The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  731 Asklepios, son of Apollo, was a hero and healer; Trikke had an early healing cult (although the later Epidauros complex, with its theater and hospital, became more famous).

  743 The “hairy beast men” are Centaurs, humans with the lower bodies of horses, who dwelled in the woods of Mount Pelion. Cheiron, the wisest of them, was tutor to many heroes, including Achilleus, but his brethren were lawless and uncontrolled, especially when exposed to wine. The battle of the Lapiths with the Centaurs is alluded to at 1.262–68.

  751 Titaressos contains waters of the Styx, the underworld river by which oaths are taken. Two other rivers associated with the underworld are also connected, above ground, with the Pindos mountain region of northwestern Greece (Akheron and Kokutos).

  793 The barrow of Aisyetes is one of several tombs mentioned as being on the Trojan plain (e.g., Myrina at 2.814 and Ilos at 10.415). The topography is accurate, as the plain is studded even today with ancient mounds.

  867 The “outland” (literally “barbarous sounding”) speech of the Karians seems to be an archaizing touch, as Greek-speakers inhabited the place from Mykenaian times onward. But there is evidence Karian did survive alongside the newcomers’ tongue even through the Classical period. Nastes, “like a girl,” is a grace note to the Catalogue of Trojan Allies, an elegiac touch that contrasts the pomp and beauty of war with its darker realities of death. He is never mentioned again.

  BOOK THREE

  2 The Trojans often are associated with noise or confused languages (e.g., 2.810), while the Greeks move in silence (4.429). A war between cranes and pygmies may stem from an Egyptian folktale in oral tradition. Greeks of the Classical period knew of pygmies in Africa; the earliest depiction of a conflict with cranes is on the François vase in Florence, from 570 BC by the black-figure artist Kleitias.

  15 The initial picture of Paris (also called Alexandros) is not flattering. His unusual leopard skin may mark him as overly concerned about appearances. Nor does the pairing of similes (Menelaos as a hungry lion, Paris as a scared hiker) present him favorably.

  54 Hektor’s torrent of abuse includes reference to the combination of erotic and musical attractions his brother has. That he does not exaggerate will be established at 394 and 442. Paris himself (65) confirms the characterization but shifts responsibility to the gods.

  70 The terms of the agreement make clear that it was not simply the abduction (or elopement) of Helen, but also the taking of possessions from the palace of Menelaos that provided the rationale for war.

  103 The black lamb is for Earth, the white for Sun, in accordance with Greek ideas of offerings appropriate for chthonic (earthbound) versus Olympian deities. Zeus fits as the expected additional recipient, since he was overseer of offenses related to hospitality (such as the behavior of Paris).

  125 Helen’s web is analogous to the poem itself as a record of the struggle at Troy. She is thus imagined as having some agency in representing her own story (and one would like to have seen the result). The audience may be reminded of the weaving of Penelope, a very different heroine, also a cause of contention.

  144 Aithre was the mother of the Athenian hero Theseus, who does not figure in the Trojan War epic. (In other versions, his son recovers her at the end of the conflict.) Theseus helped his friend Peirithoös abduct Helen as a child, and Helen’s brothers in return captured Aithre, according to some myths. The line has been seen as an Athenian interpolation (as has Nestor’s earlier mention of Theseus: 1.265).

  156 Helen, for all her beauty, is never physically described in the poem, except for these side comments. As her appearance and presence can only be traced to the action of the divine, the old men of Troy (and Priam) cannot hold her responsible.

  173 Helen’s tone is most often regretful and she has a habit of reviling herself (180; 6.344). Her description of Agamemnon, meanwhile, seems at odds with what the audience has sensed of his leadership qualities in book 1.

  189 The Amazons, women warriors of the east, were in an unspecified past enemies of Troy and its allies (6.186). Yet the Cyclic epic sequel to the Iliad, the Aithiopis, opens with their arrival at Troy as reinforcements.

  205 A fascinating contrast of heroes based on their rhetorical abilities. Menelaos, from Sparta, is laconic (the word derives from the proverbially terse speech of Laconia, the surrounding region). Odysseus typically disguises his real character, acting dumb but speaking with almost overwhelming fluency. The mission to which Antenor refers nevertheless failed, with the embassy barely escaping (11.140).

