The Role of Vengeance in Homer

 The Role of Vengeance in Homer

If you remove the concept of vengeance from Homer’s Iliad, there won’t be much of a story left to tell. The entire narrative is built on the actions of mortals and gods taking revenge on others for slights or misdeeds of various kinds. But vengeance is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it is the medium by which mortals gain Kleos through the performance of heroic deeds, but on the other hand, it is also the cause of much grief and sorrow and serves as a focal point for evil actions as well as serving up both empathy and reconciliation. In addition, the role that the gods play in seeking retribution just adds to the horrors visited upon mankind. There is nothing noble or redeeming in their divine actions as they seek to be repaid for the slights leveled against them by mortals or their fellow gods.

            The Trojan War itself was based on exacting vengeance by both men and gods. From the point of view of the mortals, the war was ostensibly launched by the Greeks as punishment against the Trojans for the kidnapping by Paris the Trojan prince of Helen, the queen of Sparta. Though there is speculation that Helen may have gone willingly and that the war had more to do with economic gain rather than revenge, the fact remains that Homer’s narrative was based on the story of King Agamemnon of Mycenae leading an invasion force against the Trojans to avenge the capture of the wife of his brother King Menelaus of Sparta by Paris the evil-doer. Hers was the face that launched 1,000 ships, or 1,186 to be more exact.

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. Immediately he leapt onto the ground from his chariot with his weapons.

Menelaus the son of Atreus was the second one to rush forward with his weapon, having prayed to his father Zeus. “O father Zeus, permit me to take vengeance on the godlike Alexander, he who has done me such wretched harm, and allow me to subdue him with my hands, so that all generations of men will shudder at the thought of ever doing evil to a host who offers them only kindness.”

From the divine perspective, revenge was also a key issue in the Trojan War. Alexander, or Paris as he was better known, had taken Helen because she had been promised to him by Aphrodite in a contest held at the wedding of the parents of Achilles. In the famous Judgment of Paris, the Trojan prince had chosen Aphrodite as the “fairest” and had given her the winning title over her rivals Hera and Athena. In revenge, Hera and Athena backed the Achaeans in the ten year struggle and worked diligently to ensure the defeat of the Trojans. Athena’s fury was waged equally against Aphrodite and the Trojans whom she supported.

Thus she spoke and Athena rushed off in pursuit, rejoicing in her heart and smote Aphrodite on the breast with her stout hand and her knees gave way where she was and her dear heart gave up. The two of them lay upon the bountiful earth and Athena spoke over them in a gloating way with winged words. “Let all of those who aid the Trojans when they fight against the armour-clad Argives suffer the same fate as these, just like the bold and brave Aphrodite who came in aid of Ares and went up against my might. It will not be long before we can cease fighting, having utterly sacked and destroyed the well-built citadel of Ilios.”

            The story of the Iliad is indeed based upon the whole concept of vengeance and in fact starts with a moving story of revenge. The daughter of Chryse, a priest of Apollo, had been captured in a raid by the Achaeans and had been awarded to King Agamemnon as a war prize and sex slave. The priest had approached Agamemnon and had offered a significant ransom for the return of his daughter Chryseis, but had been severely rebuked by the king and sent on his way with a warning not to return. The priest invoked the wrath of the god Apollo and the immortal one sent a plague to ravage the Greek forces.

After he had moved some distance away, the ancient one prayed in earnest to the lord Apollo, he whom fair-haired Leto had born. “Hear me o god of the silver bow who hovers in strength over Chryse and Cilla, Smithian god and most favoured ruler of Tenedos. If I ever roofed a temple that was pleasing to you or provided you with the burnt offering of the fat thigh pieces of bulls and goats, then answer my prayer and let the Danaans pay the price for my tears with your arrows.”

Thus was his prayer made known on high and Phoebus Apollo heard him. He stalked down from the summit of Olympus, troubled deeply in his heart and bearing with him his bow and covered quiver. As he moved, the arrows rattled on the shoulders of the angry god. As the far-darting one swept by, his coming was like the night. Then he crouched down among the ships of the Greeks and let fly an arrow. Terrifying was the sound that arose from his silver bow. The mules he attacked first and then the swift dogs. Next on the men themselves he rained down his terrible shafts. The corpses of the dead burned constantly.

