Achilles: The Fearless Warrior In The Iliad

The first line of the Iliad describes a human emotion that leads to doom and destruction in Homer's poetic tale of the Trojan War. Achilles' rage is a major catalyst in the action in the Iliad. It is his rage that makes him both withdraw from and, later, rejoin the war with a fury. Why is Achilles enraged? Is his rage ignited solely by his human adversaries or do the gods destine him to the experience? Achilles' rage has many facets. His rage is a personal choice and, at times, is created by the gods.

In Homer's epic, The Iliad, there are many great characters, both mortal and immortal. However, no characters seem to match the greatness and importance of Achilles, the mightiest of the Greeks and Hector, Trojan prince and mightiest of the Trojans. Although they are the mightiest of their forces, their attitudes and motives for the Greek-Trojan war are completely different.

Achilles believed that he was not receiving his share of recognition for the work he was doing in the war effort. Achilles states, “You can take it that neither my Lord Agamemnon nor the rest of the Danaans are going to win me over, since it appears that a man gets no thanks for struggling with the enemy day in and day out” (Homer 7). Odysseus argued that Agamemnon would give him many rewards for his return to battle, but in Achilles’ reply he says that he doesn’t want anything from Agamemnon. He begins to come to the realization that he wants a long life rather than personal glory and wealth so he declines the offer.

In The Iliad by Homer, Achilles acts as if though he were a god who is entitled to everything. We see a prime example of this about halfway through Book 9. In this scene, three of Achilles’ best friends come at beg him to come back to battle. Phoenix, Odysseus, and Aias, or better known as Ajax, come to propose to him the idea that he should come back to the fight. At this point, “The Trojans in their pride, with their far-renowned companions, have set up an encampment close by the ships and the rampart, and lit many fires along their army” (Homer, 9, 232-234).

Warriors of ancient Greece were considered heroes by following the Heroic Code of excellence. They achieved this by acquiring a kleos; establishing fame, glory and a positive reputation. It was not an easy task to become a Grecian hero. Building and maintaining kleos meant that a warrior must be brave and strong, be “a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.” The solider had to protect his friends and harm his enemies, respect the gods and his elders, and most of all value his honor over his life. To die in battle, and be spoken of after death was the most important act of honor for a hero. The Greek tragedy, Iliad, attributed to Homer, portrays Achilles as the most gallant hero of the Athenian army. The story tells of Achilles, who develops into the greatest hero of the Trojan War. While the end of the end of the poem does portray Achilles as the solider that the story foretells throughout the poem he does not act like that. Many times in the story Achilles actions are perceived as unheroic but ultimately they shape the course of the few weeks of the Trojan Wars described in the Iliad, the Achaean’s final victory at Troy and his emergence as a hero.

Achilles can be described as a Tragic Hero in many ways. He was brave and had great strength but, he was also prideful and lacked control with his emotions, and in all the label of a tragic hero fits him. A Tragic hero is “a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy” (“Tragic Hero”). To many men Achilles was god-like, and immortal, the epitome of a hero to the Greeks, he was strong, brave in the face of war, and of noble birth because he was the son of a goddess. In the Iliad, Achilles, driven by anger seeks revenge on Hector for killing his “dearest comrade” (“The Heroic Age”), Patroclus, whom he claims to have valued more than his own life. He

The Iliad was written by the Greek poet Homer in which he recounts some of the events during the final weeks of the Trojan War. It tells the story of Achilles, and how his anger affected the fighting in the great war. Though the experience of war is personally unfamiliar to a majority of today’s readers, the ancient Greek audience, however, would have been very familiar with all the references Homer makes to past events. Like many epic poems of this time, The Iliad was not meant to be read but rather performed and recited to an audience.

Achilles was a very powerful warrior. Legends said that he was even power than the gods. Achilles had only one weakness his heel. One day Achilles was walking around, and you can see the sorrow and worries on his face. Apollo was sitting on a top of a tree looking and Achilles walking back and forth in a very unsettled way. Apollo jumped out of the tree and asked Achilles what is wrong with him. Achilles refused to tell him at the beginning but Apollo kept asking him so end up telling him. Apollo told Achilles that he does not have to worry anymore because he know a magical fruit that will turn Achilles heel invulnerable just like his body. Apollo said that the fruit is pink with a little bit of green from the outside and it’s white with black seeds from the inside. Achilles excitement went down because he have never ever heard of this fruit. Apollo told him that the magical fruit only grows in the top mountains of china. Achilles got so excited and started to run back to his home so he can pack his stuff to go to china. Athena came to him and asked him where he is going. He told her that he is going to China to get the magical fruit that Apollo told him about so his heel will be invulnerable. Athena told him that Apollo is a tricky man that have a lot of evil inside him, and he does not like Achille anyways. Athena was doubting if Achilles can go to China because not many people has done it before. Achilles told Athena not worry because he knows a friend that know the way

