Lustful Ideology; Defiance of the Gods There have been many conceptions to the meaning behind Greek Mythology. Anything that includes explanations to the seasons, reasons for natural phenomenon, and even disasters. Although, one major ideal that has blindsided is the egotistical pride of the Greek Empires. For centuries lust, and defiance have been the DNA that comprised the Greek timeline. The gods were not very pleased, and the humans have suffered the wrath of them very often. The lustful eye of man, and the defiance of the gods is what caused many problems for the Greeks. King Agamemnon is a prime example of both defiance and lust. He disrespected the fabled hero Achilles, and distraught the god Apollo. Little does Agamemnon realize that …show more content…
He sees the fruits of his lust and only wants to please himself more. Materialistic, and corrupt he has been blinded sorely by his “power”. He disrespected Chryses, priest of Apollo, by stealing his daughter as a slave. Chryses offered a ransom for his daughter, Chrysies, and Agamemnon refuted claiming his daughter, “I won’t give up the girl. Long before that old age will overtake her in my house… slaving back and forth… forced to share my bed!” (The Iliad Book 1 Pg. 78). This lustful desire led to Chryses praying to Apollo for wrath to Agamemnon and the Achaeans; seeing his pain Apollo was enraged and sent down divine rain on not only the Achaeans, but also the entire Greek empire for 9 days. Achilles sent himself on behalf of Apollo to describe his rage, and hopefully make ends meet with Agamemnon. The swift runner discussed the terms of the gods, the reasons behind Apollo’s rage, but once again Agamemnon blinded by his lust began to defy the authority of the gods. He slays Achilles with words, and demands that he be payed properly. So, in exchange for Chrysies Agamemnon orders that he be given Briseis as recompense. This enrages Achilles because he sees that Agamemnon’s attitude has led to the seeing of himself as some sort of deity as high as the gods of Olympus. Achilles left shamed, angered, and
But I want another prize ready for me right away. / I’m not going to be the only Greek without a prize,” (1.124-127). Sadly, the prize Agamemnon ended up taking was Briseis, and she originally belonged to Achilles. Because Agamemnon took Briseis, Achilles was angry and went to Thetis, his sea nymph mother, saying “And heralds led away my girl, Briseis, / Whom the army had given to me.
Homer’s moral exemplars in the heroic tragedy, The Iliad, can be analyzed to further understand warrior ethics. Agamemnon, a powerful warrior king, was proud and arrogant. These qualities made him an excellent warrior and the Greeks respected him. However, Agamemnon demonstrated excess pride and arrogance, as well as stubbornness. The Greeks believed that people must face their destiny with pride and nobility.
This was shown when Agamemnon wronged Achilles. He did this by taking Achilles' wife, Breseis, when his was taken from him. This all began when the Achaean army took over a town and Agamemnon and Achilles took two women , Chryseis and Breseis, to be their wives. Chryseis' father received help from Apollo in getting his daughter back, and Agamemnon was left without a wife. As a result of this, he takes Breseis even though he was forbidden to do this by Achilles. Because of this, Achilles took a shot to his pride and sent a plague upon the whole Achaean army. This shows another act of his selfishness, not as his wife was taken from him, but as he set danger upon the whole Achaean army who have been fighting with him for nine years. This is selfish of Achilles as he betrays his army for his own personal
The Iliad begins with the clash between Achilles and Agamemnon. Agamemnon has little, if any, respect for the gods. This is displayed by his irreverent behavior towards the priest, Chryses. Agamemnon refuses to release the princess even when the Achaean soldiers suggested "`Respect the priest, accept the shining ransom!' But it brought no joy to the heart of Agamemnon" (104). Achilles is, unlike Agamemnon, respectful of and revered by the gods. In order to expose the cause of Apollo's wrath against the Argive army, Achilles uses the prophet, Calchas. Achilles already knows why Apollo is angry, but decides the fact should be stated by someone other than himself. He knows that Agamemnon will become angry once the truth is revealed. I believe that in this instance he is trying to keep his rage in check by avoiding a direct confrontation with Agamemnon. Calchas also fears for his life because he also knows Agamemnon's fury is unyielding at times. However, with a great deal of encouragement from Achilles, Calchas "spoke out, bravely: `Beware-The god's enraged because Agamemnon spurned his priest'" (106). When the truth is exposed, Agamemnon be...
