COMMENTARY ON THE ILIAD: BOOKS 23 AND 24
(all quotations from the Iliad are from the translation of Richmond Lattimore, ©University of Chicago Press, 1951)
     Books 23 and 24 of the Iliad bring the story of Achilleus’ anger to a close.  In different ways, each book comments on the issues that had fueled Achilleus’ anger.  At the funeral games for Patroklos in book 23, Achilleus’ behavior provides a striking contrast to his earlier quarrel with Agamemnon over prizes and honor.  In book 24, Achilleus’ meeting with Priam brings to the surface the anger and grief that he feels over the death of Patroklos and his own fate.

PATROKLOS’ FUNERAL...AND THAT OF ACHILLEUS
     After the killing of Hektor, book 22 ends with the Trojans mourning their slain hero.  This sets the stage for the description of Patroklos’ funeral in book 23.  Once again, Homer foreshadows Achilleus’ death.  In his grief, the hero acknowledges his own fate, declaring that “there will come no second sorrow like this to my heart again while I am still one of the living. (23.46-47).”  Soon after, Patroklos’ ghost appears to Achilleus in a dream.  He begs his friend to bury him quickly so that he can enter Hades, the realm of the dead.  He reminds him of how they grew up together, and, like so many others, he prophesies Achilleus’ death: “And you, Achilleus like the gods, have your own destiny; to be killed under the wall of the prospering Trojans. (23.80-81)”  “Achilleus like the gods” is a common formula, but here it surely has special impact as we - and Achilleus - remember the most important way in which he is not like the gods: he is doomed to die.  When Achilleus wakes from the vivid dream, he marvels that something - “a soul and an image...(with) no real heart of life in it (23.104)”- lingers after death.  His surprise is an interesting insight into his own uncertainty about death, the fate he has struggled to escape.  
     Patroklos’ ghost asks that their ashes be placed together, “Let one single vessel, the golden two-handled urn the lady your mother gave you, hold both our ashes. (23.91-92)”.  With foreknowledge of Achilleus’ death, Thetis had apparently provided her son with a funeral urn, and Achilleus had had this token of his mortality present throughout his days at Troy.  Patroklos’ request is just one of several references to Achilleus’ own death and funeral: Achilleus chooses a place “for a huge grave mound, for himself and Patroklos (23.126),” he is described as escorting his friend towards Hades (23.137), and, finally, he instructs Agamemnon to build a grave mound that will later be enlarged to commemorate Achilleus as well (23.245-48).  As he prepares the corpse for burning, he cuts his long hair in honor of his friend.  His father, Peleus, had vowed that Achilleus would only cut his hair in honor of Spercheios, one of the rivers of his homeland, when he returned.  Now, however, Achilleus knows that he will not live to fulfill that vow (23.140-51).  
     The most moving reference to Achilleus’ death is an indirect one that comes in a simile, as he mourns through the night at the site of Patroklos’ funeral pyre:
“...And as
a father mourns as he burns the bones of a son, who was married
only now, and died to grieve his unhappy parents,
so Achilleus was mourning as he burned his companion’s
bones, and dragged himself by the fire in close lamentation. (23.221-225)”
Like so many of Homer’s similes, it repays reflection: by comparing Achilleus’ grief to that of a father for a son who dies young, Homer evokes the grief that Achilleus’ own father will feel when he learns that his son will not return from Troy.