            But primarily the Iliad is about one man’s wrath and the havoc that his vengeance visits on others. We are told from the very start that this story is about 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.

That man’s wrath was demonstrated in many ways and its effect always resulted in severe consequences. First of all, in a fit of pique, Achilles was determined to take his revenge on Agamemnon who had confiscated his war prize Briseis, but the impact on the Greek forces was beyond measure. Without the leadership of Achilles on the battlefield, the Trojans were overwhelming the Greeks to such an extent that Agamemnon finally relented and sent an embassy to Achilles to beg him to return to the fighting. What had started as a vengeful act to embarrass Agamemnon ended up as a disaster for his fellow Achaeans, but still Achilles was not ready to agree. It took the death of his beloved friend Patroclus at the hands of Hector to motivate him back into the action.

            They say that hell hath no fury, and that certainly was the case with Achilles acting in vengeance because of the death of Patroclus. Not only did he relentlessly pursue Hector around the walls of Troy and finally strike him dead, he then proceeded in his revenge to desecrate the corpse of the Trojan hero by fastening his naked body to the back of his chariot and dragging it around in disgrace for days. The Kleos that he had gained by heroically defeating his enemy on the battlefield was washed away by his violation of the sacred duties of heroism perpetrated through his savagery. As if that was not enough, he went so far as to capture twelve young Trojans to sacrifice on the funeral pyre of his friend. There was nothing noble or heroic in this.

When his hands grew tired from all the killing, he captured twelve young men alive from out of the river in blood revenge for the death of Patroclus the son of Menoetius. He led them forth like they were dazed fawns and fettered their hands behind their backs with the leather straps that they used to tie their tunics and gave them to his comrades to lead them to the hollow ships. Then he leaped back into the fray, eager to continue the slaughter.

            But in the end, the wrath of Achilles was overcome by empathy and reconciliation. King Priam of Troy approached Achilles in the dead of night and begged for the release of Hector’s body. Achilles was overcome with emotion and consented. Vengeance was at the heart of the entire narrative and Homer portrayed it and its consequences in the worst possible light. Mortals and immortals caused great distress and sorrow on others through their various acts of revenge and Homer certainly did not glorify vengeance. He saw it as something monstrous and bad, but in the end, good conquered evil.

            Revenge played a central role in the Odyssey as well and we are told in the opening lines that the vengeance of the gods destroyed any plans that Odysseus had to return his men home to the safety of Ithaca.

But do what he might, he was not able to save his men, for their own recklessness made an end of them, fools that they were, for they ate the cattle of the Hyperion Helios and the god took away from them the day that they would ever return home.

All the gods took pity on him except Poseidon, who persecuted Odysseus without end and would not allow him to return to his land.

            Lest mortals make the mistake of blaming the gods for the evils that befall them, Zeus the father of the gods made it very plain from the outset of the story that mortals themselves are responsible for what happens to them. In the Iliad we get the distinct impression that mankind does not have free will and that everything that happens is pre-ordained and cannot be changed by human actions. But here, early in the Odyssey, the message is clear. Gods take action against mortals and in their vengeance they punish mankind, but only because mortals have brought such evils upon themselves, especially if they do things that they have been warned not to do.

It is shameful that mortals blame us gods for all their ills, but what fate comes their way is caused by their own recklessness and they heap it all upon themselves. Look at Aegisthus now, who woos and weds the wife of the son of Atreus unrighteously and then goes and kills him though he knew it would be his own death for I had sent the keen-sighted Hermes, the slayer of Argos, to warn him not to kill this man or to take his wife for Orestes would surely want to take revenge on behalf of the son of Atreus, when he grew up and longed to return to his homeland. So Hermes had spoken but he did not move the heart of Aegisthus with his words of wisdom and now he has paid the full price for his deeds.

            It was vengeance that plunged Odysseus into trouble from the very start on his journey home, vengeance as well as curiosity. He and his crew had landed in the land of the Cyclopes and Odysseus was keen to find out all he could about these creatures and their approach to Xenia or guest-friend hospitality. The answer was quite simple. A Cyclopean monster like Polyphemus eats his guests and smacks them down, blood, guts and bones. In an act of extreme revenge for the killing of some of his crew, Odysseus formed a plan to blind the monster and escape his grasp. Not only was he successful in his vengeance, he bragged about it afterwards. Poseidon, who was the father of Polyphemus, was not about to accept the wounding of his son without consequences, and launched a ferocious attack against Odysseus and his entire crew in revenge.

