570 Homer
spear strikes Archelochus instead, “for the gods had
doomed that fighting man to death” (384).
While The Iliad sometimes equates fate with the
will of Zeus, at other times fate stands above even
the gods themselves. Helen wishes to Hector that
she had died as a child, to prevent the destruction
of the Trojan War, but the gods dictated otherwise.
“Zeus planted a killing doom within us both” (207).
As wise Nestor notes, “not a man alive can fight the
will of Zeus.” The gods also see fate as the will of
Zeus. Hera is anguished to see so many Greeks die,
“filling out their fates to the last gasp,” but it is for
Zeus to “decide the fates” (245). Ares, too, is tempted
to intervene (for the Trojans), “[e]ven if fate will
crush me, striking me down with the thunderbolt of
Zeus” (391). Poseidon complains that he should not
have to listen to his brother, Zeus, but that the other
gods’ “fate” is to obey Zeus (394). Even mighty Zeus
complains of his “cruel fate” when faced with the
death of his son Sarpedon (427). In Greek mythol-
ogy, the Fates were three goddesses who spun the
destinies of mortals in thread. As Hera notes of
Achilles, “he must suffer what the Fates spun out.”
But the nature of fate is rarely clear in The Iliad; the
gods frequently intervene lest something happen
“against the will of fate” (514).
At several points in the battle, Zeus weighs “two
fates of death” in his “sacred golden scales” (233).
In Book 8, the Achaeans’ fate goes down, and Zeus
intervenes against them; in Book 22, the fate of the
two great champions is weighed, and it is Hector
whose fate it is to fall to Achilles. It is Zeus who
makes the ultimate prophecy that overshadows The
Iliad, that Patroclus’s death will bring Achilles back
into battle, to slay Hector. The fullest statement on
fate is Hector’s, who is resigned to fate and death.
He states that no one can slay him, against his fate;
“And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither
brave man nor coward... it’s born with us the day
that we are born” (212). Later, though, Hector flees
a battle when he senses “that Zeus had tipped the
scales against him” (434). At that point, Patroclus
might have escaped his fate, had he obeyed Achil-
les’ command to stay near the ships, but “the will of
Zeus will always overpower the will of men” (435).
Zeus drives Patroclus on, and only Apollo prevents
him from taking Troy. Hector slays Patroclus, who
rightly sees that “deadly fate in league with Apollo
killed me” (440). He prophesies that soon “death
and the strong force of fate” will bring Hector
down, in the form of Achilles (440).
Achilles’ situation is more complex. Achilles
clearly has a choice. His mother (the goddess The-
tis) has revealed to him the possibilities, that “two
fates bear me on to the day of death” (265). Either
he can stay to besiege Troy, in which case he will die
soon, and his glory will live forever; or he can head
home, to a long life without pride or glory. With the
death of Patroclus, Achilles embraces the fate that
brings him glory and death. Interestingly, Achil-
les is not the only mortal aware of his choice. The
minor character Euchenor was told by his father (a
prophet) that sailing to Troy meant certain death
in battle, while staying behind meant a slow death
from plague. Like Achilles, Euchenor chose death
in battle as his fate. It may be that all mortals have a
choice of fates, but only a few realize it.
James FordheroiSm in The Iliad
As the Greeks’ greatest fighter, Achilles is the pri-
mary model of heroism in The Iliad. His tremen-
dous courage and power distinguish him, leading
Agamemnon to describe him as “the most violent
man alive” (82). Heroism in The Iliad is a matter of
honor, won especially through glory in battle. The
“godlike Achilles” lives entirely for honor, with-
drawing from the fighting when he is slighted by
Agamemnon (81). His longing for glory is so com-
plete that he prays for the slaughter of the Greek
armies, until he receives the honor he deserves.
Heroism requires courage, and no one is more
courageous than Achilles. Diomedes (another great
hero) argues that “courage, the greatest power of all,”
stands above honor, ruling, or anything else (252).
Both the Greeks and the Trojans are taught cour-
age from birth. Hippolochus tells his son Glaucus,
“Always be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold
your head up high above the others” (202), words
echoed in Peleus’s own advice to his son Achilles
(322). In The Iliad, to be the bravest often is to be
the best.
Heroism is not only about courage, however.
While he is not a fighter like Achilles, Agamem-