While reading Books 16 through 18, I was truly inspired by the camaraderie in The Iliad. Throughout the three books the warriors are continually compared to lions due to their ferociousness on the battlefield. However, the comparison that struck me the most is when they compared Aias to a lion when he is defending Patroklos' body after Patroklos is killed by Hektor.
"Now Aias covering the son of Menoitios under his broad shield stood fast, like a lion over his young, when the lion is leading his little ones along, and men who are hunting come upon them in the forest. He stands in the pride of his great strength hooding his eyes under the cover of down-drawn eyelids. Such was Aias as he bestrode the hero Patroklos, while on the other side Atreus' son, warlike Menelaos, stood fast, feeding still bigger the great sorrow within him."
The pure imagery in this comparison is amazing., and it also emphasizes that even in death these warriors share an incredible bond. We see this comradeship also in the Trojans when in Book 16 Hektor goes back into battle to fight for Sarpedon's armor after Sarpedon is killed by Patroklos. Throughout these books warriors fight almost to the death simply to protect the bodies of the fallen so the enemy cannot defile them. Likewise, the one thing that finally is able to get Achilles back on the battlefield is when he is determined to avenge the death of his companion Patroklos. While characters such as Achilles and Agamemnon would rather die than be dishonored they also will go to great lengths and take up the characteristics of lions to ensure their companions the honor they deserve.
p.s. commented on Joshua Spell's The Humanness of Epics
I understand that to them, glory in battle is what mattered most. However, I love what you mean by this post. The fact that in each of these books we see pictures of them showing that they did have friendships, and that those friendships were important to them as well. They loved their fellow soldiers, and grieved for them after death.
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