The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  472 Tension between Hektor and the allies of the Trojans is a recurrent theme, and the Lykians (Sarpedon and Glaukos) the most frequent voices of rebuke (e.g., 16.536, 17.140), as having traveled farthest to aid Priam and his people. Sarpedon’s observation that he risks no losses of his own at Troy (480–85) echoes Achilleus’ dissenting words to Agamemnon (1.152–57).

  522 The similes of cloud and wind (499) not only slow the narration of immediate action but also naturalize it, making war into an expected, necessary phenomenon like winnowing or weather.

  604 Athene’s gift of extra sight enables Diomedes to discern the presence of the god of war.

  633 The scene is a reminder that both sides feature as champions descended from Zeus. The Lykian Sarpedon’s maternal line goes back to the Greek trickster Sisyphos of Argos (see 6.154). Herakles sacked Troy after Laomedon reneged on a promised reward for defeating the sea monster that had menaced his daughter Hesione. The tale is more fully sketched at 20.145–48 and 21.451.

  697 Of the four scenes of loss of consciousness in the Iliad (5.310; 14.438; 22.466), only here does wind revive a person. The north wind, Boreas, is a divinity with human form (23.195), whose life-giving capacity appears also in his generating divine horses (20.223).

  785 The only Homeric mention of this loud character, whose name has become an English adjective (stentorian).

  800 Athene’s rebuke refers to the episode, from the Seven against Thebes saga, narrated in more detail by Agamemnon (4.385) in the course of a similar speech. Diomedes has not, in fact, held back beyond the limits set by Athene, who now changes the rules of engagement to let him attack Ares, with her help.

  838 As heroes are stronger than men of the current day, so gods are weightier than heroes.

  872 Ares bases his appeal to Zeus on a presumed sense of outrage on the part of the chief god, as had Hera and Athene at 757; Zeus’ response to their earlier appeal is precisely what led to Ares’ wounding. The rather adolescent tone, in a complaint about family favoritism, transposes into a comic key the theme of fathers and sons so prominent throughout this book.

  BOOK SIX

  6 Fighting throughout the poem presents an alternation of mass formations—the “battalion” (phalanx)—and looser, individual engagements against the foe. This may not be far from the reality of archaic warfare. Around 700–650 BC, Greek states began employing the fast-moving collision force of contingents of hoplites (heavily armed men) who maintained close formation. This tactic left little room or time for the display of heroic individualism. It may have been known to the poet of the Iliad, but is never unambiguously depicted in the poem.

  16 The motif of friends or equipment being powerless to save one in battle punctuates the poem: cf. 2.873, 15.530.

  21 Naiads are one of several nymph varieties, oreads (of mountains) and dryads (of trees) being the other main groups, along with sea nymphs called Okeanids or Nereids (daughters of Nereus, like Thetis). The naiad dwells in a lake, spring, or river. The flashback to a bucolic scene, as occurs in similes as well, makes for a jarring contrast with the ongoing battle.

  45 Supplication scenes include the grasping of the would-be protector’s knees (sometimes chin, too); mention of ransom; and, on occasion, biographical details that the suppliant imagines might evoke pity: see 11.131, and the most developed scene (Lykaon), 21.74. The contrasted reactions of the two brothers are a deft touch of characterization.

  68 Nestor makes explicit the mixed motivations among the fighters throughout the battle, as the common goal of subduing the Trojans competes with individual desires for plundered armor.

  75 Helenos later overhears the wishes of the gods (7.44), but here we do not learn his source for the advice to placate Athene in her shrine. The offering of a robe resembles the presentation to Athene during the Panathenaic festival in Athens (memorably depicted on the frieze of the Parthenon). The focus on Diomedes as most dangerous of the Greek threats keeps the audience in mind of his raging attacks in the preceding book.

  117 From the detail, we learn that Hektor carries an archaic Mykenaian-era full-body shield; other warriors have a smaller round shield of more recent type.

  123 Diomedes’ tough talk is intended to diminish his opponent, and therefore we can read his questioning (whether Glaukos has divine status) as highly ironic, rather than as contradicting his special temporary capacity to detect gods. The tale of Lykourgos is one of many such stories about misdirected rejections of Dionysos, the most famous of which underlies Euripides’ Bacchae. In the current analogy, Diomedes professes fear of resembling Lykourgos, but his focus on Dionysos’ flight seems like a taunt directed toward Glaukos.

