The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  306 The lyric poignancy is increased by the implied contrast: unlike the flower after rain, the warrior will not lift his head.

  348 Gorgons petrify opponents with their stare (most famously in the tale of Perseus and Medusa), so depictions were commonly used on shields (e.g., Agamemnon’s at 11.36) or as devices to ward off evil from temples.

  360 Athene uses of Zeus the same verb (mainetai, “rage, be furious”) that Hera had used of Hektor’s manic rush (355). As emerges now, Athene keeps track of the deeds for which she is owed thanks, especially her protection of Herakles (hero of the earlier generation, to be contrasted with Achilleus). There are hints of jealous competition between Athene and the sea nymph Thetis.

  393 The Hours (Horai), which can also be translated “Seasons,” are (in Hesiod, Theogony, 901) Eunomia (Good Order), Eirene (Peace), and Dikê (Justice), names more indicative of their function as regulators of all sorts of rhythms, including (as here) the exits and entrances of the gods, which folklore may have connected with the changes of weather.

  399 Iris, divine messenger, is (unlike the other go-between, Hermes) associated with the rainbow, whence she lends her name, in English, to the flower and the colored membrane of the eye.

  421 Iris adds tags on her own insult to what she has been commanded to say. It is unclear whether the goddesses intend to attack Zeus himself, or this is just the chief god’s anxiety. At any rate, Hera’s judgment that saving humans is not worth causing divine conflict—a frequent theme—calms the rebellion.

  470 As Zeus has a role in making the future, this is more a promise than a prediction. Iapetos was the father of Prometheus, the benefactor of mankind who challenged Zeus; Kronos was the violent father whom Zeus overthrew. (Both stories are narrated in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days.) Zeus seems to dismiss the possibility that an indignant Hera might successfully recruit his old enemies for her cause.

  538 Hektor’s certainty of killing Diomedes sounds hubristic and short-sighted when contrasted with what we have heard in Zeus’ foreshadowing of events. Some critics have misconstrued his words to assert an equivalence with the gods; in fact, the “if only” wish is a rhetorical flourish highlighting the commander’s confidence for the benefit of his troops.

  555 The final simile comparing fires on the plain to stars shifts its focus to the all-revealing moonlight in a moving panoramic view. The contrast between the shepherd’s joy and the tense prebattle expectation adds a personal viewpoint to the regular theme (war versus peace) of such comparisons.

  BOOK NINE

  14 The infrequent image of the dark-running water draws attention to another crisis point, when Patroklos seeks to enter the fray (16.3), a significant repetition if, as has been suggested, the poem was performed over the course of three days with books 9 and 16 each starting a new day’s recitation.

  30 Whereas Agamemnon’s speech of despair in book 2 was staged (and backfired) his apparently sincere speech now is counteracted by the words of Diomedes, whose exploits are shown to have gained him confidence in speaking out as an equal. Ironically Diomedes treats the commander as dispensable, just as Agamemnon has treated Achilleus. Nestor’s suggestion for a feast is intended to right the imbalance and restore Agamemnon’s status as chief dispenser of rewards.

  120 “Gifts in abundance” translates a more technical phrase (apereisi’ apoina: “unbounded compensation”) that is appropriate for ransom (cf. the same phrase in 1.13), but not to describe what should be punitive damages demanded by the aggrieved party and recognizing guilt on the part of the giver. (For the latter, poinê “expiation” is the proper term.) The crucial difference in attitude can explain Achilleus’ refusal. See D. Wilson, Ransom, Revenge, and Heroic Identity in the Iliad (Cambridge, 2002).

  149 Another indication of the surpassing wealth and power of Agamemnon is that his territories extend to Pylos. The seven towns mentioned differ from the nine listed as ruled by Nestor in the Catalogue of Ships (2.591–602), and may reflect a real Mykenaian-era political division between “near” and “far” Pylian territories.

  182 The translation “these two” accurately reflects the Greek use of an archaic “dual” number (neither singular nor plural, used to denote pairs), here and five other times in this scene. But the embassy is either five (if one counts the two heralds) or three (Aias, Odysseus, Phoinix). The poet may be repurposing a more traditional scene involving a pair (cf. the heralds’ dispatch at 1.320). Homerists have not yet proposed an entirely convincing solution.