  236 Helen cannot see her brothers Kastor and Polydeukes (twins known in Greek as Dioscuri, in Latin as Gemini) because they had been slain in a skirmish with rivals in Sparta. In most versions Polydeukes, who was the immortal brother, shares his deathlessness with Kastor, so that each can be alive part of the year.

  287 Two familiar legal notions are already at work: precedent and punitive damages. The idea of a standard that will be set for all time parallels the very notion of heroic excellence as establishing a benchmark for future endeavors.

  332 Paris is an archer, usually operating at a distance from the front line, and so does not possess his own corselet, designed to protect the wearer in close combat. His brother Lykaon will meet his death at the hands of Achilleus (21.35).

  374 Menelaos seems about to prove that Zeus is in fact with him (despite his failure to wound with spear or sword), but the action of Paris’ patron goddess foils him—one of the complications within polytheism richly explored throughout the poem.

  396 The trickiness of Aphrodite is a continuing theme in Greek literature. Her disguise here seems almost intentionally incomplete, as a provocation to Helen who must recognize her power and submit to it (despite her initial feisty revolt: 399).

  428 Helen’s regret and nostalgia for her former life has been hinted at (139) and now breaks into sarcastic rejection of her current spouse. Paris’ insouciant response (that next time he might win) hardly seems enough to defuse Helen’s scorn, but once more the power of Aphrodite, transmitted via Paris, subdues her.

  BOOK FOUR

  1 The gods in assembly, like the audience in a theater, gaze at the struggle around Troy while drinking nectar; Zeus uses the contrasting situations to needle his wife and daughter about being distanced from the battle, while their nemesis Aphrodite has intervened on the spot to help Paris.

  19 Both Helen and Hera (8) are called “Argive.” Hera had an important shrine (the Heraion) near the city of Argos, but Helen’s association with the area stems from marriage to Menelaos, whose origin was in the ancient fortress city of Mykenai in the area near Argos (the “Argolid”). In the Odyssey, the couple resides in Helen’s hometown, Sparta (along with Argos and Mykenai, one of Hera’s three favored cities: 52). Local lore from antiquity and archaeological finds make it clear that Helen was worshiped as a goddess in the region around her birthplace. The application of the epithet “Argive” makes it more natural to view Helen’s marriage as somewhat parallel to Hera’s. The end of book 3 has shown her criticizing Paris in a manner not unlike that of Zeus’ wife.

  27 That the gods sweat and toil seems odd, but to make them more real the Iliad regularly presents divinities as undergoing nearly mortal suffering; they simply do not expire. Of Hera’s personal efforts to gather armies against Troy, we know nothing further.

  35 The desire to eat an enemy is expressed (under pressure of great grief) by Achilleus, before killing Hektor (22.347), and by Hekabē, mother of the dead hero (24.213). In similes, lions (e.g., 5.782) and wolves (16.156) devour prey raw. The bargain made here between gods is first in a series of such compromises in the poem, all of them fatal to mortals.

  48 Zeus favors Troy for reasons of ritual correctness: he has never lacked offerings of meat and wine from the inhabitants. His concern for such perquisites is not unlike Agamemnon’s; he uses the word geras (49: “prize; portion of honor”) to describe sacrifices, the term with which the Greek commander characterized his war bride Chryseis
(1.118, 120, etc.).

  52 Hera’s major mainland shrine the Heraion was halfway between Argos and Mykenai, both of which are important Bronze Age sites. In Sparta she had a hilltop temple (Pausanias 3.13.8).

  75 The image, a blend of comet and meteor, provides a fine tracking shot from Olympos to the scene of the battle. Its ambiguous significance (war or peace?) gives the keynote for the next several books, as the audience awaits the turn of battle promised by Zeus.

  91 The Aisepos flows from the foothills of Mount Ida (southeast of Troy) northward to the Propontis. (Map 1, p. 70.)

  95 Pandaros’ rewards typify the motivations for many Iliadic warriors: the thanks (kharis) of a community, which could lead to reciprocal favors in the future; glory (kudos); and immediate material payoff (dôra). In return for a successful shot, he must pledge an eventual sacrifice of one hundred lambs to Apollo.

