This article was downloaded by: [Cambridge University Library]

On: 12 August 2015, At: 03:58

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place,
London, SW1P 1WG

Symbolae Osloenses: Norwegian Journal of Greek and

Latin Studies
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/sosl20

Some thoughts on the shield of Achilles

a
Øivind Andersen
a
University of Oslo ,
Published online: 22 Jul 2008.

To cite this article: Øivind Andersen (1976) Some thoughts on the shield of Achilles, Symbolae Osloenses: Norwegian Journal of
Greek and Latin Studies, 51:1, 5-18, DOI: 10.1080/00397677608590683

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00397677608590683

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the
publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations
or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any
opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the
views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be
independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,
actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever
caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any
form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://
www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
 Symbolae Osloenses Vol. LI, 5-18

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES

BY

Ø IVIND ANDERSEN
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

University of Oslo

In this paper, I am not concerned with anything connected with what

may be called the archaeology of the Homeric Shield, be it its shape
and design or its relation to real shields.1
Certainly the idea that Homer is actually describing an existing
shield or conceiving his Shield in technical detail is wrong, though of
course to some extent the poet will in his description be conditioned
by his acquaintance with actual lavishly decorated metal objects like
shields, swords, and cups. In part also, his description may be depen-
dent upon the conventions of an already existing 'literary' genos,2 and
one can even throw some light upon the Shield from Oriental sources.3
Nevertheless, one can safely say with J. Th. Kakridis that 'Achilles'
Shield is a creation conceived in Homer's imagination alone'.4 So we
for our part will look for what is unique and Homeric in the Shield.
What interests me more specifically is the contents of the decoration
on the Shield and its function within the framework of the Iliad. I
should like to submit for discussion some thoughts on aspects of the
description that to my mind have hitherto been left unnoticed, in
spite of everything that has been written precisely on the uniqueness
of the Homeric Shield.
Lessing, in a footnote to his Laokoon (Ch. XVIII), says that 'Homer
with a few pictures made his Shield a comprehension - Inbegriff- of
everything that takes place in the world'. This, one may say, is the
basic truth about the Shield of Achilles that makes it outstanding
amongst literary shield descriptions and certainly amongst real
shields. Later interpretations, like those of Schadewaldt and Rein-
hardt, accept, though they may slightly, modify, Lessing's dictum.5
Reinhardt finds in the Shield a vision of 'the continuity of life'.6
Schadewaldt speaks of the 'well-ordered world at large' and of 'the
basic forms of life' that are depicted,7 e.g. in the antithesis between
 6 0IVIND ANDERSEN

the city at war and the city at peace and, as regards the latter, again
in the contrast between the weddings and the trial: unity and discord.
Others also have held similar views.8
I do not want to question here the justification or appropriateness
of this rather philosophical interpretation. For there can be no doubt
that this reading of the Shield also makes it poetically significant. The
Shield with its Fullness of Life contrasts sharply with the self-doomed
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

young hero who will use it when avenging his friend. It reminds us of
the life that Achilles has chosen to give up. Also, especially the latter
part of the description of the Shield is complementary to the Iliad as
a whole, in that it brings into the poem aspects of life that otherwise
are left out, except to a certain degree in the similes. I will not enter
further into this kind of interpretation, which for Shadewaldt, Rein-
hardt, and Marg and to some extent for Sheppard too, amounts to a
proof that the Shield belongs necessarily in the Iliad, and at this point
in the Iliad. I certainly think this is right.
The deeper the relationship between the Shield and the Iliad, how-
ever, the more general and abstract it is. Less profound observers may
complain that they can find no obvious relationship between the
Shield and the action of the Iliad, the situation in which it is to be
used and the main hero of the Iliad, for whom the Shield is being
made.9 Schadewaldt of course finds the inner link that we have loosely
established certainly significant enough.10 And Reinhardt seems to
consider this absence of any specific reference to Achilles and his fate
as a prerequisite for the deeper significance of the Shield; the Shield
is not related to any one theme within the Iliad, but to the Iliad itself.11
Similarly Marg maintains that the description of the Shield is un-
related to the action of the Iliad12 - though of course he along with
Schadewaldt and Reinhardt has something to say on its relationship
to. the Iliad as such and moreover to my mind has removed the last
doubt as to the status of the Shield within the poem. As Marg notes,
the pictures on the Shield are meaningless to Achilles, who at this
stage has only one idea - revenge. For the observer on the other hand,
Marg says, the Shield's deep relationship to Achilles will be apparent
because of the contrast to the Iliad: 'A Shield that makes us see the
whole human world, with distress and ardour, but above all with its
joy.'13 In Sheppard's words, the pattern of the Shield is tragically
significant.14 This may be quite right.
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 7

