Homer: Idea of Glory

One of the major compelling themes of Homer’s epic poems is the idea of glory. It is easy to say major characters and their actions strive to achieve everlasting honor and glory. In the Iliad and Odyssey, one of the best representations of capturing these qualities is a heroic death. Though the ideas of wisdom and love as seen through Athena and Aphrodite, pervade ancient Greek culture and religion, the life of a great man is epitomized by his heroic death. The qualities of heroism in death is so crucial and paramount to man because they are trying to obtain the one thing they cannot possess, immortality. In the ancient Greek world, their religion was the worship of immortal human like beings with power. In a sense, through heroic death, heroes in Homer’s epic poetry attempt to become the immortal gods they worship.

To obtain the immortality craved by heroes, it is essential they have a just purpose for their death. As seen in the epic tales, this purpose is best seen in battle. In example, book 6 of the Iliad, Hektor’s wife pleads with him not to go into battle, however mighty Hecktor proclaims for her not to worry that she will be known as the wife of the bravest fighter of the Trojans, the breaker of horses. He did not seem to care that his wife and son will be without him, instead that his legacy is long lasting. His heroic death in combat will live on and believed to grant him immortality which is far more important than being a husband and father. Another hero who died a heroic death in battle is Patroclus, Achilles’ long standing friend. When Achilles refused to join the battles against the Trojans, Patroclus took action and rejoined the battle. After killing many of the Trojans, with the aid of Apollo the god, he was put to death, after Patroclus kills one of Zeus’s sons. Interestingly, Patroclus is then granted never-ending glory for his bravery in battle. This can be seen by the fact that an entire book of the Iliad is dedicated to Patroclus and the battle over his body, Homer seemed to be very smitten by his character, and so his story is told onward thousands of years later. Achilles is yet another character who craved such glory. Even though Achilles knew he was destined to die, he had a choice after his best friend perished. To stay and seek revenge against his companions’ killer, which meant his demise or flee and possibly live. Acquainted to Achilles strong personality, he meets his destiny and chooses to die. Exemplifying a true epic hero, Achilles illustrated a heroic death as well as an immortal one. In Homer’s epics, a hero’s death and the purpose behind it must be honorable in order to accomplish the ultimate mark of immortality.

The closest understanding of sustaining immortality is Homer’s acknowledgment of the afterlife: Hades. In the ancient realm, it was believed that mortals go to Hades after their death. Homer used Hades as a metaphor for the continued existence of the heroes in his epics, despite their deaths. In example, after the death of Patroclus he is reappeared as a ghost to ask Achilles to bury his body. Achilles expressed thrill, exclaiming even in the house of Hades there is something left, a soul or an image. In a way, Homer commemorates his fallen heroes through their speeches from the dead. This can be best seen in The Odyssey, when readers have the opportunity to picture Hades through the eyes of Odysseus. Characters that have already departed come back to speak about their lives and deaths. In example, Agamemnon spoke about his premature death by his wife, a vast difference from the other types of death we have seen. Heracles informs readers on his difficult but glorified life. Ultimately, Achilles expresses how different he views death as opposed to the beginning of the Iliad, when we see him as the embodiment of a hero. Now, after his death, he suggests living with the purpose to die with glory is essentially