Understanding the Wrath of Achilles

                                                      Understanding the Wrath of Achilles

Let wrath be your song O Goddess! Sing of the accursed rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought untold woes to the Achaeans and banished to Hades many stalwart souls of heroes, turning them into carrion for dogs and birds of prey, thereby bringing to final fulfillment the plan of Zeus. Begin your song, O Muse, at that first sign of strife between the son of Atreus, lord of men, and the divine Achilles.

            Homer made it very clear from the start what this story was all about, namely the terrible anger that Achilles bore and the impact that his rage had on those around him. But what we witness of Achilles’ anger in the Iliad seems to range through a broad swath of emotions. We see him responding with fits of pique and petulance at times, and on other occasions lashing out with angry words, and still at other times raging around in a fury like a madman totally out of control. Were these all individual and separate expressions of that same wrath, and if so, can they all be explained within the framework of the central storyline that Homer offers as his main subject? How do we gain a true and complete understanding of the wrath of Achilles?

            The subject of anger has been widely studied by psychologists and others and scores of anger management strategies have been developed to assist people in coping with their troubled feelings. Those strategies will depend on the type of anger with which one is dealing and it is important to note that the intensity of a person’s anger can vary greatly. If one were to develop a scale to measure the degree of anger that someone could display, the range could vary from mild irritation at the minimum level to uncontrolled rage at the highest. Marcia Reynolds Psy.D. created the chart 50 Shades of Anger in a 2018 article in Psychology Today in an article entitled, Where Are You on the Anger Scale?  She listed 50 different words describing anger at various levels ranging from disappointed to vicious, and in studying her chart we can see Achilles and his actions at several points, confirming for us the fact that the hero experienced a variety of forms of anger and wrath throughout the story.

                Aristotle wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics: “Anybody can become angry; that is easy. But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” It is safe to say that Achilles was not very good at anger management, no matter what type of anger he happened to be displaying at the moment.

            Achilles was not the only one who was filled with rage. Other than his mother Thetis, his two biggest proponents and firm Achaean supporters on Olympus were Athena and Hera. Homer tells us that they were both consumed with rage. Athena was quiet and did not say anything but was highly incensed at her father Zeus and bitter rage consumed her. On the other hand, wild fury possessed Hera’s heart and she burst forth in anger. Zeus told the two of them, if ever I wish do destroy any city where the men you love are living, do not get in the way of my rage. Perhaps we are wrong in our desire to condemn Achilles for his wrath, for it seems that he was just acting like the gods. They seemed to be angry all the time and his actions mirrored theirs.

            There were times when the wrath of Achilles was on the lower end of the anger scale. For example, when Agamemnon seized his war prize Briseis, he got sulky and petulant and withdrew from the fighting. Achilles the son of fair-haired Thetis does not fight in battle but rather sits and broods over his wrath near his ships. He felt that he had been embarrassed in public and slighted and he just wasn’t going to put up with it any longer. He acted like a spoiled child and cried to his mommy that the big boy took his toy, that he never got his fair share, and that he was going to take his stuff and go home. But his anger started to escalate quickly. He began by attacking Agamemnon verbally and calling him names and was on the point of drawing his sword to physically attack the king, when his mother intervened and stopped him, before he could act out his wrath.

            An embassy was sent to Achilles in an attempt to convince him to give up his anger and to return to the fighting. Many great and wonderful gifts were offered to him but to no avail. The gods can be convinced this way, but not Achilles. Men can turn the hearts of the gods from wrath with devout prayers, poured out libations and the savour of burnt offerings whenever they step out of line and transgress. Achilles made it very clear to those who had been sent to him that he was not to be appeased nor would his anger dissipate.

Then in answer to him spoke the swift-footed Achilles. “Ajax, Zeus-born son of Telamon and leader of the people, you speak much that resonates with me but I have such wrath welling up in my spirit when I am reminded of how much disgrace the son of Atreus has brought upon me in front of the Argives, like I was nothing more than a despised migrant.”

Achilles indicated very plainly that the root of his anger lay in the fact that he had been deeply humiliated and shamed in front of his companions. His reaction was first of all to lash out and then secondly to withdraw, seething with anger and coping with depression. He knew that he could do little to stand up to the all-powerful king to get his way, so the next best thing was to take a course of action that would teach everyone a lesson, regardless of the dire consequences on all concerned. Not even the potential destruction of their ships that would give them a way home could dissuade him.

The first to ask anything was Agamemnon the leader of men. “Tell me now praiseworthy Odysseus and great glory of the Achaeans, is he willing to ward off destructive battle fire from the ships or does he refuse and great wrath still consume his soul?”

Then the much-enduring godlike Odysseus answered him. “Son of Atreus most noble Agamemnon leader of men, that man is not willing to quench his anger and he is filled with wrath and wants nothing to do with you or your gifts.

Achilles’ irrationality triumphed over his reason and it would take a catalyst of the highest order to sway him from his chosen course. That catalyst turned out to be the death of Patroclus, an event that caught Achilles completely by surprise.

Achilles knew nothing of the death of Patroclus for far away from the swift ships were they fighting under the Trojan walls. It never came to the mind of Achilles that he was dead, but rather that he would return alive after reaching the double gates, nor did he believe that Patroclus would sack the city without him, nor with him for that matter. For his mother had brought him such messages from afar many times, tidings about the plans of great Zeus. But his mother did not advise him how great an evil had happened, that his dearly beloved companion had perished.

It was Antilochus, the son of Nestor, who brought Achilles the news of the death of his beloved companion.

While he turned this over in his heart and mind, there came up near to him the noble son of Nestor crying hot tears and proclaiming to him the grief-causing news. “Woe is me, son of wise-hearted Peleus, for I bring distressing news of something that I wish had never happened. Patroclus lies low and his naked corpse is being fought over and your armour has been seized by Hector with the flashing helmet.”

His grief was so great that those around him feared that he might even commit suicide.

Thus he spoke and a black cloud of distress descended on Achilles and with both his hands he gathered up the dark dust and threw it on his head and made ugly his fine countenance and the black soot fell on his fragrantly scented tunic. He stretched himself out in the dust, overpowered in his mightiness and with his own dear hands he tore at and dishevelled his hair. And the female slaves that Achilles and Patroclus had seized and carried off as war prizes, mourned greatly in their hearts and uttered loud cries of grief. They ran to the wise-hearted Achilles and beat their breasts with their hands and the limbs of one of them collapsed beneath her. On the other side of them, Antilochus cried and shed tears and held the hands of Achilles who was moaning in sorrow deep in his heart, for fear that he might cut his own throat with a blade.

            The death of Patroclus was indeed all that was needed to send Achilles back into the fray of battle. He was motivated by grief over the demise of his friend, as well as by vengeance against Hector for his killing of Patroclus and for the theft of his armour. Achilles reconciled with Agamemnon and received a new set of glorious armour that had been commissioned by his mother Thetis and fashioned by the god Hephaestus.