It seems to me, however, that there are also other ways - more
direct ways, but perhaps somewhat difficult to detect - in which the
Shield is linked with the Iliad. There are certain things in the de-
scription of the Shield which must be understood in the light of the
action of the Iliad. It must in all fairness be said that especially Rein-
hardt, but also Marg and Sheppard have pointed to some of these
features. But they have not used this approach as a key to the inter-
pretation. Th'is we will proceed to do, starting from our assumption
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

that the Shield contains variations, as it were, on Iliadic themes. They

are not explicitly designated as such, but nevertheless consciously de-
signed with a view to this function. There are so to speak two levels,
at least in parts of the Shield description, above all in the trial scene.
I should say, however, that I am not concerned with some sort of
interpretatio arcana that will take us into Homer's secrets by revealing
a system of hidden meanings. My only aim is to show that certain
things are on the Shield only because the Shield is in the Iliad and that
they have specific significance in the light of the Iliadic context. You
might call it an artful and playful repetition of themes.
To demonstrate that the Shield is not a 'general' picture, but a kind
of mirror for the Iliad, we first bring to mind some of those things
that are not represented on the Shield. It has often been remarked that
no trade is represented, nothing connected with sea, shipping, and
fishery, no craftmanship or artistry - except by the potter in the simile
(600 f.) and by Daedalus (592), neither of whom should be confused
with the Shield decoration. Also there is practically no domestic
work or anything performed by women, except at 559 f.15 There is
obviously some principle of selection. That all the work scenes are
connected with agriculture and the earth or domestic animals may
well be taken as an indication that the poet is concentrating on funda-
mental aspects of life. We are also, however, led to think of the land-
owner, the man of riches; consider the king who is supervising every-
thing (556). One may say that the life depicted is the peaceful side of
the life that an Achilles has given up, not life in general.
More significant are other omissions that seem to imply a conscious
limitation to the Iliadic framework. Death is present, but only in war.
That the trial has to do with a slain man is a different thing. Anyway
that would also be an instance of violent death, not of death as the
end of all human life. Funeral processions and lamentations for the
 8 0IVIND ANDERSEN

dead are fundamental and frequent events in the life of the community,
certainly more so than trials, and are a more striking contrast to
•weddings also. Also all illness is banished from the Shield. And what
is most surprising: any reference to specific religious functions and
practices are lacking, whether it be prayers and sacrifices or whole
festivals. Of course, weddings and harvest festivals aTe religious, but
this aspect certainly is played down. The gods are absent. That they
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

are present in battle (516) is a rather different thing -.incidentally a

very Iliadic feature.
Let us now consider some of the things that are represented on the
Shield, mainly the city at war and the war scene (509-540) and the'
city at peace (491-508).
The war scene (509-540) constitutes the longest description of a
single action or activity on the Shield. Some words on its footing
within the literary composition of the Shield may therefore be ap-
propriate; of its place on an imagined shield I dare say nothing.
After the cosmic introduction (483-489), which is in a way taken
up again in the mentioning of Okeanos at the end of the description
(607 f.), there follows the city at peace (491-508). It again has its
counterpart in the social events with dancing and music depicted near
the end (590-606); the two pieces are also practically the same length.
The war scene (509-540) matches the description of the agricultural
activities (541-572) and the herding (573-589), which by their con-
trasting effect to the war scene and in view of their relationship to
the next scenes in the overall picture (city at peace - final social event)
must be taken as a unity, so that one may say that the peaceful and
the joyful outweigh the terrifying, which comes very much to the fore
at the end of the war scene.16
On the other hand, lines 541-589 constitute a unity only from a
certain point of view. Already the distribution of the lines gives an
indication of this. To the war scene (509-540) corresponds then the
practically equally long agricultural part that follows immediately
upon it (541-572). The herding on the other hand with its seventeen
lines (573-589) in bulk corresponds closely to the city at peace
(491-508), which comes before the war scene, and one may also see
an inner correspondence in the fact that the herding scene with its
attacking lions and fighting takes us back to the discord of the trial
scene - and also, incidentally, to aspects of the war scene. There is
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 9

