A sampling of comments on Iliad Rhapsody 16

2016.11.09 / updated 2018.09.11 | By Gregory Nagy

It seems at first as if everything is coming together here in Iliad 16. Achilles, best of the Achaeans, sends out his other self, Patroklos, to fight Hector and his Trojans, who are now on the verge of setting on fire and destroying all the beached ships of the Achaeans. Patroklos does in fact succeed in stopping the fire, which had been endangering not only the survival of the Achaeans but even the very existence of their notional descendants, imagined as the Greeks who are listening to the story of the Iliad in their own time. The conflagration that could have burned down the beached ships of the Achaeans is now literally ‘quenched’ by Patroklos, whose heroic action in putting out the fire of the Trojans is compared in a simile to a cosmic action taken by Zeus himself when this weather-god drenches and thus destroys in a violent rainstorm the farmlands of unjust men. Clearly, Zeus is now once again on the Achaean side of the Trojan War. But the success of Patroklos is not to last: soon after he kills Sarpedon, son of Zeus himself, in the course of a spectacular chariot fight, Patroklos now gets killed in the course of a second spectacular chariot fight. This time, Patroklos has gone too far, daring to attack not only Hector but also the divine protector of that hero, Apollo himself. Now everything is about to come apart again, and Achilles has yet to find out about the tragedy that awaits him.

It seems at first as if everything is coming together here in Iliad 16. Achilles, best of the Achaeans, sends out his other self, Patroklos, to fight Hector and his Trojans, who are now on the verge of setting on fire and destroying all the beached ships of the Achaeans. Patroklos does in fact succeed in stopping the fire, which had been endangering not only the survival of the Achaeans but even the very existence of their notional descendants, imagined as the Greeks who are listening to the story of the Iliad in their own time. The conflagration that could have burned down the beached ships of the Achaeans is now literally ‘quenched’ by Patroklos, whose heroic action in putting out the fire of the Trojans is compared in a simile to a cosmic action taken by Zeus himself when this weather-god drenches and thus destroys in a violent rainstorm the farmlands of unjust men. Clearly, Zeus is now once again on the Achaean side of the Trojan War. But the success of Patroklos is not to last: soon after he kills Sarpedon, son of Zeus himself, in the course of a spectacular chariot fight, Patroklos now gets killed in the course of a second spectacular chariot fight. This time, Patroklos has gone too far, daring to attack not only Hector but also the divine protector of that hero, Apollo himself. Now everything is about to come apart again, and Achilles has yet to find out about the tragedy that awaits him. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.021
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; phertatos ‘best’

Here the idea of ‘best of the Achaeans’ is expressed by way of phertatos ‘best’. In the Iliad, only Achilles is designated as phertatos in comparison with the rest of the Achaeans as an aggregate. See also I.02.769. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 27.]]

I.16.022
Q&T via BA 79
subject heading(s): akhos ‘grief’

See the comments on I.01.188, I.01.407–412, I.01.503–510, I.01.509, I.01.558–559, I.09.003, I.09.008–009, I.11.317–319. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 79, 90, 94; also HTL 132.]]

I.16.032
subject heading(s): loigos ‘devastation’; amunein ‘ward off’

See the comment on I.01.338-344. On loigos ‘devastation’ as the direct object of amunein ‘ward off’, see also I.10.456, I.15.736, I.16.075, I.16.080. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 75–76.]]

I.16.052
subject heading(s): akhos ‘grief’

See the comments on I.01.188, I.01.407–412, I.01.503–510, I.01.509, I.01.558–559, I.09.003, I.09.008–009, I.11.317–319. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 94; also HTL 132.]]

I.16.055
Q&T BA 79
subject heading(s): akhos ‘grief’; algea ‘pains’

See the comments on I.01.188, I.01.407–412, I.01.503–510, I.01.509, I.01.558–559, I.09.003, I.09.008–009, I.11.317–319. Here at I.16.055, the akhos ‘grief’ that Achilles feels because he was dishonored by Agamemnon and by the Achaeans in general is equated, in his own words, with algea ‘pains’, object of the verb paskhein ‘suffering’. The idea of personal heroic suffering as expressed by way of the combination paskhein and algea here in the case of Achilles is parallel to what we see in the case of Odysseus at O.01.004. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 79, 94; also HTL 132.]]

