Personal Honor In The Iliad

The notion of personal honor is prevalent throughout the Iliad. The honor of every person in Homeric culture was important, but to the hero, his honor was paramount. He could not endure insults, and he felt that he had to protect his reputation — even unto death. The hero 's duty was to fight, and the only way he had of gaining glory and immortality was through heroic action on the battlefield; thus, he continually prepared his life for the life-and-death risks of battle. The Homeric hero believed that men had to stand together in battle; men had to respect each other; and they had to refrain from excessive cruelty. This last condition was critically important for the Homeric hero. He loathed deliberate acts of cruelty and injustice. If he were ready to kill a victim, he believed that he should do it quickly; he was not to mutilate him, as Achilles does with Hektor 's body. By following this code, a hero gained a sense of dignity and a reputation for honor that would ensure his place in the social memory of his community.

The Homeric hero lived by strict social and cultural norms that would guide his life at home and on the battlefield. His position as a hero

This idea derives from the concept that a man became a hero because he possessed certain qualities. Among those qualities is heroic balance, which requires a hero to insist upon his greatness and maintain a proper modesty before the gods. He had to know himself and be able to evaluate and act upon a situation. He also had to recognize the time when the gods withdrew their help, and at that time the hero had to withdraw from battle. If he failed to recognize how much his action was ruled by the gods, he lost his heroic balance and made a tragic error. If he failed to follow the gods and made his own decisions, he had to live with the shame of his mistake, and when he erred, he lost approval and