The Iliad

By Homer

Themes

The Problems of Heroism

To see the Iliad, as many have done, as a straightforward glorification of war and the role of the hero is to neglect many of the complex aspects of the poem and to overlook the fact that its most heroic character ends the poem utterly disillusioned at his own, and his fellow men's, position within the cosmos. On the other hand, to see it as a damning indictment of war and its consequences is to misunderstand the world of Homer and the demands made upon individuals within that world. We must, therefore, find some middle ground between these two polarised views. The question that the poem poses and which the more reflective of the leading players battle with is 'what is it to be a hero?'.


Acceptance of the heroic code

The choice that Achilles is given explicitly and which is emphasised throughout the poem is the choice that implicitly every heroic character has to face, namely between a life that is short yet glorious and a life that is long yet obscure. That Achilles, in Books 1 and 9, questions whether his exertions are worth their results is not a rejection of the heroic code per se, but rather a situational dilemma. It is not that he is averse to the heroic lifestyle, which demands that he risk his own life in the pursuit of glory, but that he feels that he is not being rewarded sufficiently. Agamemnon is disrespecting him by threatening to confiscate the gifts and prizes that he has won, the material possessions by which his heroism is manifestly proven. In addition, he is dishonouring him in front of his fellow Achaeans by insulting him in such a way. Heroism in Homer is all about proving oneself to be better than anyone else, yet Agamemnon is seeking to outdo him through his rank rather than through his capabilities as a warrior and hence as a hero. To Achilles, a world in which the pay-off for being a hero is not fully realised is a world in which it is not worth being a hero.

Achilles' great speech to Priam in Book 24 (518-551), which has similarly been held up as proof of his rejection of the heroic code, is again no such thing. Certainly, Achilles is pained by the events that have led him to realise that his father Peleus will never see him again and that Priam is in a parallel situation with respect to Hector, but he never suggests that things might have been different. He accepts that this is the hero's lot and that endless grieving is of no use. Men must simply learn to endure the harsh realities of a life which requires heroes to be heroes in a world governed by divine and ultimately unchangeable rulers.


Individual versus Society

The difficulty for all the great heroes is in squaring the requirement to be better than anybody else with the need to protect their own people. The hero does not exist in isolation. Heroic status is conferred on him by the people who benefit from his acts of heroism. The requirements of the hero are succintly stated by Sarpedon when he urges on his fellow Lycian king, Glaucus (12.310-328). In order to justify the privileges they receive in peacetime, the two men must prove themselves in war. It is they who must provide the lead and perform the deeds that win the day. Problems arise, however, when the hero's character, which requires that sometimes he overreach himself to bring glory to himself or to avoid being shamed, brings disaster upon those he is supposed to be protecting. Agamemnon, in order not to lose face in front of the Achaean army, succeeds in insulting their greatest warrior with disastrous consequences. Achilles initially takes umbrage in Book 1 and then refuses to accept Agamemnon's offers of reconciliation via the embassy in Book 9, feeling that his honour has been irreparably damaged, and sees his best friend die the next day. Patroclus, seeking to gain greater personal glory, ignores Achilles' instruction to return to his hut after he has driven back the Trojans from the Achaean ships, and is subsequently killed. Hector rejects the advice of Poulydamas, in Book 18, to return to Troy that night, rather than camping on the plain, and sees the Trojans slaughtered the next day by the returning Achilles. He then refuses the pleas of his family and fellow citizens to retreat inside the walls of Troy, when Achilles is set on single combat, and consequently is slain, a death which, symbolically, marks the fall of Troy itself.

In all these cases, the hero is given the opportunity to relinquish his heroic position by the more pragmatic advice of another party. Every time he rejects it, in order to add to, or at least not detract from, his glory. Every time the consequence of that decision is fatal. And yet, if any of the heroes had decided upon the more pragmatic course of action, they would have abrogated their duty as heroes, which requires them constantly to prove themselves greater than anyone else, and it is this quality that marks them out as heroes and as men capable of protecting those who rely on them displaying this quality. There is only one occasion in the Iliad when a true hero compromises his heroic ideals in favour of a more pragmatic approach and it is marked for this reason and for the fact that it does not result in calamity. In Book 4 (370-418), Agamemnon abuses Diomedes for skulking by his horses and not being keen to engage the Trojans in war. He recalls how Diomedes' father, Tydeus, would never have acted in such a way. Such a rebuke would be a serious blow to the honour of a hero, yet Diomedes chooses to accept the criticism, rather than take offence, as Achilles has done. He even chides his companion Sthenelos who responds angrily to Agamemnon's slight. For, he states, Agamemnon is right to encourage his troops in such a way, since it is he who will stand or fall by the success or failure of the Achaean mission. Such clear-sighted thinking is unique for a hero when his honour is called into question, and it is notable that the incident has no lasting repercussions. Furthermore, Diomedes' stature as a true Homeric hero is confirmed by his later success on the battlefield, and, most explicitly, by his attempts to fight the gods.


Life and Death

The stark choice that faces the hero is emphasised by the way in which Homer treats the contrast between life and death. Unlike other mythological worlds, the Homeric world provides no comfort for the hero that there is a glorious life after death. His earthly glory may live on, but for him death is final. Unlike the gods, whose immortality is constantly stressed, the hero will die and it is this that provides the pathos in his predicament. For, in order to win glory, he must place himself in positions where death is likely and eventually inevitable. Even after death, the potential for mutilation of his body means that his honour can still be sullied. This is why we see such frenzied fighting over the bodies of Sarpedon and Patroclus, and why it is so important to Priam that he recover the corpse of Hector. In order to complete the hero's glory, he must be given a burial appropriate to his stature.

The finality of death - the fact that, once dead, the hero cannot return to influence events - raises the stakes. He must seek to utilise his vitality while still alive, while being aware at all times of the proximity of his extinction. Thus, we see that every hero is prone to moments of fear, mostly explicitly realised in Hector, who, having steeled himself to stay outside Troy and face Achilles, is struck by panic and flees. It is this paradox, that by facing death the hero glorifies his life, that raises the heroic predicament to the sublime. The fragility of life is necessarily intertwined with the pursuit of greatness.