The Best of the Achaeans Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry Revised Edition Gregory Nagy
Copyright © 1980, 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press. All rights reserved. First edition 1979. Revised edition 1999. This document may be used, with this notice included, for noncommercial purposes within a subscribed institution. No copies of this work may be distributed electronically outside of the subscribed institution, in whole or in part, without written permission from the JHU Press.

Chapter 2

The Best of the Achaeans

§1. It is an overall Iliadic theme that Achilles is "best of the Achaeans," as I will now try to show.[1] The title is hotly contested. The central grievance of Achilles in the Iliad is that Agamemnon has dishonored him, and in this context the hero of the Iliad is regularly called aristos Akhaiôn 'best of the Achaeans' (I 244, 412; XVI 271, 274).[2] During his quarrel with Achilles, Agamemnon, too, is specifically described as one who lays claim to the title aristos Akhaiôn:

o(\s nu=n pollo\n a)/ristos *)axaiw=n eu)/xetai ei)=nai

who boasts that he is now by far the best of the Achaeans

o(\s me/g' a)/ristos *)axaiw=n eu)/xetai ei)=nai

who boasts that he is by far the best of the Achaeans

The first of these verses is spoken by Achilles himself, whose very actions in Iliad I had challenged Agamemnon's claim.

§2. When the great Catalogue of Iliad II, recounting the resources of each major Achaean hero, reaches Agamemnon, the men who followed him to Troy are described as polu\ plei=stoi kai\ a)/ristoi 'by far the most numerous and the best [aristos plural]' (II 577). Later, Agamemnon himself is said to excel:

ou(/nek' a)/ristos e)/hn, polu\ de\ plei/stous a)/ge laou/s

because he was the best [aristos], and he led the most numerous host

The tradition here grudgingly assigns him the title of "best" by virtue of his being the leader of the "best." But the Catalogue comes to a close with the words:

ou(=toi a)/r' h(gemo/nes *danaw=n

So now, these were the leaders of the Danaans.

The poet then follows up with a question:

ti/s t' a)\r tw=n o)/x' a)/ristos e)/hn, su/ moi e)/nnepe *mou=sa

Who, then, was by far the best [aristos]? Tell me, Muse!

The simple question is then expanded into a compound question: who was the best among the Achaeans and among their horses (II 762)? The Muse's answer is an elaborate exercise in ring composition. First, let us look at the horses: those of Eumelos were best (II 763-767). Then the men: well, Ajax was best [aristos] (II 768)--that is, so long as Achilles persisted in his anger and refrained from fighting:

o)/fr' *)axileu\s mh/nien: o( ga\r polu\ fe/rtatos h)=en

so long as Achilles was angry; for he was by far the best [phertatos].[1]

Which brings us back to the horses: those of Achilles were actually the best after all (II 770). But since Achilles was out of sight when the first superlative came around, his horses were out of mind. Achilles, however, is never out of mind in the Iliad when it comes to asking who is best of the Achaeans.[2] The great Ajax, then, is here being demoted from the best to the second best of the Achaeans by what seems to be premeditated afterthought. He also gets the same sort of treatment from the epic tradition in Iliad VII, in a passage that deserves detailed attention.

§3. Hektor is about to challenge *)axaiw=n o(/s tis a)/ristos 'whoever is best [aristos] of the Achaeans' to a duel (VII 50).[1] He boasts that this unnamed Achaean will be killed and thus become part of an epic story glorifying the deeds of Hektor. The hapless unknown Achaean, by performing an aristeiâ,[2] would become part of a kleos, but the kleos would belong to the winner, Hektor. Here is how Hektor says it:

kai/ pote/ tis ei)/ph|si kai\ o)yigo/nwn a)nqrw/pwn,
nhi\+ poluklh/i+di ple/wn e)pi\ oi)/nopa po/nton:
"a)ndro\s me\n to/de sh=ma pa/lai katateqnhw=tos,
o(/n pot' a)risteu/onta kate/ktane fai/dimos *(/ektwr."
w(/s pote/ tis e)re/ei: to\ d' e)mo\n kle/os ou)/ pot' o)lei=tai.

And some day, someone from a future generation will say,
as he is sailing on a many-benched ship over the wine-dark sea:
"This is the tomb of a man who died a long time ago,
who was performing his aristeiâ when illustrious Hektor killed him."
That is what someone will say, and my kleos will never perish.

