Force and Discourse in the Funeral Games of Patroclus

Abstract

Abstract This chapter takes up an analysis of the language of force as it applies to the physical agōn proper in Homer. It begins with Michel Foucault’s detailed analysis of the chariot race in his posthumously published lecture series, Wrong-Doing, Truth-Telling. In that work, Foucault argued specifically that the true function of the agōn was to enact a “liturgy of truth” and this was achieved primarily through the verbal exchanges after the contest proper. Through a more detailed analysis of the funeral games, with a focus on the two biggest “losers” of the games, Eumelus and Ajax, it can be seen how the results of the games run contrary to the authoritative hierarchy of warriors pronounced by the Muse-inspired narrator of the Iliad (Iliad 2.760–70). In addition, nearly every event in the agōn requires speech intervention on behalf of Achilles. Far from being a manifestation of the athlete-warriors’ purely physical abilities, the agōn of Iliad 23 thus demonstrates that it is nearly impossible to disentangle force from discourse.