  130 An unusual sequence of slow-motion, close-up narrative, framed by two similes related to women (a mother swatting a fly; a woman crafting a horse’s cheek piece), and with such attention to materials, color, and design that the actual wounding almost resembles an artwork. The combination of corselet, war belt, and skin guard (possibly a metallic piece to protect the lower abdomen) is unusual, and may owe more to poetic elaboration (or even misunderstanding) than actual defense wear.

  163 Agamemnon, while not losing confidence that Troy is doomed, fears nevertheless that the death of Menelaos would discourage the troops and lead to his own humiliating return empty-handed. Imagining what someone might say in the future is a characteristic of Hektor’s rhetoric, most often (see, e.g., 7.87–91).

  200 Machaon (“Battler”) is one of two doctors in the field, his brother Podaleirios being the other; both are sons of the healing hero Asklepios (2.731), a son of Apollo by Coronis.

  241 The ensuing scene gives a good sense of the role of rhetoric in battle, a continuing feature of later Greek historical narratives (e.g., Xenophon’s Anabasis). A combination of pep talk, flattery, and ritual insult, this series of short speeches includes regular reference to the feasts provided by the commander (260, 345), with hints that repayment is due from his fighters.

  301 Nestor’s advice to “drivers of horses” is for chariot drivers, as fighting from horseback is unknown in Homer. Here and elsewhere the use of chariots in Bronze Age battle appears to be only vaguely understood by the Iron Age poet, who most often represents fighters as traveling in them to the front lines, then stepping down to fight.

  354 A pun underlies Odysseus’ mention of his son, Telemachos (“far-fighter”), since “champion” is literally “near-fighter” (promakhos).

  372 Tydeus was one of the Seven against Thebes, allies sworn to restore Polyneikes to the throne of his late father Oedipus. The story of his valor is meant to inspire Diomedes, and so Agamemnon tactfully omits reference to its seamier side: Tydeus lost Athene’s favor because, enraged, he ate the brain of a decapitated enemy, Melanippos.

  405 The son of Kapaneus is Sthenelos, who with Diomedes and five others (known collectively as the Epigoni or “After-born”), razed Thebes to the ground a decade after their fathers had perished in the first assault on the city.

  437 The disciplined silence of the Greeks is contrasted several times with Trojan noise (e.g., 3.1–10), which is here further related to the linguistic diversity of the Trojan side.

  474 The flashback humanizes the victim, while the simile’s image of a poplar laid low alongside water circles back to the circumstances of the birth and naming of Simoeisios, near the local river. That the poplar’s wood is used to make a chariot wheel brings us forward into the world of battle.

  507 Apollo, like a coach or spectator, keeps his distance while Athene actively enters the fray (515, 542) as had Ares (439). It is Apollo who mentions the equally distant Achilleus, the hero who is most like the god in other respects as well.

  536 In such images as this (enemies lying next to one another in the dust) the poem draws attention to the common humanity and shared fate of the opposed sides.

  BOOK FIVE

  1 In this book, the first extended aristeia (“display of warrior’s excellence”) in the poem, Diomedes, the “best of the Achaians” next to Achilleus, takes the field with Athene’s divine help. Her wish to make him conspicuous is visible in his armor’s fiery blaze (like the dog-star Sirius). His success, even against intervening gods, will give the Greek side temporary hopes of victory.

  10 The Trojans and their allies are consistently depicted as worshiping the same gods as the Greeks (see, e.g., 1.35–42, 6.297–310).

  15 In the stylized convention of the Iliad, the first warrior to strike generally loses in any single-combat encounter. Complicating the action here is the recurrent motif of two warriors against one. Another frequent motif, the battle over a corpse, is repeated in vastly expanded form in the fight to retrieve the body of Patroklos (book 17).

  23 The god to whom Idaios’ father is devoted (10) intervenes at the crucial moment, with the emotional motivation foregrounded (Hephaistos did not want his priest to suffer distress). A related motif is divine rescue of favorites: 3.380, 20.325, etc. (Contrast5.53: Artemis fails to save her protégée.)

  31 Athene mentions the potential destructive anger of Zeus (mênis) in her proposal that she and the war god defer to him and withdraw. Sensible as this is in light of Zeus’ later threats to punish any intervention by the gods (8.5–27), it also at this point conveniently allows Diomedes, one of Athene’s favorites, to rage in battle, unchecked by opposing divinities.

