Hector and Achilles prepare for battle
Achilles embodies all of the main heroic qualities that are accorded singly to other heroes. He is beauty, strength, and excellence all at the same time. If, in a certain way, the Iliad exalts human energy during times of misfortune, it is not surprising that Achilles embodies, by himself, almost all of the suffering in the poem. “Achilles is among the Homeric figures who experiences the most pain. And it is important to make clear that the ‘eternally striving youth’, with the radiance of his power and beauty, is also for us, on the threshold of Western culture, the figure who felt the most pain, a figure who is capable of great suffering,” writes Walter Schadewaldt. And while the Iliad is indeed the story of Achilles’ anger, it is also the song of his sorrow.
The Iliad:
As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and told his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. “Alas,” he cried, “son of noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that they were untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging about his naked body—for Hector holds his armour.”
A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at full length, and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief, beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into his own throat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. "***
To understand why Achilles, an almost-invulnerable demigod, cries after killing Hector who had slain Achilles’ close wartime companion, Patroclus), one needs to understand the dichotomy of war in The Iliad. While on the one hand, war brings ‘glory’ or kudianeira for men, on the other, it is a source of fear, pain, and human suffering. For Achilles, fighting in a war against the Trojans is a mark of honor and heroic mettle. However, it also brings him extraordinary grief, as exemplified in the poem: “Once Achilles has worn out his sorrow, the desire for tears leaves, at the same time, his heart and his body.” Unlike the classical portrayal of heroic figures as killing machines, Homer’s epic celebrates their innate humanity, while imbuing them with honor, fidelity, and agony.
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"In Basel, I stood undaunted
Yet solitary there — God have pity,
And I cried out: Homer! Homer!
Thus annoying everyone.
They go to church and then go home
And laugh at the loud crier.
Now I no longer mind it;
The finest audience
Hears my Homeric cries
And is quietly patient withal.
As a reward for this exuberance
Of kindness here is my printed thanks."
Nietzsche
"In Basel, I stood undaunted" (1869)
Nietzsche acquired a position on the classical philology faculty at the University of Basel. The Swiss university offered Nietzsche the professorial position, and he began teaching there in 1869, at the age of 24. *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
