Delahoyde & Hughes Orpheus HOMER'S ILIAD: BOOK V

Questions for Book V:

• This book is an "aristeia," which means, in this case, it's "the best of" Diomedes. How are we to understand such a thing mythologically?
• The sense of war etiquette is by now pretty clear. What is the process, step by step, for engaging oneself in a fight?
• Can gods be wounded with mortal weapons?
• What is "ichor"?

The book can almost read like an independent poem, some say, suggesting the possibility that it was originally the separate story of Diomedes, incorporated into the Iliad at a late stage of development.

This "aristeia" or "best of" Diomedes can be understood as a sort of peak experience -- it's a natural high when you have one of these days, and it's as if a god is metaphorically present.

A famous error on Homer's part suggests to the scholars that the poet was unclear about certain aspects of military history.

Breaking ranks they rushed ahead in their chariot,
charging Diomedes already dismounted,
rearing up on foot. (5.12-14)

Apparently, after all the hoopla, these warriors use their chariots only to taxi themselves to the line of battle; then they park, dismount, and start the day's fight.

Pandarus is one of the victims of Diomedes -- interesting to students of Chaucer, who quite rightfully despise Diomedes, who for all his success here is a butthead.

Hephaestos saves a warrior. Aeneas is hit by a rock, but his mother Aphrodite protects him. Diomedes actually wounds Aphrodite though, so Apollo has to protect Aeneas. Ares too is wounded and complains to Zeus about favoritism -- Zeus always sides with Athena. But Ares, the god of war, is surprisingly chewed out in this epic. At the end of the book, no gods are involved in the war directly.

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Iliad: Book VI
Iliad Index
Orpheus: Greek Mythology