Is the Iliad a pro or anti war poem

Is the Iliad a pro- or anti-war poem (or neither)? War is the central motif in Homer’s Iliad, it is the backdrop to the poem and all the characters’ actions, the development of the heroes’ personalities and the chain of events only make sense in wartime. However, that is not enough to make the Iliad into work of art on war, as we understand it. There is a huge difference in how Homer’s poem approaches war and how Good Morning Vietnam, The Hurt Locker or All Quiet on the Western Front do. The Iliad emphasizes the glory of war, it depicts the horrors of battle and plays on the conflicting emotions arising in the men fighting and their loved ones back home. To comprehend, how brutal Homer’s depiction of death is difficult for the readers of the 21st century, because of films and television, and therefore the glorification of warfare is more obvious. When the armies meet and the fighting begins in Book 4, the description becomes very repetitive. Fighting goes on continuously and the devices and clichés applied to duels that help a storyteller recite the story become obvious. As the fighting develops, Homer’s description becomes more horrifying and elaborate. At the early stages in Books 4 and 5, the expression “and his armour clattered around him”1 is used most often. In Book 5, more details are revealed as Diomedes performs his killing-spree. Pedaeus found his grim death at Meges’ spear as it “came through between his teeth and cut out the root of his tongue”2. The brutality is less visible in the duels. The participants generally suffer injuries and either those or the gods break off the fight. However, these wounds seem to heal fast and well as the heroes are not scarred or out of the fighting for long afterwards, like Ajax and Hector’s fight3. By Book 11, the shocking image of Oileus’ death is described in detail and how his brains “spattered all the inside of the helmet”4. Obviously, Homer dedicates much attention to the horrors of ancient warfare, I think it to be the horrors rather than the reality. He does not seem to want to achieve anything by this. His figures are not moved by all the bloodshed, they do not suffer anything similar to modern shellshock and the audience is not as affected neither, because the scenes are too much to take in separately, they are repetitive, a poetic overtone makes them more distant and unreal, unlike the audiovisual media of our time, and because the readers await the development of the storyline. Why does Homer do it then? These pictures must have 1 Homer, Iliad, Penguin Books, London, 2003, 4.504f Homer, Iliad, 5.74f 3 Homer, Iliad, 7.226ff 4 Homer, Iliad, 11.96f 2 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC had a different impact on the ancient audience, they were used as illustrations of the ‘bloody battle’ and should rather be compared to fighting scenes in an action movie than a war drama. The brutality is present, but not striking, it contributes to the atmosphere. Homer does not consider the horrors of war on a grand scale as much as he deals with the glory of war. For most of human history, war was a constant and essential part of life. Therefore fighting had its place in religion, traditions and daily business. Many of the warriors in the Iliad are driven to fight harder by their heritage. Pandarus, “the best archer Lycia can boast”5, is the son of “the spearman Lycaon”6. Antilochus is the son of Nestor, who himself is fighting along the Greeks. War therefore seems to be something young men had to do as descendents of their family. They fought because their fathers fought and their children will fight as they have fought, like Hector and Andromache wish for their son Astyanax7. This is certainly a pro-war image encouraging young men to fight in battle. Gods play a major role in the Iliad and the outcome of the fighting. Because they were so important and respected in the ancient Greek world, I think this again adds to the value of warfare. Although gods dealt with all sorts of business from feasting to poetry, the amount and depth of their intervention in the war is remarkable. War appears to be the method to be in a god’s presence, to interact with gods personally, to win their favour or, as in Diomedes’ case, who himself is just a mortal, to even fight them. From the Iliad, it seems as if excellence in fighting on the battlefield was a good way to getting close to the gods, which must have encouraged fighting and its impact is again pro-war. It is not only their interaction with men that can make one feel closer to the gods in war. Most of the soldiers cannot see them; they only feel the impact of their decisions and pray to the gods. The decision of who wins the battle does not lie with the mortals. It was “a prophet” that “guided the Greek ships to Ilium.”8 Zeus has the authority to control the outcome as it is shown in the dream he sends to Agamemnon, “the immortals that live on Olympus are no longer divided ... the Trojans’ fate is sealed.”9 His word is accepted by the warlords and the audience no doubt found this reasonable, because everything happens as Zeus “has decided, such is his absolute power.”10 Athene helps Diomedes in the battle, not only to win over men, but to fight the immortals11. Book 6 starts with the parties carrying “on 5 Homer, Iliad, 5.172 Homer, Iliad, 5.199 7 Homer, Iliad, 6.477ff 8 Homer, Iliad, 1.66ff 9 Homer, Iliad, 2.13ff 10 Homer, Iliad, 2.117f 11 Homer, Iliad, 5.128ff 6 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC the grim struggle without divine interference”12, but the gods are in some way always present, the warriors being “servants of the War-god Ares”13, who is also called “awe-inspiring”14. Hector credits the successes of the Greek attackers to divine help, “oracles must have told them”15 and Apollo and Zeus discuss raising his “fighting spirit”. Battle is depicted as more than just fighting, it is “the War-god’s deadly dance.”16 All this divine help and intrigue, especially with the clear hierarchy, makes the warriors instruments of the gods. This idea is similar to what the crusaders thought of themselves from the 11th century onwards. In a religious society, this could be a strong motive. There is a strikingly positive side to the warriors’ life; the spoils of war. War booty is constantly mentioned and can actually play a key role, as it is the cause of Achilles’ absence from the battlefield. Soldiers seem to have plenty of women at their hands, their cups filled with wine that is in constant supply to the army and feasts celebrated on a daily basis as oxen