Blind Rage and Eccentric Vision in Iliad 6

Abstract

The Iliad opens with a quarrel in the Greek camp between Agamemnon and Achilles over the woman Briseis, who came into Achilles' hands as part of the spoils of war. Agamemnon demands Briseis back from Achilles, and Achilles objects that, if he is deprived of his just part of the spoils, no reason remains for him to continue fighting. The quarrel is about status.1 Achilles has lost his prize, he is dishonored (a6Tt[oS, II. 1.171), and he withdraws to his tent. Because of Achilles' withdrawal, many Greeks die, including Patroclus, the companion whom Achilles most loves. It is this loss that Achilles mourns in the final book of the epic, in the company of Priam. As the poem draws to a close, Achilles and Priam share a common sense of grief, the former for Patroclus and the latter for his son Hector, whose body he had come in order to recover (11. 24.509-12):