friend of Hektor. 

  PRIAM King of Troy, father of Hektor and many others. 

  PYLOS Greek city, domain of Nestor. 

  RHAPSODE Ancient Greek singer who recited epics. 

  RHESOS Trojan ally, killed by Diomedes; possessor of great
horses. 

  SARPEDON Son of Zeus, a Trojan fighter whose death almost
causes Zeus to intervene. 

  SKAIAN GATES Landmark gates before the walls of Troy. 

  SKAMANDROS River that crosses the plain of Troy (also called
the plain of Skamandros).  Also referred to as Xanthos. 

  SPARTA Greek city, home of Menelaos. 

  TEICHOSCOPEIA "View from the wall":  referring to Helen's
description of the Greek forces as seen from the Trojan walls. 

  TELEMON Father of one of the Greek fighters called Aias. 

  TEUKROS Younger brother of Telemonian Aias, a great archer. 

  THEOMACHIA "Battle of the gods":  referring to the immortals'
fight in Book XXI. 

  THERSITES Offensive Greek fighter; a buffoon and a whiner. 

  THETIS Sea goddess, mother of Achilleus. 

  TROY Walled city on the coast of Turkey; also called Ilion. 

  TYDEUS Father of Diomedes; sometimes referred to as
Tydeides. 

  TYNDAREUS Father, perhaps, of Helen. 

  XANTHOS Another name for the river Skamandros. 

  ZEUS Most powerful of the immortals, a thunder-and-lightning
sky god.  His plan outlines the plot of the Iliad. 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ON ACHILLEUS 

  The Iliad traces almost clinically the stages of Achilles'
development.  More than tragedy, epic makes real use of time;
whereas Oedipus, for instance, reveals himself before our eyes,
Achilles creates himself in the course of the poem.  He
progresses from young hopefulness, cheerfully accepting the
possibility of early death with glory, through various phases of
disillusion, horror, and violence, to a final detachment which
is godlike indeed.  Tragedy, especially that of Sophocles,
slowly uncovers a character which is complete from start to
finish, but Achilles is actually not complete until the poem is
complete.  He is learning all the time. 

  -Cedric H.  Whitman, 

  Homer and the Heroic Tradition, 1958 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ON SIMILES 

  The similes have a double purpose:  to crystallize, in a
sphere close to the listener's own understanding, a sight or
sound or a state of mind; and to give relief from the harshness
and potential monotony of warfare by suddenly actualizing a
quite different and often even peaceful, even domestic,
scene.... 

  -G.  S.  Kirk, The Songs of Homer, 1962 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ON HEKTOR 

  Hector is the pure patriot, who is fighting to save his city,
not to defend his brother's guilt; he feels the sin of Paris as
a stain upon his city's name, a fatal weakness in the Trojan
cause.  Thus he enters the poem with his nobility and purity of
motive thrown into sharp relief against the background of guilt
which spells Troy's inevitable destruction. 

  -E.  T.  Owen, The Story of the "Iliad," 1966 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ON NESTOR 

  Nestor's constant claim is that he has lived a hero's life.
Having already proved his worth in heroic encounters, he sets
his life before the young heroes as paradigm.  Now it is their
turn to prove their characters.  As paradigms, then, his stories
are never told for their antiquarian interest but because they
are his most persuasive form of rhetoric....  They reflect a
pervasive need to justify an action in the present by an appeal
to a past precedent. 

  -Norman Austin, "The Function of Digressions 

  in the Iliad," in John Wright, 

  Essays on the "Iliad," 1978 

^^^^^^^^^^
THE ILIAD:  ON GREATNESS 

  Achilles' greatness is a greatness of force and negation.  He
is different from other men by his greater capacity to deny, to
refuse, to kill, and to face death....  Hector, by contrast, is
a hero of illusions; he is finally trapped between a failed
illusion and his own capacity for disillusionment.  Hector is
surely a figure less grand than Achilles, but it is Hector's
story that gives Achilles' story meaning; Hector affirms all
that Achilles denies. 

  -James Redfield, Nature and Culture 

  in the "Iliad," 1975 

  THE END