The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  307 Patroklos, companion of Achilleus, will play a major role in the unfolding drama.

  313 The purification is to remove the pollution (miasma) caused by angering Apollo in dishonoring his priest Chryses. The subsequent “hecatomb” (literally, a sacrifice of one hundred cows—though here it comprises goats and bulls) is meant to make amends with the god.

  331 Achilleus as head of his Myrmidon troops can be called “king,” like Agamemnon, but the latter functions as an overlord, a first among equals for the Greek leaders, each of whom possesses a sort of localized royalty.

  349 It was not unmanly for heroes to weep under pressures of grief and loss. The poet does not prolong the scene of departing with a depiction of emotional states, other than to say that Briseis went unwillingly. Achilleus restrains his tears until he finds solitude at the shore.

  352 Achilleus seems to think that a connection with divinity (through his goddess mother) should ensure being honored by Zeus (the sort of honor Agamemnon claims at 1.175). If emphasis is placed on the adjective “with a short life,” his logic is different: since he is fated to die young, he should have god-given honor. In the latter case, he alludes to the prophecy once given him by Thetis and referred to explicitly only at 9.410–16 (that he can choose a short life with glory or a long life without it).

  395 Just as mortals ask return favors from a god by recalling the sacrifices they have made (compare Chryses’ prayer at 1.40–42), so Thetis can request aid for her son (Achilleus imagines) because she once helped Zeus in a dispute with his fellow Olympian gods. The hundred-handed Briareus is a primeval creature, son of Earth (Gaia) and Sky (Ouranos), who in Hesiod’s Theogony is said to have aided Zeus in his struggles against an older divine generation, the Titans. Other sources make him a son-in-law of Poseidon or son of the sea, perhaps to explain his association with the sea nymph Thetis.

  407 Clasping the knees is the regular gesture made by one supplicating a person in a more powerful position.

  472 Poetry and song have a ritual function: the paian, a group song dedicated to Apollo, and performed usually in thanksgiving or supplication, is depicted as pleasing the god as though he were an audience member, much as a sacrifice does.

  516 Thetis brings up the topic of honor that has marked the quarrel between her son and Agamemnon, subtly implying that she has the status and power to cause similar strife if her wishes are not satisfied.

  541 The poet depicts a vividly real divine family by such touches, giving the impression of long-standing personal relations among the gods.

  565 Although gods cannot die, the threat of violent treatment keeps them under control. In structure and language, the scene mirrors Agamemnon’s threats against Chryses at the opening of this book. In addition, the mediation attempted by Hephaistos recalls Nestor’s advice during the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilleus (1.248–84). This squabble at a divine feast makes a deliberate ironic contrast with the mortal struggles earlier, as does the calm ending of the episode.

  586 Several times characters in the Iliad encourage others by reference to previous events that have a mythical status (e.g., 5.381–404; 9.524–99; 24.602–20). Hephaistos makes his own experiences into this kind of paradigmatic myth. Lemnos, a volcanic island in the northeastern Aegean not far from Troy, was associated with fire and the forges of the smith-god (although it has never possessed an active volcano, unlike other spots where Hephaistos was worshiped). The Sintians are an otherwise unattested people whose name derives from the verb “to harm.” Hephaistos tells a quite different story at 18.395–405, where it is Hera herself who threw him out of Olympos, ashamed of his lameness. Thetis at that time rescued and for nine years sheltered him—perhaps a cause for Hera’s apparent antagonism toward the nymph now.

  BOOK TWO

  6 “Evil” Dream. The adjective literally means “causing destruction,” related to a verb just used (“destroy”) in lines above. Like Sleep and Death, Dream is a half-personified abstraction, and along with them is one of the many children of Night, including Nemesis, Old Age, Strife, Deception, and the Fates, according to Hesiod’s Theogony (211–25).

  33 Dream relates the message of Zeus verbatim, but cannot resist adding his own touch, telling Agamemnon not to forget what he has just heard. The poet elsewhere plays with such minor variations on repeated speeches (as in Odysseus’ speech to Achilleus in book 9).