THE FUNERAL GAMES: REFLECTION AND RECONCILIATION
     After the funeral, Achilleus brings out prizes - some of them, like the armor of Sarpedon (23.798-800), won by Patroklos, others won by Achilleus on the battlefield (23.560-62, 827-29) - and he calls upon the men to participate in games in honor of Patroklos.  These contests certainly provide some relief after the intensity of Achilleus’ rampage, his slaying of Hektor and his grief over Patroklos.  We may laugh at the hulking figure of the boxer, Epeios, threatening to smash the skin and break the bones of any opponent (23.664-75), or at the description of Aias Oileus, slipping in the cow dung and spitting shit from his mouth (23.773-83).  The gods’ meddling in the games is a more light-hearted affair than their tragic deception and betrayal of Hektor on the battlefield, but the games are more than just a comic interlude.  Most are closely related to war, many of the prizes are from the deadly competition on the battlefield, and the struggle for honor and prizes is as keen as the drive for glory in battle.  Thus, they offer an opportunity to reflect on the events that have taken place in the poem.  
     Consider, for example, the complexity of the first event, the chariot race.  Five contestants line up to take part: Eumelos, Diomedes, Menelaos, Antilochos and Meriones (23.288-351).  Diomedes and Menelaos, of course, were leading warriors, and Antilochos was the son of Nestor.  Eumelos might seem less important, but, in the Catalog of the Ships, the poet had already praised his horses as the best of the Greek horses, for they were bred by Apollo (2.763-67).  Several mishaps in the course of the race spark controversy over the order of finish.  Not surprisingly, the gods, Apollo and Athene, interfere and, as a result of Athene’s actions, Eumelos’ chariot is broken and he - the leader early on - comes in last.  Then, in the fight for second, Antilochos forces his way past Menelaos through reckless driving, and Menelaos feels that he has been cheated.  The order of finish is Diomedes, Antilochos, Menelaos (a very close third!), Meriones and Eumelos, but the distribution of prizes promises to be anything but simple.
     Diomedes takes first prize easily enough (23.509-13), but tensions rise when Achilleus proposes to award the second prize to the unfortunate Eumelos, who finished last (23.536-38).  Achilleus recognizes the excellence of his horsemanship, and sees that he suffered an accident of some kind on the racecourse.  Antilochos, though, objects, and claims the second prize that he feels he earned. Achilleus yields and produces an extra prize for Eumelos (23.557-62).  Now, it is Menelaos’ turn to protest.  He complains that Antilochos cheated and stole second place by driving recklessly, and he demands that Antilochos swear by the gods that he played fair.  Antilochos backs down, blames his recklessness on his youth, and agrees to cede the prize to Menelaos.  Menelaos, in turn, graciously accepts the apology and concedes second prize to Antilochos (23.566-611).  After Menelaos is given third prize, and Meriones fourth prize, Achilleus finds he still has one prize left - remember, Eumelos had been given a special prize!  With a generous gesture, Achilleus gives the fifth prize to Nestor, as a remembrance of Patroklos and as a way of honoring the age of a man who will no longer compete in the games in which he once excelled (23.618-23).
     Achilleus not only heads off and settles disputes among the contestants, he also keeps the unruly fans under control!  While the men are watching the race and straining to see who is ahead, Idomeneus exclaims that Diomedes is leading (23.469-72).  This innocent remark provokes a storm of abuse from Aias Oileus who dismisses it as “windy talk” and insults Idomeneus by saying “Forever you are windy with your words, and you should not be a windy speaker.  There are others here better than you are. (23.478-79)”  The two men argue - and nearly come to blows, but Achilleus stops the quarrel by reminding them that they would be angry if someone else acted that way:
“‘No longer now, Aias and Idomeneus, continue
to exchange this bitter and evil talk.  It is not becoming.
If another acted so, you yourselves would be angry.’”
This is evidently an indirect acknowledgement of the Greeks’ disapproval of his earlier anger and its devastating consequences.  
     Similarly, his gracious gift to Agamemnon at the end of the book would seem, finally, to show the respect that lays to rest the quarrel between the two men.  Agamemnon had stepped forward to compete in the spear throwing contest, but Achilleus immediately stopped the competition and offered him a prize:
“‘Son of Atreus, for we know how much you surpass all others,
by how much you are greatest for strength among the spear-throwers,
therefore take this prize and keep it and go back to your hollow ships (23.890-93).’”
     To a degree, Achilleus has learned from his mistakes.  Here, he acts as a mediator, resolving conflicts, compensating men for the injustices caused by the gods’ interference, and offering everyone the honor due them.  Of course, it is easier to achieve this in the artificial world of the games: intense though they are, they are not life and death struggles, and, when necessary, more prizes can be produced.  Perhaps the games are an idealized vision of how things might be - or ought to be, but it is also clear that Achilleus’ quarrel with Agamemnon and his anger over the distribution of prizes had already become less important.  For some time, his anger had been directed against Hektor, and that rage was not quieted by the games.  He continues to grieve for Patroklos, and, every morning, he ties Hektor’s corpse to his chariot and drags him round and round the tomb of Patroklos, before dumping him face down in the dirt.  

THE HEART OF ENDURANCE
     This behavior provokes an angry response from Apollo who appeals to the gods to end the disgraceful treatment of Hektor’s corpse.  Apollo criticizes Achilleus because he gains nothing by his brutal actions: “nothing is gained thereby for his good, or his honour (24.52).”  More important, he recognizes the reason for Achilleus’ brutal rage.  The hero is unable to accept his friend’s death, though it is man’s lot to endure the death of loved ones:
“For a man must some day lose one who was even closer
than this; a brother from the same womb, or a son.  And yet
he weeps for him, and sorrows for him, and then it is over,
for the Destinies put in mortal men the heart of endurance. (24.46-49)”
In acting this way, Achilleus is being inhuman, “fierce, like a lion (24.41)”.  Apollo echoes Odysseus’ earlier advice to Achilleus to mourn the dead, put aside his grief and go on with his life (19.225-32).  The close identification of Patroklos’ death and that of Achilleus makes us wonder, though, whether it isn’t his own death that he can’t come to terms with.  We are reminded of that almost immediately when Zeus responds to Apollo’s plea and calls on Thetis to go to Achilleus to tell him to accept ransom for Hektor.  Iris carries the message to Thetis and finds her “mourning the death of her blameless son, who so soon was destined to die in Troy of the rich soil, far from the land of his fathers (24.85-86).”
     The stage is set for the final dramatic encounter between the aged king Priam and Achilleus, the slayer of so many of his sons.  Hermes, the messenger god and escort of the dead, guides Priam to the tent of Achilleus where he will offer his ransom for the return of Hektor’s corpse.  Hermes advises Priam to appeal to Achilleus in the name of Achilleus’ father, mother and son.  In fact, Priam only mentions his father, Peleus:
“Achilleus like the gods, remember your father, one who
is of years like mine, and on the door-sill of sorrowful old age.
And they who dwell nearby encompass him and afflict him,
nor is there any to defend him against the wrath, the destruction.
Yet surely he, when he hears of you and that you are still living,
is gladdened within his heart and all his days he is hopeful
that he will see his beloved son come home from the Troad (24.486-92).”
When Priam tells Achilleus to think of his father awaiting his return, his appeal is more effective than he can possibly imagine.  Achilleus, knowing that he will not return, imagines his father grieving - just like Priam - over his son’s death.  As he breaks down and weeps with Priam, “now for his own father, now again for Patroklos (24.511-12)”, it seems that he is grieving over his own death as well and expressing some acceptance of it.