Suitably clad and fueled by his wrath, Achilles launched his vicious assault and rampage against the Trojans. He single-handedly took on the Trojan army and slaughtered so many enemy warriors that the Scamander River god became angry that his waters had been clogged. In a fit of fury, Achilles battled the river itself and defeated it with the assistance of the gods. Once he had finished with the Trojan warriors, Achilles took after Hector himself. In his rage he chased the Trojan prince three times around the walls of Troy and then finally killed him with the help of Athena. Then we witnessed Achilles as he reached the very heights of the anger scale. In a display of extreme rage and disrespect, abandoning all the principles by which a hero was expected to behave, he stripped the armour from Hector’s body, tied his naked corpse to the back of his chariot and dragged it around the walls of Troy for several days. His fierce reaction was that of a deranged madman who was completely out of control. When Homer invoked the Muse to sing of the wrath of Achilles, we could not for a moment contemplate that this would be a scene that we would witness. The highest degree of anger is called rage and is sometimes called fury or frenzy. This overwhelming state of blind rage and wrath is characterized by a complete loss of control and the survival centre of the brain takes over and overrides all rational thought. Achilles, at this state of wrath, was a far different creature than the pouting youngster whom we witnessed sulking in his tent and complaining to his mother. How can one recover from such a state?

But remarkably, Achilles did recover from the destructive impact of his pride and anger, and he accomplished this without recourse to anger management techniques, medication, or in seeking professional assistance. His rage ultimately subsided when King Priam of Troy, the father of the slain Hector, came to the tent of Achilles under the cover of darkness and begged for the return of his son’s body. Achilles was greatly moved by Priam’s request and the love that he bore for his son, and his visit served to remind him of his own father and the grief that he would bear knowing that his son would never return to Pythia. In a moment of shared grief and compassion, Achilles was once more able to demonstrate his humanity. His desecration of Hector’s body had been inhuman, to say the least, but he was brought back to his own humanity through the compassion that he felt for Priam and the shared sense of loss that they had over the loss of a dearly loved one.

Homer told us that the Iliad was the story of the wrath of Achilles and much of the narrative centres around that wrath and its implications. The hero’s anger, whether viewed as mild in the beginning or totally out of control near the end of the story, was the backdrop for most of the action in the Iliad and drove the plot. Anger has extreme consequences, whether it is the anger of a mortal like Achilles, or the terrible wrath and fury displayed constantly by the gods of Olympus. The Iliad is indeed a story about rage – it starts that way but it does not finish in the same vein. The Iliad ends with the wrath of Achilles having been dissipated and resolved through empathy. The funeral of Hector draws the curtain on the story and the message is that vengeance is limited and that goodness will win out over war. Demonstrating to us that basic and decent humanity will ultimately triumph of over rage and strife is just one more way that Homer makes the point that war is evil. I refuse to budge from my long-held position that the Iliad is an anti-war poem.

  

A Land of Lions

 A Land of Lions

The first time I walked up the ramp at the citadel of Mycenae and approached the Lion Gate, my heart was beating so loudly in my chest that I was certain I could hear it reverberating off the Cyclopean walls on each side of me. My companions said that the look on my face was that of a man who was fulfilling a lifelong ambition. That was indeed the case and the feeling was only a little less intense the second time that I walked the same route two years later. I think that only a true Classicist could understand the emotion. By the same token, I admit freely that I wept the first time that I saw the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and that I still get a tear in my eye every time that I see them. That first time in Mycenae, the Lion Gate loomed before me and that memory will stay with me forever.

The ten foot square Lion Gate, created around 1250 BCE, forms the entrance to the Bronze Age citadel and the lion statue above the doorway is the sole surviving piece of Mycenaean sculpture there, as well as being the largest surviving sculpture of this period in the Aegean. The statue features two lions or lionesses facing each other, standing in a heraldic pose on their hind legs with their forepaws resting on a small altar with a pillar rising between the pair. It is thought that a statue of a god or goddess was situated atop the pillar, perhaps being one of Hera, for lions were one of her symbols. The heads of the lions were fashioned separately and are missing. Lions were symbols of royalty and power in ancient Greece and finding them portrayed in such a manner at the entrance gate of a powerful kingdom like Mycenae comes as no surprise.

Mycenae was home to King Agamemnon, Wanax or King of Kings, and leader of the Achaean forces in Troy, brother of Menelaus of Sparta, brother-in-law of Helen of Troy, and husband of Clytemnestra. He was an important man, and how does Homer picture him dressed?

So he got up and put his tunic on his breast and put his fine sandals on his well-oiled feet and then put on a cloak made from the tawny skin of a lion that reached down to his feet and in his hand he grasped his spear.

Several heroes were called bold-spirited and lion-hearted by Homer, and among them was Diomedes the leader of the Argives, son of King Tydeus and as such of royal lineage. He was the only other person in the Iliad, other than Agamemnon. who was depicted as wearing a lion skin. Only powerful royals dressed this way in ancient Greece.

So he spoke and Diomedes put on his shoulders the skin of a lion, shiny and large enough to reach down to his feet and in his hand he grasped his spear and then went on his way.

Lions played quite a prominent role in Greek mythology. The legendary chimera was a fire-breathing monster typically depicted as a lion with a goat’s head on its back and a snake for its tail. The most notable lion story in Greek mythology is that of Heracles whose first labour was the slaying of the Nemean lion. After he had killed the lion, its hide became his armour. Lions were also frequently featured in art and literature in the ancient world. For example, on the shield of Achilles, Homer tells us that there was a scene which depicted dogs fighting two lions which were attacking a bull.

Two dreadful lions were out in front of the cattle holding a loud-bellowing bull and it cried aloud and the dogs and the youths chased after it. The two lions had rent the skin of the bull and were gulping down its innards and its black blood while the herdsmen tried vainly to chase them away and to encourage the swift-footed dogs. They failed to attack the lions and instead just stood nearby and barked loudly.

            Lions certainly existed in ancient Greece, especially in the southeastern part of the European continent. Images of lions are frequently found on pottery, daggers, mosaics and temple pediments. The Terrace of the Lions at the sanctuary of Delos featured a row of sixteen marble lions that acted as guardians of the sacred site. Lions likely became almost extinct during the classical period around 100-200 BCE, with the last reported sighting having occurred near the Neestos River in Thrace in the 2^nd century AD. Their population was probably over-exploited through hunting for sport, and for the provision of beasts for entertainment purposes. Conflicts with humans who were determined to protect their livestock from attacks and the loss of habitat through the spread of civilization also led to their demise. Homer distinguishes between European lions that were a subspecies of the Asiatic lion with which we are familiar, those that he typically refers to as well-maned, as opposed to mountain lions that we would normally refer to as panthers.

