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Delahoyde & Hughes
Orpheus
HOMER'S ILIAD:
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Questions for Book XXI:
The bloodbath continues with the Trojan forces divided into two fleeing
groups. And poor bloody Lycaon! -- there's no escape from Achilles, who
previously had taken him prisoner. He only recently returned and now he's
at Achilles' mercy again. Lycaon's strategies for pleading for his life
are interesting but futile; Achilles heaves his corpse into the river.
Since it's the river itself with which Achilles must battle now, we're
looking at a mythic fight. So what does it mean? First, what is the
river's rationale ("I'm the river; what's my motivation?"). Underneath
the personification, what is the river really saying here?
Water is often important in myth and as a symbol elsewhere. But more to
the point here, Achilles, in fighting against water, could be said to be
doing what: going against the ______? resisting the ______? This tells us
something about Achilles' psychology, although manifested physically and
outwardly in the narrative. Note the river's complaint about Achilles
polluting it (21.240ff).
Hephaestos is commissioned by Hera to call this off. We witness a
catfight among the two goddesses, Athena and Aphrodite. Athena contends
against Ares, and Hera against Artemis, during which we hear a nice
simile for our lives as humans: "wretched mortals . . . / like leaves, no
sooner flourishing, full of the sun's fire, / feeding on the earth's
gifts, than they waste away and die" (21.528-530).
Back among the mortals, Agenor comes so close! "And he hurled his sharp
spear from a strong hand-- / a hard true hit on Achilles' shin below the
knee!" (21.677-678). Damn!
Iliad Index
Orpheus: Greek Mythology