The Iliad 569but even more for an end to the war. Instead, the
goddess Aphrodite rescues Paris before Menelaus
can kill him. The great clash of armies resumes,
with “screams of men and cries of triumph break-
ing in one breath, fighters killing, fighters killed,
and the ground streamed blood” (160). Slain heroes
are named, while countless others suffer nameless
deaths. Antilochus kills the Trojan captain Eche-
polus, and the slaughter is on. Elephenor tries to
strip the dead man’s gear and is himself stabbed in
the ribs. “His life spirit left him and over his dead
body now the savage work went on” (160–161).
Meanwhile, Apollo cheers the Trojans on with a
cry of “Stab them, slash their flesh!” (162). When
not encouraging the slaughter, the gods often save
their favorite heroes. Aphrodite saves the wounded
Aeneas from Diomedes, who stabs her in the wrist
as punishment. Athena saves Diomedes from Ares,
and together they spear the god in the belt. Ulti-
mately, death is beyond even the gods’ control. The
goddess Hera says it best: “Men—let one of them
die, another live, however their luck may run. Let
Zeus decide . . .” (245). While Zeus is tempted to
intervene for his favorites, first Sarpedon and then
Hector, both times Hera rebukes him. Zeus con-
cludes, with pity, that “there is nothing alive more
agonized than man of all that breathe and crawl
across the earth” (457).
Homer’s account of death is often brutal and
graphic, as when Ajax slashes a man at the nip-
ple “clean through the shoulder” (161). Leucus is
gouged in the groin, while Diomedes spears Pan-
darus right between the eyes. At other times deaths
are merely listed. Hector and Ares slaughter seven
men in succession, with little detail. But the horrible
cost of death—both for the fallen and for their loved
ones—is always clear. Diomedes kills the two sons of
Eurydamas, and “left their father tears and wrench-
ing grief... distant kin would carve apart their
birthright” (169). Andromache pleads with her hus-
band Hector “before you orphan your son and make
your wife a widow” (210). Both realize that slavery
awaits her when Troy falls. The battle is often halted
so that the dead can be gathered, the bodies burned.
Both sides build their funeral pyres, “their hearts
breaking” (228). While souls are said to travel to
the House of Death, no details are given, and that
hint of afterlife is no consolation. Patroclus’s soul
goes down, “wailing his fate” (440), as does Hec-
tor’s a short while later. Men are ashamed to fail in
the defense of fallen heroes, and some of the most
vicious fighting is for the bodies of the dead.
Most heroes struggle for an honorable death.
Agamemnon calls for retreat as one battle goes
poorly, saying it is “better to flee from death than
feel its grip,” but Odysseus rebukes him for this
“nonsense” (372). Similarly, Hector says of a fallen
comrade that “he dies fighting for fatherland—no
dishonor there!” (403). Great warriors on both sides
question the value of war. Sarpedon once calls to
Glaucus, if only the two could escape and live for-
ever, he would never fight again; but alas, “the fates
of death await us” (335). Achilles refuses a king’s
ransom to reenter the war, since “a man’s life breath
cannot come back again” (265). Of course, all his
reservations fade with the death of his friend Patro-
clus. Achilles goes to meet his death, as long as he
can kill Hector. The final word on death is Priam’s.
Hector’s father tells Achilles that “all looks fine and
noble” for a young man killed in war, but an old
man dead is “the cruelest sight in all our wretched
lives!” (543–544). Achilles grants Priam 11 days for
mourning and Hector’s funeral. The poem ends as it
began, with the cost of death abundantly clear.
James FordFate in The Iliad
Fate is a pervasive theme in The Iliad, as all of the
mortal characters are conscious of the grim fate—
death—that ultimately awaits them. Fate is most
often described as driving the characters on to their
deaths. This is particularly true for minor characters
on both sides of the battle: “destiny guided Amphius
on,” straight into Ajax’s spear (184); similarly for
Tlepolemus: “his strong fate was driving him now
against Sarpedon,” who promptly kills Tlepolemus.
Death and fate are closely linked for great heroes
as well. Seeing his brother Menelaus seriously
wounded, Agamemnon wonders what will happen
to the Greeks “if you die now, if you fill out your
destiny now.” At times the fate of death narrowly
misses one hero only to strike another. Ajax hurls
his spear at Polydamas, “but the Trojan dodged black
fate himself with a quick spring to the side”; the