Fear Of Death In The Iliad

In The Iliad, great Greek and Trojan warriors are fighting against each other in battle everyday. These warriors are constantly faced with the risk of death, but they do not believe in life after death. However, they do know that if a person does something remarkably honorable they will be remembered among other people and their legacy will be passed on through generations. In Homer’s The Iliad, death is an ever present threat, and heroes of The Iliad believe that the only way to defeat death is to gain timé and kleos. Timé and Kleos gives warriors in The Iliad the opportunity to defeat death because they will be remembered for generations.

Fighting honorably in the war guarantees that a soldier will receive timé and kleos. Phoenix is trying

At the beginning of The Iliad, Achilles realizes how unfairly Agamemnon treats him. When he realizes this, Achilles says to Agamemnon, “My honor never equals yours , whenever we sack some wealthy Trojan stronghold my arms bear the brunt of the raw, savage fighting, true, but when it comes to dividing up the plunder the lion’s share is yours, and back I go to my ships, clutching some scrap, some pittance that I love, when I have fought to exhaustion”(Homer 83). Agamemnon is greedy and wants a lot of timé for himself, so he holds most of it back from Achilles. Achilles wants timé because it is a physical show of how much honor he has and how much glory he thinks he deserves. Achilles becomes bitter because Agamemnon is holding back a large portion of the geroi, and because of this Achilles confronts Agamemnon and threatens to leave the war. Phoenix is talking to Achilles trying to convince him to come to war and as he is doing this he points out that if Achilles goes to war he will receive lots of gifts from Agamemnon. However Pheonix also says, “But enter this man-killing war without the gifts-your fame will flag, no longer the same honor, even though you hurl the Trojans home!”(Homer 272). Phoenix knows that Achilles wants quantifiable honor such as women, money, and other spoils of war. Phoenix caters to this want by telling Achilles that if

Achilles is reminding his comrades of the prophecy his mother Thetis told him. When Achilles is explaining the prophecy he says, “If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies… true, but the life that’s left me will be long, the stroke of death will not come on me quickly”(Homer 265). The prophecy says that if Achilles goes to war then he will have a short life but glory that goes on forever. However, if he goes back home he will have a longer life without glory. If Achilles goes to war, the Greeks will recognize him as the man who saved them and his glory will live on past his death. On the other hand, if Achilles ventures home the Greeks will see him as a coward who did not help his people in their time of need. Achilles has lost the urge to continue on and fight in battle because he knows that his life will be short if he goes back to war. However, Achilles’ comrades attempt to convince him to fight for the Greeks by reminding him of all the geroi he will receive if he is victorious in battle. In response to Odysseus’ plea to Achilles asking him to come back to battle, Achilles says, “One and the same for the lot that hangs back and the man who battles hard. The same honor waits for the coward and the brave”(Homer 262). The Greeks and Trojans