Download March 17, 2015 Alexander`s obsession with Achilles was great, the

Alexander’s obsession with Achilles
William J. Glidden
History 134
March 17, 2015
Alexander’s obsession with Achilles was great, the Iliad was Alexander’s favorite work.
He took it on all of his campaigns with him and slept with it underneath his pillow. His favorite
character of course was Achilles. Achilles fascinated Alexander and captured his imagination.
Alexander knew that when Achilles took part in a battle that victory was assured and when he
turned away, that defeat was assured. In this paper, we will take a look into Iliad and why it was
his favorite work, and who Achilles was and why Alexander the Great was obsessed with him
and was so fascinated. Then the wars that Achilles and Alexander took place in.
What was Iliad? According to Phyllis Taylor, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, “The
Iliad is a long narrative poem in dactylic hexameter. The story combines the history, legends, and
religion of the ancient Greeks with the imagination, invention, and lively story-telling abilities of
a great poet.1” Sometimes referred to as the song of Ilion. It was set during the ten-year siege if
the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states known by the Trojan War. The poem only deals
with a small portion of the Trojan War only covering a few months of the tenth year of that war.
The Iliad mentions many of the Greek legends about the siege; the earlier events such as the
gathering of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war and related concerns tend to appear near
the beginning of the poem. One way of thinking about the poem is as a pure form of poetry
passed down from generation to generation without ever being written down. The Iliad is the
earliest known work of European literature showing that European literature peaked pretty early.
Even though Iliad stands at the beginning of one tradition, it also comes at the end of a
completely different tradition. The poem has the beginning in the creation of the great wall at
Troy. The Trojans needed the aid of the sea god, Poseidon, to help build the wall. In the end the
poem recount the events of a feud as they take place over several days. Then ends with the death
and burial of the Trojan warrior, Hector.
Who was Achilles? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Achilles, in Greek
mythology, son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the Nereid, or sea nymph,
Thetis. Achilles was the bravest, handsomest, and greatest warrior of the army of Agamemnon in
the Trojan War.2” He is the heroic subject if Homer’s Iliad. Achilles is part of the Greek force in
the Trojan War. Achilles ends up killing Hector and then dishonors the body by dragging it
around tied to the back of a chariot for nine days because Hector killed his friend Patroclus and
this enraged Achilles. Hector was the oldest child of Priam and Hecuba, devoted husband of
Andromache, and father of Astyanax, was the greatest Trojan hero of the Trojan War, the main
defender of Troy and a favorite of Apollo. Alexander the Great was so fascinated and obsessed
with Achilles because “Alexander as a man who justified and explained himself to himself and
other by embracing the goals, the values of Achilles, and the values of Homeric heroes has
become general.3” Saying he almost looked up to him as a role model because of what he had
accomplished. According to the book Plato and the Hero: Courage, Manliness and the
Impersonal Good, “When Alexander first disembarked in Asia minor, for instance, he made a
special pilgrimage to the traditional site of Achilles’ tomb near troy and crowned it with a
wreath, while his companion Hephaestion crowned the tomb of Patroclus.4”
The Trojan War, what about it? According to Eric H. Cline, “The ancient Greeks and
romans certainly thought that such a war had taken place, and they thought they knew the site of
its battles, in the northwest Anatolia (modern Turkey). Later, they built their own cities,
Hellenistic Ilion and Roman Ilium, respectively, at the same location.5” She stated that “The
Greeks and romans believed that the Trojan War was both a real event and a pivotal point in
world history5” The war began after the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, the wife of
Menelaus of Sparta. Menelaus had tried to force them to give his wife back, to return her and the
Trojans refused.
The Iliad was so important to Alexander that he had slept with it underneath his pillow at
night. Being the story that combines the history, legends, and religion of the ancient Greeks with
the imagination, invention. Achilles that was the biggest part of Alexander’s life. Alexander took
after him so much that he almost thought of himself as Achilles. He was beyond fascinated and
obsessed with Achilles. Then the Trojan War, being a huge turning point in Greek mythology. A
“Pivotal point in world history”. In the end, Alexander the Great being a huge icon, in the past
reading about him a little in high school and now even reading about him in one of the best
history classes I have ever taken, Ancient World History!
Bibliography
1.) Phyllis Taylor. “The Iliad Practical Approach” Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 2015.
Web.
A website created by Phyllis Taylor about a practical approach to Iliad.
2.) The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Achilles”. ENCYCLOPAEDIIA BRITANNICA.
2015. Web.
This website is a whole encyclopedia on Achilles with Greek mythology created by many editors
of the website.
3.) Bosworth, and Elizabeth Baynham. “Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction”. Oxford
University Press. 2000. Print.
This book pulls together ten contributions of Alexander the Great studies.
4.) Angela Hobbs, Plato and the Hero: Courage, Manliness and the Impersonal Good. Cambridge
University Press. November 2, 2006. Print.
This book is about Plato’s thinking on courage, heroism and manliness, both key components to
his work. But these areas of his thought remain under-explored.
5.) Eric H. Cline, “The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction”. Oxford University Press. May
30, 2013. Print.
This book tells how the Trojan War happened, what went on outside and inside the war, and
what the end affect was and had on everyone.