Achilles' heroism and honor in Homer's Iliad

Trojan Wars and Culture

The three epic stories namely, The Iliad, the Trojan Women, Pericle's Funeral Oration are powerfully written master pieces of work, that illustrate the element of horridness of war beautifully.

The Iliad

The story of Homer's Iliad focuses on the "rage of Achilles." Reading this epic poem makes one believe that it is based entirely on the totality and gruesomeness of war. However, it tells us about the details of war with full description and information. Though war is an important aspect of the tale, but the real story is based on the remarkable fighter and hero-that man is none other than Achilles.

Achilles possesses the greatest military expertise of any of the Achaean ranks and also the greatest fighting ability out of all of the warriors, Trojan or Achaean. At the beginning of the epic, Achilles becomes liberated from his fellow warriors and retreats back to his own ships of Myrmidons and after refusing to fight for the Achaean cause against the Trojans. We learn about the problems that are faced by Achilles when it comes to his fellow soldiers, but as the story proceeds we see that he has no choice but to face the reality that he has chosen to live a short and glorious life, instead of a long and blessed life. Achilles knows that he will eventually die in the heat of battle and become famous for the way he dies. If this story is really true then he has gained eternal fame in Homer's tale.

Achilles eventually returns to fight with the Achaeans, on his own. The mighty Hector of Troy kills Achilles' best friend and soul mate Patroclus.

Achilles is really disturbed by this and avenges to kill Hector by creating havoc with the life of Hector to gain revenge. He manages to finally kill several Trojan men and then finally after chasing Hector for some time around the city of Troy, he manages to kill him and damages his body by dragging him around to get his hate, and anger out.

King Priam of Troy, Hector's father, comes to Achilles peacefully after his son's death, to beg Achilles for the body of his son making this scene the most emotional human aspects of the epic. Achilles agrees to the King's wishes and seems to become sad by the damage.

From reading the story of Achilles, we learn that he is a born warrior. Being the son of Peleus, he feels that he must fight. His battles with the Trojans bring him glory and honor. He already has the honor of the gods. He says, "My honor lies in the great decree of Zeus..." (IX.741.p.272). By book IX, he shows no desires for material wealth. He even rejects Agamemnon's offers. His is not inspired by the ideals of heroism since they don't concern him; this clearly shows that his ideals are different from those of his peers. First of all, these materialistic prizes offered by Agamemnon are already; secondly, he believes that by accepting these gifts would mean accepting that Agamemnon is greater than him. "Twelve cities of men I've stormed and sacked form shipboard, eleven I claim by land, on the fertile earth of troy. And from all I dragged off piles of splendid plunder, hauled it away and always gave the lot to Agamemnon..." (IX.398-401.p.262).

Nonetheless, it is more important for Achilles to win the battle of mortality that would glorify him in the Homeric world. He feels honor and glory are more important to him than materialistic things because he doesn't know whether he will live or die. Achilles is confused about what he really wants. Pride and stubbornness are elements of his rage, and they are consciously present in his anger manifested from his fear and confusion -- "Stop confusing my fixed resolve with this..." (IX.745-746.p.272).

Achilles knows he wants honor and glory since his life will be short. So, the choices he makes for his honor are crucial. This is a really crucial point in his life because his life depends on the decisions he makes. This is why he chooses to go to war, live a short life, and attain much glory. At the end of book IX, after the embassy has told Achilles about the offers made by Agamemnon, Achilles remains angry because he believes that wealth and material possessions will not motivate him to fight.

The Trojan Women

The Trojan Women is a story of women destroyed by the conquerors at the end of a war. The story calls for an end to the figurative war between the sexes, raging for 27 years.

The story is rather depressing, featuring the burning of a city, an impending typhoon, a rape, and the killing of a child. The bloodiest act is the starting of the Trojan War. Meanwhile, the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite decide to have a beauty contest. Paris, the son of Hecuba, Queen of Troy, was the judge for the contest. Aphrodite promised Helen, to Paris if he chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful. Helen was already extremely gorgeous and so Paris had no problem to the agreement.

About 416 B.C. The island of Melos did not give aid to Athens during the war against Sparta. The Athenians revengefully killed the men and took the women and children as slaves. Such an atrocious crime had never occurred between the one Greek city-states.

Helen is crowned the most beautiful woman in the world. It is her majestic beauty that will make her life adventurous. Starting with her kidnapping at age 12, followed by an arranged marriage, and ending with a passionate affair. Her affair leads to the outbreak of the Trojan War.

Cassandra, the sister of Helen's true love, has the power to foretell the future. However, even though she sees Helen as the culprit to ruin of her family and city, when she arrives in Troy, she is shocked but very helpless. Still, Cassandra and Helen, develop a deep friendship as the war ensues. The rest of the tale is told through their eyes.

Athena, has been described as the Greek goddess of wisdom, household arts and crafts, and spinning and weaving of textiles. She came up with the flute, the plough and the ox-yoke, the horse bridle and the chariot. Athena was the goddess of war, who closely guarded Athens, and even had the city named after her. She believed in justice and law and order.

The tale is about the war of the sexes. The women fought for their rights and that is what women in today's society are doing too. The question that arises is who was Athena and why was she celebrated in song and story, and worshiped as the goddess of Greece. Was she the apple of every man's eye or the dream of woman?

Legend has it that Athena was born fully-grown and fully-armed from the head of her father, Zeus, ruler of the gods on Mount Olympus, since he had swallowed his pregnant first wife, Metis, meaning wisdom, so that the child born to her would not be more powerful than he. Athena was her father's favorite child. She was the only one who had access to the keys to his thunderbolts, and she was the only one allowed wear his aegis, to carry his shield. Though she was born wearing armor, Athena was not aggressive in nature, she only used her arms when her country was threatened or under an attack. Athena was a virgin goddess, who protected of both men and women. The Homeric Gods called her "the goddess of nearness," because she helped the heroes in battle, with their tasks and struggles, and she was also close to women, helping them prepare for their weddings. Even in helmeted and fully-armed, she seemed to have a sense of peace and order, that is why others looked for her judgment, her fairness, and her wisdom

All three of the characters are similar because they all possess wisdom, strong judgment and were born to the privileged class. We see Athena as a very wise woman, who never differentiated between men and women, while Pericles's tried his best to make people happy. He has good education and family backing to allow him to wage wars. Achilles is also a born warrior, ready to protect his country. One similarity between all three of the characters is that they are all warriors but are willing to wage war if they have to protect their country from war or an attack but not otherwise. From this we can conclude they were peace-loving people, who wanted to spread tranquility in their land and amongst their people.

There are three stories: one a reality that has become a myth, while the other two are used to teach reality. They make the reader ask a lot of questions but provide no meaningful answers, no solution. Still, these stories are worth retelling whenever war threatens, because they provide a point-of-view on the problem. These tales are just voices that can be heard when we would choose to turn deaf to all the screaming.