I.16.057
subject heading(s): Pedasos as variant for Lyrnessos

In this verse, Achilles is speaking about Briseis. In the scholia T for this same verse, I.16.057, a variant tradition is reported about this captive woman: it comes from the epic known as the Cypria, which was part of the epic Cycle. On the epic Cycle, see the Inventory of terms and names. In the Cypria, as we are told by the scholia T here at I.16.057, Achilles captured Briseis when he conquered the city of Pedasos. In the Iliad, by contrast, the city that Achilles conquered when he captured Briseis was Lyrnessos, I.02.689–694. For more about such variation between Pedasos and Lyrnessos, see the comments on I.20.089–102 and I.20.187–194. See also the anchor comment at I.02.689–694 on: Aeolian women in the Iliad, part 1; see also the anchor comment at I.09.128–131 / 270–272 on: Aeolian women in the Iliad, part 2. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HPC 243.]]

I.16.075
subject heading(s): loigos ‘devastation’; amunein ‘ward off’

See the comment on I.01.320-348; see also I.16.032. Here the subject of the verb amunein ‘ward off’ switches from Achilles to Patroklos. This way, Patroklos becomes the savior of the Achaeans by rescuing them from the fire of Hector. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 75–76, 328, 336.]]

I.16.080
subject heading(s): loigos ‘devastation’; amunein ‘ward off’

Here again the subject of the verb amunein ‘ward off’ switches from Achilles to Patroklos. See the comment on I.16.075. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 75–76, 328, 336.]]

I.16.087–096
subject heading(s): limits set for Patroklos by Achilles

Achilles tells Patroklos not to go beyond the limits that he sets for him in these verses. If Patroklos does exceed these limits, as he will, he will lose his shared identity with Achilles. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 293.]]

I.16.097–100
Q&T BA 325
subject heading(s): Indic heroes Bhīma and Arjuna

The heroic tendency of Achilles to behave as a lone warrior, not as a member of a group of warriors, is comparable to heroic tendencies that play out in the Indic epic known as the Mahābhārata. In that epic, Bhīma is the “loner,” as it were, while Arjuna is the “joiner.” But the characteristic of Achilles as a “loner” is complicated by the fact that Patroklos, so long as he shares his identity with Achilles, likewise behaves as a “loner” in the Iliad. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 325.]]

I.16.112
subject heading(s): re-invocation of Muse(s); ennepein ‘narrate, tell’; Mousa ‘Muse’; singing as narrating
lemmatizing: ἔσπετε νῦν μοι Μοῦσαι Ὀλύμπια δώματ’ ἔχουσαι

On the use of the plural here, see the comment on I.02.484. I repeat here the translation: ‘tell me now, you Muses who have your dwellings on Mount Olympus’. It has already been noted in the comment on I.11.218- and earlier on I.02.484- that the Master Narrator tends to re-invoke the Muse or the Muses at special moments of poetic self-awareness about the need for high fidelity to tradition. For more on the poetics of re-invocation, see also the comments on I.02.761, I.14.508. Here at I.16.112 the special moment of poetic self-awareness corresponds to the heroic self-awareness of Hector, as analyzed in the comment on I.08.180–183. Since the Muses are the goddesses of poetic memory, their re-invocation by the Master Narrator here at I.16.112 is a fulfillment of the original prediction of Hector: there will be mnēmosunē ‘memory’, I.08.181, of the moment when he will set fire to the beached ships of the Achaeans in the epic Battle for the Ships. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.113
subject heading(s): the fire of Hector finally reaches the ships of the Achaeans

Here is where it all comes together: what the Muses are re-invoked to sing is ‘how the fire of Hector finally reached the ships of the Achaeans’, I.16.113: ὅππως δὴ πρῶτον πῦρ ἔμπεσε νηυσὶν Ἀχαιῶν. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 17, PasP 61.]]

