Thursday, August 30, 2012
The Sacred Armor
In books 16-18 of the Iliad, there seems to be a ridiculous amount of trouble over the fallen heroes' armor. My thoughts are, why are all these soldiers freaking about a dead person's armor when they should be focusing on surviving a huge battle? It's almost as though the armor is more important than the person wearing it.
To assuage my curiosity about the importance of armor, I looked up the definition of it. Here's what I found:
A defensive covering, as of metal, wood, or leather, worn to protect the body against weapons.
A safeguard or protection
In war, the main thing in a person's mind is not dying, therefore they're going to do anything they can to protect themselves. The armor Patroclus was wearing was Achilles' armor, therefore it must have been nigh on impenetrable. I feel a little better about the mad scramble for armor now that I looked up its definition.
p.s. commented on Joshua Spell
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I think that because war was such a large part of the average Greek's or Trojan's life,that their armor was also massive part of their life. For example: We have a professional Nascar driver. Does he not pay attention to his vehicle? To what goes in it,how it's made,what modifications are done? Or a world famous band? Would music enthusiasts not know what kind of guitars or instruments the band members play? I believe the armor of a warrior was practically a second skin. Thus the importance of description and value.
ReplyDeleteThe sheer economic value of the armor made it worth fighting over. That, and of course it adds to your Kleos if you can take a trophy from your fallen foe.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody remember The Fast and the Furious in which the victor of the ultimate race won the loser's car? That's more or less the same idea here.
- Dr. Schuler