ACHILLES & AGAMEMNON

No contemporary self-help manual on leadership could offer a better example than the conflict on the plains of Troy between Achilles and Agamemnon (1250 B.C.). King of Mycenae and commander-in-chief of the Achaean army, Agamemnon had been promoted to a position beyond his competency. Unsure of himself and devoid of ideas, he is challenged for leadership by the “best of the Achaeans,” Achilles. Achilles has all the heroic virtues lacking in Agamemnon. In the judgment of his peers, he is far more qualified than Agamemnon to lead them to victory over the Trojans. Their struggle for leadership will cost the lives of thousands, and through the genius of Homer, it will be transformed into a timeless lesson in the moral dimension of politics.

In classical Greece, the Iliad was viewed as the masterpiece of the creative genius of the poet Homer.

Its role as a source of values and inspiration for the Greeks of the classical period was comparable to that of the Bible for Protestants in 19th-century Europe and America.

Homer drew on the larger tradition of the Trojan War. But the Iliad focuses on a nine-day period in that war and on the wrath of Achilles, his conflict with Agamemnon, and the disaster this conflict brought to Greeks and Trojans alike.

TO THE GREEKS, THE TALE OF TROY WAS HISTORY. ITS CHARACTERS WERE HISTORICAL FIGURES. THE TROJAN WAR COULD BE DATED, IN OUR TERMS, TO ROUGHLY 1260-1250 B.C.

-Troy was a great city, rich in gold and horses and warriors, located at the Hellespont, where Europe joins Asia.

-Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, eloped with Paris, son of King Priam of Troy (some say she was abducted).

1. The result of this outrage was an expeditionary force of the Greeks in 1,000 ships against Troy.

2. Agamemnon, king of the city of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, was elected commander-in-chief.

3. The mightiest warriors of Greece brought their armed forces to participate in the expedition. These included Achilles, King of Myrmidons, and Odysseus, King of Ithaca.

-When the Iliad opens, the Greeks have been besieging Troy for nine years.

Homer's Iliad is the most famous narrative of Achilles' deeds in the Trojan War. The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the war, and does not narrate Achilles' death.

It begins with Achilles' withdrawal from battle after he is dishonored by Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean forces.

Agamemnon had taken a woman named Chryseis as his slave. Her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo, begged Agamemnon to return her to him.

Agamemnon refused and Apollo sent a plague amongst the Greeks.

The prophet Calchas correctly determined the source of the troubles but would not speak unless Achilles vowed to protect him. Achilles did so and Calchas declared Chryseis must be returned to her father.

Agamemnon consented, but then commanded that Achilles' battle prize Briseis be brought to replace Chryseis.

Angry at the dishonor (and as he says later, because he loved Briseis) and at the urging of Thetis, Achilles refused to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At this same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achilles prayed to his mother Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honor.

As the battle turned against the Greeks, thanks to the influence of Zeus, Nestor declared that the Trojans were winning because Agamemnon had angered Achilles, and urged the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agreed and sent Odysseus and two other chieftains, Ajax and Phoenix, to Achilles with the offer of the return of Briseis and other gifts. Achilles rejected all Agamemnon offered him, and simply urged the Greeks to sail home as he was planning to do.

The Iliad describes the following days and “the manifold woes” bought on the Greeks and Trojans as they struggle on the plains of Troy. The culmination is the death of Achilles’s dearest friend, Patroclus, killed as the direct result of Achilles’s refusal to fight.

Seeking revenge, Achilles takes the field and kills Hector, the mightiest of the Trojans.

The Iliad ends with Achilles returning to the body of Hector to Hector’s father, King Priam, and with the Trojans celebrating the funeral rites of Hector.

The Iliad is the story of the moral growth of Achilles. Through his suffering, he learns compassion.

-Foreshadowed in the Iliad are the death of Achilles, the fall of Troy, and Agamemnon’s return in triumph to Mycenae, only to be murdered by his wife and her lover.