  38 Foreshadowing by the poet about facts someone in the story does not yet know is frequently accompanied by the remark that the character is a “fool” (nêpios).

  48 Dawn (Êôs) is a goddess living at the edge of the world (where myths relate that she keeps her mortal lover Tithonos). The rare and beautiful expression “message of light” draws a contrast with the loud noise of the camp as heralds summon the troops.

  53 The council of elders always meets to discuss important matters before they are announced to the general assembly of fighting men, a system that is echoed in the later Athenian democratic institutions of small executive council (boulê—the same word used here) and legislative assembly (ekklêsia).

  70 Agamemnon produces his own twist on the message of Dream, omitting the final advice to not forget (clearly he has not). He also adds to the command to arm the troops a quite odd verbal “testing,” which he claims is “customary” (themis), in which he will suggest the opposite of what he really wants: that everyone take ship for home. As if already unsure whether this test will backfire (as it eventually does) Agamemnon advises his fellow commanders to stand at the ready with encouraging words.

  80 Nestor’s seconding of the advice is ironic, since Dream took none other than his form (as Agamemnon’s most trusted advisor)—something Agamemnon has explicitly revealed (58). The old warrior takes the opportunity to flatter Agamemnon as “best of the Achaians” while tacitly affirming his own great worth.

  86 A vivid, cinematic depiction of mass movement and loud noise. The complex simile echoes sound and scenery, while also bearing thematic overtones: the Greeks first resemble swarming bees (hence dangerous, but numerous, organized, and acting communally).

  101 Although the other kings have just been described as all “sceptered,” the poet singles out the ancestral scepter of the leader Agamemnon for genealogical digression that increases his stature and ties him to divinity (since the gods made it). The history of the scepter hints at a darker side through the mention of Agamemnon’s family. His father Atreus won the kingship of Mykenai after a dispute with his brother Thyestes; after learning that Thyestes had seduced his wife, Atreus killed, cooked, and served to Thyestes his own children. The son of Thyestes, Aigisthos, will kill Agamemnon (with the aid of Agamemnon’s wife Klytaimestra) on his arrival home. Although none of this sad history is narrated, an audience aware of the myths might think the scepter’s description ironic. Since Agamemnon can lean on the implement (109), it must be long, like a staff or shepherd’s crook: appropriately Atreus has just been named with the formula “shepherd of the people” (105), and Thyestes is called “of the rich flocks” (106).

  111 In his speech pretending to give up, Agamemnon does not hesitate to accuse the chief god of deception and of willing his destruction (atê).

  122 Agamemnon’s excuse is that the Greeks could easily outnumber the inhabitants of the citadel of Troy, but cannot make headway against the many allies who have been summoned. The claim (albeit used only in a false speech) protects the commander against complaints that the Greeks badly overestimated their troop strength.

  155 The technique of relating what would have happened if a more immediate cause had not intervened is often used to heighten dramatic effect, and also lets an audience imagine counterplots. The intervention of Hera and Athene, based on their favoring the Greek side, goes back to their resentment at being rejected in the judgment of Paris, although it is put in the language of fairness and the efforts of the Achaians.

  169 As the Odyssey demonstrates, this hero is Athene’s favorite among mortals. While he is “the equal
of Zeus” in cunning intelligence (mêtis), she is the daughter of the goddess who embodies this trait. Zeus swallowed Mêtis, one of his consorts, out of fear that a son greater than himself would come from her; Athene subsequently emerged from his head.

  197 Honor from Zeus. Odysseus defends the authority of Agamemnon using the same terms that Nestor had used at 1.278–79 and Agamemnon himself used at 1.175.

  198 One of few passages where the presence of nonaristocrats in the ranks at Troy is acknowledged. The rhetorical abuse uttered by Odysseus makes them sound useless; his support of “one king” draws attention to his own continuing role in propping up the authority of Agamemnon, while his employment of the scepter to beat objectors ironically contrasts with his exalted claims for the scepter-bearing king.

