Who Is Achilles A Hero

Despite Homer's grand scope for The Iliad, which draws heroism, adventure, warfare, and divinity as the forces which shape destiny, it seems more of an account of the conditions that changes the life of one man permanently: Achilles, the greatest of warriors. The Iliad makes this individual the protagonist through his morals, his motivations, his behaviors, and his choices; all of which affect others. Homer places him in the first lines of his story, and Achilles’ plays the primary role in the plot through his anger, his withdrawal from battles and the upsetting affects this has on the Greek army. “Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.”1 Achilles is a complex character with his own peculiarity and a system of ideals that sometimes no one else but he can understand. There are many aspects of The Iliad that interweave Greek culture

Homer made the entire poem about him. He was a trained warrior and recruited as a warrior even when he was a boy. Within the Greek society, one who has great courage and strength would have been a hero. There is no question that he was a bold and ruthless warrior who demonstrated his courage and skill on the battlefield many times. He killed many Trojans as well as their allies. He was not, however, without flaws. His conceit and pride led him to ignore advice from others and at one point abandon his fellow warriors and quit the war because he felt insulted. His anger led him to desecrate the body of his adversary. All of these fallacies still demonstrated that even the greatest of all heroes is still vulnerable. The Greeks celebrated and worshipped the gods who had failings. They had temper tantrums, like Zeus. They bickered with one another. They experienced jealousy. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were siblings and fought like siblings. Zeus’ wife, Hera, seduced Zeus so that the Greeks could