The tomb of this unknown Achaean challenger would be at the Hellespont (VII 86), clearly visible to those who sail by. And it so happens that epic tradition assigns such a tomb to Achilles himself:

a)kth=| e)/pi prou)xou/sh|, e)pi\ platei= *(ellhspo/ntw|,
w(/s ken thlefanh/s e)k ponto/fin a)ndra/sin ei)/h
toi=s oi(\ nu=n gega/asi kai\ oi(\ meto/pisqen e)/sontai.

on a jutting headland, by the broad Hellespont,
so that it may be bright from afar for men coming from the sea,
those who are now and those who will be in the future.[3]

It is Achilles who should have answered Hektor's challenge to the one who is best of the Achaeans. This is the hero whose father had taught him "to be best [aristos] always" (ai)e\n a)risteu/ein: XI 784). Achilles will die, yes, and his ashes will indeed be enshrined at the Hellespont. But, ironically, it is Hektor who will be killed by Achilles.[4] It is Hektor who will become part of an epic story glorifying the deeds of Achilles. By performing his fatal aristeiâ, Hektor will become part of a kleos, as he says it at VII 91, but the kleos will belong to the winner, Achilles.[5] The Iliad belongs to Achilles. It is to Achilles that the Iliadic tradition assigns the kleos that will never perish. Achilles himself says it:

w)/leto me/n moi no/stos, a)ta\r kle/os a)/fqiton e)/stai

I have lost a safe return home [nostos], but I will have unfailing glory [kleos].[6]

We may have lost countless other epic compositions, but the Iliad has survived and endured. The confidence of the Iliad in its eternal survival is the confidence of the master singer. For Achilles, the kleos of the Iliad tradition should be an eternal consolation for losing a safe return home, a nostos. There is also irony here for Achilles. Hektor's insulting boast hits the mark in that Achilles will be killed and will be buried where Hektor's words predict. But the greatest irony is reserved for Ajax, the second best of the Achaeans. Before we can get to him, however, other things have yet to happen in Iliad VII.

§4. After Hektor issues his challenge, no one dares to respond but Menelaos. If no one takes up the challenge, he says in the form of a public reproach,[1] it will be a subject of future public reproach as well for the Achaeans (VII 96-97),[2] and that will be a "thing without kleos" (a)klee/s: VII 100).[3] The Achaeans had better behave as heroes, for Epos is keeping them under observation. As Menelaos prepares to fight Hektor, the poet of the Iliad turns away from the audience of his performance and addresses directly the persona in his composition:

e)/nqa ke/ toi, *mene/lae, fa/nh bio/toio teleuth/
*(/ektoros e)n pala/mh|sin, e)pei\ polu\ fe/rteros h)=en

At that point, Menelaos, the end of your life would have appeared,
in the clutches of Hektor, since he was better by far.

What prevented the death of Menelaos from appearing here in the narrative was the intervention of his fellow Achaeans. In particular, his brother Agamemnon is holding Menelaos back, urging him not to fight "a better man" (a)mei/noni fwti/: VII 111). Menelaos is told that even Achilles would not fight, "and he is far better than you" (o(/ per se/o pollo\n a)mei/nwn: VII 114).

§5. At this point, Nestor too reproaches the Achaeans (VII 123-161).[1] His words are in fact so compelling that all nine of the "pan-Achaean champions" (a)risth=es *panaxaiw=n: VII 159) volunteer straightway to face Hektor. They are Agamemnon, Diomedes, the Ajaxes, Idomeneus, Meriones, Eurypylos, Thoas, and finally, Odysseus (VII 162-168). Lots are drawn to narrow the list down to one. The Achaeans are meanwhile praying that the winner of the lottery should be Ajax or Diomedes or Agamemnon (VII 177-180). The effect of the prayer on the narrative is that our attention is narrowed down to three out of nine. Of these three, we have already seen Agamemnon claiming the title "best of the Achaeans." Diomedes, too, gets this title, but only in Book V of the Iliad. Book V is his finest hour, his aristeiâ, and this is where he is twice called aristos Akhaiôn 'best of the Achaeans.' Both times, however, the specific moment is sinister. In one passage, the archer Pandaros has just shot Diomedes with an arrow, and he is boasting that he has wounded the "best of the Achaeans" (a)/ristos *)axaiw=n: V 103).[2] For an audience brought up on the tradition that Achilles himself was killed by the arrow of another archer,[3] the superlative of this boast has an ominous ring in the Iliad. In the other passage, the goddess Dione is consoling her daughter Aphrodite, who has just been wounded by Diomedes (V 406-415). He should beware, she says, lest a man stronger than her daughter should fight him (V 411); then Diomedes would be killed and his wife would have to mourn him, the "best of the Achaeans" (a)/riston *)axaiw=n: V 414). Elsewhere in his aristeiâ, Diomedes is described only one other time as "best" (a)/riston: V 839), but not specifically as the best of the Achaeans. So much for Diomedes, whose heroic momentum is finally thwarted by Zeus himself at VIII 130-171.[4] As for Agamemnon, he, too, gets the general epithet "best" one other time besides the instances already discussed. This time, the setting is Book XI, the setting for his own aristeiâ. And here, too, the specific moment is sinister. Hektor has just wounded Agamemnon, and he is exulting that his enemy, "the best man," has withdrawn from the fighting ( ristos: XI 288).[5] So much, then, for Agamemnon.

