12 0074 / Jessica Louise T.

Chiuco TFB1

LIT101 Final Paper

In the epic, The Iliad, we are presented with an entirely different culture. Honor is given the
utmost priority. Most warriors and men will do absolutely anything to gain it, even if it means leaving a
wife and child behind, or mercilessly killing men who have their own families anxiously waiting for them
to return from war. For them, satisfaction or fulfillment can only be found in Honor; everything else
comes second.
Strangely, Homer takes this culture and presents in his epic with a commentary buried between
and beyond the lines. It is not blatantly or explicitly said, but with deeper observation and analyzation of
the text, we discover, or rather, are given a glimpse of, the epiphany Homer might have had regarding the
conditions of his society during his time. We get to see it clearly in the 24
th
and final book of the epic in
Akhilleus and Priams scene. Everything ties up in this final book, where the true end is shown.
Books prior to this scene present us with a very sorrowful Akhilleus, who is most probably
suffering lack of sleep, or what we now refer to as insomnia. Even after Patroklos burial, sleep could not
come to give him peace, even for a little while. This is very interesting because Akhilleus got what he
was asking for from Zeus. He was honored, more than any other warrior. He embodies the ultimate hero.
Killing 10 men with a yell that stopped and frightened all warriors on the battlefield was a feat no other
warrior could accomplish, though it was done with the help of Athena. He has sought vengeance by
killing, humiliating and basically desecrating Hektors entire body and being. Such was his rage and
bloodlust at the man for killing his beloved Patroklos. Still, after having achieved his vengeance, he still
couldnt get his share of peaceful slumber. He was still greatly overcome by grief and sorrow.
So was the case with King Priam. Hektors body was recently seen being dragged by Akhilleus
carriage. The entire city of Troy was mourning the loss of their beloved brave prince, especially the
family he left behind in the palace. Homer gives us a very pathetic image of the king, not having bathed
or cleaned up because of his great grief and pain. Rarely are we allowed to witness a person of worth and
authority in such a state. Usually, royals and monarchs in movies and television shows will be shown with
tears slowly and gracefully falling down their cheeks. Homer, however, presents us with King Priam.
After several days of killing of Hektor, the king and the rest of the royal household have not ceased from
mourning their loss.
This was the state of both parties who will meet in the 24
th
book. The gods and goddesses had to
interfere and convince King Priam to go to Akhilleus and ransom his sons body and Akhilleus to give
back the body and accept the ransom. Both listen to the gods, leading us to a scene that will reveal a
reality,or a scandal as our Literature professor, Leon Peckson, would call it.
We are, then, shown an inconceivable image of King Priam and Akhilleus later on as the king
makes his intentions for his visit known to Akhilleus. Both cry in grief for the ones they both have lost.
Enemies have come together in pain and suffering, an image that might have baffled those who lived
during Homers time. It was very unexpected and out of character for Akhilleus who was presented all
throughout the epic as someone who held on to his rage. Even as King Priam asks for his sons body, we
see glimpses of Akhilleus anger show through. For the longest time, he holds on to his anger and rage,
even the gods found it preposterous when he left Hektors body, accumulating dust and grime from the
ground for days. To see him set his anger aside for his enemy is mind-boggling, for both the people
during his time and me as a reader. What could have touched his heart to sincerely mourn with his enemy
upon whom he had sworn no mercy?
King Priam appeals to Akhilleus as a father who has lost his beloved son and for him to
remember his own father, Peleus, who will someday suffer the same fate. This was what Akhilleus had in
his mind as he wept with King Priam. King Priam wept for his son, Hektor, while Akhilleus wept for his
father, Peleus, in the future, and again for Patroklos. He understood and realized death, it implications and
reality, in its fulness.
It was revealed in the last few lectures that Akhilleus saw Patroklos in Hektor. Once again, I was
baffled beyond wits. I could only imagine what the ancient peoples reaction was.
Akhilleus experienced the loss of someone so dear and special in Patroklos. He realized that his
once living and breathing beloved companion is now gone, never to come back. It is also worth noting
that they knew nothing of the afterlife; they might have even believed that there was nothing in the
afterlife, a void where nothingness lies ahead. He saw Patroklos as a person who was incommunicable,
intransferable, irreplacable. No one could ever attempt to replace him. He saw Patroklos not as a warrior
whom he could mercilessly slaughter in the name of his Honor. Patroklos was his exceedingly loyal
friend who stood by him when he went against Agamemnon. Because of his longing for Honor to placate
his rage, Death had to claim Patroklos for its own. And nothing could change that.
When King Priam and Akhilleus wept together, the same thoughts and sentiments might have
rushed back into Akhilleus mind. Through this, he saw that Hektor meant the same for King Priam as
Patroklos had for him. He saw the incommunicablity of Hektor; he saw Patroklos in Hektor. Hektors
worth to his father, King Priam, is also something no one else could fully comprehend. No one else could
possibly be able to replace Hektor for King Priam. It would not be the same. The incommunicability of
both Patroklos and Hektor now also applies to all men. Despite Akhilleus anger at Priam when he asked
for Hektors body once more, he did more than what Zeus asked him, which was to give back Hektors
body and accept the ransom. Zeus requested nothing more but Akhilleus, in his own volition, attended to
the preparing and cleaning of Hektors body. Akhilleus, who had so much rage and anger for the man
who took dear Patroklos life, carried Hektors body and returned it to King Priam. This scene alone
turned the 24-book epic around. Akhilleus does something we never expected to because he has never
displayed any other emotion but rage and any other intention but revenge.
Akhilleus epiphany was probably the first of its kind in their time. It would have been a
controversy, a scandal since we have witnessed warriors kill men as they would animals. Aristeias, or the
warriors glorifying moment, would show of warriors slaughtering multiple men at a time mercilessly as
they were driven with rage and bloodlust by the gods. They acknowledge death; they know it is a reality
every one will have to go through. But a shallow understanding can only affect them so much. It would
not cause them to think twice about claiming the life of the enemy, who most likely has his own family
desperately praying for him to come back alive. No such concern was given in the majority of the epic,
until Akhilleus had in the last book.
It is very interesting how Homer appointed Akhilleus as the one to come to this epiphany.
Someone who is determined and persistent to get his revenge and hold on to his rage discovers the worth
of human life in his enemy. It is entirely ironic. Yet it holds true in reality then and now. Most of my
realizations come from those people whom I find intolerable and unlovable. Even things we are oblivious
to, we somehow are able to point out and discover in other people. Though my circumstance or
experience is completely shallow in comparison to what Homer is presenting through his epic, I find that
he has captured a reality, one that was still unheard of in his time. With much hard work and analyzation
poured into this amazing piece of literature, we were able to uncover the message, the epiphany Homer
wanted for his audience. Apparently, his culture, whose priority is mainly attaining Honor, must have
witnessed its negative consequences or had serious repercussions that he needed to comment on it. Still, it
will be affirmed a few centuries later by a man named Jesus, the Son of God, who has come to be like
man to save man. All he taught us was to love God, our neighbors and even our enemies. Even when
Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross, people were shocked and astonished that someone would give his
life for them, in spite of their sins and imperfections.
After the returning of Hektors body, it was then when Akhilleus was able to drift off to a
peaceful slumber. I think that Homer makes a very powerful statement here. Akhilleus, after consciously
and intentionally holding on to his anger, found peace after his encounter with Priam. He has achieved
peace of mind not with achieving honor, avenging of Patroklos death, or killing of Hektor, but with
identifying with his enemy, King Priam, and acknowledging humanity and the reality of life and man.