I.16.119–121
subject heading(s): Will of Zeus

Ajax sees, to his horror, that the dreaded moment has arrived. Now that the fire of Hector is about to reach the ships of the Achaeans, the Will of Zeus is finally about to be fulfilled: what Zeus now literally bouletai ‘wills’ is nīkē ‘victory’ for the Trojans, I.16.121. See also HC 4§109, with a survey of all Homeric situations where either Zeus or Athena awards nīkē ‘victory’. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.122–124
subject heading(s): fire of Hector as phlox ‘burst of flame’

Ajax makes another strategic partial withdrawal, I.16.122. For an earlier reference to Ajax in the act of withdrawing, see I.15.727–732 and the comment on I.15.704–746. Meanwhile a fiery missile lands on one of the beached ships of the Achaeans, I.16.122–123, and a phlox ‘burst of flame’ envelops the prumnē ‘stern’ of that ship, I.16.123–124. As we know from earlier references to this ship, it had belonged to Protesilaos: see the comment on I.15.704–746. Achilles sees that the beached ship is on fire, and he now urges Patroklos to arm himself and go off to defend the ships from the fire. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 336, HPC 162.]]

I.16.140–144
subject heading(s): meliē ‘ash spear’ of Achilles

Patroklos wears the armor of Achilles, but he leaves behind that hero’s meliē ‘ash spear’ I.16.143. Only Achilles can wield that weapon, I.16.140–144. The symbolism of this spear corresponds to the myth of the bronze generation of heroes in Hesiod Works and Days 143–151, who were born of ash trees and were made of bronze, just as the shaft of the spear of Achilles is made from an ash tree while the tip is made of bronze. By contrast with the immortalizing armor that Achilles receives from his immortal mother Thetis, he receives the ash spear from his mortal father Peleus. For more on the symbolism of the hero’s ash spear, I recommend Shannon 1975. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 158.]]

I.16.149
subject heading(s): Xanthos the immortal horse of Achilles

See the comments at O.12.132 and at O.23.246 on myths about solar horses; the name of Xanthos is relevant. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 209–210.]]

I.16.150–151
Q&T via GMP 238
subject heading(s): harpuia ‘Harpy’

On the word harpuia, personified as ‘Harpy’, see Parts 3 and 4 of the comment at O.15.250–251. [[GN 2017.08.02 via GMP 244–245; also 238.]]

I.16.165
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’

Here, for the first time in the Iliad, Patroklos is marked as the therapōn of Achilles. His dual role as ‘attendant’ and ‘ritual substitute’ is already implicit. [[GN 2016.08.04 via the comment on I.04.227; see also BA 292.]]

I.16.189
subject heading(s): kratero- ‘having the power to win’; hiero– ‘sacred’

I note here only in passing the semantic and morphological links between these two adjectives kratero- ‘having the power to win’ and hiero– ‘sacred’ in contexts where they describe the noun menos ‘mental power’. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 86.]]

I.16.213
subject heading(s): biē ‘force, violence, strength’

This word biē ‘force, violence, strength’ and its synonym īs are conventionally associated with violent winds. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 321.]]

I.16.235
subject heading(s): hupophētai ‘spokesmen’

This word hupophētai ‘spokesmen’ refers to interpreters of oracular pronouncements. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HPC 118n12.]]

I.16.237
Q&T via BA 82
subject heading(s): tīmân ‘honor, give honor to’; Chryses; prayer

As it was noted in the comment on I.13.111–113, Agamemnon ‘dishonored’ Achilles, I.13.113, as expressed by the verb a-tīmân, and Zeus therefore punished the Achaeans. Again here at I.16.237, the Achaeans are being punished by Zeus, while he ‘honors’, tīmân, Achilles. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 82.]]

I.16.240–248
subject heading(s): self-identification of Achilles with Patroklos

Achilles is sending off Patroklos to fight in his place, but he is not sure whether he can identify himself with his best friend when Patroklos goes off on his own. This uncertainty, as we will see in the comment on I.16.244, is relevant to the use of the word therapōn. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 292.]]