§6. We can finally turn to Ajax, second best to Achilles among all the Achaeans. Here is a man destined by epic tradition to lose the most important contest of his heroic existence, a contest of aristeiâ with Odysseus.[1] But the Iliad allows him to win a lottery this time. His winning changes nothing in the course of oncoming events, since Ajax and Hektor then proceed to fight to a draw. At the end of their inconclusive duel, Hektor even compliments Ajax by calling him "best of the Achaeans" (*)axaiw=n fe/rtatos: VII 289), on the grounds that he excels in both might and artifice (VII 288-289). Ajax himself had boasted of his excellence in these very qualities (VII 197-198).[2] Since the audience has already been made aware that Ajax is second best, Hektor's words and the outcome of a draw have the effect of presaging the outcome of a fatal defeat for Hektor when he comes to confront Achilles himself. As for Ajax, he will fight on, even as the situation of the Achaeans keeps getting worse and worse in the face of Hektor's onslaught. But finally even Ajax is turned back by Zeus himself (XI 544; XVI 102, 119-121).[3] The stage is now set for Hektor's confrontation with Achilles--or with whoever must stand in for Achilles.[4]

§7. Besides Diomedes, Agamemnon, Ajax, and Achilles, no other Achaean in the Iliad gets the epithet "best of the Achaeans."[1] Others also may be best, but only in categories that are restricted as subdivisions of the Achaeans. Thus Periphas may be "best of the Aetolians" (V 843), Kalkhas may be "best of the bird-watching seers" (I 69), and Teukros may be "best of the Achaeans in archery" (XIII 313-314). Similarly, in the Games of Book XXIII, different Achaeans turn out to be best in different athletic events. Thus Diomedes is best at driving the chariot (XXIII 357), Epeios is best at boxing (XXIII 669), and Agamemnon is best at spear throwing, as Achilles himself acknowledges (XXIII 891). Such a restricted acknowledgment, however, is all that Agamemnon will ever get from Achilles in the Iliad.

§8. There are two isolated instances that at first seem like exceptions to the proposition that only four Achaean heroes vie for the epithet "best of the Achaeans" in the Iliad. In one passage, Menelaos is telling Antilokhos the ghastly news of Patroklos' death:

h)/dh me/n se kai\ au)to\n o)i/+omai ei)soro/wnta
gignw/skein o(/ti ph=ma qeo\s *danaoi=si kuli/ndei,
ni/kh de\ *trw/wn: pe/fatai d' w)/ristos *)axaiw=n,
*pa/troklos, mega/lh de\ poqh/ *danaoi=si te/tuktai.

I think that you already see, and that you realize,
that a god is letting roll a pain upon the Danaans,
and that victory belongs to the Trojans: the best [aristos] of the Achaeans has been killed,
Patroklos, that is; and a great loss has been inflicted on the Danaans.

Patroklos, however, had not vied overtly with Achilles for the title "best of the Achaeans." Rather, he became the actual surrogate of Achilles, his alter ego.[1] The death of Patroklos is a function of his being the therapôn of Achilles: this word therapôn is a prehistoric Greek borrowing from the Anatolian languages (most likely sometime in the second millennium B.C.), where it had meant "ritual substitute."[2] In death, the role of Patroklos becomes identified with that of Achilles, as Cedric Whitman has eloquently reasoned.[3] The death of Patroklos inside the Iliad foreshadows the death of Achilles outside the Iliad.[4] At the very beginning of his fatal involvement, the Patroklos figure had immediately attracted an epithet otherwise appropriate to the prime antagonists of the Iliad. It is Achilles and Hektor who are appropriately i)=sos *)/arhi+ 'equal to Ares' in the Iliad,[5] except for the one time when Patroklos leaves the tent of Achilles and comes out of seclusion:

e)/kmolen i)=sos *)/arhi+, kakou= d' a)/ra oi( pe/len a)rxh/

He [Patroklos] came out, equal to Ares, and that was the beginning of his doom.[6]

When Achilles recalls the prophecy that the "best [aristos] of the Myrmidons" will die while he is still alive (XVIII 9-11), he is under the spell of a premonition that Patroklos has just been killed. Within the Iliad, however, the "best of the Achaeans" is surely also the "best of the Myrmidons," in that the Myrmidons of Achilles are a subcategory in relation to the Achaeans. By dying, Patroklos gets the titles "best of the Myrmidons" and "best of the Achaeans" because he has taken upon himself not only the armor but also the heroic identity of Achilles.[7] The death of Achilles is postponed beyond the Iliad by the death of Patroklos.

§9. The other isolated instance that seems at first to be out of step with the rest of the Iliad occurs in Book X, the Doloneia. The Achaeans are deliberating about who should accompany Diomedes on a special expedition against the Trojans; both Ajaxes volunteer, as well as Meriones, Antilokhos, Menelaos, and, finally, Odysseus (X 228-232). Agamemnon at this point tells Diomedes to choose the "best" hero out of the group (a)/riston: X 236) and not to pick someone inferior for reasons of etiquette, not even if the inferior one should be "more kinglike" (basileu/teros: X 239). Agamemnon's motive is made clear by the narrative: "he feared for blond Menelaos" (X 240). For the second time now, we see Menelaos being spared from death. Without hesitation, Diomedes then names Odysseus, with whom he is sure to return in safety and who "excels at thinking" (peri/oide noh=sai: X 247).[1] If that were all that there was to it, Odysseus might seem to be eligible for the title "best of the Achaeans." But at this point the words of Odysseus himself break in:

*tudei/+dh, mh/t' a)/r me ma/l' ai)/nee mh/te ti nei/kei:
ei)do/si ga/r toi tau=ta met' *)argei/ois a)goreu/eis

Son of Tydeus! Give me neither too much praise nor too much blame;[2]
you are saying these things in the presence of Argives who know.