THE URNS OF ZEUS AND THE FATE OF NIOBE
     To console Priam, Achilleus tells him the story of the urns of Zeus (24.527-33).  In short, Zeus bestows gifts on man from an urn of evils and an urn of blessings.  Sometimes he mixes the two, but sometimes he doles out only sorrows.  This, man must learn to endure, for, as Achilleus explains,
“Such is the way the gods spun life for unfortunate mortals,
that we live in unhappiness, but the gods themselves have no sorrows (24.525-26).”
Now, Achilleus is giving Priam the same advice that Odysseus had given him earlier and that Apollo had echoed in his complaint about Achilleus’ abuse of Hektor’s corpse.  Priam must put an end to his grief because it is man’s fate to suffer and man must accept his lot.
     If Achilleus has learned - and accepted - that it is man’s lot to suffer, we may question whether he has come to understand the reasons for such suffering.  He blames Zeus for man’s misfortunes, but, in this story, some of Zeus’ most fateful actions were in response to his own prayers.  In fact, when Thetis had come to console him for Patroklos’ death, she had asked him pointedly why he was grieving if Zeus had fulfilled his prayers (18.72-77).  
     The final story that Achilleus tells provides an interesting commentary on the limits of his understanding of the causes for the suffering he has reluctantly come to accept.  It is the story of Niobe whose twelve children were slain by the gods, Apollo and Artemis (24.602-17).  Achilleus tells Priam the story to convince him to share a meal, despite his grief (24.601, 618-19).  Like Priam, Niobe lost many children, but, as Achilleus explains, “she remembered to eat when she was worn out with weeping (24.613).”  Again, we are reminded of Odysseus’ advice to Achilleus to end his grief over Patroklos’ death and take a meal (19.225-32).
     Niobe’s story, however, was about more than sorrow or having a meal.  Niobe had boasted that she was superior to the goddess Leto because she had twelve children and Leto only had two.  Leto’s children, however, were the god and goddess, Apollo and Artemis, and they killed all of Niobe’s children to teach her a lesson about comparing oneself to the gods.  Like many figures in Greek mythology, Niobe claimed - like Achilleus - descent from the gods, but she was a mortal.  The story offers a powerful lesson about the tragic consequences of trying to be “godlike”.
     Whether Achilleus has appreciated that message is unclear.  He seems to have accepted sorrow and loss as part of the human condition, and his story is designed to help Priam accept his own losses.  For Achilleus, though, the story reinforces the point of his tale of the urns of Zeus, namely, that suffering comes from the capricious and vindictive gods.  For the poet and his audience, however, the story of Niobe, set against the backdrop of Achilleus’ own tragic effort to be like a god, carries a warning about the consequences of trying to be “godlike”.  Implicitly, it reminds us that we, as human beings, bear responsibility for the consequences of our actions.  If the plan of Zeus was fulfilled in the Iliad, it was, in part, a plan which Achilleus was responsible for.
     Homer shows the dangers of trying to be like the gods and the need to accept limits: the limits of mortality, the human condition; the limits imposed by a society - even a warrior society - and by one’s obligations to one’s fellows.  Homer also presents us with the possibility of achieving greatness because of one’s humanity, not in spite of it.  Whether the characters have fully understood these lessons is unclear.  Fighting will resume and Troy will eventually fall.  Achilleus, himself, fears that he might explode in rage and kill Priam, if the old man shows his anger over the condition of Hektor’s corpse (24.581-86).  Most curious of all, Achilleus reminds us of how fragile the resolution to the initial quarrel was, when he warns Priam to sleep outside the tent, lest Agamemnon discover that he has come to the camp (24.650-55).  If Agamemnon finds Priam, “there would be delay in the ransoming of the body.”  Presumably, Agamemnon might object to Achilleus’ cutting his own deal with Priam, and a disastrous quarrel could break out again...

ILIAD: PLOT SUMMARY
CLASS NOTES: SEPTEMBER 19/20
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