I.16.244
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’

Here, for the second time in the Iliad, Patroklos is marked as the therapōn of Achilles. His dual role as ‘attendant’ and ‘ritual substitute’ is already implicit. [[GN 2016.08.04 via the comment on I.04.227; see also GMP 130.]]

I.16.255-256
subject heading(s): klisiā ‘shelter’

Achilles is pictured as standing in front of his klisiā ‘shelter’, to get a better view of the battle scene. In the comments on I.08.220–227 and on I.11.005–016, there is more about the positioning of this klisiā. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HPC 162.]]

I.16.271–272
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Argives’

The wording of Patroklos describes Achilles as the ‘best of the Argives’—which is another way of saying that Achilles is ‘the best of the Achaeans’. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 26.]]

I.16.272
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’; ankhe-makhoi ‘fighting side by side’; “taking the hit”

In the words of Patroklos, there are warriors and then there are therapontes of warriors. These therapontes are ankhe-makhoi, literally ‘fighting next to them’, that is, fighting side by side with the warriors. Here we see the stance of a chariot driver who is speaking about standing next to the chariot fighter. They stand together, side by side on the chariot platform. So, standing here side by side with the chariot fighter is his very own chariot driver, his very own therapōn in the dual role of ‘attendant’ and ‘ritual substitute’. The ritual pose, as it were, of the therapōn as he takes his stand side by side with the primary warrior on the platform of the chariot is a physical embodiment of his role as ritual substitute. [[GN 2016.08.04 via the comment on I.15.431 and, secondarily, via the comment on I.04.227 via Nagy 2015.05.01, 2015.05.08, 2015.05.15, 2015.05.20. See also BA 293.]]

I.16.273–274
subject heading(s): ‘best of the Achaeans’; atē ‘aberration’

For Agamemnon to dishonor the status of Achilles as ‘the best of the Achaeans’, as Achilles himself says at I.01.412, is a sign of the over-king’s atē ‘aberration’. Patroklos says it again here, I.16.273–274. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 26.]]

I.16.279
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’

As Patroklos rides off to battle, soon to die as the ritual substitute of Achilles, we see here standing next to him on the chariot his very own therapōn. It becomes clear, as the narrative proceeds, that this therapōn is the hero Automedon. Does this hero function here not only as the ‘attendant’ of Patroklos but also as that hero’s very own ‘ritual substitute’? The answer is: no. Automedon is temporarily the chariot driver for Patroklos, but he will not become a ritual substitute for him. True, we see Automedon functioning as an ‘attendant’ at I.16.145–154, where he yokes the horses of Achilles to the chariot that he will drive for Patroklos: so, Automedon is definitely a temporary attendant for Patroklos as well as his temporary chariot driver. But Automedon will not become a ritual substitute for Patroklos. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]

I.16.282
Q&T via BA 106
subject heading(s): mēnithmos ‘anger’; philotēs ‘being near and dear to one’s near and dear ones’

For Achilles to renounce his mēnithmos ‘anger’ is equated, already here, to his restoring the relationship that should exist among companions who are philoi ‘near and dear’ to each other: such a relationship, as we see here, is philotēs ‘being near and dear to one’s near and dear ones’. In the Iliad, Patroklos takes on the role of restoring, by way of his own death, such philotēs between Achilles and the Achaeans. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 106.]]

I.16.286
subject heading(s): ship of Protesilaos

Patroklos, hastening to reach the scene of battle, finally arrives at the center of the action, where the ship of Protesilaos is beached. Now he is right next to the prumnē ‘stern’ of that ship. See also the comment on I.15.704–746. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HPC 162.]]

I.16.293/301
Q&T via BA 336
subject heading(s): quenching the fire

At I.16.287–292, Patroklos successfully defends the beached ships of the Achaeans: he kills Puraikhmēs, the foremost attacker, and he puts the other attackers to flight, thus saving the Achaeans by ‘quenching’, as expressed by way of sbennunai, I.16.293, the fire that had threatened their ships. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 336.]]

I.16.294–298
subject heading(s): ship of Protesilaos

Patroklos now leads the Achaeans in counterattacking the Trojans, leaving behind the ship of Protesilaos, half of which has by now been burned down in the battle, I.16.294. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HPC 162.]]