It is as if he were saying: "the Achaeans are aware of the tradition, so please do not exaggerate."[3] With the words of Odysseus himself, the epic tradition of the Iliadhas pointedly taken Odysseus out of contention.[4] And the contention is here expressed by neikeô (nei/kei: X 249), a verb derived from the same noun neîkos that was used to designate the quarrel of Achilles and Odysseus in the first song of Demodokos (nei=kos: viii 75).[5]

§10. In contrast to the Iliad, it is an overall theme of the Odyssey that Odysseus is indeed aristos Akhaiôn 'best of the Achaeans'. In its elaboration of this theme, as I will try to show, the Odyssey deploys subtle references not only to a Doloneia tradition in particular[1] but also to an Iliadic tradition in general.

§11. In the First Nekuia of Odyssey xi, when Odysseus meets the shade of Achilles, he addresses Achilles as "best of the Achaeans" (fe/rtat' *)axaiw=n: xi 478). But the Odysseythen has Achilles saying that he would rather be alive and the lowliest of serfs than to be dead and the kingliest of shades (xi 489-491). As Klaus Rüter sees it,[1] Achilles seems ready to trade places with Odysseus, whose safe homecoming will be marked by a painful transitional phase at the very lowest levels of the social order. The words of Achilles in the First Nekuia are ironically conjuring up the glorious days of the Iliad when he had said:

w)/leto me/n moi no/stos, a)ta\r kle/os a)/fqiton e)/stai

I have lost a safe return home [nostos], but I will have unfailing glory [kleos].

The destiny of the Odyssey is that Odysseus shall have a nostos 'safe return home'.[2] From the retrospective vantage point of the Odyssey, Achilles would trade his kleos for a nostos. It is as if he were now ready to trade an Iliad for an Odyssey. By contrast, at a moment when Odysseus is sure that he will perish in the stormy sea, he wishes that he had died at Troy (v 308-311):

... kai/ meu kle/os h)=gon *)axaioi/

... and then the Achaeans would have carried on my kleos.

§12. If Achilles has no nostos in the Iliad, does it follow that Odysseus has no kleos in the Odyssey? How can someone have the kleos of the Achaeans if he calls someone else the "best of the Achaeans"? As in the Doloneia, Odysseus again seems to be taking himself out of contention--this time by giving the title to Achilles, at xi 478. Also at xi 550-551, he calls Ajax the most heroic Achaean "next to Achilles" (met' a)mu/mona *phlei/wna: xi 551). But Odysseus can afford to be generous in spirit to the two most heroic Achaeans of the Iliad tradition; the Odyssey will make him the most heroic Achaean in the Odyssey.

§13. In the Second Nekuia of Odyssey xxiv (15-202), the narrative again looks back to an Iliad tradition and beyond. We find here the shades of Achilles, Patroklos, Antilokhos, Ajax, and Agamemnon. Achilles himself concedes that Agamemnon too has left behind a kleos for the future (xxiv 33). Agamemnon in turn says that Achilles will have kleosfor all time (xxiv 93-94); he adds that his own nostos was sinister, that it resulted in an unheroic death (xxiv 95-97). At this point, the retrospective preoccupation switches from Iliad to Odyssey. The shades of Amphimedon and the other suitors arrive in the underworld, and Amphimedon retells the Revenge of Odysseus (xxiv 121-190). The story covers the heroic deeds of Odysseus, what amounts to his kleos, in the second half of the Odyssey. When the retrospective tale is done, the Agamemnon figure speaks again, and his effusive words function as a song of praise not only for Odysseus, to whom they are addressed, but also for Penelope:[1]

o)/lbie *lae/rtao pa/i+, polumh/xan' *)odusseu=,
h)= a)/ra su\n mega/lh| a)reth=| e)kth/sw a)/koitin:
w(s a)gaqai\ fre/nes h)=san a)mu/moni *phnelopei/h|,
kou/rh| *)ikari/ou: w(s eu)= me/mnht' *)odush=os,
a)ndro\s kouridi/ou. tw=| oi( kle/os ou)/ pot' o)lei=tai
h(=s a)reth=s, teu/cousi d' e)pixqoni/oisin a)oidh/n
a)qa/natoi xari/essan e)xe/froni *phnelopei/h|,
ou)x w(s *tundare/ou kou/rh kaka\ mh/sato e)/rga,
kouri/dion ktei/nasa po/sin, stugerh/ de/ t' a)oidh/
e)/sset' e)p' a)nqrw/pous, xaleph/n de/ te fh=min o)pa/ssei
qhlute/rh|si gunaici/, kai\ h(/ k' eu)ergo\s e)/h|sin.