general correspondence and balance, no strict schematism. It is typical

of Homer that he employs a free symmetry without letting the formal
structure of 'geometry' impose itself unduly upon the subject matter.
The text has more than one aspect and one dimension and may in
one point contain and combine a host of associations.
The war scene anyway is a central picture and the most elaborate
one. We follow the development of an action, without however seeing
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

the final result. That is not because it would be technically impossible

on Homer's Shield, but because the poet wants to keep everything
open and unsettled.17 In this way it is more dramatic. Still it may also
have a deeper significance.
One may wonder, as one has indeed wondered, what kind of war
is being described. Perhaps it is a smaller feud for booty between two
neighbouring communities, not unlike the one recounted by Nestor in
book eleven.18 So one may conjecture that the aggressors have cattle
somewhere near the city and that the city-dwellers are out raiding
for it. When the ambush by the river develops into a major battle,
we get a glimpse of a kind of warfare that is not represented in the
Iliad. The ambush then, as the central part of the war scene (520-529),
may, on the principle of complementarity, be taken as related to
the Iliad, apart from its serving excellently the function of motivating
a real fight. As to the general war situation, however, it has very
obvious similarities to the situation before Troy. Of course, the city
at war does not represent Troy in the sense that there is a point-
to-point correspondence.19 Only the picture of the war on the Shield
may owe certain features to the Iliad. For instance the very fact that
there is no victorious party!
That there are two discordant armies besieging the city is really
surprising. It is obviously not a necessity for artistic reasons that there
should be disagreement in the army.20 It does remind us of the Greeks
before Troy. I am not so much thinking of the quarrel between Aga-
memnon and Achilles as of the latent dilemma that finds expression
in Diomedes' words 7,400-402, when he refuses to consider any divi-
sion of riches or any compromise whatsoever.21
Also one may point to the fact that the besiegers in the war scene
are very confident of their victory, like Agamemnon once was (2,36-
38) when he considered the prospect of conquering Priamos' city that
very day - only to be severely disappointed in his self-esteem. Sim-
 10 0IVIND ANDERSEN

ilarly the besiegers in the war scene receive a hard and unexpected
blow when the people from the city lay an ambush: nothing is decided
as yet.
Some will find these points of correspondence very hypothetical
and rather far-fetched. Other links are nearer at hand. Line 514 f.
about the women, the children and the elders on the city wall remind
us both of Hector's words in 8,517 ff. and of the teichoskopia in the
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

third book. This of course may be considered such a common feature

in a general picture of a beleaguered city that it cannot be significant,
and against this point of view I can only refer to the cumulative effect
of my argument which makes me consider it significant, i.e.
Iliadic.
Ares and Athena are leading the soldiers from the city (516-19).
This would be quite an extraordinary divine 'machinery' for a small
local war or rather an ambush. Certainly the two gods are introduced
from the Iliad, where they fight in a more appropriate context. It is
worth noting, however, that on the Shield the two opposing gods sup-
port the same party. Perhaps this is meant to remind us of the ar-
bitrary goodwill of the gods. Also, of course, it would be rather awk-
ward having a god in front of the soldiers from the camp hastening
to the rescue of the cattle.
Finally let us consider the actual fighting in the war scene. It cer-
tainly, as Schadewaldt says,21 has a touch of the heroic. It is a great
and cruel fight, no skirmishing such as one would expect in the cir-
cumstances. It is so dramatically depicted that the poet for the first
and only time in the Shield description comes so close to blurring the
border between the picture and reality that he emphatically points to
it (539): (hfiiksov S*a>g xe Ccooi ppoxoi ijd' i/idxovro. We are very nearly
taken back into the Iliadic battle again.
I want to point out two more things only.
Firstly, that the presence of Eris, Kydoimos, and Ker in the battle
certainly is not typical of the Iliad, although Eris at least is not" a new-
comer at this stage.23 Naturally, they make the fighting on this occa-
sion appear especially gruesome, and that may be justification enough
for their presence. They may have been depicted here also because
such frightful creatures belong traditionally to shield ornamentation.
Another explanation seems to me to be that Homer by way of these
beings is able to 'replace' the heroes of the Iliad and still retain a
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 11

similar picture of a battle where single individuals dominate the fight-

ing. The whole description would otherwise have been very anony-
mous.
The second thing to note is that the battle as we leave it is a fight
over and for dead bodies. I fully support Marg, who says that this
must be seen in connection with the fight for the corpse of Patroclus,
and that it gives new aspects of it.24 The battle scene is meant to
remind us of the foregoing fighting in the Iliad and of the fate of
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