I.16.301
subject heading(s): averting the fire from the beached ships

The successful action so far is now summed up here: the Achaeans=Danaans, led by Patroklos, have succeeded in pushing back the fire that had threatened the beached ships. [[GN 2016.11.06.]]

I.16.362
subject heading(s): nīkē ‘victory’

So, Zeus has now shifted the momentum of the battle, and nīkē ‘victory’ has gone over to the side of the Achaeans. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HC 4§109.]]

I.16.364–366

The victory that Zeus is now making possible for the Achaeans is compared here to a storm that is stirred up by the god. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HC 4§109.]]

I.16.383–393

The momentum of Hector’s chariot, as he is driving away from the ships, is compared to the flooding caused by a violent rainstorm stirred up by Zeus against the unrighteous. Since Patroklos had effectively ‘quenched’ the fire that had threatened the beached ships of the Achaeans, I.16.293, the comparing of his success against the fleeing Trojans to a cataclysmic rainstorm stirred up by Zeus is all the more appropriate. [[GN 2016.11.09 via Nagy 2016.05.12§§3–4; see also BA 323, GMP 211.]]

I.16.437
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’

In this context, the localized meaning of dēmos in the sense of ‘district’ is still overt. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, PH 251.]]

I.16.440–457
subject heading(s): Sarpedon as cult hero; hero cult; cult hero

The description here of an impending funeral and entombment for Sarpedon is replete with references to hero cult. Some of these references, as we will now see in detail, indicate that the cult hero is destined to be immortalized after death. [[GN 2016.11.09 via GMP 138.]]

I.16.454–455
subject heading(s): Hypnos and Thanatos

The symmetry of personified Sleep and personified Death here is comparable to Homeric attestations of parallel syntax for describing explicitly an awakening after sleep and implicitly a revival after death in scenarios for the immortalization of a cult hero. [[GN 2016.11.09 via GMP 142.]]

I.16.455
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’

In this context, the localized meaning of dēmos in the sense of ‘district’ is still overt. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, PH 251, GMP 131–133.]]

I.16.456–457
subject heading(s): tarkhuein ‘ritually prepare’; hero cult; cult hero

These two verses, repeated at I.16.674–675 and foreshadowed by three verses at I.07.084–086 containing an indirect reference to the funeral and entombment of Achilles, refer to the funeral and entombment of Sarpedon in his role as a cult hero. Here I give an epitome of a far more detailed argumentation in Nagy 2012:60–69. In terms of hero cult, the wording that refers here at I.16.456–457 to a funeral and an entombment implies a ritual preparing of the dead body for a mystical revival after death. The word that refers to such immortalization in these Homeric passages is tarkhuein (ταρχύσουσι), at I.07.085, I.16.456, I.16.674. It can be argued that this Greek word tarkhuein, which I translate here neutrally as ‘ritually prepare’, is a borrowing from the Anatolian language that we know as Lycian, and that the corresponding Lycian word conveys the idea of ‘immortalize’. The most relevant forms in the surviving corpus of Anatolian linguistic evidence are (1) Lycian Trqqñt-, name of a Lycian thunder god; (2) the cognate Luvian form Tarḫunt-, name of the thunder god who is head of the Luvian pantheon; (3) the cognate Hittite form tarḫu-/tar(r)uḫ- (/tarx^w-/), a verb meaning ‘be victorious, overcome’. Cognates of this Hittite verb tarḫu– in other Indo-European languages convey the idea of ‘overcome’ or ‘transcend’ in contexts where the object of transcendence is death itself (GMP 139). An example is the Greek compound noun nek-tar (νέκταρ), consisting of roots meaning ‘death’ (nek- as in nekros ‘corpse’) and ‘conquer’ (-tar, cognate with Hittite tarḫu-). I argue that the Lycian and the Luvian names of the thunder god convey the idea of revivifying as well as overcoming, since thunder gods as described in Indo-European languages have the power to use their thunder weapons not only to overcome violently their enemies but also to preserve and thus make sacred their own devotees—and even to revivify them (GMP 197; see also GMP 132–134). [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