  37 The highly cinematic scan beginning here pinpoints the leading Greek heroes, who will then in turn be contrasted with the most successful fighter, Diomedes. As in similar extended catalogues of slayings, the poet never exactly repeats details. The basic descriptive pattern (strike; location of wounded part; fall of victim) is expanded and varied with further elements (armor stripped; horses taken). Emotional peaks are crafted through brief “obituaries” (glimpses into the previous life or motives of the deceased), which make the audience sympathize even with the enemies of the Greeks.

  95 Pandaros the son of Lykaon appears to make his bowshot into a test of Apollo’s support for him, but does not remark on the religious import when he fails to subdue Diomedes. His opponent gets immediate reassurance, on the other hand, from his patroness Athene that she had indeed supported Tydeus his father (and will also help him). This is confirmed when she collaborates in his killing of Pandaros (290).

  144 The “shepherd of the people,” a common phrase, here picks up on the immediately preceding image (Diomedes as a lion grazed by a shepherd’s throw) and recalls earlier comparisons of Trojans to sheep (e.g., 4.433).

  149 The rapid execution of the sons (two apiece) of Eurydamas, Phainops, and Priam highlights the theme of severed father-son ties that is crucial to Diomedes’ biography and will epitomize the isolation of Achilleus (esp. books 18 and 24).

  171 Aineias appeals, in his mild rebuke, solely to the pride of Pandaros (contrast Athene’s multiple motivations in 4.93) and recommends prayer to Zeus (not Apollo).

  197 The theme of father-son relations once again surfaces, as Pandaros regrets his failure to heed paternal advice about taking his chariot to Troy. Along with touching detail (his concern about horse fodder), Pandaros’ story contains motifs common to “obituary” descriptions (e.g., 205, about the ultimate uselessness of weapons).

  260 Ganymede, on account of his surpassing beauty, was taken by the gods to serve on Olympos as Zeus’ wine-pourer (as Aineias explains in 20.234). The divine horses given as compensation to the boy’s father Tros were passed down to Tros’ grandson Laomedon. Anchises, the father of Aineias, was the son of Laomedon’s cousin.

  303 Strength beyond that of current men is one of the few ways in which the poem marks its heroes as being of a different generation.

  313 The audience anticipates the clash, as Athene has allowed Diomedes (130) to wound this goddess alone of immortals. Aphrodite’s care for her
son Aineias recalls the simile of maternal care in 4.130 (Athene protecting Menelaos).

  339 The gods can be wounded, but they do not bleed like humans. Spilling blood implies death; gods are immortal; therefore they must have not blood, but another substance, ikhôr, in their veins. But blood is generated by human food and drink; the gods therefore do not eat food, but survive on nectar and ambrosia (literally “the immortal”). This idea avoids conflict with the notion that they appreciate sacrificial smoke and libations, as we do not hear of them directly consuming such nourishment.

  349 Diomedes’ remark probably alludes to Helen’s ongoing subordination to the goddess: see 3.413.

  370 Nowhere else in epic is Dione attested as mother of Aphrodite, whose origin from the genitals of Ouranos is vividly described in Hesiod’s Theogony (188–206). The name is a feminine form of “Zeus”; the goddess was associated with him in the oracle cult of Dodona in northwestern Greece.

  385 There is a slightly comic tinge to Dione’s catalogue, since immortals will only be discomforted, not die. The gigantic sons of Aloeus are more famous for their attempt to pile Mount Pelion onto Mount Ossa to reach the sky and dislodge the gods. The son of Amphitryon is Herakles; the two woundings attributed to him are otherwise unattested. Pylos (397) could refer to the home of Nestor (which Herakles attacked: see 11.689), for which Hades may have been acting as protector. Related to pylê, “gate,” the city seems to have been known as an entrance to the underworld.

  401 Paiëon is in book 5 (and at Od. 4.232) a separate, minor divinity of healing. (The name is old, attested as pajawone on Linear B tablets from Knossos.) The name in Classical Greek becomes a title for Apollo; already in epic (1.473, e.g.) as a common noun, it denotes a song of thanksgiving (for healing?) dedicated to Apollo—the “paean.”

  438 Charging “like more than man” (literally “equal to a divinity,” daimoni isos) signals either retreat or death for the mortal fighter. Patroklos is described thus once when yielding to Apollo (16.705) and again when he persists and is killed (16.786).