  186 The violent warrior is hinted at in the brief description of the lyre’s origins (in the sack of the city that also yielded Agamemnon’s war bride Chryseis: 1.369), while the scene that meets the embassy is one of harmony and companionship, perhaps a musical evening in which the warriors take turns singing heroic epics (about themselves?).

  223 Odysseus interposes himself, although Aias had signaled to Phoinix, perhaps because he believes his skill is greater than the older man’s; the resulting order of speeches nicely juxtaposes the clever compromiser and the defender of the extreme heroic ideal. A significant quarrel between Achilleus and Odysseus, at a sacrifice, is alluded to in Od. 8.75; throughout the Iliad one detects tension between the men.

  252 Having tried appeals to comradeship and to self-interest, Odysseus finally adds a quotation, said to be from Achilleus’ father, designed to shame the hero into giving up his anger.

  300 Instead of repeating Agamemnon’s words at this point (cf. 158–61), Odysseus diplomatically substitutes a plea that Achilleus have compassion for his companions, despite his ongoing hatred for Agamemnon. Achilleus, in turn, may be describing his preference for straight talk (312) by mentioning his detestation of the man who hides realities; he could also be indirectly blaming Odysseus himself, as if his concealment of Agamemnon’s exact words had been obvious.

  328 Achilleus alludes to the attacks he carried out in the area around Troy over the past nine years, such as the sack of Thebes.

  381 Orchomenos reached its peak of wealth in the thirteenth century BC. Unless this is a very ancient reminiscence, Thebes of Egypt (modern Luxor) could not be so described until its revival in fortunes after 715 BC (and before its destruction by the Assyrians in 663 BC). Thus some scholars believe the line offers a clue to the dating of the Iliad.

  405 Apollo’s shrine at Delphi (“Pytho”) contained vast wealth from dedications by Greeks and foreigners, and grew rapidly from the eighth century BC to become a Panhellenic sanctuary and international center. This crowning comparison by Achilleus gains ironic resonance when the audience knows that Achilleus’ son Neoptolemos later attacked Delphi in revenge for Apollo’s role in causing his father’s death.

  410 Only here do we learn of the prophecy, where it makes for the most powerful rhetorical effect. The phrase “glory shall be everlasting” (413) occurs only here, as well, but an etymologically matching phrase occurring in the poetic hymns of the Sanskrit Rig Veda (circa 1000 BC) has led scholars to believe this may be a formulaic remnant of Indo-European praise traditions.

  443 The most concise summary of heroic expectations in the Iliad balances words and deeds. Achilleus’ speaking ability has just been shown, so Phoinix’s teaching succeeded; his autobiographical account therefore gains credibility as well. In other sources, the centaur Cheiron is said to have tutored Achilleus, but the Iliad prefers realistic persons to fantasy creatures.

  481 Just as Peleus acted as foster father to Phoinix, so the old tutor can claim to be a father figure to Achilleus, freely admitting that he treated him as the son he was cursed never to have.

  502 The personified Prayers and Ruin are described in ways that match their behavior. The former are halting and wrinkled because they act slowly, while the latter (Atê, “ruinous blindness”), comes swiftly upon her victims. It is appropriate that the Prayers be old, since the aged Phoinix himself is embodying the Greek entreaty.

  524 Phoinix’s third mode of communicating, after allegory and autobiography, is, li
ke the epic itself, a recollection of famous mortal feats. The Kalydonian boar hunt was among the most important joint heroic undertakings of an earlier generation. A war erupted over the division of spoils (note the Iliadic theme) between Kalydon and its neighbor Pleuron (the city of the Kouretes), both located near modern Messolonghi on the northwestern shore of the Corinthian Gulf. In most sources Althaia, the wife of Oineus, has concealed a brand which, at the suggestion of the Fates, she snatched from the fire when Meleagros was born. As long as it remains unburnt, her son will live. When he accidentally kills her brothers in the boar hunt, Althaia returns the wood to the fire and he dies. In the Homeric version, the motif of the hero being angry at his mother’s curse prolongs the episode and makes it more closely match the details of Achilleus’ situation.

