David Wheeler
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Achilles
Scourge of Man
Achilles slaying Penthesileia, Athenian black figure amphora C6th B.C., British
Museum, London
Sing, Goddess, of the rage, of Peleus' son Achilles
the accursed rage, which brought pain to thousands of the Achaeans
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκεν,
Homer, The Iliad. Book I Lines 1-2
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David Wheeler
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Table of Contents
Some Vocabulary
Page 3
Map of Greece
Page 4
A brief summery of the Trojan war
Page 5
Characters
Achilles
Page 6
Patroclus
Page 7
Antilochus
Page 8
Agamemnon
page 9
Hector
Page 10
Priam
Page 11
Hecuba
Page 12
Lycaon
Page 13
Brisieis
Page 14
Hephaestus
page 15
Thetis
Page 16
Other Important Greeks and Trojans
Page 17
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Some Vocabulary
Achaeans: Greeks, specifically those from Achaea in Greece, but used frequently in
Homer and elsewhere to refer to all the Greeks.
Argives: Greeks, specifically from the region of Argos (where Agamemnon is King), but
used in Homer and elsewhere to refer to all the Greeks.
Danaans: Greeks, specifically from Argos (another name for Argives), and used
frequently in Homer and elsewhere to refer to all the Greeks.
Dardanians: Another name for the Trojans that is derived from the name of the mythic
king of Troy, Dardanus.
Doric: Greeks
Ilium: Another name for the city of Troy.
Pergamum: Another name for Troy (though not to be confused with the Hellenistic city
of Pergamum)
Teucrians: Another name for the Trojans, derived from the name of one of Troys kinds,
Teucer.
More to come later!
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David Wheeler
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A Breif summery of the Trojan War
Coming Soon!
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David Wheeler
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Achilles
Ἀχιλλεύς
Achilles, on a Greek black-figure vase
from around 530 BC
Son of Peleus, king of Aegina, and the sea nymph Thetis, Achilles is unique in all
Greek Mythology in that he is the one person who was allowed to choose his fate, at least
in part. He was granted a choice by the fates to either live a long life, free of renown and
eventually be forgotten, or live only a short while but win such renown for his deeds that
his name would live on forever. As a young man he chose the second path, but in book
XI of Homer’s Odyssey when Odysseus meets Achilles in the Underworld the great hero
shows some regret over his choice. He tells Odysseus, “No winning words about death to
me, shining Odysseus!/By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man—/some dirtpoor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive—/than rule down here over all the
breathless dead.” He does, however, live out eternity in the section of the Underworld
reserved for the honored dead, and shares his time there with his two close friends
Patroclus and Antilochus, so it’s not all bad.
The most well-known of all the myths of Achilles concerns his famous heal. The
story goes that his mother, hearing of his chosen fate, was so concerned for his welfare
that she dipped him in the river Styx to make him immortal. However, she held him by
his heal, so that part of his body was never submerged and thus became his only weak
point. Despite the popularity and familiarity of this story in the modern world, this part
of the myth of Achilles developed later. It is not a part of Homer’s Iliad or the original
story, at least not as far as we know. In Homer’s version, Achilles is a mortal man that
can be injured in battle, and is on several occasions. It is also important to remember that
it was foretold that Achilles would die at Troy, after he had killed Hector. He knew this
the day he set forth for Troy, and he knew this the moment he killed Hector, but that
never stopped him. For more information on Achilles, see the other character sections
and the description of the Trojan war (coming soon)
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Patroclus
(Pat-rah-clus)
Achillies binding the wounds of his friend Patroclus, from a c. 500 BC kylix cup (now in
a Museum in Berlin Germany)
There is a lot of debate about the relationship that exists between Patroclus and
Achilles. There is certainly a close emotional bound, but nowhere in the Iliad does it
explicitly define what their relationship is. What is known is that the two were cousins
that grew up together, both taught by the mythic centaur Chiron. Many have chosen to
view the two as lovers, but there is no mention of a sexual relationship between them in
the Iliad. In fact, the conflict that sets the action of the Iliad is a fight over a woman.
That being said, later authors did choose to interpret the relationship as being sexual, so
there are a number of stories from Classical Greece that show the two as lovers, as as is
suggested in the picture above. Even in the Iliad itself there is a great deal to suggest this
kind of relationship. Once Patroclus is killed, Achilles was enraged and again entered the
battle to seek revenge. After he killed Hector, Achilles arranges an elaborate funeral for
his beloved friend, complete with games to commemorate Patroclus’ life. When Achilles
himself is final killed, his ashes are mixed with those of Patroclus, and it was believed
that the two of them were united in the afterlife.
