At the beginning of chapter twenty-four, we left Ithaka and travelled with the suitors to Hades. They met Achilles and Agamemnon, who were talking to each other as friends. Where did this come from?? In The Iliad, Achilles spent most of his time being mad at Agamemnon. In this interlude, they seemingly did not remember the conflict over Briseis. Achilles was shockingly sorry that Agamemnon had been killed by Clytemnestra, and Agamemnon described Achilles' funeral with obvious respect. We see a changed Achilles, as foreign to the wrathful warrior as he was when Odysseus spoke to him in chapter eleven. Achilles' new attitude towards Agamemnon backs up the idea that glory and prizes are practically meaningless in Hades.
I commented on Jannah Lyons' post.
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