O fortunate son of Laertes, Odysseus of many wiles!
It is truly with great merit [aretê] that you got a wife.
For the mind of blameless Penelope, daughter of Ikarios, was sound.
She kept her lawful husband, Odysseus, well in mind.
Thus the kleos of his aretê shall never perish,
and the immortals shall fashion for humans a song that is pleasing[2]
for sensible Penelope,
unlike the daughter of Tyndareos, who devised evil deeds,[3]
killing her lawful husband; and among humans,[4]
she will be a hateful song
She will make for women an evil reputation,
females that they are--even for the kind of woman who does noble things.

As my translation shows, I find myself interpreting this passage to mean that Penelope is the key not only to the nostos but also to the kleos of Odysseus. I understand kleos at verse 196 as belonging primarily to Odysseus himself and that it is his aretê 'merit' to have won a Penelope (rather than a Clytemnestra).[6] If this interpretation is correct, then we see in the Second Nekuiaa triadic assignment of kleos to Agamemnon, Achilles, and Odysseus. Odysseus gets the best kleos, through his wife. Through Penelope, he has a genuine nostos, while Agamemnon gets a false one and Achilles, none at all.

§14. Such an interpretation is not ad hoc; rather, it takes into account the overall structure of the Odyssey. The Revenge of Odysseus is treated throughout the Odyssey as a genuinely heroic theme, worthy of kleos. And the prime stimulus for revenge is Penelope herself. Already in the First Nekuia, Odysseus is asking his mother in the underworld whatever happened to Penelope: is she steadfast ...

h)= h)/dh min e)/ghmen *)axaiw=n o(/s tis a)/ristos

or has whoever is the best [aristos] of the Achaeans already married her?

The Odyssey can afford to let Odysseus put the question in this form, if indeed the narrative is confident of his heroic destiny in the Odyssey. Since his prime heroic act in the Odyssey is the killing of Achaeans who are pursuing his wife, Penelope is truly the key to his kleos. Penelope defines the heroic identity of Odysseus. Significantly, the expression *)axaiw=n o(/s tis a)/ristos 'whoever is best [aristos] of the Achaeans' is restricted in the Odyssey to the single question: "who will marry Penelope?" (xvi 76, xviii 289, xix 528; cf. xx 335). The Homeric audience is being conditioned for the aristeiâ of Odysseus.

§15. In particular, there are two passages that accentuate the inevitable outcome, the incontrovertible conclusion, that Odysseus is the "best of the Achaeans." At xv 521, Telemachus is telling the seer Theoklymenos that the suitor Eurymakhos, "by far the best man" (pollo\n a)/ristos a)nh/r), wants to marry Penelope. At this point in the narrative, a hawk appears, with a dove in its talons. The seer is quick to interpret: the omen is good, for it shows that no family in Ithaca is "more kingly," basileu/teron, than that of Odysseus (xv 525-534). The omen has corrected the misuse, the misapplication, of the epithet "by far the best man."[1] There is an even more drastic correction in the case of the obnoxious Antinoos, another prominent suitor. The stage is set when Odysseus, in the guise of a beggar, is asking for alms from Antinoos:

do/s, fi/los: ou) me/n moi doke/eis o( ka/kistos *)axaiw=n
e)/mmenai, a)ll' w)/ristos, e)pei\ basilh=i+ e)/oikas

Give, friend! For you seem to be not the worst of the Achaeans,
but the best [aristos], since you seem like a king.

Noblesse oblige, but Antinoos crudely refuses. Later on in the Odyssey, he is the very first suitor to be shot dead by the arrows of an angry Odysseus (xxii 8-21). At this point, the other suitors are not yet aware that the archer is Odysseus himself; thinking that the shooting was accidental, they rail at Odysseus, exclaiming that he has just killed "the very best" of the Ithacan fighting men (o(\s me/g' a)/ristos / kou/rwn ei)n *)iqa/kh|: xxii 29-30). In view of the previous action, the characterization "best" seems ironically misapplied. Antinoos may have looked like a king, but he did not behave like one.[2]

§16. To sum up: unlike Achilles, who won kleos but lost nostos (IX 413), Odysseus is a double winner. He has won both kleos and nostos. Accordingly, in his quest for his own heroic identity, Telemachus is confronted with a double frame of reference in the figure of his father:

no/ston peuso/menos patro\s fi/lou, h)/n pou a)kou/sw

I am going to find out about the nostos of my father, if I should hear.

patro\s e)mou= kle/os eu)ru\ mete/rxomai, h)/n pou a)kou/sw

I am going after the widespread kleos of my father, if I should hear.