The Iliad is a literary masterpiece.

-Homer is unsurpassed in evoking scenes. From the beauty of the morning dawning to the horrors of war, he uses similes and metaphors with a scope, power and appropriateness unrivaled in literature.

-His characters are memorable, real, and –above all—human.

-The Iliad is a great book that deals with a great theme; the meaning of life and the actions of men like Achilles who found that meaning in the idea of honor.

-It is a work of moral instruction.

1. The British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809-1898) believed that all we need to know about morality could be drawn from the Iliad and the Odyssey.

2. Many Greeks felt the same way.

Drama

Achilles is portrayed as a former hero who has become lazy and devoted to the love of Patroclus, in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.

Fiction

Achilles has a supporting role in the Marvel Comics miniseries Ares as the Greek God Ares' favorite warrior and battlefield commander of Greek soldiers on Mount Olympus.

In the Flash Gordon comic strip published in 1974–75, the titular hero time-travels to Troy where, posing as an envoy of the gods, he gives the Greeks the idea of the Trojan Horse. Achilles and Hector are still alive and the former takes the latter prisoner during the final storming of the city. Gordon is accompanied by a woman from his own century and she becomes Achilles' lover.

Achilles plays a part in the novel, The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

In Aaron Allston's Galatea in 2-D, a painting of Achilles is one of those brought to life.

Achilles appears in the novels Ilium and Olympos by science fiction author Dan Simmons.

Achilles appears in Dante's Inferno.

Achilles is one of the beings who empower DC Comics hero Captain Marvel, giving him courage and later invulnerability.

ACHILLES IN LATER ART

The ghost of Achilles appears in the Percy Jackson novel The Last Olympian, warning Percy that if he enters the river Styx, he will obtain great strength but also a greater weakness.

Achilles is a central character in David Malouf's novel Ransom (2009).

Achilles is a major character in the 2008 video game Rise of the Argonauts, wherein he joins the game's main protagonist Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece.

Achilles appears in Wonder Woman comic book story arc The Rise of the Olympians, as a warrior created by Greek God Zeus with the heart of Kane Milohai, Hawaiian God of the Sky, Earth and Upper Heavens.

Achilles appears in W.H. Auden's poem "The Shield of Achilles".

Achilles is a major character in P. C. Cast's sixth Goddess Summoning novel Warrior Rising. The novel centers on his relationship with Polyxena.

Achilles is a major playable character and protagonist for the Greek side in the video game "Warriors Legends of Troy."

Film

The role of Achilles has been played by:

Piero Lulli in Ulysses (1955)

Stanley Baker in Helen of Troy (1956)

Riley Ottenhof in Something about Zeus (1958)

Arturo Dominici in La Guerra di Troia (1962)

Gordon Mitchell in The Fury of Achilles (1962)

Derek Jacobi [voice] in Achilles (Channel Four Television) by Barry Purves (1995)

Steve Davislim in La Belle Hélène (TV, 1996)

Richard Trewett in the miniseries The Odyssey (TV, 1997)

Joe Montana in Helen of Troy (TV, 2003)

Brad Pitt in Troy (2004)

Music

Achilles is a hardcore band.

"Achilles" is an oratorio by German composer Max Bruch (1885).

"Achilles" is a song by Jag Panzer (Casting the Stones).

"Achilles, Agony & Ecstasy In Eight Parts", by Manowar (The Triumph of Steel, 1992).

"Achilles: The Back Breaker" is a song by The Showdown.

Achilles Heel is an album by Pedro the Lion.

"Achilles' Heel" is a song by Toploader.

"Achilles Last Stand", by Led Zeppelin (Presence, 1976).

"Achilles' Revenge" is a song by Warlord.

"Achilles' Wrath" is a concert piece by Sean O'Loughlin.

Achilles' death is mentioned in the song "Helen and Cassandra" from the album "Last Days of the Century" by Al Stewart.

Achilles is referred to in Bob Dylan's song "Temporary Like Achilles".