The honor and glory of an individual was gained through the respect and influence he commanded as well. Honor and glory were important to the ancient Greeks because their social status was not fixed. The positions of power in the Illiad were not easily inherited, most gained their social position through honorable and respected actions. This mobility in Greeks culture inspired a cooperative attitude between their local leaders and their followers. The leaders of the Greeks required voluntary cooperation of the people below them, and they only achieved that with respect and honor. For example, This quality allowed Achilles to disobey Agamemnon and refuse to fight when Agamemnon dishonors him by taking his prize. Many of the strategic decisions that were made for the army throughout the Iliad were reviewed by a group of respected fighters and elders, even though Agamemnon was considered one of the main leaders.
Achilles anger was a predominant theme in the Iliad. It led to Patrokolos, death, Hektor’s death and a great many other Trojan deaths. Achilles was a very powerful Greek warrior, he had many faults but one of his most prominent was his uncontrollable anger. Multiple times throughout the Iliad his anger had for reaching effects on the war and people around him. These effects were not usually favorable to anyone. There are three main occurrences that led Achilles’ anger down devastating paths. The first was when Agamemnon took Achilles’ girlfriend. When this happened, Achilles felt robbed because Brisies, his girlfriend, represented his might and the glory of his conquests. In the Greek culture, glory and honor were highly esteemed. This is why
This is arrogance that inflates them beyond their boundaries. One early example of how this attribute plays out in The Iliad is when Agamemnon refuses to take Chryses’ ransom. Chryses is a priest who represents the god Apolo. Denying the ransom is the same as denying Apolo’s authority over the mortals. Thus, Agamemnon elevated himself to a god-like status and committed hubris. As discussed previously, this is something to which the gods take serious offense. Lower levels of arrogance are also revealed in the first book. Achilles refers to himself as the greatest Greek Warrior. Even if this is true, this statement reveals Achilles’ pride. Similarly, Agamemnon shows arrogance when he threatens to take everyone else’s war prize because he had to return his own to appease Apollo. The consequences of the arrogance and hubris committed by these characters are obvious in that it becomes the driving conflict throughout The Iliad.
The facts of this conflict are all pretty straight forward and by recounting the facts I hope to bring to light the truths that justify Achilles' anger. First off Agamemnon had distributed the booty fairly and all the more powerful Achaeans had gotten a concubine, Agamemnon just happened to choose the daughter of one of Apollo's priest. When Apollo sends a plague to the Achaean camp Achilles' concern for his comrades leads him to call an assembly with the purpose of interpreting the plague and taking necessary action. Agamemnon reluctantly agrees to return his concubine to her father if he is repaid another concubine by one of the other powerful Achaeans. At this Achilles stands up for himself and the other Achaeans, he insults Agamemnon by saying that Agamemnon claims his greatness. When Agamemnon takes Achilles' concubine, Achilles probably expected the other Achaeans to stand up for him as he had done for them earlier. But he is left alone. His honor insulted by a man that he had served loyally. Humiliated, by a group of people to whom he owed nothing. A great sense of betrayal overcame Achilles.