            The best indication that we have that lions were common in ancient Greece comes from the writings of Homer and in particular, the manner in which he often featured lions in his poetic similes. The Homeric simile, also known as an epic simile, is a literary device often used by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey. A simile is an extended, elaborate poetic comparison, usually running for several lines, that uses vivid imagery to link a character's actions or a narrative event to something from nature or daily life that is familiar to the audience or listener. The purpose of a simile is to enhance the reader's understanding and appreciation of the narrative, by linking the unknown or the unusual to something well known or more commonplace. Homer also uses the simile to glorify a character or to call attention to them, or to heighten the intensity or importance of an event. A simile provides a way for the narrator to talk directly to the audience and to pause for a moment to build understanding while the action is taking place, but in order to be effective, the simile must draw its comparison to something that the listener knows and fully understands.

            There are more Homeric similes that use lions as their basis of comparison than any other animals in the two epics. This leads me to assume that the average Greek person who was a member of Homer’s audience and who sat listening to the bard sing, knew all about lions and would have come into contact with the beast often enough to be able to relate to the comparisons presented in the poet’s verses. The local goatherd and his wife might never have seen a warrior armoured for battle and striding in his rage toward his enemy, but must certainly have been familiar with seeing their livestock savagely attacked by a wild beast and hence could identify with the scene.

But when the war-loving Menelaus saw him striding along in front of the troops, he was as pleased as a hungry lion that comes across the large carcass of either a horned stag or a wild goat which he devours voraciously, even if vigorous young men and swift dogs are pursuing him. Such as this was Menelaus delighted to espy the godlike Alexander, for he was determined in his mind to seek revenge on the evil-doer.

In the same way, Diomedes is compared to a lion attacking a flock of sheep, no doubt a common occurrence in the Achaean countryside.

Then once more the son of Tydeus went to fight in the forefront of the battle, being highly eager to wage war with the Trojans. Three times as much spirit spurred him on, as is a lion which a shepherd in the field has wounded but not killed near his fleecy sheep after it has leaped over the enclosure and he has only aroused its fury. The shepherd does not help his flock but rather goes back to the sheepfold and the flock scatters panic-stricken into the field and huddle together and the lion, pressing them on, leaps upon them from the enclosure. And in this same way, the mighty Diomedes was eager to mix it up with the Trojans.

            Homer is wont to compare the savagery of warriors on both sides of the conflict with the savagery displayed by lions that are on the hunt. His imagery is gruesome and no doubt it had a profound effect on his audience as they listened to tales of warriors attacking their foes like lions devouring raw meat.

They both drew out the spears with their hands and rushed at each other like flesh-eating lions or wild boars whose strength is not easily exhausted.

Sarpedon held his shield in front of him and brandished two spears and walked forward like a mountain-bred lion long in need of meat and his heroic spirit urged him to attempt to get near the well-protected sheepfold and make an attack upon the flock. Yet even though he finds there the shepherds with dogs and spears keeping watch over the sheep, he is still not dissuaded from making an attempt and he either leaps upon them and snatches one away or else he is smitten himself by one of the foremost warriors who throws a spear from his steady hand.

            There are any number of similes in the Iliad that depict lions hunting or being hunted, attacking or being attacked. They are all violent and gruesome and serve to underscore the brutality and savagery of war. Some scholars, myself included, have taken the position that the Iliad was not a poem that glorified war, but was in effect an anti-war poem. I am reminded of those great poets of the First World War who struggled to have their message understood that war was the ultimate evil. In the words of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918),

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory

The old lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

            Homer also presents lions to his listeners in a softer or gentler light at times. An example of this is his portrayal of a mother lion protecting her cubs from hunters. But in this particular case, the comparison to the mother lion was presented more as a way of showing the care that Aias took for his fallen comrade, rather than to stress the gentler side of the lioness.

Aias covered the son of Menoetius with his broad shield like a lion takes care of its young when confronted by hunters in the woods when it has its little ones with it.

In fact in another comparison, Homer made the point that lions raised with a mother’s love will still meet their doom if they eventually turn on men or their livestock.

But there the consummation of death overcame them both. They were like two lions that had been raised by their mother in the thicket of deep woods on a mountain top, who then seize bullocks and large fattened sheep and destroy the farmsteads of men and are in turn killed by the sharp bronze held in the hands of those men. In the same manner they were both overcome by the hands of Aeneas and fell like lofty pine trees.

            Homer tells us that lions were savage, violent, relentless, strong, warlike and heroic. It is no small wonder that he used the beast as the basis for his comparisons to the qualities and the actions of the warriors whom he described. Through his use of his dramatic similes, he was able to bring alive the ferocity of the Achaean and Trojan combatants in the minds of his listeners. The question before us is why would he do so? Obviously one answer would be that his depictions of lions in action made his works more entertaining and believable. But I think that there is more to it than that. The extensive use of lions in his symbolism was a way for Homer to tell his audience that when men went to war, they became savage beasts. The common thought was that man could achieve Kleos or immortal honour on the battlefield and that as a result, war could be considered a good thing, because it provided such an opportunity for heroes. But if we view the Iliad as an anti-war poem, then those lions on the battlefield are no better than the Cyclops Polyphemus who, in the Odyssey, devoured men like a mountain-bred lion.

So I spoke and from his pitiless heart he made no answer, but he jumped up and made a grab for my companions with his hands and he snatched two of them and smashed them to the ground like young puppies and their brains gushed forth onto the ground and wetted the earth. Then he tore them limb from limb and made his supper of them and devoured them like a mountain-bred lion and did not leave anything, eating the innards, the flesh and the bones full of marrow. 

The Role of Thetis in the Iliad

  The Role of Thetis in the Iliad

Thetis, the leader of the fifty sea nymphs called the Nereids, played a central and critical role in Homer’s Iliad. She was the wife of Peleus and the mother of the Greek hero Achilles. Achilles was mortal because only his mother was divine. Thetis was reluctant to accept the mortality of her son and she did everything in her power to put off or circumvent his inevitable death, but to no avail. Legend has it that she had dipped him in the River Styx when he was a baby in an attempt to ensure his immortality, but the heel by which she held him proved to be his “Achilles heel”, and this is where the fatal arrow eventually struck him during the Trojan War.

The involvement of Thetis in the war dated right back to its very origins. The Trojan prince Paris had abducted the lovely Helen of Sparta because he had been promised the most beautiful woman in the world by Aphrodite if he selected her as the fairest over Hera and Athena in the famous beauty contest, known to us as the Judgement of Paris. The event where this occurred was the marriage of Thetis to the mortal hero and former Argonaut Peleus. An invasion force was mounted by the Greeks against the Trojans in an attempt to return Helen and the Spartan treasury to King Menelaus. Achilles, the son of Thetis, was one of the Greeks who rallied under the leadership of King Agamemnon of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus.