§17. Curiously, in all these instances where Odysseus is the "best of the Achaeans," he earns the title not for doing what he did at Troy but for doing what he did within the Odyssey itself. This restriction is all the more remarkable in view of the tradition, displayed prominently within the Odyssey itself, that Odysseus, not Achilles, can take credit for the destruction of Troy; Demodokos himself tells how it all happened in his third performance, a composition about the Trojan Horse (viii 499-520).[1] We too have already heard of it in verse 2 of Book i. Moreover, in the first song of Demodokos, "the kleos of which at that time reached the vast heavens" (viii 74), Odysseus was characterized along with Achilles as "best of the Achaeans" because one of these two heroes was destined to be the destroyer of Troy. In the epic composition of Demodokos, Odysseus is implicitly "best of the Achaeans" because tradition upholds his claim to have destroyed Troy. The poet Demodokos lives up to the challenge of Odysseus that he recite the story of the Trojan Horse kata\ moi=ran 'according to destiny' (viii 496). Within the conventions of epic composition, an incident that is untraditional would be u(pe\r moi=ran 'beyond destiny'. For example, it would violate tradition to let Achilles kill Aeneas in Iliad XX, although the immediate situation in the narrative seems to make it inevitable; accordingly, Poseidon intervenes and saves Aeneas, telling him that his death at this point would be "beyond destiny" (u(pe\r moi=ran: XX 336).[2] Demodokos, then, is hewing to tradition in giving Odysseus the credit that is his due for having destroyed Troy. The triumph of the Iliad, however, is that Achilles becomes explicitly the "best of the Achaeans" without having destroyed Troy. Because of the Iliad tradition, it seems that the kleos of Odysseus at Troy was preempted by the kleos of Achilles. Such a triumph, however, could have been achieved only through sustained artistic reaction to the predilections of audiences who listened generation after generation to the kleos of the Achaeans.

§18. In this connection, it seems appropriate to reaffirm my general opinion about the Iliad and the Odyssey: the structural unity of such epics results, I think, not so much from the creative genius of whoever achieved a fixed composition but from the lengthy evolution of myriad previous compositions, era to era, into a final composition.[1] In other words, I think that the kleos of Achilles and the kleos of Odysseus, through generations of both shifting and abiding preferences in performer-audience interaction, have culminated in our Iliad and Odyssey. These epics are Panhellenic in the dimension of time as well as space. If, then, our Iliad and Odyssey are parallel products of parallel evolution, it becomes easier to imagine how the extraordinarily renowned kleos of Achilles could preempt the kleos of Odysseus at Troy. The audience will have to hear about the destruction of Troy by Odysseus not in the Iliad but in the Odyssey. This feat of Odysseus at Troy, which entitles him to be ranked with Achilles as "best of the Achaeans" in the first song of Demodokos, has been sidetracked in the Iliad--but not entirely.

Notes

§1n2. Cf. also IX 110, where Agamemnon is said to have dishonored a)/ndra fe/riston 'the best [pheristos] man'.

§2n1. The word for "best" here is phertatos, synonymous with aristos at lines 761 and 768. Although the first form has a separate heritage of social connotations (cf. Palmer 1955.11-12), it is clearly a synonym of the second form in the diction of Homeric poetry. Achilles (and he only) is twice in the Iliad addressed as fe/rtat' *)axaiw=n 'best [phertatos] of the Achaeans' (XVI 21, XIX 216).

§2n2. My general thinking on the aristeiâ of Achilles has been much stimulated by the perceptive observations of Segal 1971b.

§3n1. Hektor's challenge was formulated for him by the seer Helenos (VII 47-53), who himself thinks that Diomedes is ka/rtiston *)axaiw=n 'best [kartistos] of the Achaeans' (VI 98).

§3n2. At Ch.1§11n4, I approximated this complex word with the notion of "grand heroic moments."

§3n3. For further discussion of this passage: Ch.20§22.

§3n4. For other instances of Homeric irony where a hero's speech is partially validated but also partially invalidated by the events of the traditional narrative, see XVI 241-248 as discussed at Ch.17§4 (the valid and nonvalid aspects are made explicit at XVI 249-252). See also XX 179-183, as discussed at Ch.15§3.

§3n5. When the moment of his death at the hands of Achilles approaches, Hektor expresses his wish to die e)u+kleiw=s 'with good kleos' (XXII 110) and not a)kleiw=s 'with no kleos' (XXII 304). Cf. Ch.10§13n2.

§3n6. On the semantics of aphthito- 'unfailing' as a mark of immortality, see Ch.10§§3,5-19.

§4n1. As Menelaos begins to speak, he nei/kei o)neidi/zwn 'made neîkos, making oneidos' (VII 95). Both neîkos and oneidos mean `blame, reproach' and indicate the language of blame poetry; the whole subject will be discussed at length in Ch.12.

§4n2. The potential reproach that is in store for the Achaeans is called lôbê by Menelaos (VII 97). Again, lôbê means `blame, reproach' and indicates the language of blame poetry: Ch.14§§5(n1),6.

§4n3. On the antithesis between the kleos of epic poetry and the shame of blame poetry: Ch.14§10.