Patroclus - and of Achilles, who is now going to avenge his dead

friend.
Turning now to the wedding scene in the city at peace (491-496),
I can state my view very briefly. I do not see this scene primarily as
a representation of a basic human institution. The weddings are in-
troduced here for a much more specific purpose, namely to make us
think of the fatal role of Helen. The wedding ceremonies on the Shield
truly are full of happiness, showing things the way they should be. It
contrasts sharply with the way the seducer Paris and the unfaithful
Helen by their destruction of a marriage brought about the Trojan
war. The wedding scene then takes us right back to the root of the
war. One may of course also think of Briseis and Achilles (compare
9,334-343) and even of Hector and Andromache - of human happiness
destroyed by war, by the Trojan war.25
We have arrived at our final point, the trial scene (497-508). For
obvious reasons I cannot consider all aspects of this much-debated
scene. Anybody who wants to be put firmly into the picture may read
Hildebrecht Hommel's recent article on the trial scene, where the main
problems and the main lines of argument are clearly set out and much
of the earlier research surveyed.26
On the organization of the trial, the relationship between istor and
gerontes, and the question of the two gold talents, I shall say only
this much: there seems to me hardly room for doubt that the two
talents are tendered by the two parties, who have had to agree to
resort to arbitration anyway, and that they are meant for the one
amongst the elders whose votum is accepted. I think furthermore that
the one who decides about acceptance and whose decision again the
parties must abide by, is the istor."
The main point of interest is what the trial is actually about, a
problem 'which has become the central point in a dispute that bids
 12 0IVIND ANDERSEN

fair to prove interminable', as Calhoun wrote in 1927 and as may be

said to-day as well. 28 1 should like to contribute to its solution by use
of my special key.29
The text only says the following (497-500):
Xaoi S' eiv dyopfj ecrav aQpoor ev&a 5k
&>p<bpEi, dvo S'avSpeq eveixeov eivexa noivrjq
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

avdpoQ aitoq>9ifjsvov 6 pxv evxero Ttdvr' anodovvai

drjnq> m(pavaxoiv, 6 6' avaivszo firjdev

There are basically two views of the matter, owing to the fact that the
text of line 499 f. may be translated in two different ways. 'O /xsv
eo/ero ndvt' anodovvai may mean either: 'the one claimed to have
paid everything (in full)' or: 'the one promised he would pay every-
thing (in full)'. 'O 3' avaivsxo fitjdev ete<r9ai may mean either: 'the
other denied that he had received anything' or: 'the other refused to
accept anything'.30
Accordingly, the trial may be of two very different kinds. For a very
long time it was assumed without question that it was OVCT the issue
whether the poine had actually been paid in full or not. This is still
the view that has the widest support, especially amongst philologists.
Historians of law on the other hand, but also some philologists, tend
to favour the view that the trial concerns the question whether blood
price for the slain man should be accepted or not. That the relatives
of the slain man were willing to refer this to arbitration may seem a
little strange. We obviously on this interpretation are in a transitional
stage of jurisdiction and the rule of law.
I should like first to support this second interpretation with a few
rather general considerations that are apt to show the improbability
of the first one.
That this kind of civil case over the paying of a debt is otherwise
unknown in Homer may be an argument of slight importance.31
Of more substance is the objection that in the event that this factual
question is the point at issue in the trial, the fact that the debt con-
sists of blood money for a slain man becomes wholly irrelevant - 'the
homicide itself is not in issue' as Calhoun says.32 Moreover it is sur-
prising to say the least if the great excitement pervading the market-
place is only about whether a debt has been paid in full or not. How
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 13

much more dramatic the situation if people are engrossed in the much
more important question how the bloodguilt is going to be atoned for!
The seriousness of the case would also to my mind make it more ap-
propriate to the Shield. It also seems unlikely that in an obvious case
of factual discrepancy both parties would eagerly seek to have the case
settled by an istor. For one party certainly is lying and will necessarily
by proven wrong. Especially strange is the case on the first interpreta-
tion when one considers that one party says he has paid everything
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