It is interesting to note that some versions of the myth have the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, the abduction of Helen and the start of the Trojan War all happening in very quick sequence. But Achilles was not born until after the wedding and so this would have made the storyline inconsistent. Most scholars believe that the gap between the wedding and the start of the war had to be some 15-20 years and this would have made Achilles 15-18 years of age when he joined the fighting. With him being just a teenager, it is no small wonder that his mother took such a protective role in guiding and guarding him throughout the years of the conflict. Homer always described her as a devoted mother but also referred to the beautiful immortal goddess as fair-haired, silver-footed and sea-born.

It seems that her maternal devotion to her son Achilles was just part of her caring nature. Thetis was always pictured in Greek mythology as being a nurturer and a saviour. When Hephaestus was angrily cast out of Olympus and fell to the earth, it was Thetis who rescued him and nursed him back to health. The god of the forge repaid her kindness when he fashioned a new set of armour for Achilles after his weapons had been stripped off the body of Patroclus by Hector. In another myth, Thetis saved the young god Dionysus when he was being attacked by the Thracian king Lycurgus. Dionysus presented her with a beautiful urn that Hephaestus had made as a token of his thanks. This became the urn in which Thetis would place the ashes of her dead son Achilles. In another myth, Thetis saved Zeus himself when he was about to become a victim of a coup d’état led by Hera, Poseidon and Athena.

We witness Thetis taking on a protective role over her son very early in the Iliad and in fact right at the beginning of Book One. Achilles had suffered a great slight at the hands of Agamemnon when the king insisted that the Pythian hero had to give up his war prize Briseis because the Mycenaean was being forced to return his own prize Chryseis to her father. Achilles prayed to his mother for assistance.

But Achilles, having wept bitterly at his loss, sat down by the side of the foamy waves apart from his comrades and gazed upon the wine dark sea. And stretching forth his hands, he prayed sincerely to his blessed mother. “Mother, you gave me life, short as it might be, so at least Olympian Zeus the mighty thunder-maker should give me some honour, but alas he grants me none. For indeed Agamemnon, the wide ruling son of Atreus dishonours me for he takes back for himself what was given to me.”

Thetis promised her son that she would go to Mount Olympus and plead on his behalf. But I will go myself to snow-capped Olympus and place your request before the god who delights in thunder to see if I might persuade him on your behalf. The goddess made a strong case to the father of the gods and asked that the Trojans be allowed to get the upper hand in the conflict in order to teach Agamemnon a lesson. Zeus even went against his own wife Hera with his decision in her favour. Of course we know that agreeing to this proposal of hers led to a prolonging of the war and countless casualties on both sides. The maternal protection she provided to her own son resulted in the maternal grief of hundreds of Greek and Trojan wives and mothers who lost their own husbands and sons because of her interference in the conflict.

“O father Zeus, if at any time past I have pleased you among the immortals in my words or in my actions, then grant me this request. Grant honour to my son, fated to be short-lived compared to others, for Agamemnon the lord of men has dishonoured him. He has grasped and taken for himself the award previously given to my son. But you could grant him honour, Olympian counsellor Zeus. Give supremacy to the Trojans until such time as the Achaeans honour my son and build up reverence toward him.”

            The dutiful mother ensured that her young son always had everything that he needed. Later on in the epic, when Achilles was preparing Patroclus to go into battle in his place, we got insight into the preparations that Thetis had made for the comfort of her son in Troy.

But Achilles went inside his tent and opened the lid of a beautiful and cunningly-wrought chest that silver-footed Thetis had placed on his ship for him to bring with him and she had filled it with garments and tunics to keep off the wind and woven woolen rugs. Inside the chest there was a beautifully fashioned drinking goblet that no other man had ever drunk the fiery wine from and from which he had never poured a libation to any god except his father Zeus.

            Achilles lost his own armour when Hector stripped it from the body of Patroclus after he had killed him. Thetis went to the workshop of the god Hephaestus and ordered a new set of stunning armour for her son. Hephaestus agreed to supply the armour because he was beholden to Thetis for having saved him in the past when he was cast from Olympus. Thetis made Achilles promise not to engage in the fighting until she returned from Hephaestus with new armour for him.

Then the silver-footed goddess Thetis answered him. “Truly as you say to me child, it is not a bad thing to ward off destruction from your comrades when they are distressed. But your shining armour of bronze is being held among the Trojans and Hector with the flashing helmet bears it gloriously on his own shoulders, but he will not glory in it for long for his demise is close at hand. But you must not return to the turmoil of Ares before you see me return with your own eyes, for come morning and the rising of the sun, I will come back bearing wondrous armour from Lord Hephaestus.”

            Homer’s description of the armour and in particular the shield of Achilles, is generally regarded as one of the most famous and detailed passages in the Iliad.

Now take and accept from Hephaestus this rich and beautiful armour which no man has ever worn on his shoulders before. So speaking she laid the armour at the feet of Achilles and all its embellishments flashed brightly. All the Myrmidons trembled when they saw it and they could not look at it fully, for they were so struck with awe. But not Achilles for the more he looked at it, the more furious he became and his eyes flashed brightly for he was gladdened to hold the beautiful gift which the god had sent to him.

            Despite the protection that his mother provided and the new armour with which he was furnished, the fact remains that Achilles was mortal and he would die. The cards were stacked against him for two reasons; first of all, his father was the mortal Peleus, and secondly, as Apollo explained to Aeneas, Achilles was the son of a lesser god.

Offer your prayers to the immortal gods, O hero, for it is said that you are born of Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus whereas that man is born of a goddess of lesser rank. Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus whereas Thetis is the daughter of the old man of the sea. So bring your shining spear upon him and do not walk away in sadness from his threats.

            When Achilles was trying to make up his mind about abandoning the fight and returning home, he made it very clear that he knew about the choices that were available to him. He could live a long life in relative obscurity back in Pythia, or he could achieve his Kleos by dying gloriously in battle on the plains of Troy. His mother had laid out his options for him.

For my mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, had advised me that a double-fated death approaches me. If I stay here and fight about the city of Troy, then lost is my return home but great will be my fame. If I return home to my dearly beloved fatherland, then my glorious fame will be lost and I will live a long time and the fate of death will not soon come upon me.

Thetis realized fully that she could try to comfort Achilles in his agony, but she was incapable of changing his fate. She expressed her deep distress to her fellow Nereids.

Listen to me my sister Nereids so that each of you may know all the sorrows that are in my heart. Woe is me who am so unhappy, me the unhappy mother of the son whom I bore, for after I had given birth to such a peerless and stalwart son, one who stood out amongst all others. He grew up quickly like a sapling and I had brought him up like a rich plant in a garden plot, I then sent him off in the curved-bow ships to Ilios to make war with the Trojans. But I will never receive him back into his house, the home of the son of Peleus. But while he is alive and can see the light of the sun, he is in sorrowful pain and I cannot help him in any way regardless of my going to him. But I will go and I will see my dear child and listen to what grief has come upon him while he keeps himself aloof from the fighting.