  146 The line offers the oldest surviving quotation from Homer, in a poem by Simonides who flourished circa 500 BC and attributes it to “the man of Chios.” The image of leaves is used to make a different point by Apollo (21.464), that ephemeral humans should not disturb divine harmony.

  153 Sisyphos tricked Death once, and another time Hades, in order to return to his life, but was finally tasked with constantly rolling an eternally returning boulder up a hill in the underworld.

  158 The story of Bellerophontes combines the motifs of a young hero driven from his kingdom (Jason, Perseus) with the “Potiphar’s wife” plot (Genesis 39:1–20; cf. the ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers, from the thirteenth century BC).

  168 The “murderous symbols” may be a vague recollection of an early form of writing (perhaps Linear B or a script of Asia Minor) by a poet whose audience does not know letters, or an archaizing touch, for a literate public, focalizing the imagined viewpoint of the Bronze Age hero. Folding writing tablets dating to the fourteenth century BC were recovered in the 1980s from the Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, close to what was ancient Lykia.

  179 The Chimaira (“she-goat”) is one of the few monsters mentioned by Homer, a type more at home in the poetry of Hesiod, whose Theogony (325) refers also to the role of Pegasos, the famous winged horse of Bellerophontes, in the story of his conquest of the beast. The Iliad version omits Pegasos just as it avoids mention of the hero’s unwise attempt to fly to Olympos, only vaguely referring to his unhappy end.

  184 Herodotus (1.173) reports that the Solymoi, original inhabitants of Lykia, were driven out by invaders from Crete. The Amazons, a famous race of women warriors, fought against the Trojans in Priam’s youth (3.189) and will reappear later in the saga, when Penthesileia, daughter of Ares, leads them to aid Troy (a story told in the Cyclic epic sequel to the Iliad, the Aithiopis).

  216 The connection of Glaukos with a leading Greek clan is not what prompts the offer of friendship from Diomedes. Instead, it is the (alleged) guest-friendship (xenia) of their grandfathers. A cynic might read Diomedes’ whole tale as a devious ploy to wrest gold armor from his innocent opponent. Most critics see the episode as a sincere, humane interlude amid mutual slaughter. Either way, Diomedes has benefited from the iron-clad rules of exchange, which ignore asymmetry of gifts.

  255 Hekabē is convincingly sketched as a doting mother, whose conjectures about Hektor’s motives (that he was exhausted from the fighting, that he wanted to pray to Zeus) the audience already knows are wrong. Hektor’s piety is embodied in the concern for ritual purity.

  289 Sidon and Tyre were cities of Phoenicia. Herodotus (2.116) cites this passage with its mention of a Near Eastern detour as evidence that the Cyclic epic Cypria (according to which Paris and Helen reached Troy from mainland Greece in three days) could not have been composed by Homer.

  321 A significant contrast is intended between weary, bloodstained Hektor, whose anxious wife awaits, and his brother Paris ensconced in domestic comfort with his paramour. Lattimore has Hektor and Paris argue whether “coldness” (326, 335) is the motive for Paris’ withdrawal. The Greek at both places is kholos (anger, resentment), which has been seen as a narrative slip caused by the pressure of the more central theme, Achilleus’ anger. A compromise interpretation could be that Paris nurses a sort of pas
sive aggression because his fellow Trojans are by now themselves angry enough to let him be killed (3.454).

  403 Possibly Hektor does not allow himself, for reasons of modesty or superstition, to apply the praise name Astyanax (deriving from his own role as protector) to his son, preferring the neutral Skamandrios (from the nearby river’s name). For a similar application of father’s status to son’s name, compare Telemachos—the “far-fighter”—the son of Odysseus (who himself battles from afar, either by being an Ithacan at Troy or by his skill as an archer, who usually shoots from behind the front rank).

  415 Ironically, this sack of Thebes led to the capture of Chryseis (1.369), whose return home has indirectly triggered Achilleus’ angry withdrawal, which in turn will ultimately result in Hektor’s death. Although one might expect Andromachē to press her husband to take vengeance for her family’s extinction, she instead worries about preserving his life, as he is her last hope.

