Homer's Iliad-Achilleus And Honor

Achilleus and Honor

In Homer's The Iliad, many characters are consumed by their want for glory. To be granted glory in a way gives you eternal life. Hektor, for example, desires to “be held in honor it as Athene and Apollo are honored” (VIII.540), which would make him quasi-immortal, as his memory would live on forever. On the other hand, Achilleus has a slightly more cowardly way to obtain this glory. He is not one that would go out and risk his own life to win glory. In fact, he says he would rather, “return home to the beloved home of [his] fathers” with no glory, than continue fighting, eventually reaching his glorious demise (IX.411-417). But as a firm oak tree changes its leaves in the transition from crisp autumn to frigid winter,

The wise, aged man Phoinix states that Achilleus is much like his own child to him (IX.485). Thus, he knows much of Achilleus’ character. He tells Achilleus, “it is not yours to have a pitiful heart” (IX.301-303). In addition, it he appeals to his pity by saying, “take pity upon all the other Achaians,... and [they] will honor you as a god” (IX.301-303). And since Achilleus does have a heart of pity, he must at some point pity the Achaians. The problem is, he chooses not to fight because he does not value a glorious death (IX.411-417). So how does he pity his brethren? For a long time after Phoinix’s speech, Achilleus does absolutely nothing to help his side out. Nestor notes this, even saying that he “cares nothing for the Danaäns nor pities them” (XI.664). He then pleads Patroklos to talk to Achilleus and see if he is willing to rejoin the battle (XI.789-790). Afterwards Patroklos appeals to Achilleus’ pity by calling him out as “pitiless” (XVII.33). This succeeds, and Achilleus allows Patroklos to fight in place of him. So Patroklos is, in a way, the pity that Achilleus gives to his people. In Patroklos’ criticizing of Achilleus, he appeals to Achilleus’ pity so much that he brings Patroklos out to bring him

After Achilleus’ long hiatus from the book, he is reintroduced when Patroklos asks him if he can go out to battle and fight. Achilleus refuses, but permits Patroklos to fight in his stead so that he “can win… great honor and glory” for him (XVI.84). But in addition to that, he also wants Patroklos to win for him Agamemnon's gifts, which were offered to him when the Achaians were losing the fight (IX.262-299). But Achilleus did not care about these gifts then, so why would he now? Back when Phoinix was offering the gifts, he persuaded him by saying if he accepted the gifts, then he would be honored as a god; but "if without gifts [he went] into the fighting,... [his] honor [would] no longer be as great" (IX.603-605). This appealed to Achilleus' desire for glory, so that he later sends out Patroklos to fight for the gifts, in turn granting Achilleus great honor. Yet there are even more selfish reasons for this action. Of course, there is the point that he is risking someone else's life for his own good. In addition, he dispatches his friend because Zeus will continuously honor him as long as he remains alive by his ships (IX.608-610). Achilleus longs for the gifts for one more reason. He states that he won the girl because of his honor, but she was taken from him by Agamemnon, "as if [he] were some dishonored vagabond" (XVI.56-59). It seems very possible that he wants her back solely to have this honor that was taken from him