            Thetis shared with her son the fate that was set before him. Then shedding great tears, Thetis spoke to him again. “An early death will come to you as you say my child, for your own death will be right at hand following that of Hector.” In response to this chilling news, Achilles acknowledged his fate. But Zeus does not bring to pass all that mankind plans for both of us are fated to stain the soil of Troy with our blood for never will I go back to be made welcome in the halls by the old horseman Peleus nor by my mother Thetis, but instead I shall be held fast by the earth here in this place.

            The final role that the goddess Thetis played in the Iliad was the part that she played in convincing her son to return the body of Hector to his father Priam. The gods were angered when Achilles desecrated the body of Hector and refused him a proper burial. Thetis persuaded Achilles to accept the ransom that Priam offered and to turn over his son’s corpse to him.

But listen to me for I bring you a message from Zeus. He says that all the gods are angry with you and he, more so than all the others, is filled with rage towards you because you, in the fury of your heart, are keeping Hector near the crooked-beaked ships and will not release him. Now you must give him up and accept ransom for his corpse.

            Thetis, the divine mother of Achilles, played several key roles in Homer’s Iliad. She intervened with Zeus to alter the course of the Trojan War in favour of the Trojans so that her son’s insult at the hands of Agamemnon could be avenged. This intervention led to immense suffering by the Greeks which eventually forced the Mycenaean king to recognize her son’s value and to attempt reconciliation with him. Thetis played a major role in providing support and comfort to her son Achilles. She was also the bearer of the details of the choices available to him and his ultimate fate if he chose to stay and fight. This choice of his led to us witnessing a display of extreme maternal grief. Thetis knew that her son was not immortal but continued to provide him with everything that he needed while he was still alive. This included the goddess commissioning a new set of armour for him fashioned at the hands of Hephaestus. Finally, Thetis played a major role in convincing Achilles to return the body of Hector to the Trojans for his proper burial.

            Thetis is significant to the Iliad because she embodies profound maternal love and the ongoing struggle between divine power and inevitable fate. Even though she has the power of a goddess, she cannot alter the fate that is destined for her son, that of having a short but glorious life. Despite her best efforts to prolong his existence, he will achieve his Kleos with an early death on the battlefield. Her actions were driven by her love for Achilles and her motivation as a protective mother, but they had large scale and disastrous results for all who were involved in the conflict of the Trojan War. 

Athena in Homer

 

 Athena in Homer

One would not stray too far off the mark, having read the Iliad, in reaching the conclusion that it is the story of the goddess Athena playing a major role as an advisor and combatant in the Trojan War, or having studied the Odyssey, saying that it is the tale of the same goddess acting as a travel consultant to Odysseus and his son Telemachus. More than any of the other gods and goddesses, Athena was featured by Homer in the narratives of the two epics. In fairness, the Iliad and the Odyssey are not solely the story of Athena, but she plays a crucial role as a divine protagonist in both epics. The Iliad primarily focuses on Achilles and the Odyssey on Odysseus, but Athena actively supports Achilles and the Achaeans in the conflict and acts as an invaluable guide to Odysseus as he makes his way home to Ithaca. Both stories would be incomplete and shallow without the divine presence of Athena.

            In Greek mythology, Athena or Pallas Athena was the daughter of Zeus and his first wife Metis. She was said to have remarkable beauty and was often referred to as clear-eyed or blue-eyed. Athena was the patron goddess of Athens and of Greek cities in general, as well as being the patron of arts and handicrafts, especially weaving and spinning. But most importantly for our purposes, she was the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare and courage and a supporter of heroes. She frequently guided and advised heroes throughout their trials, a role that distinguished her from the god of war Ares, who represented chaotic violence.

            Athena and Hera, the queen of the gods, worked tirelessly to assist the Achaeans during the Trojan War. There was only one reason why they did so – revenge. We have to hearken back to the great beauty contest that decided the “fairest” and remember the Judgement of Paris. In return for being granted the most beautiful mortal on earth, Helen the Queen of Sparta, the Trojan prince Paris selected in favour of Aphrodite over the other two contenders for the title, Hera and Athena. These two never forgave Paris for the slight they had received and worked diligently to ensure his demise and that of his people, the Trojans.

            In the Iliad, Homer presents Athena to us as a fierce and highly influential warrior who took a very active part in events because of her vendetta against Paris and his Trojans. She used her wisdom, strategy and power in numerous interventions on the battlefield and in discussions about the war on Mount Olympus. On the battlefront she participated as a combatant herself as well as a mentor and advisor to various Achaean fighters. In an advisory capacity, she cautioned Achilles against drawing his sword in anger against Agamemnon after the king had insulted him.

The bright-eyed goddess Athena then answered him. “I have come down from heaven to quell your rage if you will obey me. The white-armed goddess Hera has sent me here since she loves and cherishes both of you in her heart. So cease your anger and do not draw your sword from its sheath. Taunt him with words and tell him what will happen. For I say to you that this will truly come to pass. You will receive three times as many gifts because of his insolence towards you, but you must stand down now and obey us.”

            Athena was also the one who was successful in counselling Odysseus, himself the man of many counsels, into keeping the Achaeans steadfast when it was their intention to flee to their ships when Agamemnon’s plan to rouse their fighting spirit went awry.

Standing near him, bright-eyed Athena addressed him. “Zeus-born son of Laertes, o crafty Odysseus, will you thus flee home to your beloved fatherland having rushed to your well-benched ships? And will you leave in the hands of Priam and the Trojans the trophy of Argive Helen, on whose behalf so many Achaeans perished in Troy, far away from their homes? But go now to the people of the Achaeans and do not cease to compel each man by your gentle words to stop dragging the double-oared ships into the sea.”

            Unlike Ares who was consumed with bloodlust and brute force, Athena represented the intellectual, strategic and tactical side of warfare. For example, she managed to break a truce by convincing a Trojan archer Pandarus into shooting Menelaus and thereby reignited the fighting after she had helped Menelaus rout Paris in their duel. Her interventions were often clearly manipulative and designed solely for the benefit of the Achaeans. An example of her using her persuasive powers for evil purposes was when she tricked Hector into a situation where he was forced to fight with Achilles in one-to-one combat. She impersonated his brother Deiphobus in order to accomplish this deed.

Then the flashing-eyed goddess Athena answered him. “Honourable one, indeed my father and my queenly mother and all my comrades around me beseeched me much that I should stay there, for they were all trembling before him, but my own heart within me was overwhelmed with grief. Now straightaway let us charge at him and do battle and do not let up at all with your spears, until we know whether Achilles will kill us both and bear our bloody remains to the hollow ships, or whether he himself will be overcome by your spear.” By such words and craftiness Athena led him onwards.