  212 Thersites, with his store of abusive words, seems to be a forerunner of the satirist. Mocking poetry, called iambos, is attested as early as the seventh century in Greece. His ugliness parallels the quality of his discourse. That his usual targets were the best fighter and best planner in the army, the protagonists respectively of the Iliad and the Odyssey, suggests an old tradition of antiheroic rhetoric shadowing aristocratic epic traditions. Thersites repeats and amplifies the complaints of Achilleus in book 1 concerning Agamemnon’s rapacity and injustice. The audience may know the story of Thersites’ eventual death (narrated in the Aithiopis, an archaic continuation of the Iliad narrative): he will be slain by Achilleus for mocking him about his alleged love for the Amazon woman and Trojan ally Penthesileia.

  271 Recording the reaction by anonymous members of the crowd creates a sense of immediacy and closeness to the action, as well as producing an apparent majority opinion. That Odysseus’ threats and assault please so many among the fighters deepens the time dimension, helping the audience imagine the previous duration of Thersites’ annoying behavior.

  286 Odysseus’ rhetorical technique is to induce guilt in the Greeks by blaming them for not keeping their own promises (rather than by doubting Zeus). After showing his sympathy for the sufferings of his audience (292), he vividly evokes the portent interpreted by Kalchas and rouses the troops with his conclusion that the prophesied time has come.

  349 Nestor’s complementary advice centers on an intellectual aspect of the struggle, as if the whole war is an experiment: only by staying will the Greeks learn about Zeus’ trustworthiness or their own capacities (367). His counsel regarding the order of battle seems more suited to the fighters of an established city-state: Athenian life was organized along lines of clan (phrêtrai: literally “brotherhood”) and tribe (phula). The old warrior’s commonsensical words about organization chillingly mark his encouragement as well (355) that the victorious army commit mass rape.

  405 The list of seven counselors is a good guide to those who will be prominent in the coming battle. The chief commander’s role as chief sacrificer and provider of meat and wine undergirds his power, especially as it must involve awarding portions according to his view of his warriors’ prowess.

  445 The grandeur of the coming battle is highlighted by Athene’s magical intervention, a chain of six similes, and a fresh, extended invocation to the Muses. The aegis of Athene is a shield-like goatskin that in the hands of Zeus or the goddess can stun and terrify enemies (although here it seems to inspire). The similes stress the ways in which the clash resembles powerful aspects of nature: forest fire (the armor’s gleam); migrating birds, insects, and plant life (multitudes of fighters); herds of goats (separate army divisions of men); and an ox (Agamemnon). The Muses are asked to provided detailed information about the chief men and the strength to recite it. The subsequent Catalogue of Ships must have been a tour de force in recitation. The contrast between hearing (a secondary form of knowing) and autopsy (available occasionally to humans but always to the Muses, as they are eternal) persists in later Greek literature, especially the historical writings of Herodotus and Thucydides.

  494 Debates still surround the origins, accuracy, date, and poetics of the so-called Catalogue of Ships. A few manuscripts and at least one papyrus copy of the Iliad omit this section altogether, but the majority transmit it. Twenty-nine Greek contingents, totaling 1,186 ships (and carrying an estimated 100,000 troops) are listed, with the description spiraling outward from Boeotia in central Greece, in a clockwise direction around the mainland, out to the islands of Crete and Rhodes, then back to northern Greece. The style resembles that of the poetry attributed to Hesiod, especially the (now fragmentary) Catalogue of Women, and parts of the Works and Days and Theogony, but this need not mean that this long passage was composed by someone outside the Homeric tradition: it is simply a different sub-genre of poetry. Historians and archaeologists recognize that some of the information must date back to Mykenaian times—perhaps even to accurate memories of an actual Trojan expedition in the twelfth century. Eutresis, for example, seems to have been abandoned after the end of the Bronze Age and not resettled until the sixth century BC. Appropriately, the Ionian Greek cities are omitted, as these were known to be post–Trojan War foundations. (The Cycladic Islands, however, even though they do contain Mykenaian remains, are also missing.) At the same time, the alignments of ethnicities, cities, and political connections seem mainly to reflect later Iron Age conditions. Even if it may not equal a modern census-taker’s work, the Catalogue nevertheless offers a significant mapping of on-the-ground social relations of archaic Greece.