            Odysseus and his men also incurred the wrath and the revenge of Zeus for the slaughter of the cattle of Helios, the god of the sun. The sacred cattle lived on the island of Thrinacia and were guarded by the daughters of Helios. Odysseus had been strictly warned that the cattle were off-limits by both Circe and Tiresias, but his starving crew undertook their sacrilegious slaughter. In revenge for this action, Zeus destroyed their ship with a thunderbolt and killed the entire crew, with the exception of Odysseus who had abstained from eating the meat of the cattle.

            While visiting King Menelaus and Queen Helen in Sparta, Telemachus was treated to a full story of revenge by his hosts. The tale of Agamemnon, Aegisthus and Orestes had been mentioned briefly in the opening lines of the Odyssey, but from the mouth of the singing bard in Sparta, Telemachus got the full story. In a nutshell, this story of extreme vengeance goes as follows. King Agamemnon was leading an invasion force against Troy in revenge for the Trojan prince Alexander having kidnapped Helen, the wife of Menelaus. The Greek ships were stranded in Aulis by unfavourable winds and Agamemnon was convinced that the only way that they could make sail would be if he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess, because he had offended her by killing one of her sacred stags during a hunt. His wife Clytemnestra never forgave him for this evil deed and when he returned from the Trojan War, she and her lover Aegisthus slew Agamemnon in his bathtub in an act of revenge. In seeking vengeance for the murder of his father Agamemnon, Orestes in turn killed his mother Clytemnestra. Vengeance had come full circle.

            When Odysseus finally reached Ithaca, he found that his home had been taken over, that his livelihood was being threatened, that his son was in danger and that his wife was being pursued by 108 ardent suitors. All in all, it was not a good news day. Odysseus set out to even the score and the remainder of the tale is all about his efforts to avenge these slights against himself, his family and his property. But his wise son Telemachus warned him that, despite his great ability as a fighter, to try and seek revenge against so great a number without help would be dangerous.

Then wise Telemachus answered him. “O father, truly I have heard about your great fame and that you were a warrior with enormous strength and wisdom but what you have said is too great and I am amazed. Two men could not fight alone against so many powerful foes, for there are not ten suitors or twice that, but many more. Forthwith I will tell you their exact number. From Dulichium there are fifty-two chosen young men and six pages attend them. From Same there came twenty-four and from Zacynthus there are twenty Achaeans youths. From Ithaca itself there are twelve men, all of them the noblest and with them is the herald Medon and the divine minstrel and two squires who are skilled in carving meats. If we were to come against them inside, then indeed your return to exact revenge would be bitter and baneful. Now see if you can think of anyone who might be able to help us, someone who would be willing to do so with a willing heart.”

Telemachus knew that the final act of revenge would be delivered by his father Odysseus but his mother Penelope felt that such vengeance could only come from the gods and from Zeus in particular. In this case, the god would act through the hands of a man.

Thus he spoke but she was unmoved. Then she bathed and put on fresh clothes and went to her upper chamber and vowed to all the gods that she would offer a perfect hecatomb if Zeus would bring to pass deeds of revenge.

In both the Iliad and the Odyssey, mortal vengeance is a powerful and destructive driving force that is deeply embedded in the ancient Greek code of heroism. Taking revenge is seen as a necessary act for the restoration of family and personal honour and as a way of upholding the social order. There was no formal system of justice in this ancient society and as a consequence, mortals were expected to punish those who had done them wrong. Divine vengeance in Homer’s epics is a powerful driving force as well and is occasioned by offences against honour, hospitality or Xenia and other sacred laws or customs. Many gods are shown as taking divine retribution on mortals and the results are always highly destructive and lead to prolonged suffering or even death. Divine vengeance is a way of restoring the cosmic order and this need for retribution is often a key element in moving a plot forward or in providing justice. Mortal vengeance is driven by personal emotion but divine retribution is used to restore balance.