            Diomedes, the Achaean killing machine caused havoc on the battlefield and slew Trojan warriors almost at will. When we dig into the circumstances of his success, we find that Athena was directing and actively assisting him at every juncture. She not only gave him strength and courage, but in addition she guided his weapons in flight so that they always met their mark. Athena was a most powerful goddess and she even helped Diomedes wound Ares and get him to back off from the fighting.

            Interestingly enough, the Trojans also worshipped Athena and in fact Hector advised his mother to offer prayers and sacrifices at her temple, in an attempt to get Athena to back the Trojan side in the war. In particular, the Trojan queen prayed to be spared from the wrath of Diomedes but the vengeful goddess refused.

Making a solemn vow, she raised her prayers to the daughter of great Zeus. “Blessed Athena, protector of the city and divine one of the goddesses, we pray that you will shatter the spear of Diomedes and make him to fall prone in front of the Scaean gates, so that we may be able to sacrifice to you twelve yearling heifers which have been untouched by the goad, if indeed you will show mercy to the city of Troy and our wives and infant children.” Thus she spoke in prayer but Pallas Athena threw back her head in refusal.

            Athena’s support was very definitely on the Greek side and she and Hera took every opportunity to support the Achaeans against their Trojan foes. Athena was in the heart of the action when Patroclus was fighting. She emboldened Menelaus and assisted Achilles. Homer tells us that she imbued Achilles with great strength. By her actions she also proved herself to be stronger than Ares and Aphrodite. She struck Ares to the ground and then upbraided him and afterwards Aphrodite fared no better at the hands of Athena.

“You fool, you still have yet to learn that I am mightier than you, you who try to match your strength against mine. Now you experience the full weight of your mother’s revenge, she who plots and takes arms against you for leaving the Achaeans behind and offering aid instead to the overbearing Trojans.”

Thus she spoke and she then grabbed both the other one’s hands by the wrist with her left hand and with her right hand she took the bow and its gear from her shoulders and with these same weapons she turned around and beat her about the ears, smiling all the while as she turned this way and that and the swift arrows fell out of her quiver.

            In the final analysis, Athena treated the Trojan War as more like a game of chess. She used her power and influence to shape the destiny of mortals on the battlefield and to ensure the victory of the Achaeans, thereby satisfying her need for revenge following the slight that Paris had given to her during the beauty contest. Her actions and their consequences served the purpose of demonstrating to Homer’s listeners the fact that divine intervention played a direct role in the outcome of human affairs.

            Athena’s role in the Odyssey is similar to the part that she played in the Iliad. As the goddess of wisdom and strategy she sometimes acted indirectly in providing guidance and inspiration to Odysseus and his son Telemachus, and at other times took a more direct approach such as when she influenced the other gods to allow Odysseus to leave Calypso’s island, or when she intervened directly with Nausicaa or assisted Odysseus in his bloody battle with the suitors. If her motivation in assisting the Achaeans in the Iliad was revenge, we can rightly ask what drove her on to help Odysseus and his family in the Odyssey. The answer is quite simply that she was enamoured with Odysseus. As the goddess of wisdom and strategy, she was attracted to a mortal who displayed the qualities that she stood for. The wily and crafty Odysseus, the man of many turns and counsels, was a man who appealed greatly to her and she took on the role as his divine protector and patron.

            Athena’s first direct action in assisting Odysseus was to plead for his release from Calypso with her father Zeus. She approached him on Olympus and made her case.

Then the goddess, the bright-eyed Athena, answered him. “O father of us all, son of Cronos, you who rank highest among the gods, truly that man lies in his own destruction and so too may any other be destroyed who does the same things. But my heart is torn in two on account of the ill-fated Odysseus, who, far from his friends, has long been languishing on a sea-surrounded island somewhere in the middle of the sea. A goddess makes her home on that wooded island, daughter of the mischief-making Atlas, he who knows the depths of all the oceans and who holds up the tall pillars which separate the earth and the heavens. It is his daughter who imprisons that wretched and sorrowful man and beguiles him with sweet and soft words that he might forget about Ithaca. But Odysseus, in his desire to see the smoke rising from his own land, yearns for death. Yet your heart does not see it O Olympian. Did not Odysseus offer you unlimited sacrifices beside the ships of the Argives in the land of Troy? Why, O Zeus, do you have such anger against him?”

            Zeus assured Athena that it was not him but Poseidon who stood in the way, angered because Odysseus had blinded his son Polyphemus. But he told her that if all the immortals banded together behind her cause, Poseidon would not be strong enough to go against them all. The father of the gods agreed to have a messenger sent to Calypso and Athena achieved her goal of setting the hero free from captivity. That was just the start however, and Odysseus would never have reached his home in Ithaca without Athena’s continued involvement.

            Athena’s next action was directed towards Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. She sped down from Olympus to the palace of Odysseus in Ithaca and took on a disguise so that she could provide guidance to the boy who was desperately seeking information about his missing father.

Then she darted down from the heights of Olympus and took up her place in the land of Ithaca, outside the front doorway of the home of Odysseus on the threshold of the court and in her hand she held the spear of bronze and appeared as a guest-friend and took on the likeness of Mentes, the leader of the Taphians.

            She offered Telemachus some shrewd advice on travelling to Pylos and Sparta to seek news of his father and to develop a plan to rid his home of his mother’s suitors. To help him carry out his task, she instilled him with might and bravery. She provided the boy with the inspiration that he needed to mature and to take action and helped him to gain the confidence and experience he needed to become a man and to develop his own Kleos.

Thus he spoke in prayer and Athena came near to him and took on the likeness of Mentor in looks and voice and spoke, talking to him with winged words. “Telemachus, from this point onwards you will be neither an inferior man nor lack understanding if you have any of your father’s spirit in you, he who did much in word and deed. Your journey shall be accomplished and not be in vain. But if you are not the child of that man and Penelope, then I have no hope that you will do what you desire eagerly. Few sons are truly like their fathers and most of them are worse and very few of them are better than their fathers. But since from now on you will not be inferior nor lack understanding and the wisdom of Odysseus has not abandoned you, then there is hope that your work will be accomplished.”

            Nestor confirmed to all the great love that Athena bore Odysseus. She favoured him for his intelligence, cunning and strategic mind, qualities that mirrored her own as the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. For this reason she loved him dearly and assisted him throughout his journey. In the words of King Nestor,

“Would that the flashing-eyed Athena loved you as much as she was anxious for the glorious Odysseus in the land of the Trojans where the Achaeans suffered the most pain. For never before I have seen such love shown by the gods as Pallas Athena demonstrated for him, standing by his side. If she were to love you in such a way and care for you like that in her heart, then the subject of marriage would escape the notice of all those men.”

            It was Athena who took command of the winds and made certain that Odysseus was able to land safely on Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians.

But Athena, the daughter of Zeus, had other plans. She stopped the blowing of the other winds and ordered them all to cease and desist but she roused up the swift North Wind and broke up the waves in front of him so that Zeus-fostered Odysseus might come to the land of the Phaeacians who loved to row and thereby escape from his fate and death.