and the other says he has received nothing. Much more likely - and
much more difficult - would be a complaint from the receiver that
he has not received the/«// price. As it now stands, either the sum has
been paid in full or nothing has been paid at all. There does not seem
to be much room for difference of opinion amongst the elders, nor
any reason to reward any of them with two talents of gold for decid-
ing such a case. The facts simply must be too obvious.
Further arguments in favour of the second interpretation may be
gained by refuting what Hommel has to say in support of the first one.33
Firstly, I cannot see that the Srjficp nupavaxcov of line 500 (which
by implication applies to both parties) is a more natural thing if we
have to do with a civil case where the homicide itself is not in issue.
Both parties are eagerly propagating their point of view. The slayer
points eagerly to all that he is offering.
That the case on the second interpretation would interest the family
only, as Hommel maintains, seems to me a rather unwarranted con-
tention. As already pointed out, the question whether the slayer will
manage to buy himself free, once it is referred to arbitration, is a far
more important and exciting question for the people involved as well
as for the community at large. Further, the question of 'everything'
or 'nothing'. This Hommel finds inappropriate in a context where
one has not even decided whether poine is at all acceptable. But cer-
tainly the slayer says he will pay anything, 'the full price', while the
other party refuses to receive anything whatsoever: he is for blood
feud. The contrast helps to focus on the importance of the decision.
Any sum would be acceptable to the murderer, no sum sufficient for
the slain man's relatives. In this case, the one who can settle the dispute
really deserves his two talents of gold.
Finally, Hommel finds it unacceptable that the murderer and his
party should have any influence upon the kind of retribution or atone-
 14 0IVIND ANDERSEN

ment (Genugtuung) and that one could have a trial on this assump-
tion. Anyway, Hommel says, one would need another verb than
svxeoBai as a pendant to ivaivexo, like aheiv or xsXeveiv. This seems
to me to be unnecessary in view of the fact that arbitration has al-
ready been established. In some way or other both parties have been
brought to refrain from further acts of violence until the gerontes and
the istor have suggested a way out. The murderer certainly will do
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

anything to avoid a blood feud; the other party maintains that only
bloodshed or exile can be an appropriate reaction, but still has left
it to the gerontes and the istor to decide.
Now let us turn to the Homeric poems to see what they have to
say on blood money for a slain man. The prevailing impression is
one of murderers having to flee their land and turn up somewhere else
as suppliants. In the Eiad, this is even used in a simile of Priamus
suddenly appearing in front of Achilles (24,480 f.):

dx; 5' ox' &v dvSp' dxrj noxivi] kafir], OQ x' evi ndxprj
qx&xa xaxaxxeivat; aXXcov k^ixexo Sfjuov

In the Iliad, one may compare 2,662 if.; 13,695 ff.; 15,431 f.; 16,573 flf.
and 23,85 ff. From the Odyssey, the figure of Theoclymenus imme-
diately springs to mind, 15,223 ff., especially 272-276. The paying of
a blood price apparently is not established as the rule.
At one point, however, very significantly, the question of accept-
ing poine comes to the fore. In the ninth book of the Iliad, Achilles
refuses Agamomnon's offer of compensation. He furiously replies to
Odysseus' long speech and also does not change his attitude basically
after Phoinix' appeal. Then Ajax speaks, directing his words of angry
resignation first to Odysseus, then to Achilles. He says (9,632-
638):

xai pJv r/g xe xaaiyvrjxow (povfjoq

noiv^v rj o5 nmddq ide&xo xeQvrjdixos'
xai p" 6 fiev iv Sjjp.cp fxivet abxoo noXk' anoxsiaa;,
TOO 66 T* iprjxoexai xpaSirj xai 9op.d<; ayjjvcop
noivTjv de£ap£v<p- aoi b" aXhjxxov xe xaxov xe
Svpdv ivi axijSeoci Qeoi &iaav sivsxa xovpqg
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 15

Here Achilles is blamed for not being willing to receive compensation

although a brother accepts it for a slain brother as does a father for
a slain son. It seems to be common practice to accept blood price.
I think it is far from a coincidence that the idea of a blood price is
brought in at this crucial point in the Presbeia where Ajax is in a way
summing up their failure - and that the trial scene on the Shield is
about the question of accepting blood price.
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