  423 Tradition held that the Trojan wall was scalable in one vulnerable spot and would be breached by off spring of Aiakos (grandfather of both Achilleus and Telamonian Aias), who had assisted Poseidon and Apollo in building it (Pindar, Olympian, 8.30–45 [460 BC]). The fig tree (433; like the oak tree, 5.693) is one of several landscape features used to orient the action near Troy (see also 11.167, 22.145).

  454 As often in the poem, Hektor easily articulates images and remarks set in the future. His fear for his wife’s status as a Greek slave is exacerbated by the way he imagines it reflecting back on his own heroic status. This psychologically apt speech shifts through many tones: professions of shame and desire for glory, his affection for his wife even over his blood kin, his realization of Troy’s impending doom. More than any words, the image of Hektor removing his helmet to calm his baby captures the pathos of his imminent death while defending his family.

  BOOK SEVEN

  21 Pergamos is the highest point of Troy. The oak tree, marking a spot near the Skaian gates of the city (6.237), is regularly associated with safety, while the fig tree gets mentioned at moments of danger (see note to 6.423).

  44 The most reliable mode of communicating divine will in the poem is through what is heard, rather than through (often debatable) visual signs, perhaps a clue to the poem’s own origins in oral tradition and the poet’s reliance on the word of the Muse. Having Helenos overhear the gods enables the narrative to move more quickly, while varying the usual pattern of divine descent and intervention. The seer adds his own encouraging improvement on the message, telling Hektor it is not his time to die (52).

  58 One of the few passages where gods take the actual form of birds (as opposed to moving like birds: e.g., 5.778). Sleep at 14.290 similarly perches in a tree. The gods’ aesthetic pleasure in the sight of the troops is carried over into the perspective of the ensuing simile (63), which presents an aerial view of wind-stirred waters.

  77 Hektor’s instructions and promise foreshadow the major crisis of the end of the poem, the treatment of his corpse (an ongoing anxiety while he is alive: cf. 22.259 and 22.338). Characteristically, he adds a vivid example of what people will say in the future (cf. 6.460) when glorifying him as they view his foe’s tomb.

  104 The second-person address to Menelaos (as later with Patroklos) adds pathos and draws the audience to his point of view. His volunteering resembles a theatrical gesture, and is quickly deflected by Agamemnon and Nestor, who use the occasion to shame the other Greeks into accepting the challenge (124).

  128 Nestor’s biography lends authority. His role as the most skilled speaker and keeper of heroic genealogies resembles the poet’s. His narrative style differs, however, by continually looping backward before circling around to the starting point: the mention of Ereuthalion’s armor prompts recollection of Areïthoös and his nickname, then of Lykourgos, who stripped the armor and gave it eventually to Ereuthalion. The war of Pylians against Arkadians is further recalled at 11.669. Though the rivers cannot be located, Pheia appears to have been near modern Katakolo, a port on the Ionian sea, not far west of Olympia in the territory of Elis.

  220 The special connection of Aias with the tower shield is reflected even in the name of his son, Eurysakes (“broad shield”). Its unusually thick construction with multiple layers makes suspenseful any spear-cast against it, as the audience waits to hear how deep the weapon will go.

  237 Hektor compares his knowledge of fighting to dance: the “measures” which he treads with his shield are even reflected in the meter and phrasing of these lines. A war dance in armor (pyrrhikê), well known and practiced in Classical times, surely had predecessors, to which these lines may allude.

  290 The end of the duel seems abrupt, with the heralds like umpires calling a game on account of nightfall. But it has made the point that the men are equally matched and fulfills the prayer of the Greeks (204) that, short of a win, Zeus grant the pair equal strength.

  303 The gifts exchanged are linked in lore to the eventual deaths of each: Hektor’s corpse is bound and dragged by the belt; Aias kills himself with the sword.

  336 The mound is to be both tomb and defensive wall: if the latter function had been most important, constructing the wall now would be anachronistic (although seeming anachronisms in the poem, such as the elementary identification of warriors from the Trojan wall in book 3, are tolerated for drama’s sake). If sepulchral commemoration is the goal, construction after this major slaughter makes more sense.