          Once he was safely on shore and had rested, Athena made sure that Princess Nausicaa came to his rescue by instilling the girl with fortitude. Only the daughter of Alcinous held her place for Athena had instilled courage in her heart and had strengthened her limbs. She did not flee but stood and faced him. The goddess went one step further and enhanced the hero’s looks so that he would become more appealing to the princess.

Then Athena the daughter of Zeus made him look even taller and stouter and made the hair on his head look even curlier, similar to the blossoms of a hyacinth flower. Just like when a workman overlays silver with gold, a skilful craftsman who has been taught his trade by Hephaestus and Pallas Athena and his work is full of grace, so did the goddess spread such grace on his head and shoulders.

         Then Athena went throughout the town disguised as the king’s herald and drummed up support for the traveler. The townspeople gathered in the assembly and were quite taken with Odysseus, for the goddess had changed his looks considerably to increase his appeal.

Many of them marvelled at the sight of the son of Laertes, a seasoned warrior, for marvelous indeed was the grace that Athena had poured over his head and shoulders and she had made him taller and stronger to look at so that he might be welcomed by all the Phaeacians and win their respect and reverence and be able to do well in all the contests that the Phaeacians would use to try Odysseus.

          When Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena disguised him as an old beggar so that he could safely assess the situation in the palace and develop a plan to rid his home of the suitors and regain his throne. She then conspired with Odysseus and Telemachus and advised them on the best tactics to use to overthrow the suitors. During the battle with the suitors the goddess took on an active role in the fighting by deflecting a number of the spears hurled by the enemy. Though she helped them achieve the victory, she ensured that glory in doing so rested with the father and his son and not with the goddess.

          In the final book of the Odyssey, the families of the defeated and slain suitors gather together to seek revenge against Odysseus and his son for the massacre of their relatives. In one last intervention, Athena accomplished the task of preventing further bloodshed and restored peace in the land and order in the kingdom.

Then flashing-eyed Athena spoke to Odysseus. “Zeus-fostered son of Laertes, resourceful Odysseus, restrain yourself and make an end to any strife that resembles war, lest the son of Cronos becomes angry with you, namely Zeus whose voice is heard from afar.” So spoke Athena and he was persuaded and was gladdened at heart. And then for all time to come, a solemn oath between the two sides was made by Pallas Athena, daughter of the aegis-bearing Zeus, she who bore the likeness of Mentor, both in form and in voice.

With regard to the Iliad, we said that Athena’s actions and their consequences served the purpose of demonstrating to Homer’s listeners the fact that divine intervention played a direct role in the outcome of human affairs. The same is true of the Odyssey, for Athena’s role in this epic highlighted the theme of divine intervention. She also demonstrated the importance of cleverness over brute force and this was borne out by the actions of Odysseus. In the case of Telemachus, the goddess assisted the youth in transitioning from boyhood to manhood. She helped both the father and the son each fulfill their destinies. Mortals needed to learn and grow from the choices that they made in their lifetimes, but in the case of Athena, the goddess stood ready to actively guide those whom she favoured toward their fated outcomes.

Odysseus – Hero or Villain?

  Odysseus – Hero or Villain?

The question that is being raised is whether the Odysseus whom we find revealed in the Iliad and the Odyssey should be regarded as a Homeric hero or a villain. The Wisdom Library offers the following summary: Homeric heroes are defined as characters from Homer's epics characterized by their complexity, showcasing a blend of virtues and flaws. These heroes exemplify personal enterprise, strength, beauty, and courage, along with unique individual qualities that empower them to assert their will. This multifaceted nature highlights the richly nuanced portrayal of heroism in literature, illustrating how these figures navigate their challenges through both admirable traits and human imperfections.

Key characteristics of Homeric heroes:

• Physical prowess: They are physically superior, with great strength, stamina, and agility.
• Courage and dignity: They face death with bravery and dignity, even when their fate is known.
• Personal honor: The hero's honor is paramount. They cannot endure insults and will risk death to protect their reputation.
• Quest for glory: They seek glory and immortality through great deeds, as this is the only way to achieve lasting fame after they die.
• Intellect and cunning: They are also intelligent and resourceful, using their cunning to solve problems and escape danger.
• Complex morality: They are not always perfect and can exhibit flaws, with their actions often shaped by rage, pride, or personal struggle.
• Social responsibility: Despite their individual pursuits, they have a sense of duty to their community and family. 

I think that the physical appearance of Odysseus gives us some clue as to his personality. The best description that we have of him occurs when old King Priam and Helen were standing on the walls of Troy looking at the Achaeans forces gathered on the plains below them. I quote the passage in its entirety because their description of Odysseus gives us much to consider about the type of person that he was.

Secondly, when he spotted Odysseus, the old man asked her another question. “Come now my dear child and let me ask who that man is? He is shorter than Agamemnon the son of Atreus by a head but is broader in the chest and shoulders. His weapons lie upon the rich earth but he goes about the ranks of his warriors like a ram. Yes, he is just like a thick-fleeced ram roaming through a large flock of white sheep.”

Then Helen, born of Zeus, did answer him. “That is the prudent and crafty Odysseus, son of Laertes, nurtured among the people of Ithaca. He is a rugged one and is known for all sorts of wily strategies and deceits.”

Then in answer to her the wise Antenor spoke again. “Woman, what you say is entirely true, for once before the divine Odysseus came here with the war-loving Menelaus on a mission on your account. I received them both in my meeting hall and was friendly towards them and became aware of their feelings and prudent counsel. They were gathered together with all the assembled Trojans and when standing, Menelaus with his broad shoulders was the tallest of all, but when seated, Odysseus was surely the most impressive. But when they started to weave the fabric of their words and plans, then Menelaus spoke fluently to the assembly, not with many words but clearly spoken, not wordy or rambling, even though he was the younger man. But when the wily Odysseus sprang up to speak, he cast his eyes towards the earth and held his sceptre firmly, neither waving it forward or backward but standing perfectly still like an unskilled man. You would have considered him a senseless man and a fool but when his great voice resonated from his chest and his words were like the snowflakes driven by a wintry storm, then no other mortal would consider wrangling with Odysseus and we no longer marvelled at just his appearance.”

Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, Odysseus displayed behaviours than can best be attributed to what is commonly known as the short man complex. Also known as the Napoleon complex or little man syndrome, it is a social stereotype that suggests that shorter men may overcompensate for their height with aggressive or domineering behaviour. This is a popular belief linked to inferiority complex that originated with British propaganda about Napoleon Bonaparte that focused on his height and temperament. It is important to note that this is a social stereotype and not a medical diagnosis and is just a theory about behavioural compensation. But the fact remains that the shorter and broader Odysseus acted very much like a loud-mouthed bully and in addition to often displaying aggressive and domineering behaviour, he also acted in ways that were cunning and deceitful, perhaps in an attempt to make up for his smaller physical stature.

