Book contents
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Additional material
- Preface
- Diagrams
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Sources for primary texts
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Divinity, humanity and wisdom
- 3 Gilgamesh and glory
- 4 Gilgamesh confronts death
- 5 Interlude on Homer and the Muse
- 6 The race of half-gods
- 7 The plan of Zeus
- 8 The coming of Achilles
- 9 The strife of the Iliad
- 10 Achilles looks inward
- 11 The death of the friend
- 12 Achilles responds
- 13 From lamentation to vengeance
- 14 Achilles like a lion
- 15 Mortality and wisdom
- 16 The truths of lamentation
- Conclusion The slender-winged fly
- Bibliography
- Index of Passages Cited
- General Index
9 - The strife of the Iliad
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2019
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Additional material
- Preface
- Diagrams
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Sources for primary texts
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Divinity, humanity and wisdom
- 3 Gilgamesh and glory
- 4 Gilgamesh confronts death
- 5 Interlude on Homer and the Muse
- 6 The race of half-gods
- 7 The plan of Zeus
- 8 The coming of Achilles
- 9 The strife of the Iliad
- 10 Achilles looks inward
- 11 The death of the friend
- 12 Achilles responds
- 13 From lamentation to vengeance
- 14 Achilles like a lion
- 15 Mortality and wisdom
- 16 The truths of lamentation
- Conclusion The slender-winged fly
- Bibliography
- Index of Passages Cited
- General Index
Summary
In the last part of the previous chapter we saw a series of reflections on the consequences of ignoring the truth about human limitations. Although the story of Achilles in the Iliad is a vastly more complex structure, the same principle is at its centre: the excessive energy of the protagonist, and the proximity of his nature to the divine level, is at the root of the passions and disasters that will lead eventually to his fall. What is unique to the Iliad is the psychological depth with which these forces are depicted and explored: hence it will be our next task to trace the plot-sequence of the poem through a close analysis of the mental and emotional life of Achilles.
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- Achilles beside GilgameshMortality and Wisdom in Early Epic Poetry, pp. 198 - 216Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019