The Shield

Book nine of the Iliad describes a conversation between Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix, and Achilles.  As Odysseus and his companions attempt to persuade godlike Achilles to rejoin the battle, Achilles is faced with a choice to either rejoin the fighting and die young with honor and glory or return to his home, get married and live a long life full of tranquility. So while we were discussing the shield on Tuesday, I realized that in a way it represents Achilles choices.

The text states that on the shield was painted the cosmos, the heavens and the gods. Around the edges is the sea, and with in were two cities. One city is at war, and one is at peace. In the city at war, there were two forces of men decorated in their war gear. The fight was a property dispute over the citadel and what it held. This city was filled with hate, confusion and death. In the city at peace, however, the people were cheerful. They danced and celebrated weddings and festivals.

The choice to go home is like the city of peace, where as the choice to pursue glory and honor is like the city at war. This was the most pivotal choice in the book and so I believe that it was no mistake that Hephaestus decided to decorate his shield with the two cities. 

P.S. I commented on Rebekah Dye’s Penelope’s Faithfulness

Hector's Proposal

In Hectors death scene, he proposes an agrrement to Achilles. He says that if he dies he wants Achilles to take his body back to Troy and if Achilles dies Hector will do the same. I feel like Hector only proposs this because he knows he is going to die. He knows that Achilles knows the weak points in his armor, because it was origianally Achilles'. I don't think he really cared what happened to Achilles, and if he thought he had a chance he would have just fought. All Hector cared about was making sure he got all his glory and that he made it to the afterlife. If he didn't care about his pride, he would have retreated like his father wanted, but he wanted to protect his pride and die a hero to Troy. He knew he was going die, but he just didn't know when, he could have just chosen to die later. I feel like if he had one he would not honor his proposal and would have left Achilles' body or taken it hostage, if he didnt care about Petrokolas, then why would he carre about Achilles when he hated him even more. Hector may have wanted to sem honorable and heroic by making his proposal, but his real intentions were to make sure he got were he needed to be in the afterlife.

P.S. I commented on emilyLaforce a life for a life..

Penelope's Faithfulness

Just as Mallory mentioned in class today, one of my favorite things about The Odyssey so far is the picture of Penelope's faithfulness to Odysseus. I personally think that most people would've given up hope of their husbands return after just a year or two. Yet Penelope, even ten years later, is still believing that he'll come home to her. That takes great faithfulness; a faithfulness a lot of people wouldn't understand. That fact that most everyone around her is willing and wanting to let him go and move on, yet she clings to the hope that he's still alive is so touching. She is so dedicated to him she is even willing to be devious... ;)

P.s. I commented on Danielle's "An Iron Heart"

The quest for kleos

The first couple books of The Odyssey reveal the problem on the shores of Ithaca. I found it fascinating that although these books seem to simply be setting the stage, they are in fact introducing kleos. This search for glory is seen early on in The Odyssey in the character of Telemachus. He has a conversation with the goddess Athena and realizes that sitting back and letting the suitors ruin his father’s land is no longer an option. Basically Athena tells him to “man up” because it’s his land too: “You should not go on clinging to your childhood. You are no longer of an age to do that. Or have you not heard what glory was won…” (Book 1 lines 296-298)She even brings up the issue of glory, setting it as a goal before him. Then Telemachus starts his journey to find his father, which symbolizes the start of his journey of maturity.

After reading the last few books of the Iliad, I cannot get the importance of kleos out of my head. It was such an important part of their culture that kingdoms rose and fell on the tides of glory and honor. Hector surely achieved this longed-for glory as is evidenced by the vicious battles and and tension around his (dead) body. Did anyone else find it intriguing that after brutally killing Hector, Achilles graciously allowed Priam to take back the body (with some persuasion by the gods of course)? Not only did he let Priam have the body, he also told Priam it was okay to take twelve days off from the fighting to build a proper pyre and do the rites for death! Even though Achilles hated Hector, he still recognized his glory and honored him by allowing more than plenty of time for a proper funeral.

So where does this kleos begin? How does one gain this glory? In the time of the ancients it involved harrowing journeys and fierce battles… definitely not hiding behind mom’s apron in Ithaca. Telemachus realizes he will never achieve glory if he stays, and though people consider it a ridiculous undertaking he is determined to find his father. He goes into this journey with a mission- a vague mission lacking clear direction- and is confident that it will be worth it in the end.