In general though, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is vague at
best. Some choose to see the two as close war buddies and nothing more, others as
lovers, and there is ample evidence to support both interpretations. More often then not
how a person chooses to interpret their relationship has as much, if not more, to do with
what that individual wants to see as it does with any real evidence.
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Antilochus
(Ann-till-a-kus)
Achilles fighting Memnon over the body of Antilochus
Black figure amphora c. 500 BC
· Homer. Odyssey, IV, 188.
· Homer. Iliad, XXIII, 423, 541, 556.
Quintus Smyrnaeus - The Fall of Troy
Antilochus is the son of Nestor, King of Pylos, the oldest and wisest of all the Greeks
who fought at Troy. In contrast, his son was one of the youngest present. In fact, when
the war first started he was to young to accompany his father and so he was left behind.
However, since the Trojan War was fought over a a ten year period he eventually came of
age and joined the Greeks later. This was against his father’s wishes, as it was told that
Antilochus must beware and Aethiopian (a mythic kingdom that gave it’s name to the
modern nation state of Ethiopia), and they were allies of the Trojans. Antilochus was
determined to participate, and it was his good friend Achilles who sooth his fathers anger
and convinced him to let Antilochus stay and fight. Achilles has a deep affection for
Antilochus, though not on the same level of his feelings for Patroclus, both because of his
beauty and his martial prowess. When Patroclus was killed in battle, it was Antilochus
who announced their friend’s death to Achilles. However Antilochus too was fated to die
at Troy, and feel in battle to Memnon, King of the Aethiopians (just as he was fated to
die), who came to aid the Trojans against the Greeks. Just as with the death of Patroclus,
Achilles was enraged to hear of Antilochus’ fate and killed Memnon out of vengeance for
the death of another close friend. The cremated remains of the three companions were
said to have been combined and kept together, however, and we find out in the Odyssey
that they were reunited in the Underworld, demonstrating just how deep the bond
between these men was.
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Agamemnon
Mycenae: the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon"
Agamemnon is the older brother of Menelaus (husband of the famed Helen) and
king of Argos. He is also the high king who leads the campaign against the Trojans.
However, it is important to remember that he is not king of all the Greeks. Greece at this
time was divided up into a number of regions, each ruled by its own king (many of
whom, such as Nester and Odysseus, are character in the Iliad). However, Agamemnon
is their chief, and though Agamemnon does not rule over all of Greece, he is recognized
by all as being the leader of the Greeks and the other kings owe him their allegiance.
From the very beginning of the Iliad we see exactly what kind of leader
Agamemnon is. Before the book begins he has taken the daughter of a priest of Apollo as
a spoil of war and refuses to return her to her father. Apollo, enraged by this offense,
reined arrows down upon the Greek camp as punishment for this slight against him
(which some scholars have interpreted as a metaphor for plague/sickness). After 9 days,
Achilles finally called an assembly to discuss the matter, and all the kings and generals
there assembled decided Agamemnon must give the girl back. This action makes
Agamemnon lash out and abuse his power as the leader of the Greek army. Because he is
to have his captive taken from him, he decides to replace her with a woman given to
Achilles, Briseis. It is this act that not only leads Achilles to withdraw from the war, but
it also shows Agamemnon as a faulty leader, concerned more with himself then anything.
Achilles also says of Agamemnon that, “you never dare to go out with the host in fight,
nor yet with our chosen men in ambuscade.” In a time when a man’s worth was
measured by his deeds on the battlefield, Homer paints a very negative picture of
Agamemnon.
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Hector
Hector Visits Andromache With Astyanax on Her Lap. Apulian Red-figure Columnkrater. c. 370-360 B.C.
Son of Priam and Hecuba, Hector is the pride and joy of all the Trojans. He is their
champion, and they love him for it. Though he does not approve the war with Greece, it
is he that leads the Trojan troops and all their allies against the Greeks, so all the hopes of
a Trojan victory are invested in him. Their faith is well founded, because by all accounts
he is not only the greatest fighter of all the Trojans (and the Greeks, save Achilles), but
he is also known for his noble and kind nature. His skill on the battlefield was even
admired by the Greeks, and Homer (himself a Greek) casts him as the best of all the
heroes fighting in the war.
