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GAAAAH- Jamie Peters

    Everyone this week will most likely talk about the ABSOLUTE CHAOS that happened in the last two chapters in this book. Granted, it was some important stuff - I felt physical pain in reading it - but I would like to take a step back to chapter 18, in which Hephaestus created armor for Achilles. There are beautiful descriptions of what is engraved into Achilles' shield, the "...constellations, all that crowd the heavens... two noble cities filled / with mortal men...a king's estate where harvesters labored... (567, 572-573, 639), to name a few. I want to zero in on why all of these images were placed on the shield in the first place. Since I am not writing an essay at this moment, however, I will choose the two images of the noble cities to analyze. 
    The first of the cities is described as a happy place, full of music, and dancing, and overall peace (573-579). This image is suddenly dissolved as argument breaks out; someone is demanding a blood price for a family member murdered (582). The town takes sides on whether or not the guilty party should pay, but the elders retain order by holding what can be considered a modern trial for the blood price (590-592). The second city is much different. There is an army surrounding it, but they are divided for how to proceed when they storm the ramparts. The people of the city, however, "...were not surrendering, not at all..." (597). Their defenders, led by Ares and Athena themselves, engaged the quarrelsome army while they we debating, and they fought each other to the death. The winner of the battle is never identified. 
    I have a hunch that these two images represent the war being fought at this point in time. Both cities represent Troy, once a happy place but now is refusing to pay the price for treachery (Helen's capture). The army surrounding the city is the Achaean forces, divided into those who side with Agamemnon and those who side with Achilles. The third army led by Ares and Athena could represent the Trojan army even though Ares and Athena are not on their side. Instead, Ares and Athena could represent both the wisdom and fury of Hector. 
    This is only the first of many theories of what these images could represent. What do you think?


I commented on Lily's and Kaitlyn's posts.

PS. I know the title doesn't really match the feel of the post, but it DEFINITELY matches the book right now.

Comments

  1. IsabelleAugust 31, 2020 at 3:29 PM

    I also loved the beautiful descriptions! I was under the impression that Homer was simply building up the glory and beauty of this armor when I first read this chapter. I wasn't thinking of what the images could represent. Your blog post is very insightful. I definitely see what you're saying, looking back now. -Isabelle Ferguson

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  2. Ian BlairAugust 31, 2020 at 8:13 PM

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post! I as well made the connection to Achilles' shield having the city that represented Troy and I'm glad that someone decided to point it out. I feel as though Achilles is sort of a plot device used by the gods to fulfill the downfall of Troy.

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