Do we not do the same thing? In coming to college we set off on a journey… for kleos. No, we don’t call it that, but we are venturing out of our homes, into the wide world, determined to make something of ourselves or “die trying.” A quest to find out who we really are, not who our parents tell us we are, venturing away from the shadow of their achievement or success. We set out longing just to prove to our parents and the world that we can be something… something more than a high school title in our little hometown. We set out with a mission- maybe it isn’t really defined- but we know that being independent and seeking truth is the only way to find it. And so, the epic adventure begins. There’s a bit of kleos in us all, I think.

P.S. commented on Lauren's "No More Neverland"

An Iron Heart

Twice Priam is told, "The heart in you is iron." The first time by his wife, Hekabe, as she is pleading with him not to go before Achilles. The second time Achilles himself makes an identical statement to Priam. In the first instance one might see this phrase an assume it means that a persons heart is stubborn and hard; it does not necessarily seem like a compliment. Yet upon Priam's humbling himself before Achilles, this phrase seem less like an insult and more like a a statement of wonder. The reader sees Priam no longer as a weak man, but a man of courage revered by Achilles, the strongest of men. As we discussed in class today, it seems as if Homer is getting at the true definition of courage. It requires a little bit of stubbornness and determination, but even more it requires humility. This makes Priam a true hero, for instead of causing more strife through his courage he makes peace.

Outrunning Fate

When we are first introduced to Hector he is the first character we genuinely like. He is brave, he is strong, he has a family that loves him, he understands his fate, and he wants his son to be a better man than he will ever be.  What's not to like, right? Unfortunately, our favor for Hector falls when he comes to his defining moment.  The battle against Achilles.

He is the only Trojan left, and he doesn't want to retreat with the others since it was his idea to fight on and not retreat in the first place.  Then when Achilles comes, not only does he try to negotiate with him, but also he runs away when he realizes a negotiation is hopeless.  The brave Trojan soldier Hector runs away.  What exactly is Hector running away? While Achilles is the obvious answer, I personally think that Hector has just realized that he is going to die. Although he knows his fate, he tries to outrun it.  I think it goes to show that no matter how brave you are or how important you are or how much you want glory, when fate comes knocking that last shred of humanity in you will fight as hard as it can to keep you alive-- even if it means acting like a coward.

In the end, Hector has to be tricked into fighting Achilles because he thinks Deiphobus will be helping him.  I guess that serves as Hector's last straw in attempting to outrun his fate, by having someone help him kill Achilles.  However, that doesn't work either since Deiphobus isn't actually there, and Hector goes down pleading for his body to be brought back to Troy.  Do you think Hector should receive glory for his death? Instead of being brave and facing his fate he tried to run away, literally! Does that qualify as a glorious end? I'm not so sure that it does.

p.s. commented on Emily LaForce A Life for a Life

The Two Shields

The shield of Achilles is glorious— emblazoned with heaven and earth, war and peace, the gods and the Greeks— and more than a mere indestructible armament; it is "a world of gorgeous immortal work," the ideal Greek civilization carried into battle by its greatest hero (Iliad 483). It is not for Achilles to hide behind, but to advance, to go forth and conquer for the nation. The shield is Greece incarnate.

Virgil copies this imagery in Book VIII of The Aeneid. Before the battle of Latium, Vulcan (the same as Hephaestus) forges a shield for the Trojan hero Aeneas, the fate-bearer of his descendents, the Romans.

The workmanship of the shield, no words can tell its power. There is the story of Italy, Rome in all her triumphs. There the fire-god forged them... Caesar Augustus leading Italy into battle, the Senate and People too, the gods of hearth and home and the great gods themselves. (Aeneid 262-64)

Achilles and Aeneas— what do they carry? Not two shields, but two civilizations and their futures. Greece and Rome, democracy and republic, law and order, the West. That is what they carry.

EDIT: Commented on Molly Gray's "Age of Plastic Wrap."
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Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad. New York, NY: Penguin, 1998. Print.

 Virgil, and Robert Fagles. The Aeneid. New York: Viking, 2006. Print.