In the end though, his noble is not enough to save him from the wrath of
Achilles. After killing Patroclus (thinking he was Achilles, as Patroclus rode out wearing
his friends armor to give strength and hope to the Greeks), Hector goes out to face
Achilles in single combat. Upon seeing Achilles in all his rage, Hector flees runs from
him and Achilles chases him three times around the walls of Troy. It isn’t until the
Goddess Athena comes down disguised as a brother of Hector and tricks him into
fighting that he finally stands to fight Achilles. After killing Hector, Achilles ties his
body to the chariot and drives him around the city and eventually back to the Greek
camp, where it is continuously abused for 12 days (Though the Gods prevent any harm
from coming to his body). It isn’t until Priam, accompanied by the messenger god
Hermes, comes to the Greek camp and pleads with Achilles that Hector’s body is finally
released. Not only that, but Achilles is so moved by Priam’s words that he gives is word
that the Greeks will enter into a temporary truce with the Trojans to give them time to
conduct a proper funeral for their fallen hero.
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Priam
(Pree-am/Preye-am)
Priam killed by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, detail of an Attic black-figure amphora,
ca. 520 BC–510 BC. Louvre.
Priam is the King of Troy and direct descendant of Tros, the mythic founder of the city.
Though he is king of Troy, he is fairly old at the time of the Trojan war, and so the war
effort is left to his son Hector. Homer depicts him as a kind and just ruler, and should
perhaps be seen as the antithesis of Agamemnon, a leader who leaves something to be
desired. Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, eventually kills Priam when Troy is being sacked
(Virgil, Aeneid II, lines 590-652), though not until after he kills another one of Priam’s
sons before the Trojan king’s very eyes. Despite his age, Priam faced his death bravely,
choosing to face Neoptolemus in battle defending his wife and daughters rather then be
massacred.
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Hecuba
(heck-you-bah)
Hector takes the armor from his parents Priam and Hecuba, Vace Painting by
Euthymides, c. 510 bc
Hecuba is the wife of Priam, to whom she bore 19 sons. Once Troy is sacked, Odysseus
takes her as his slave (according to several of Euripides’ plays), though not before
watching many of her sons die. She even witnesses the death of her grandson, Astyanax,
son of Hector, who was hurled from the walls of the citadel so as to insure he will not
grow up to avenge his father’s death.
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Lycaon
Achilles Killing Lycaon
Lycaon is a son of Priam (and thus a Trojan prince), though not by Hecuba. He is out
one day in an orchard and is captured by Achilles, who sells him into slavery. He was
eventually freed and returned to Troy, only to have to face Achilles 12 days later on the
battlefield during Achilles rampage to avenge Patroclus’ death. The boy pleaded for
mercy, offering to pay a ransom to Achilles if he would spare his life. After the death of
Patroclus, however, Achilles wasn’t interested in granting pardons, and so he killed
Lycaon (see scene above).
Homer. Iliad, XXI, 35–155.
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Briseis
(Bris-ay-is)
Briseis and Phoenix, red-figure kylix, ca. 490 BC, Louvre (G 152).
If Helen is the woman who launched a thousand ships, it was Briseis who turned
the Greeks against themselves. Briseis was a princes in Asia Minor who was taken by
Achilles as a prize when he sacked her city and killed her family. He ws not, however,
able to keep her for long. In book I of the Iliad we learn that the god Apollo is punishing
the Greeks because Agamemnon took and refused to return the daughter of a priest of
Apollo. When Agamemnon is finally forced to return his prize, he takes Briseis from
Achilles as compensation, an act which leads Achilles to withdraw from the war. After
Patroclus is killed and Achilles returns to the war, Agamemnon gives Briseis back to
Achilles and claims to have never shared a bed with her.
The relationship between Achilles and Briseis, like that between Achilles and
Patroclus, is somewhat vague. In book IX (lines 334-343) claim to love her, saying, “Are
the Atreidae of all mortal men/ the only ones who love their wives? I think not./ Every
sane decent fellow loves his own/ and cares for her, as in my heart I loved/ Briseis,
though I won her by the spear.” It is comments such as these that lead some to argue he
loves Briseis and Patroclus is just a friend. However, he may not mean love in the
manner that we think of it, and even if he loved her that doesn’t rule out the possibility of
Patroclus as a lover, as it was common for the kings and heroes of Greece to have
multiple wives and lovers.
Briseis makes only a brief appearance in the Iliad, so we don’t get much of a
sense of who she really is. In Daughter of Troy, by Sarah B. Franklin, the Trojan War is
told from her perspective, and might fill in some of the gaps of Briseis’ character.