The trial scene is meant to remind us of the conflict between Achilles

and Agamemnon and Achilles' fatal attitude: that is its raison d'etre.
Once this is seen, I don't think there is much need for elaboration.
Agamemnon is prepared to pay to the full. He offers incredible riches
(9,264-99). Achilles refuses - even if Agamemnon offered him ten
times or twenty times as much, he would refuse (9,379).
The trial scene on the Shield is left without any hint as to its final
outcome. So in the Iliad after the ninth book the positions are locked,
until in book nineteen, immediately after the Shield description, there
is a reconciliation, though for a different reason.
In the light of the above, the natural interpretation of the trial scene
is the one that we have also for other reasons found to be the more
likely one. The one promises to pay in full, the other refuses to receive
anything.
Having got thus far, however, I think we may proceed a little further.
I think the trial scene has more to it than this in the way of Iliadic
associations. Both in the first and in the last book of the Iliad we meet
an old father seeking to ransom his child. Of course, this is not the
same thing as paying blood price for somebody who has been slain -
but then the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles also has an-
other content than this. We look for what is common. The ransoming
of Chryseis by Chryses is of less interest in this connection, and is in
itself a minor incident but for its consequences. With Priamus appear-
ing before Achilles to obtain the ransoming of Hector's dead body,
it is different. Achilles has killed Hector in revenge for Patroclus. In
the Iliadic context of course, the paying off by blood price in this in-
stance would be absurd. As for Achilles' attitude to the dead Hector,
it is characterized by an insatiable lust for destruction and humilia-
tion. In an unseemly way Achilles extends revenge beyond death.
Through his mother, the gods let him know about their disgust with
his behaviour (24,134-37):
 16 0IVIND ANDERSEN

aoi <pr\oi fkovg, is 5' e£oxa ndvccov

a&avdrcov xsxokcoaSai, on fpsai fiaivofisvrjaiv
"Exxop' exsiQ napd vrfvai xopcoviaiv obb"
akk' ays Sfj kvaov, vexpoTo 8b ds'fri dnoiva.

I don't think anybody at this stage will fail to see the connection
with the trial scene on the Shield. Here Achilles is conditioned to
accept the anspsfoi' dnoiva (502) for a dead man, and the Iliad ends
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

with the great and moving Reconciliation. There must be an end to

revenge, whether one thinks of continuous blood feud, as it is still
an issue on the Shield, or one considers Achilles maiming the dead
Hector. The trial scene therefore has to do with a central idea in the
Iliad, and with more than one important part of the action of the poem.
The poet of the Iliad is also the poet of the Shield. The great inter-
preters of the Shield have all found it particularly meaningful that
the bard himself appears in line 605 f.34 Certainly it is wrong to
athetize the words about the bard.35 To us it seems doubly signif-
icant that Homer has thus placed himself on the Shield - many-
minded Homer.

NOTES
The substance of this paper was communicated at the International Seminar on
Homer sponsored by the International Society for Homeric Studies, Athens,
July 1975.
1
Archaeological aspects of the Shield are thoroughly treated by K. Fittschen
in vol. Π of Archaeologia Homerica, fasc. N (Göttingen 1973).
2
See J. Th. Kakridis, 'Imagined Ecphrases', Homer Revisited, Lund 1971,
108-124 (Publications of the New Society of Letters at Lund 64).
3
See H. Schrade, Götter und Menschen Homers, Stuttgart 1952, 78 ff.
4
Kakridis 108. Compare W. Schadewaldt, 'Der Schild des Achilleus', Von
Homers Welt und Werk, 4Stuttgart 1965, 352-374 on page 357: 'Der Schild des
Achilleus ist . . . in . . . der Gedankenwerkstatt Homers entstanden.'
5 Lessing himself, who treats the Shield mainly in Ch. XIX, is concerned in
Ch. XVIII with a comparison between the Shield of Achilles and the Shield of
Aeneas, and Vergil as an aemulator is not left with much honour. Schadewaldt
and Reinhardt (Die Ilias und ihr Dichter, Göttingen 1961, 401-411) rather work
out Homer's unique conception in contrasting it with the Ps.-Hesiodic Shield,
which on the one hand seems to be influenced by Homer while on the other
 Some Thoughts on the Shield of Achilles 17

hand with its terrifying contents is closer to what we should expect as a shield
decoration.
6 Reinhardt 405 f.
7
Schadewaldt 371.
8 E.g. Jaeger (Paideia I, Berlin 1934, 80 f.), who sees in the Shield a symbol
for the Homeric conception of man, expressing the perfect harmony of nature
and human life. J. T. Sheppard (The Pattern of the Iliad, London 1922, repr.
1969, 1-10) discovers 'the pattern of human life', 'the life Homer knew and
loved'. H. Whitman (Homer and the Heroic Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 1958,
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