§5n1. VII 161: w(\s nei/kess' 'thus he made neîkos [reproach]'.

§5n2. It is precisely this kind of boasting that a hero seeks to avoid hearing from his opponent, in order to protect his epic prestige. Thus when Glaukos is wounded by the arrow of Teukros, an archer on the Achaean side (XII 387-389), the Trojan ally tries to hide "lest one of the Achaeans see him wounded and boast [verb eukhetaomai] with words [epos plural]" (XII 390-391). The use of epos [plural] is of special interest here: this word can refer not only to the words of a figure in epic but also to the poetic form of the given words (see Ch.15§7 and n1).

§5n3. On the killing of Achilles by Paris: Ch.4§4.

§5n4. Diomedes himself admits defeat at XI 317-319 (on which see Ch.5§25). See also Whitman 1958.134.

§5n5. Even the diction of Homeric poetry affirms that the wounding of a hero thwarts his aristeiâ. For example, when Paris wounded Makhaon, he pau=sen a)risteu/onta 'stopped him from performing his aristeiâ' (XI 506).

§6n1. Cf. Little Iliad/Proclus p. 106.20-23 Allen. For a review of the details, see Kullmann 1960.79-85.

§6n2. The excellence of Ajax in both might and artifice is thus implicitly bested by the excellence of Achilles in might. It will also be bested by the excellence of Odysseus in artifice (n1).

§6n3. The words of Ajax himself set the significance of his eventual withdrawal. Those who flee, he says, get no kleos (XV 564). All the same, the heroic status of Ajax as second best after Achilles is reaffirmed at XVII 279-280.

§6n4. It is said more than once in Book XI that by now all the heroes who are aristoi 'best' have been incapacitated: lines 658-659, 825-826 (cf. also XVI 23-24). Achilles himself observes in particular that Diomedes and Agamemnon have been put out of commission (XVI 74-77). His words contrast the inability of Diomedes with the ability of Patroklos "to ward off the devastation" at the Battle of the Ships (loigo\n a)mu=nai/a)mu/nwn at XVI 75/80). See Ch.5§12 and n1.

§7n1. I do not count the sporadic instances of aristos in the plural, as at V 541 (Krethon and Orsilokhos are called *danaw=n a)/ndras a)ri/stous 'men who are best [aristoi] among the Danaans').

§8n1. See Ch.17§4.

§8n2. See Van Brock 1959; cf. Householder/Nagy 1972.774-776 and Lowenstam 1975.

§8n3. Whitman 1958.136-137, 200-202. Note that Achilles is acknowledged as aristos 'best' by Glaukos at XVII 164-165 on the basis of the feats performed by Patroklos, who is called the therapôn of Achilles in this very context.

§8n4. See Pestalozzi 1945.

§8n5. For a listing of attestations: Ch.17§5.

§8n6. Cf. Nagy 1974.230-231; further discussion at Ch.17§5. Other than Hektor and Achilles/Patroklos, the only other Iliadic figure who is called îsos Arêi 'equal to Ares' is the hero Leonteus (XII 130). The evidence of Homeric diction indicates that the epic traditions about Leonteus were parallel to those about Patroklos, in that both figures are connected with the theme that the hero in death is a therapôn of Ares: Ch.17§5n8.

§8n7. For more on the wearing of Achilles' armor by Patroklos: Ch.9§33n2.

§9n1. On the semantics of noun noos 'thinking' and verb noeô 'think' in Homeric poetry: Frame 1978. On the use of noeô to express the notion of taking the initiative: Ch.3§13n.

§9n2. The verbs aineô 'praise' and neikeô 'blame' indicate the poetry of praise and blame: Ch.12§3.

§9n3. It is an established theme of praise and blame poetry that the audience is well aware of the traditions with which it is presented: Ch.12§§18-19.

§9n4. The figure of Diomedes himself is here directly pertinent to the epic reputation of Odysseus, since there are numerous epic traditions featuring these two heroes on joint expeditions (for a list: Fenik 1964.12-13). Significantly, different epic traditions give more or less credit to one or the other figure. In the Little Iliad, for example, it is Diomedes and not Odysseus who brings back Philoktetes (Proclus p.106.24-25 Allen); see Fenik, p. 13n2 and Severyns 1938.365-369.

§9n5. Besides meaning `quarrel, fight, contention', the word neîkos also designates the poetry of blame: Ch.12§3.

§10n1. Cf. Muellner 1976.96n43.

§11n1. Rüter 1969.252-253.

§11n2. On the semantics of nostos in Homeric poetry: Frame 1978. On nostos as not only `homecoming' but also `song about a homecoming': Ch.6§6n2.

§13n1. In Ch.14§5n1 and n3, I propose that this passage reflects a formal tradition of praise poetry centering on the theme of Penelope, as distinguished by the contrasting blame poetry about Clytemnestra.