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Hephaestus
(huh/heh-fes-tuhs)
The Return of Hephaestus
Hephaestus is the son of Hera, though not of Zeus. Hera, envious of Zeus for
giving birth to Athena on his own, decides that she two will conceive and birth a child
alone (there are, however, other myths within which he is the child of both Zeus and
Hera). Her efforts are not as successful, at least not in her opinion, as Hephaestus was
born both ugly and lame. Because of this, she threw him off of Mount Olympus to rid
herself of this disappointing child. Another version of the myth states that Hephaestus
defended his mother from Zeus and it was he who threw Hephaestus off Mount Olympus.
In this version of the story it was the fall that made him lame.
Hephaestus is something of an anomaly among the gods. He is counted as one of
the ten Olympians, and yet he is something of a laughing stock. To start with, he is
always described as being ugly, a trait that he alone among the gods possesses. He also
has a lame foot, making him the only good to not be perfect physically. Because of all of
this, he is looked down upon by the Other Olympian gods and is something of an outcast.
However, he is also the god upon whom the Olympians rely the most. It is he who built
the palaces the gods live in on Mount Olympus, and it is he that forges their armor and
other metal works. Some myths even claim he is the one who forges Zeus’ lightning
bolts.
In the eyes of the gods he is somewhat powerless, he knows how to play up his
awkwardness for his own advantage. There is a scene in the Iliad where he actually
chooses to make a fool of himself in order to diffuse a tense situation that could turn ugly.
He is also very cunning and tends to seek his revenge through other means. For example,
to pay his mother back for treating him so poorly as a child, he made her a throne that
immediately trapped her when she sat down, and none of the gods could free her. It
wasn’t until Dionysus got Hephaestus drunk and brought him back to Olympus that he
finally freed his mother (see picture above). Though not overtly powerful like Athena or
Ares, Hephaestus is a clever god that is dangerous to underestimate, as many of the
Olympians have discovered.
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Thetis
Hephaestus (possibly making armour for Thetis)
Red-figured pitcher, c. 480 BC
Museum of Berlin
Thetis is a sea Nymph and mother to Achilles by her husband Peleus. She was
well known among the gods for her beauty, so much so that both Zeus and Poseidon
courted her at one time. The two continued to fight over her until it was prophesied that
she would give birth to a son that was greater than the father. Neither god wanted to risk
a son that could overthrow them, so they ceased to pursue her and she was married off to
a mortal man, Peleus. It is at their wedding that the events that will cause the Trojan War
are put into motion.
Though not one of the Olympian gods, Thetis is surprisingly well connected.
When several of the Other gods plotted to overthrow Zeus, it was Thetis who warned him
and came to his aid. As Achilles says in Book I of the Iliad, “you alone of the immortals
saved the son of Saturn from ruin, when the others, with Juno, Neptune, and Pallas
Minerva would have put him in bonds”. It was also Thetis who caught and cared for
Hephaestus when was cast down from Mount Olympus. She has a great many gods in
her debt, and she uses her connections with the Olympians throughout the Iliad to try and
aid her son through his many trials. It is her efforts that cause the gods to give great
victory to the Trojans once Achilles has withdrawn from the battle, and it is through her
connections to Hephaestus that Achilles gets new armor (his original armor was taken by
Hector from the body of Patroclus). In the end though, even her connections can do
nothing to save her son.
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Other Important Characters
Aeneas: A prince of Troy, it is Aeneas who escapes the sacking of the city and goes on
to lead the refuges to Italy, where they become the ancestors of the Romans (Julius
Ceasar is of this bloodline).
Helen: Wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and also the daughter of Zeus and Leda,
whom the god rapped while in the form of a swan. Helen eventually leaves Greece
(either because she is kidnapped or because she wants to run away with him, depending
on which version of the story you read) with Paris and sails for Troy. Once the war is
over, she goes back to Sparta with her husband.
Menelaus: King of Sparta and husband of Helen. He is Agamemnon’s younger brother,
and so is one of the cursed sons of Atreus.
Nester: King of Pylos and Father of Antilochus. He was the oldest and the wisest of the
kings who went to Troy, and so he was frequently consultaed on what the proper course
of action was.
Odysseus: Greek King of Ithaca who is the mastermind (with some help from Athena)
behind the Trojan horse. He is known as being a clever man who is something of a
trickster. The Greek authors tend to portray him in a positive light, but the Romans (who
were believed to be the descendants of the Trojans), especially the poet Virgil, depict him
as being more deceitful, a man without honor who relies on trickery to win.
More to come later!
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