  571 The Erinys appears here for the second time in Phoinix’s speech (cf. the furies at 454, his father’s curse). The goddesses (most often pluralized) enacted vengeance for murder or other offences involving kin. Their most famous representation in Classical literature comes in the Eumenides (“Kindly Ones”), the third play of the Oresteia trilogy of Aeschylus (produced 458 BC).

  590 Kleopatra, whose brief biography is given at 556, has a name that matches semantically “Patroklos,” both meaning “ancestor glory.” Her role as the closest person in Meleagros’ affection and only successful pleader parallels that of the companion of Achilleus. It may be a convenient fiction on the part of Phoinix to make the hero heed his friend.

  633 Aias’ speech, meant to shame Achilleus for neglecting his comrades, is addressed to them, ostensibly. The analogy made is imperfect: while a victim’s brother might accept compensation from a killer, Agamemnon has offered gifts, which (more like a bribe) put the recipient in his debt, do not acknowledge the grievance, and imply that the giver holds the superior position.

  BOOK TEN

  1 The “Doloneia” (book 10, centered on Dolon) was thought by some ancient critics to have been a separate composition added to the Iliad in the course of its textual fixation, perhaps in the sixth century BC. Many modern critics as well have stressed its un-Iliadic or un-Homeric aspects. While it is true that it bears no organic relation to the rest of the poem, and that its dictional choices, prolix development, archaizing touches, and subject matter (including fascination with armor and dress) are unusual (and more akin to the Odyssey), there is no reason to think the book was not a living part of the Homeric performance tradition. See C. Dué and M. Ebbott, Iliad 10 and the Poetics of Ambush: A Multitext Edition with Essays and Commentary (Washington, DC, 2010).

  5 The opening simile brings together Zeus and Agamemnon to the disadvantage of the latter’s image. The commander’s uncontrollable symptoms of despair are likened to the chief god’s masterfully executed and powerful weather effects.

  91 Agamemnon’s description of his symptoms displays more self-awareness than he has shown to this point, underlining his desperation now that Achilleus has spurned his entreaties. His keen analysis of his brother’s psychology (121) shows another previously unnoticed dimension of his intelligence.

  212 One mark of the difference in tone of book 10 is its radical reinterpretation of “glory” as something that can be gained by a sneak attack on a spying mission. The rest of the Iliad treats kleos (glory, especially as transmitted through poetry) as the result of conspicuous fighting ability in the midst of battle. The Odyssey, on the other hand, does associate its hero’s kleos with mastery of deceptions, such as the Trojan Horse (Od. 9.20).

  243 A sense of the Odyssey’s protagonist emerges from Diomedes’ reference to his steadfastness, intelligence, relation to Athene, and ability to come back from any danger (noted here with the same verb that describes Odysseus’ return in the tale of his voyages).

  255 The formality and detail with which this giving of arms is described make it sound like a ritual. The importance is underlined by the antiquity of the objects described: the boar’s-tooth helmet (dating to 1600–1200 BC) must have been a precious heirloom by the time of the poem’s composition (if it was not simply a memory). The reference to Odysseus’ thievish grandfather Autolykos reminds the audience of the hero’s own shiftier side.

  285 While Odysseus’ prayer to Athene (278) looks forward to the themes of the Odyssey, Diomedes once more recalls the topic of sonship and his father Tydeus’ role in another major epic event, the battle for Thebes (cf. 4.370).

  303 Hektor stresses, first, material reward rather than fame and association with the elite (cf. 212–17), as if the Trojans have different motivating priorities. The insistence by Dolon (“Tricky”) on an oath also bespeaks a more mercantile attitude.

  415 The tomb of Ilos (the son of Tros and father of Laomedon), like the fig and oak trees, is one of the rare spatial markers in the poem’s stylized picture of the Trojan plain. It has not been identified with any detectable archaeological feature.

  429 The list of Trojan allies is a contracted and slightly varied form of that found in the catalogue at 2.840–77. This correspondence with the narrator’s words has the effect of making Dolon’s report ring true. The story of the slaughter is the subject of a tragedy attributed to Euripides, the Rhesus.

  496 The bad dream, becoming reality (Diomedes), is a unique and unusually strong metaphor, unlike either the conventional simile technique or other dream appearances (e.g., 2.20, 23.68).