The Greek commander Agamemnon betrays Achilles by insulting him and taking his war prize, the girl Briseis. The Greek army as a whole, betrays him by acting inactively to Agamemnon’s insults and failing to defend him. As seen in Richard Blucher’s article book discussion, “In the Iliad, Achilles has his war prize, the captive woman Briseis, stolen from him by his Commander-in-Chief, King Agamemnon. Shay explains: We must understand the cultural context to see that this episode is more than a personal squabble between two soldiers over a woman [...] The prize of honor was voted by the troops for Achilles’ valor in combat. A modern equivalent might be a commander telling a soldier, ‘I’ll take that Congressional Medal of Honor of yours, because I don’t have one” (Blucher). These betrayals are so traumatic and insulting for Achilles that he withdrew entirely from the war. Also, in Book 21 of The Iliad, Achilles shows another belief that is identified with betrayal. In this book Achilles acts with reckless courage and takes on hundreds of enemy troops without showing any fear or resentment, even when the river god rises to drown him. As he acts so reckless he disregards his own life, and kills all who comes in his path. This is seen through Irwin Kutash’s review of Achilles in Vietnam, as he said, “Achilles is found to have been betrayed by his commander, Agamemnon, who usurps his prize of honor. The betrayal is described
Revenge in The Iliad it the main theme and drives men to do things that they would not normally do. The main example of this is Achilles wanting revenge on Agamemnon. The first book of the Iliad explains that Achilles wants revenge because Agamemnon is forced to return Chryseis, his war bride, to her father, and he decides to take Achilles war bride from him. According to “Some Thoughts about the Origins of ‘Greek Ethics’”, by Nicholas D. Smith, “Agamemnon’s unjust affront to Achilles leads to and extraordinarily deadly retaliation, the ultimate outcome of which is that multitudes of these men’s innocent allies are killed unnecessarily”(smith 10). This is out of character for Achilles, who would normally be the first man into battle, not sitting one out. By “rejecting even the most earnest and impressive entreaties Agamemnon offers, and increasingly making decisions which are rationally indefensible”, he shows how much his wanting of revenge has turned him into a madman (smith 10). His only desire is to get revenge for his loss. It takes the death of Patroclus, his dear friend, to bring him back to the war, which he has left.
Agamemnon tries to use Achilles rage and fury to get him to give up and retreat back to the army he left. Even though Achilles felt rage and sorrow, he keeps to his word. He wants to obey Athena’s orders of to not fight back. Although he is sad, he will not let Agamemnon’s threat get to his
Agamemnon is also written as a hero despite his conflict with Achilles being a large part of the plot. Agamemnon is stubborn, arrogant, noble, powerful, and has angered his fair share of gods in his life. Homer emphasized Agamemnon power as king by referring to him as “wide-ruling” and “mighty. “ He even further points out Agamemnon as a king in the dialogue when he writes him “the scepter-bearing king whose powerful authority comes from Zeus.” Zeus is the head god of the Olympian gods, so to say that Agamemnon’s power came directly from asserting his right to all his power and might.
Achilles is introduced into The Iliad getting into a debacle with the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, during the last year of the Trojan War. Achilles starts a quarrel with Agamemnon because he has demanded possession of Achilles’ woman, Briseis, in consolation for having to give up his woman, Chryseis, so that the gods will end their plague upon the Greek soldiers. Achilles does all he can to get his loved one back, but he knows that nothing will waver Agamemnon’s decision. This is when Achil...
Throughout the Iliad, a conflict develops through the process of each chapter which rests on the surface over a Maiden. The disagreement is caused due to one person or the other feeling far more powerful or superior than the other and is left to sense as if they should receive what is rightfully theirs even if it is not a fair exchange. This conflict is seen between two leaders who view each other with different status: Agamemnon the Argive leader of the expedition to Troy, who had inherited the role of king through his father, and Achilles the leader of Myrmidons. As the dispute develops, it is apparent that the discord between Agamemnon and Achilles is more than something about women; it seems to be their mindset distracting them from having a dispute between their views on power, honour, glory and pride amongst themselves.
The fact that the opening lines of the epic are about Achilles’ power and the people he has killed as a soldier on the Greek side show the huge importance given to him and his power. In his confrontation with Agamemnon regarding Chryseis, he tells Agamemnon that the Greek people want him to give Chryseis back to her father, the priest. This is an example of his great status among his people – he represents them, the one that lets Agamemnon hear their voice.