Chris Zimmerman
Achilles’ Decision
In the Iliad, a question that comes up to readers is “Should Achilles have accepted
Agamemnon’s gifts and returned to the fight?” In my opinion, the answer is a resounding
“no.” In fact, Achilles did exactly that. He spurned Agamemnon’s gifts and refused to
return to the fight.
The main, and most important, reason that Achilles did not accept the multitude
of gifts that Agamemnon offered was because of that man himself and his character.
Agamemnon, as a leader, is required by Greek social custom to fairly divide up the spoils
of war among his men, and according to valor. Pomeroy puts it, “Reciprocity – mutual
and fair exchange…is the core of the leader-people relationship. The giving and the
receiving should ideally balance each other.” (Ancient Greece 70). Agamemnon violates
this in a variety of ways. According to Achilles, Agamemnon is greedy and is a
“…sorry, profiteering excuse for a commander.” (Iliad I. 159). Achilles goes on to say
that the spoils are divided unfairly after looting a town. Achilles says he does all the
work while Agamemnon takes the “lion’s share,” while Achilles gets overlooked and has
a tiny reward for all the fighting he did (Iliad I. 176). Agamemnon does even worse than
this to Achilles because he ends up taking away Achilles’ prize, the girl Briseis. All of
this he did in front of the army of Greeks and all of its other leaders. In a sense, he
publicly stripped Achilles of the honor he had earned on their raids. Since Achilles’ main
concern is honor, he could not have been wounded more deeply than this.
For Achilles to have his prize taken away, it would show all the Greeks that he
did not deserve that honor. This was especially insulting because Agamemnon may have
led the most troops to the battle, but he did not lead them in battle. Achilles rages on and
says to Agamemnon, “You’ve never had the guts to buckle on armor in battle…on any
campaign. It’s far more profitable to hang back in the army’s rear – isn’t it?” (Iliad I.
238-242). Agamemnon is greedy and a coward, which makes him unworthy of respect in
Achilles’ eyes, as well those of the other Greeks (Ancient Greece. 68, 70).
Agamemnon’s generous offer of gifts is not without a price tag – Achilles must
submit to him and accept him fully as leader (Iliad IX. 164). If Achilles would accept
these gifts, he would have to first swallow his pride and anger (no small feat for the
legendary Greek hero). However, the biggest problem with accepting the Agamemnon’s
offer would be that he would in affect be declaring loyalty to Agamemnon. This is a
concern to him because Agamemnon is a poor excuse for a leader and it would show the
other Greeks that it is honorable to follow that man into battle, which sets a bad example
to all the other chieftains (basileus) and the common soldiers.
The amount that Agamemnon offers is of no concern to Achilles. Agamemnon
could offer all the riches in the world and it would make no difference; you have to be
alive to spend money. Achilles knows, through the vision of his mother Thetis, that if he
stays and fights at Troy that he will be killed (Iliad. IX. 423). Furthermore, why fight
and die, all for the glory of Agamemnon, a dishonorable man and corrupt leader? There
is no honor in that. It was an easy choice for Achilles to make; and it was the right one.
Works Cited
Homer. Iliad. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,
Inc., 1997.
Pomeroy, et al. Ancient Greece. 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008