are sacrificed to the deities, their numbers seemingly exceeding the number of even the fallen warriors. Odysseus and Diomedes capture great Thracian horses in their night raid and Agamemnon on his rampage goes off with dozens of “splendid armour”17 of his slain enemies. These images, however mixed with the cruelty and brutality, are appealing to any adventurous young man and are not far off from war propaganda. War is glorified by these symbols, but it possesses value in its own right as well. Greeks are often called “war-loving”18. This appears to us and in connection with anti-war art more like an oxymoron, when put against the strongest anti-war slogan of the past century; “Make love not war”. To Achilles or Ajax and many of the heroes on both sides, being a warrior is their raison d’être19. Fighting is their nature. Homer makes his characters use the term “battle where men win glory”20 and this really shows the attitude towards war. Hector’s mother asks him why he has left the “brave conflict”21. He later tells his wife, that “war is men’s business”22 which is also true in the Iliad if turned around; men’s business is war. 12 Homer, Iliad, 6.1f Homer, Iliad, 6.68 14 Homer, Iliad, 7.207 15 Homer, Iliad, 6.438 16 Homer, Iliad, 7.241 17 Homer, Iliad, 11.247 18 Homer, Iliad, 6.74 19 Burgess, Jonathan S., The Death and Afterlife of Achilles, The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2009, p.8 20 Homer, Iliad, 6.125 21 Homer, Iliad, 6.255 22 Homer, Iliad, 6.492ff 13 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC The gain of personal fame and glory is the most important drive for many of the heroes’ actions. Achilles shows bravery by going to war and killing Hector, although he knows this will inevitably result in his own death. This death is eventually the pinnacle of his life as well, the moment that gives meaning to his biography23. In Book 16, Sarpedon is killed by Patroclus. Beside the fact that he was Zeus’ son, he was carried off the battlefield by Sleep and Death. To achieve such an honourable death and after-death treatment, it was not enough to be of divine origin, but he had to excel at fighting24. This poses to young man another motive to go to war and die fighting. As the war gets more and more intense, it corrupts the minds of the heroes who become the more obsessed with their personal tîmê, honour. Their tîmê should bring them a “fair fame”25 or kleos. Achilles chooses fame over longevity and honour over helping his allies, Hector also is more concerned about his tîmê than the strategic defence of the city and refuses to withdraw26. He silences Andromache, when she asks him to remain on the walls for his family’s sake, because that would inflict on his aretê, a special “prowess in battle”27. Although the major heroes’ attitude that honour should be the most important is not uncontested in the Iliad, it still elevates them and makes them heroes, even 2700 years later. What must have appeared as a negative aspect to Greeks in Homer’s time the most was how unusual life went at war. Reading the Iliad, it is easy to forget that the Trojans and the Greeks have been fighting for a decade. The heroes of the Iliad are all kings, princes and aristocrats who fight for personal fame even against the common goal. This must have been contrary to the values of the Greeks living in poleis and fighting in tight hoplite formations. The lawlessness shown on Achilles’ shield would have been very different to the Greek communities28. The handling of the enemies’ corpses, even the art of fighting would have been strange and maybe negative for the Greeks of the Archaic and Classical periods. King Agamemnons treatment of Chryses, the old priest of Zeus, is as unacceptable to the troops and gods in the Iliad as it must have been to Homer’s audience. The contrast of these scenes with the occasional glimpse of normality highlights how war changes human behaviour29. The 23 Burgess, Jonathan S., The Death and Afterlife of Achilles, p.8 Burgess, Jonathan S., The Death and Afterlife of Achilles, p.77 25 Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1997, p.11f 26 Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, p.54 27 Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, p.11 28 Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, p.52 29 Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, p.51 24 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC assemblies of the army leaders, “meetings of the assembly where men win glory”30, were closer to the audience and show how barbaric war was. The Iliad is built up around war, but it still is just a setting and not the main issue. The story runs along lot more personal levels, unlike in war novels that deal with war. The big issue of warfare, the why we fight is only addresses by Achilles at the start and once later by the Trojans. The Iliad does not try to argue for or against the idea of war. Its heroes are born out of the war and the tragedies are those of war, parents left without sons, wives left widows and children left orphans, but Homer does not cast a judgement. Much blood is spilled throughout the fighting, but it used as a dramatic effect. The fact that the fighting does not cause much development in the story should not be seen as an allegory of the pointlessness of war. In the strongly patriarchal society of ancient Greece, putting the warriors into a lineage of other warriors and making war their heritage is obvious and certainly encourages readers to see fighting on the battlefield as a duty to their ancestors, but it is not enough to make the work a pro-war poem. The gods in the Iliad, mostly because of their massive involvement in the course of actions, do not take a clear position. Their interventions are never final and they change their mind easily. However, the fact that they steer the events elevates war from the mortal level. The glory of war and the war booty, the adventurous and overly positive characteristics, are overshadowed by other motifs. The tragic death of the heroes, followed by the grief of the comrades and families, and the minds of the warriors corrupted by tîmê are constant reminders of the two sides to war. 30 Homer, Iliad, 1.491 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC Sources: 1. Burgess, Jonathan S., The Death and Afterlife of Achilles, The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2009 2. Homer, Iliad, Penguin Books, London, 2003 3. Zanker, Graham, The Heart of Achilles, Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1997 Word count: 2019 Daniel Dalicsek, AMHC