  BOOK ELEVEN

  1 The major battle of the Iliad, continuing through book 17, begins with the participation of the primary warriors, several of whom are soon put out of action.

  15 Agamemnon’s elaborate armor prompts description that highlights the geographic and even cosmic impact of the Trojan siege. The Cypriot king has acknowledged the commander’s status, in hopes of getting a reciprocal gift, perhaps at Troy’s fall—an event that would increase his island’s political power. In drawing attention to the upcoming action, the extended arming scene functions like the description of Achilleus’ shield (see book 18 and his preparation for battle at 19.369).

  45 Usually it is Zeus’ exclusive privilege to thunder, but Hera and Athene employ the encouraging noise here, while Zeus rains blood to mark the imminent slaughter (53). Hektor’s appearance completes the meteorological effects—his armor gleams like lightning (66).

  86 The simile of the woodcutter imaginatively transforms the chaos of battle into ordered, necessary labor, with its own life-sustaining rewards.

  104 Achilleus’ deeds are kept in the audience’s mind through such narrative recollections, though he has been out of the fray since book 1 and has not been seen since the end of book 9. For an expansion of the motif of captured and released enemies see 21.34. Another vignette (9.138) similarly fills in the exposition of past events at Troy (explaining Agamemnon’s present brutality).

  218 A series of crescendo movements (Agamemnon’s battle rage, Zeus’ orders, Hektor’s urging of the troops) culminates in a renewed invocation of the Muses (cf. 2.484), marking the onset of the height of Agamemnon’s performance of glory (his aristeia).

  223 That this son of Antenor is raised by a maternal grandfather seems to fit the pattern of aristocratic “fosterage” attested in other Indo-European cultures (especially Celtic), although marriage to an aunt is unusual. The geographic scope is again widened (as in 10.21) by the mention of Iphidamas coming from Thrace on the report of a Greek expedition.

  269 In the midst of masculine combat, the strongest expression of pain is childbirth pangs. As it was at Menelaos’ wounding (4.141), women’s experience is recalled via simile.

  292 As the action intensifies, the narration becomes more impressionistic, employing a kaleidoscopic series of similes within fifteen lines, with Hektor seen as a hunter (292), Ares (295), a storm cloud (297), and a whirlwind (306).

  353 Apollo’s gift protects Hektor, as the audience hears, but Diomedes is speculating when he assumes that his opponent regularly prays to the protector of Troy.

  403 As often in the Odyssey, Odysseus addresses his spirit (thum
os), giving the audience the impression that he is more self-aware than such heroes as Diomedes or Agamemnon. Unlike in the Odyssey, where such dramatic monologues conclude with his strategic withdrawal, here the warrior ends with a ringing affirmation of the value of engagement.

  452 Odysseus’ boast employs the language of laments by the kin of a slain warrior, especially the rhetorical focus on the absence of mourners (cf. 22.86). A similar speaking strategy marked Diomedes’ threat (393).

  512 The fighters realize that their fortunes will worsen if they lose the surgeon Machaon, son of Asklepios, who in turn learned healing from his father Apollo.

  547 Retreat out of fear is unusual, especially for a warrior as prominent as Aias, so a double simile highlights his essential unwillingness: he is a lion beset by dogs and villagers, or a stubborn donkey beaten by boys.

  603 The touch of foreshadowing will come to mind later in this book when Nestor advises Patroklos. Achilleus’ call is set in the immediate context of companions aiding one another in battle (590), but Achilleus interprets the scene as prelude to a renewed supplication for his individual services.

  631 Both beverage and cup are special. The cup resembles, down to the details of its golden birds, a chalice-shaped, two-handled example from about 1500 BC, found in a shaft grave at Mykenai, although Nestor’s version is heroically weightier. The mixed drink (kukeôn) has been compared to the concoction of the same name used in the mystery rituals of Demeter at Eleusis outside Athens.

  670 Nestor’s long, twisting tale centers on his initiation as warrior during an episode of cattle-raiding and reprisal. Its practical application as advice hinges on an inexact parallel, never made explicit, that would figure Patroklos as a younger warrior whose chance for glory has now come. In fact, Patroklos is older than Achilleus (as Nestor himself notes: 786).