Achilles possessed superhuman strength, he was swift and agile, he was brave, and he was intelligent. Achilles shows his extraordinary fighting skills and his intelligence in Book XXII, when he duels against Hector. Achilles manages to kill Hector “…like a high-flown eagle…” with a perfectly timed stab to “…where the collar-bones hold the neck from the shoulders, the throat, where death of the soul comes most swiftly; in this place brilliant Achilles drove the spear as he came on in fury, and clean through the soft part of the neck the spearpoint was driven” (Book XXII Lines 324-327). His intelligence is shown in that he knew a wound to this spot on Hector’s neck would be fatal, as Hector was wearing Achilles’ old armor that he stole off the body of Patroclus. An ordinary warrior most likely would not have had the skill with the sword to kill Hector, nor the intelligence to know to aim for the exact uncovered spot in Hector’s neck in the first place. Achilles also shows his bravery before this fight by wanting and agreeing to actually fight against Hector, who was the strongest warrior of the Trojans and the one person who was believed to actually have a chance in combat against Achilles.

Throughout the entire Trojan war, Achilles spent most of his time pouting in his tent after Agamemnon kidnapped his prized maiden, Chryseis. He also lets his best friend, Patroclus, go into battle alone only to die when Hector kills him with his spear. Achilles joins the war when he hears of Patrclus death, but it was not out of bravery; out of guilt, revenge and anger, when he hears of his friend's death. When Achilles kills Hector, he binds his feet to his chariot and drags his body around the walls of Troy. In my opinion this was not an act of heroism. But in the Iliad the Greeks loved Achilles. Achilles was considered half mortal and half God. Achilles has all the characteristics of a heroic warrior on a grand scale, and he possesses more than a common measure of all the merits and all the faults of a hero (Bowra 193). All of Achilles traits and glory are won primarily in battle, which sets Achilles apart from Hector because Achilles knows little about home and family. He has no wife: his father he has not seen in years; his mother, even though she helps him but he cannot help her and she isn't even a human being (Bowra 194).

After Hector of Troy killed Achilles loved friend, Achilles wanted revenge against the prince. He killed the greatest warrior Troy had. After the death of his loved friend, Achilles sought revenge against Hector, the greatest warrior Troy had, and killed him in a single fight (Parrott-Sheffer 1). Upon killing the greatest warrior in Troy, Achilles proved he was now the greatest warrior. Agamemnon was angry that Achilles made the king look like a fool in front of his guests and wanted to take his spoils of war away, instead of going the king sent an envoy of men to confiscate the women he received. King Agamemnon sent for Achilles’ prize of war and conquest, so he sent a whole group of people to collect. Every man in King Agamemnon’s envoy was scared to confront Achilles, because of his war record (Homer 16). Even with a whole battalion of armed men they still are scared to go up to Achilles. Since Achilles was an amazing warrior, he acquired nicknames for wars he won. He won many wars and killed many great warriors in his conquests. “In Hesiod, who wrote some years after Homer, he is ‘Lion-Hearted Achilles’ ‘The Destroyer of Men”” (Cavendish 49). Destroyer of Man shows how brutal and great of a warrior he was. Achilles is an amazing warrior who has accomplished a lot to earn the

This decision of prideful betrayal brings many casualties to the Achaean army. Once Agamemnon apologetically offers Achilles many valuable gifts along with the return of his war prize, Achilles refuses. In this rejection, Achilles is putting his own animosity toward Agamemnon above the needs of his fellow Achaeans. His friend Phoenix tells him to think of his diminishing honor, but Achilles answers, “…what do I need with honor such as that ?/ … It degrades you to curry favor with [Agamemnon],/ and I will hate you for it, I who love you./ It does you proud to stand by me, my friend,/ to attack the man who attacks me…”(p 147). Not only does Achilles reject honor, but he egotistically asks his father figure, Phoenix, to give up his in order to take his side.

In the battle between Hector and Achilles, there was more on the line than winning the war. Until the end of the poem, it can be argued that both Achilles and Hector fit the role of an epic hero, but there can only be one. The battle represented who would ultimately be determined the epic hero. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is crafted into an epic hero throughout the poem by the illustration of the qualities of an epic hero: a great warrior, help from the supernatural, an epic flaw, and an epic journey.

     In today's society, a man's mind is his most important tool. In the past, however, a man's courage and strength is all that he had to keep him alive. In Homer's Iliad, courage is valued over honesty and even faithfulness to one's wife. If a hero is the most courageous man in the bunch, then Hector is more heroic than Achilles and King of the Myrmidons. Hector is the true hero of Homer's Iliad.

Hector on the other hand, is a more sympathetic hero than Achilles. Hector is the leader of the Trojan forces in this epic poem. He is driven by the idea of protecting his home and his family; he is driven by a sense of responsibility. While Achilles is stuck on the idea of having his ego hurt, Hector is focusing on more important things, demonstrating his selflessness. When Hector, comes to see his son after battle, the child screams with horror at the sight of the armor. Hector understands his child in an instant and takes off his helmet, with its giant horsehair plume, then bends over, picks his boy up and embraces him, while Andromache looks on happily. Hector goes on to say…