  348 Another abrupt surprise: the proposal by Antenor to give back Helen sets up the forceful rejection by Paris, albeit with the concession that he is willing to return Menelaos’ treasures along with punitive damages.

  421 The moving scene of each army trying to recognize their dead, side by side, is given added emotional impact by the complete silence. The basic human sameness of Greek and Trojan is emphasized by the exact repetition of phrases to describe either side’s actions.

  445 Nestor’s plan arouses the competitive instinct of the sea god. It is less the alleged impiety of failing to perform foundation sacrifices that annoys Poseidon than it is the threat that the new wall will outshine his and Apollo’s building. The objection (like the Antenor-Paris exchange) appears to be a setup for Zeus’ further promise that the Greek construction will be short-lived (confirmed at 12.15–30, viewed from a time after Troy’s fall). The projection forward is a rarely used technique for setting the tragic action at Troy sub specie aeternitatis, making all human concerns look minuscule.

  467 Lemnos (where the Greeks had left behind the commander Philoktetes with his festering snakebite: 2.725) lies fifty miles to the west of Troy. Jason visited it with his Argonauts, welcomed by the Lemnian women (who had killed their errant husbands). Euneos (“good ship”) is his son by Hypsipyle, the Lemnian queen. There may be implied contrasts between Jason’s expedition (in search of an emblem of kingship, the golden fleece; taking back a dangerous woman, Medea) and the current Trojan mission. A subtle touch of class distinction relevant to aristocratic gift-economy: the Atreidai get their wine free, while the ordinary troops must barter for it (even trading slaves).

  BOOK EIGHT

  13 Tartaros is here distinct from Hades (both names can denote deities as well). Rather than a place of punishments for mortals, it is the furthest a god can be from divine society and so forms a holding place for Zeus’ enemies (cf. 479–81; and Hesiod, Theogony, 865). The gold cord scenario (19) prompted much speculation by Neoplatonist philosophers who saw in it an allegorical expression of the relation of godhead to the material world (see Lamberton, Homer the Theologian [Berkeley, 1986], 271–72).

  39 Tritogeneia was obscure even in antiquity as an epithet for Athene. It may mean “Triton-born” in relation to various bodies of water so named, although the goddess has nothing to do with Triton, son of Poseidon; more likely it means “genuine daughter” (literally “third-born”).

  48 Gargaron is the highest peak of Mount Ida, near Troy, and the site mentioned may be where Hektor used to make sacrificial offerings to Z
eus (22.171).

  69 The scales of Zeus may seem to contradict his recent assertion of total power, since he seems to hand over the fate of the armies to chance. But a balance is not a dice toss: it vividly makes concrete the decision he had already reached in agreeing with Thetis to honor Achilleus. The only other time Zeus employs it, Hektor’s doom tips down: 22.209.

  108 These are the immortal horses which Aineias’ father got from the gift of the gods to Tros (5.265–73).

  161 The honors mentioned—privileged seating at banquets and so on—are further expanded in the discussion of heroic rights between Glaukos and Sarpedon (at 12.310). The implicit contract (wine and food in exchange for fighting) is the background for the nearly comic rhetoric of Hektor to his horses (185) urging them to repay their upkeep.

  200 Hektor’s confidence that defeating Nestor and Diomedes will immediately make the Greeks flee prompt’s Hera’s appeal to Poseidon. Of the sea god’s many shrines, Helikē (203) was in territory ruled by Agamemnon (2.575), while Aigai, featuring an undersea palace, may have been imagined as near Lesbos (13.21).

  223 The configuration of ships mirrors the character of the leaders: Odysseus, the master of compromise, is midway between the powerful individualists with a taste for isolation, Aias and Achilleus.

  230 The stopover at Lemnos probably happened when Philoktetes was abandoned there (2.722).

  245 Prayer and pity in response trump the apparent power of Fate (expressed by Zeus’ balance). The sending of a fawn recalls various substitute-sacrifice stories (e.g., Artemis, in one version, accepting a fawn in lieu of Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigeneia). Symbolically, Zeus accepts the animal instead of the human slaughter, for the present.

  271 The mother-child simile lends an unexpectedly tender coloration to the relations of fellow fighters. For a similar usage, see 16.7.