Fate And Free Will In Homer's Iliad

Homer’s Iliad is a rewarding text that shows readers the horrors of war, the awful cost of human pride, and the incredible mercy and pity that is humanity at its finest. Still, no matter how heart wrenching one finds the scene where Achilles and Priam weep over what the war has cost them, a reader is often left wondering to what extent (if any) this tragedy was preventable. Most traditional scholars of Homer read the fate of Hector and Achilles as being set from the beginning and thus being unchangeable. They, then, extend their interpretation of those two fated heroes to include the rest of humanity’s fate as being similarly controlled and set, for there are none as great or noble. This second part of the interpretation, however, is a disservice to the complexity of

When Agamemnon is told by Calchas that if he does not return Chryseis to her father the plague decimating the Greeks will continue, Agamemnon overreacts to this news and threatens to take reparations from his army. This threat causes Achilles to insult Agamemnon, overreact, and ultimately leave the war effort which leads to innumerable losses for the Greek army. Nestor, a warrior and artful orator, even goes as far as to warn them of what their pride and rage will do for the Trojans, “Priam and Priam’s son would be happy indeed, / If they learned all this about you two fighting, / Our two best men in council and in battle” (Book I, 270-273). Though Achilles and Agamemnon both have their flaws pointed out by Nestor and an opportunity to avoid their mistake, neither of them makes the right decision. Homer offers this description of the pain Achilles suffers, “Achilles’ chest was a rough knot of pain / Twisting around his heart” (Book I, Line 197-198). It is this emotional response rendered in physical terms that prevents him from correcting his