205 f.) speaks of 'a summary picture of the world', 'it is the miracle of cosmic
diversity focused into formal unity and order, as the proper adornment of the
unified heroic will'. W. Marg finally in his excellent little book Homer über die
Dichtung, Der Schild des Achilleus, 2Münster 1971, speaks of 'ein Bild der Men-
schenwelt als ganzes' (34, compare 31, 38).
9 See Winter, 'Griechische Schilde und Schildzeichen'; Bonner Jahrb. 1922,
244.
10
Schadewaldt 370 f.
11
Reinhardt 405 f.
12
For this and the following, see Marg 24 and 28.
13
Marg 38.
14
Sheppard 8.
15
Reinhardt 401 f. On the question of the social colouring of the scenes,
compare Reinhardt 401, 403, Marg 35 and Kakridis 123!
16
Reinhardt 404.
17
Reinhardt 403.
18 Schadewaldt 365, 483 f.
19
Reinhardt 403 speaks of the city at war as the contrasting counterpart
(Gegenteil) of Troy.
20
See Marg 32 n. 42 and 34 n. 45.
21
For this and the following compare Reinhardt 403 f.
22 Schadewaldt 366.
23 Compare 4, 440; 5, 518; 11, 3, 73; 20, 48.
24
Marg 33.
25 Marg 32 f. maintains that there are several weddings because this is typical
of human community life. If there be need for an explanation, the several man/
wife relationships in the Iliad seem to me to be a likely one. On Marg's inter-
pretation, why is there only one trial?
26
H. Hommel, 'Die Gerichtsszene auf dem Schild des Achilleus. Zur Pflege
des Rechts in homerischer Zeit', Politeia und Res Publica ... dem Andenken
Rud. Starks gewidmet, hrsg. von Peter Steinmetz, Wiesbaden 1969, 11-38
(Palingenesia IV). Of earlier works I should like to mention A. Hofmeister,
'Die Gerichtsscene im Schild des Achill, Ilias XVIII, 497-508', Zeitschrift für
vergi. Rechtswiss. 2, 1880, 433-453; A. Steinwenter, Die Streitbeendigung durch
Urteil, Schiedsspruch und Vergleich nach griechischem Rechte, München 1925
(Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsgeschichte 8);
 18 0IVIND ANDERSEN

H . H . Pflüger, ' D i e Gerichtsszene auf dem Schilde des Achilleus', Hermes 77,
1942, 140-148.
27
Of course istor is a judge, n o t a witness. T h e exact nature of his function
is a matter of much dispute.
28
G . M . Calhoun, The Growth of Criminal Law in Ancient Greece, Berkeley
1927, 19 n. 12.
29
On the interpretation of pictures see A. Lesky, 'Bildwerk und. Deutung
bei Philostrat und Homer', Gesammelte Schriften. Bern-München 1966, 11-25.
30
See H o m m e l 15 ff. Already Hofmeister 4 4 4 said: 'Lexicalisch u n d g r a m -
Downloaded by [Cambridge University Library] at 03:58 12 August 2015

matisch ist jede der beiden Interpretationen vollkommen gerechtfertigt.' F o r

discussion see Pflüger's article. I shuold say that I for my p a r t a m convinced that
the interpretation I support is also the one that best suits the grammer. If it
was a question of fact, we should have expected the inf. perf., as was indeed
pointed out to me in the discussion by Professor H. Lloyd-Jones.
31
Hofmeister 446.
32
Calhoun 18.
33
Cf. Hommel 16 f.
34
Schadewaldt 367, Reinhardt 407, Marg 36 f., Sheppard 6.
35
The problem is thoroughly discussed and the lines defended by M. For-
derer, 'Der Sänger in der homerischen Schildbeschreibung', Synusia, Festgabe
für W. Schadewaldt zum 15. März 1965, 23-27.