ipl-logo

Importance Of Heroic Code In The Iliad

1785 Words8 Pages

The epic poem, The Iliad written by Homer shows the conflicts and events that occurred between the Greeks and Trojans during the Trojan War. Among both sides there are warriors who follow a distinct code, known as the heroic code. This Heroic code helps portray the characteristics of the warriors and their perspective on war. This distinct code is composed of many elements such as arete, acceptance of fate, honour, excellence in war, leadership, courage and power. These traits are shown within the main warriors, Hector and Achilles throughout the epic war poem and helps to guide their decisions. However, in contrast, not all the characters are shown with heroic features, for example, Paris. Paris is a foil to both Achilles and Hector. He exhibits less heroic features to himself. The heroic code helps characterize the warriors and highlights their heroic features.
One of the main elements of the heroic code is arete. Arete is the highest level of excellence to pursue in strength, skill, determination on the battlefield which a warrior or hero could aspire. It also, includes their personal honour, and honour and …show more content…

These abilities are important as a warrior because both his men and the hero reflect and are influenced by them. Some of the abilities are excellence in war, courage, leadership and fighting qualities. These qualities are seen through the heroic characters Hector and Achilles. When Achilles is not present with his men, the Greeks are well defeated by the Trojans with no motivation or support. Achilles is also described by his men as a power figure when the poem says “These were his words,/ and all Achaeans gave a roar of joy/ to hear the Prince abjure his rage.” (R 23-35). The Greeks hearing Achilles return, gain strength, will and perseverance to carry on the war. The responsibility that Achilles takes plays massive role, affecting the men 's actions throughout the

Show More
Related
468 Words | 2 Pages

Achilles vs Hektor The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer, takes place in the tenth year of the Trojan War. Recalling important events that take place bringing the war to an end the poem uses figurative language and literary devices to enhance its characters, presenting similarities and differences between how the characters handle specific situations and how they deal with the concept of masculinity. For example Homer uses the method of literary foils. A foil is a character that depicts traits that differ with the traits of another character. In The Iliad, Achilles and Hektor are foil characters.

Read More
146 Words | 1 Pages

In conclusion, the Iliad presents readers a mystical world with double duality through the god's intervention in the Trojan War. The inner layer is the conflicts between Achaians and Trojans, while the outer layer is the opposition between mortals and immortals. The duality of gods and humans gives the readers a new perspective of considering the world of the Iliad, in which human beings, regardless their nationality, can be seen as an entity. The new perspective places mortal's value system in an equivalent position with god's will when mortal decides their active movement. The intervention also transforms the reader's attitudes towards heroes, especially Achilles, Hektor, and Diomedes, who reveal their persistence in either moral value or

Read More
1037 Words | 5 Pages

The Heroic Code In his work, Greenblatt discusses the idea of the heroic code, which Anglo-Saxons adopted from the Germanics. According to Greenblatt, ‘Germanic heroic poetry continued to be performed orally in alliterative verse and was at times used to describe current events’ (Greenblatt 6). The heroic code defines how a noble should behave, which is to be courageous, strong, honourable and loyal. These traits are essential and prevalent within poems such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as the nobles want to heighten their reputations. Though both Beowulf and Gawain strive for perfection, they are anything but perfect.

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

The Iliad is primarily about how the war is affected because of Achilles anger. Achilles character does not precisely change but grows from what it was at the beginning of the fifty-one days. A characteristic that stays constant throughout the fifty-one days is, Achilles lets his emotion drive him into making blind a reckless decisions. A characteristic that develops throughout the book is Achilles sense of consequence(book 15-390 18).

Read More
509 Words | 3 Pages

It is so deeply rooted that it encompasses Achilles, becoming a characteristic of this great warrior, influencing his actions and chooses throughout the story, such as leaving the fighting and considering the idea to return to Pythia. The depth of Achilles rage and hatred is demonstrated through in his response to Agamemnon, concerning the gifts he offered as compensation for his wrongs, saying that “not if his gifts outnumbered all the grains of sand and dust in the earth, no not even then could Agamemnon bring my fighting spirit round” (9.470-472). The true rage of Achilles is extremely important to the entire story of The Iliad, as from Book One through Book Nine Achilles allows this rage to control his actions, causing him to Achilles remains absent from the fighting as well as causing him to pray to Zeus that Trojans may receive the upper hand in the fighting so that the Greeks may suffer for Agamemnon’s actions. Therefore, this profound rage is an extremely important aspect of The Iliad, as it ultimately effects not only Achilles actions but also course of the

Read More
215 Words | 1 Pages

Madariaga 1 Luis A. Madariaga Ms.Kohut MYP English Period 3 1 November 2016 The Illiad The book The Illiad written by the author Homer is a book on greek methology, and heroic code. Heroic code is to achieve personal honor for fighting in a war or somewhere else for a specific reason also for their certain actions,and loyalty in warriors.

Read More
1551 Words | 7 Pages

The Aeneas Archetype The long literary history of mankind is full of archetypes and motifs that span not only individual works of a single culture, but across works of many different cultures. One such an archetype is the ‘epic hero’, such as Aeneas from the Roman myth the Aeneid by Virgil. The epic hero archetype is that of a protagonist who best embodies the character traits of an ideal person. The definition of an epic hero fits Aeneas because he shares many of the characteristics typically given to an epic hero: bravery, courage, leadership, and confidence.

Read More
347 Words | 2 Pages

At night the fighting was over and the trojans thought they have one with the greek retreat. But little did they know Achilles had

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

Homer’s The Iliad proves that Hector and Achilles have vast differences but, their few similarities are some of what we see a lot throughout the epic poem. Both Achilles and Hector have their certain strengths and weaknesses, which are noticeable countless times throughout the conflicts that come up in the Iliad. These two characters have distinct differences in their approaches to fitting the noble form to which they both attempt to achieve. Nevertheless, regardless of their differences and the fact that their armies are rivals and are brought to each other with execration in battle, they also have numerous identical traits which reasonably show the comparison between the two men, Hector and Achilles.

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is a epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.

Read More
352 Words | 2 Pages

The shields of Achilles is another important image within The Iliad to be considered when Homeric culture is addressed. The shield is made up by the god Hephaestus to Thetis as an offer for Achilles in the war, it is delivered with Thetis’ hope that her son would admire the spectacular paintings of a utopian universe featuring farmers harvesting, cattlemen in their farm sheep, children playing in a fertile land, and the myriad of oral traditions rather than venturing in the battlefield. It is Homer’s alternative of war and his desire to sing of his oral tradition that is far from violence (Oliver Taplin). In The Shield of Achilles within The Iliad, Oliver Taplin pointed out that in his Story of The Iliad, Owen emphasizes this view further

Read More
1570 Words | 7 Pages

In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.

Read More
183 Words | 1 Pages

The characters Achilles, Hector, and Paris in The Iliad retain comparable personalities. Although the characters differ each other in more ways than resemble, the dense trait of pride ties them together. Pride is an important concept to recognize in order to develop a perception on each character throughout the story. Hector upholds strong senses of bravery, compassion, and leadership.

Read More
1395 Words | 6 Pages

The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person, however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is an epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.

Read More
1512 Words | 7 Pages

Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.

Read More

More about Importance Of Heroic Code In The Iliad

Related Topics

Open Document