  NB: In the following notes, Only those names of persons and places will be mentioned for which there is information of interest beyond simple identification of locale; for the rest, the glossary on page 573 and the maps on pages 70 and 71 should be consulted. For further details see T. W. Allen, The Homeric Catalogue of Ships (Oxford, 1921); R. Hope Simpson and J. F. Lazenby, The Catalogue of the Ships in Homer’s Iliad (Oxford, 1970); and (in German) E. Visser, Homers Katalog der Schiffe (Stuttgart, 1997).

  494 Boiotian fighters, puzzlingly, do not play a major role in the Iliad (even though evidence now suggests it was a powerful region in Mykenaian times). But the Catalogue may take this starting point because it includes Aulis, the gathering spot for the expedition and site of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, daughter of Agamemnon, to appease Artemis and obtain favoring winds.

  505 “Lower Thebes” is all that remained after the sack of the upper city, so this detail fits the myth of a pre–Trojan War attack carried out by Diomedes and other sons of the Seven against Thebes.

  513 The genealogical detail is in the style of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, which arranges large segments of tradition according to which mythical women bore what off spring. A smaller selection in this style occurs in Odysseus’ account of women he met in the underworld (Odyssey, book 11).

  530 This is the only example in Homer in which “Hellenes” means all Greeks (as do the synonymous Danaäns, Argives, and Achaians), rather than the inhabitants of a smaller region named Hellas, corresponding to the area near Phthia (Achilleus’ territory: see 683–84 below). The term became the Classical (and modern) designation for the Greeks.

  536 The Abantes are distinguished from other Greeks, regularly “long-haired” in Homer, by having their hair shaved in the front (to prevent being grabbed by enemies), while left long in back.

  546 Erechtheus was born directly from the earth (and is thus “autochthonous”—as later Athenians, like a number of Native American tribes, claimed to be), although Athene is his patron and in some versions foster mother. His establishment in her temple reflects the representation of a hero cult, as do the annual sacrifices—perhaps a reminiscence of something like the annual Panathenaic festival.

  557 From an early period of Homeric criticism, this line has been suspected as an Athenian interpolation (attributed either to Solon or Peisistratos in the sixth century BC) intended to make a political claim for Salamis in the face of competition from Megara.

  595 Thamyris comes from Thrace, like the mythical bard Orpheus, and like him, suffers for his art. The Muses in other cases blind a
singer but give the art of song in compensation (e.g., Od. 8.63 concerning Demodocus). By contrast, Thamyris is stripped of his ability because he challenged the Muses (e.g., the story of Marsyas who challenged Apollo and was flayed). There may be professional jealousy among epic singers beneath the otherwise gratuitous reference: Oichalia, from which presumably Thamyris would be bringing the latest news, was associated with another strata of saga, connected with Herakles, a hero who is otherwise continuously put in the shade in the Iliad.

  670 The shower of wealth on Rhodes was literal: Zeus is reputed to have poured down gold like snow on the island.

  671 Nireus, from the insignificant island, is never heard of again in the Iliad. The mention of his beauty, however, allows the poet to slip in a reminder of the otherwise absent Achilleus, to foreground the theme of the relative distribution of gods’ gifts (beauty but not power), and to continue to create the overarching sense that the entire world of Greeks and Trojans came to this war.

  721 Philoktetes, abandoned on Lemnos because his pained groans and stinking wound disturbed Greek rites, will be remembered after the death of Achilleus, when the Greeks obtain a prophecy that the bow of Herakles—in the possession of Philoktetes—is needed to take Troy. Sophocles’ Philoktetes dramatizes the machinations by which Odysseus tries to get it.