Odysseus was sometimes described by Homer as noble, praiseworthy, steadfast, divine, great-hearted, dear to Zeus and godlike, but more often than not, he was called wily, crafty, resourceful, wise counsellor and a man of many counsels. Although he was shown as active on the battlefield and was the slayer of many, his fighting prowess was not praised abundantly by Homer, although there was one reference to him as being the sacker of cities. Most times he was shown as an enraged fighter who lashed out because of the death of certain of his comrades, rather than the heroic fighter that we expect to see on the battlefield. Odysseus himself was wounded in the war, but it seems that he was better known as the person who rid the Achaeans of the blabber-mouth Thersites, rather than the heroic hero wielding his weapons in the midst of the action.

Let us recall how Odysseus got to Troy in the first place, for his journey there was certainly not based in heroism. Odysseus had been the one who had brokered the deal among Helen’s suitors that they would take up arms collectively if harm were to come to the Spartan queen. Odysseus was not a suitor because he was more interested in Penelope, Helen’s cousin. When war was declared after Helen’s apparent abduction, Odysseus was reluctant to participate. An embassy was sent from King Agamemnon to convince him otherwise and he feigned madness in an attempt to escape service in the Achaean army. His ruse was caught out by Palamedes and he reluctantly agreed to go to Troy. Legend has it that he got his own back against Palamedes by conspiring with Diomedes to have him charged with being a traitor to the Greeks in Troy and seeing him subsequently executed for his crime. These events were said to have taken place early in the war and were not mentioned in the Iliad itself, but nevertheless they do shed light on the personality of Odysseus. His revenge plot and the subsequent demise of Palamedes were certainly not the products of a heroic man.

Odysseus was better known for his speaking ability rather than his fighting prowess. He was the one, very early in the Iliad, who was chosen to lead the embassy to the priest Chryses and to undertake the return of his daughter. He was also able to convince the Danaans to return to the fighting when Agamemnon’s attempt to kindle their fighting spirit failed and they all rushed to the ships in order to make for home. Likewise it was Odysseus who was chosen to lead the delegation to Achilles in an attempt to convince the hero to rejoin the fighting. He was also turned to by leaders like Agamemnon because of his wise counsel, but did not appear to hold the same rank in this regard as did King Nestor of Pylos.

But even more than his speaking ability and his wise counsel, Odysseus was mainly known in the Iliad for his craftiness and guile. Those qualities were demonstrated when he and Diomedes snuck out of the Achaean camp on a night-time spying mission to the Trojan encampment. Their killing of the Trojan spy Dolon was hardly heroic since they had given the man hope that he would be spared. It seems that undercover work was right up his alley for Odysseus because in the Odyssey, Helen shared a similar story of Odysseus sneaking into the citadel of Troy on the same kind of mission. Of course the crowning touch for the craftiness of the man from Ithaca was his tour de force in planning and executing the whole episode of the Trojan horse. This has gone down in history as the finest example of military strategy and deception ever devised in warfare and we have Odysseus to thank for it.

The Odysseus whom we witness in the Odyssey was not very different insofar as he displayed more non-heroic than heroic tendencies, despite the glowing epithets that Homer used to describe him. He called him ill-fated, much-enduring and unlucky, all of which give us the impression that the terrible things that happened to him were not his fault. A few times the bard referred to him as being devious, wily and crafty, but in the main, the descriptors applied to Odysseus showed nothing other than high praise. He is variously described as stout-hearted, noble, god-reared, Zeus-fostered, a glorious and wise lord. The most common epithet that Homer used to describe Odysseus was the term godlike. He used the term hundreds of times in the Odyssey and the question before us is whether or not Odysseus behaved in a godlike manner. After all, this was the noble man and godlike king who Penelope spoke of when she said:

Odysseus never uttered a bad word or did a wrong thing to any man in the land, as is the practice of godlike kings.

Commentators wax eloquent about the ten year struggle that Odysseus endured as he attempted to return home and the significance of his Nostos. The fact of the matter is that for the longest time Odysseus did not seem to care a damn about his family or his kingdom. He spent two years trying to get home, not ten. The other eight years were spent living in the lap of luxury and returning each night to the warm bed and the open arms of the two trollops, Calypso and Circe. He may have sat by the seaside moaning about his fate, but in actual fact he did little to alter it. He finally got around to building a boat on Calypso’s island, but presumably the raw materials for doing so had been available to him for years. Likewise he had no intention of leaving Circe, until his crewmen finally wore him down and piled the guilt on him for ignoring his home. All in all, these were not really the actions of a legitimate hero.

This was the man who deliberately put the lives of his crew in danger on more than one occasion. He was determined to hear the song of the Sirens and ordered that his ship be steered perilously close to their domain. Only the beeswax in the crew’s ears saved them from utter destruction. Likewise, this was the man who stood up in his boat and bragged to the Cyclops Polyphemus after he had blinded him. Fortunately the blind monster’s aim was impeded as he flung huge boulders at the ship anchored offshore. Ultimately Poseidon destroyed the crew for the role that they played in the attack that Odysseus had orchestrated against the god’s son. At every juncture it appeared that Odysseus pursued his own aims rather than thinking about the impact of his actions on others. Godlike perhaps, but a mean and selfish god, not a loving one.

At the end of the Odyssey we see the return of Odysseus to Ithaca and the completion of his Nostos. But he does not return to his kingdom as a noble and conquering hero. Instead he makes his way back into his palace and his life disguised as a woeful beggar. This was not the white knight riding over the castle drawbridge to the glorious welcome of his subjects. Instead he took on the role of a crafty undercover assassin and brutally murdered 108 noblemen. Not content with that display of unfettered rage, he went on to have 12 handmaidens strung up by their necks in the courtyard. Then when he was finished, he returned to his father’s home and instead of falling into his grieving father’s arms like a dutiful returning prodigal son, he could not help himself but play a trick on the old man. Are all these the actions of a hero or a villain?

I conclude that the actions displayed by Odysseus were anything but heroic, but perhaps I go too far in suggesting that they were villainous. Instead, we can perhaps label him an anti-hero. An anti-hero is a central character in a story who lacks traditional heroic qualities like nobility and idealism. An anti-hero often has flawed morals, a selfish or ambiguous motivation and may use questionable or violent means to achieve his goals, even though his ultimate aim is at times good. Such a complex and flawed individual can be seen as a mix between hero and villain. Instead of the conventional heroic traits, the anti-hero may be arrogant, selfish, cynical and cowardly. The anti-hero will sometimes use questionable tactics to achieve a positive outcome. This is a psychologically complicated person who often exhibits a history of bad decisions, many times motivated by personal goals. Their reasons for acting can be selfish, driven by vengeance or simply because they have been put into a situation where they must act a certain way to survive.

Was Odysseus a hero, a villain or an anti-hero? My vote rests with the latter definition.