§13n2. The adjective xari/essan that describes aoidê 'song' here at line 198 is derived from kharis, a noun that conveys simultaneously the social aspect of reciprocity as well as the personal aspect of pleasure. Cf xari/essan a)moibh/n 'compensation that has kharis' at iii 58; on the reciprocity between poet and patron, see Ch.12§21n3. In the Homeric Hymn to Hestia (Hymn 24), the poet prays that his aoidê 'song' have kharis (line 5); by implication, the pleasure that it gives is linked with the reward he will receive. See further at Ch.5§39.

§13n3. These themes correspond to the actual name Klutaimêstrê, a form indicating that the wife of Agamemnon is "famed" (Klutai-, from the same root *kleu- as in kleos) on account of what she "devised" (-mêstrê, from verb mêdomai). The element -mêstrê, from mêdomai 'devise', corresponds to the theme of kaka\ mh/sato e)/rga 'she devised [mêdomai] evil deeds' at line 199. As for the element Klutai- `famed', it corresponds to the theme of stugerh/ ... a)oidh/ 'hateful song' at line 200. This hateful song will be not simply about the wife of Agamemnon. Rather, the song is being presented as the very essence of Klutaimêstrê. (On the formal variant Klutai-mnêstrêas in the latinized Clytemnestra, see Nagy 1974.260; for more on the semantics of mêdomai, see Nagy, pp. 258-261.)

§13n4. To my knowledge, instances of epi + accusative in the sense of "among" are restricted in Homeric diction to anthrôpous 'humans' as the object of the preposition. This syntactical idiosyncrasy can be correlated with an interesting thematic association: the expression ep' anthrôpous 'among humans' is conventionally linked with kleos (X 213, i 299, xix 334, xxiv 94) and its derivatives (XXIV 202, xiv 403). It is also linked with aoidê 'song' at xxiv 201. Because of this parallelism between kleos and aoidê, and because kleos designates the glory conferred by poetry (Ch.1§2), I infer that ep' anthrôpous 'among humans' in these contexts indicates an audience in general listening to poetry in general. Calvert Watkins suggests to me that the original force of epi in this collocation may indeed be directional.

§13n5. To continue with the inference that the collocation of aoidê 'song' at line 200 with ep' anthrôpous 'among humans' at line 201 implies a sort of universal audience listening to the song about Clytemnestra: what men will hearabout Klutai-mêstrê is of course not the positive kleos of praise poetry (on which see Ch.12§3). Rather, it is blame poetry (see Ch.14§5n1). Ironically, when he had set out for Troy, Agamemnon had left behind an aoidos 'singer, poet' to guard Clytemnestra (iii 267-268). When Aigisthos persuaded her to betray Agamemnon by way of adultery, he took the aoidos to a deserted island (iii 270-271). In this way, the aoidos could not have seen the adultery, but the shameful behavior is nevertheless heard by the audience, which listens to the hateful aoidê 'song' about Clytemnestra. We see here a striking Homeric attestation of two traditional themes concerning the generic poet. One, he does not need to be an eyewitness and thus actually to see deeds in order to tell about them, since he can hear about them from the Muses (Ch.1§3). Two, he can regulate social behavior with his power to blame evil deeds (cf. Ch.14§12n4, Ch.15§8n8, Ch.16§10n6). On iii 267-268, see also Svenbro 1976.31 and n88.

§13n6. Compare the maxim told by Penelope to the disguised Odysseus at xix 329-334 (on which see further at Ch.14§6), where the good host gets the kleos of praise while the bad host gets the ridicule of blame. In being hospitable to the would-be beggar, Penelope is striving to match the former hospitality of Odysseus himself, who is described as the ultimate good host (xix 309-316). By implication, the kleos of being a good host belongs primarily to Odysseus. But Penelope herself is part of this kleos: at xix 325-328, she says that her own excellence will be recognized only if she is a good host to the would-be beggar. So also at xxiv 197-198: the aoidê 'song' about her is part of the overall kleos of Odysseus. A similar interpretation is possible at xix 107-114. See now Foreword §16n17.

§15n1. Cf. Whitman 1958.341n13 on the traditional device of misstating for the purpose of soliciting an omen to correct the misstatement.

§15n2. There is more irony when the psûkhai of the suitors reach Hades. Agamemnon wonders whether they had all been "chosen" as the aristoi 'best men' in a community (xxiv 107-108).

§17n1. More on this composition at Ch.6§9.

§17n2. For a stimulating discussion, see Pestalozzi 1945.40. On destiny and epic plot, see Kullmann 1956; cf. also Fränkel 1962.62-64. For a recent synthesis, I cite Mathews 1976. My translation of moîra as `destiny' in the contexts of XX 336 and viii 496 does not reveal the full semantic range of the word, which will be discussed further at Ch.7§21. The context of viii 496 is pertinent to that discussion, in that Odysseus rewards Demodokos for his songs by giving him a choice cut of meat (viii 474-483). The poet receives this award at a feast, where the portions of food are actually designated as moîrai (viii 470). To repeat, Odysseus challenges Demodokos to recite the story of the Trojan Horse kata\ moi=ran 'according to moîra' (viii 496).

§18n1. Cf. Intro.§9.