Ι.16.464
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’; “taking the hit”

In the first round of this duel of Patroklos and Sarpedon as chariot fighters, Patroklos is the first to aim his spear at Sarpedon, and then Sarpedon in turn aims at Patroklos, I.16.462–469. Here is what happens in these verses. First, Patroklos misses, hitting Thrasymelos, the therapōn of Sarpedon. So, the chariot driver as therapōn “takes the hit” for the chariot fighter, fulfilling his role as a ritual substitute. Then, Sarpedon misses hitting Sarpedon with his spear, hitting instead Pedasos the mortal horse of Achilles. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]

I.16.514
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’

In this context, the localized meaning of dēmos in the sense of ‘district’ is still overt. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, PH 251.]]

I.16.548–553
subject heading(s): penthos ‘grief’

The Trojans experience collective penthos ‘grief’, I.16.548, over the death of Sarpedon. On the collective aspects of penthos ‘grief’ see the comment on I.04.197. On collective akhos ‘grief’, see the comment on I.01.407–412 and on I.01.509. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 94.]]

I.16.605
subject heading(s): the expression ‘(and) he was honored [tīein] as a god [theos] in the district [dēmos]’ (θεὸς [δ’] ὣς τίετο δήμῳ); hero cult; cult hero

See anchor comment at I.05.077–078. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, GMP 132–133.]]

I.16.653
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’; “taking the hit”

Before the duel of Patroklos and Hector as chariot fighters begins, the momentum is with Patroklos, and he is marked as the therapōn of Achilles in this context. His role as a ritual substitute is only implicit here. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 292.]]

I.16.670
subject heading(s): ambroto- / ambrosio– ‘immortalizing’

We see here further indications of Sarpedon’s impending immortalization: Apollo anoints the hero’s body with ambrosiē ‘immortalizing substance’ and clothes him in vestments that are ambrota ‘immortalizing’. [[GN 2016.11.09 via GMP 141.]]

I.16.671–673
subject heading(s): Hypnos and Thanatos

See the comment on I.16.454–455. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.673
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’

See the comment on I.16.455. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, PH 251, GMP 131–133.]]

I.16.674–675
subject heading(s): tarkhuein ‘ritually prepare’

See the comment on I.16.456–457. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.680
subject heading(s): ambroto– ‘immortalizing’

See the comment on I.16.670. [GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.682
subject heading(s): Hypnos and Thanatos

See the comment on I.16.454–455. [[GN 2016.11.09.]]

I.16.683
subject heading(s): dēmos ‘community, district’

See the comment on I.16.455. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 149, PH 251, GMP 131–133.]]

I.16.685–687
subject heading(s): aâsthai ‘veer off-course’ as the verb of atē ‘aberration’

At I.16.685, Patroklos experiences a personal atē ‘aberration’, as expressed by way of the verb aâsthai ‘veer off-course’. [[GN 2016.11.09 via PH 254.]]

I.16.705–711
subject heading(s): mēnis ‘anger’ of Apollo; daimoni isos ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’; antagonism between immortal and mortal

Patroklos confronts Apollo four times and then backs off, thus avoiding the mēnis ‘anger’ of the god, I.16.711. At the moment of his climactic fourth confrontation with Apollo, Patroklos is described as daimoni isos ‘equal to a daimōn’, I.16.705. The ‘superhuman force’ to which this word daimōn refers here can be understood to be Apollo himself. We see here a climactic moment in a pattern of divine-human antagonism that links the god Apollo with the hero Achilles, but Patroklos can now take upon himself the role of a ritual substitute for Achilles. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 143–144.]]

I.16.722–723
Q&T via GMP 300
subject heading(s): wishes correlated with premises

We see at I.16.722 a wish that is predicated on confidence in some specific certainty: αἴθ ὅσον ἥσσων εἰμί, τόσον σέο φέρτερος εἴην ‘If only I could be superior to you—as surely as I am that much inferior to you!’ On the syntax of such wishes, see the comment on I.18.464–466. In this case, however, the predicated certainty is falsified, since the speaker is Apollo disguised as Hector’s uncle, and the god is of course superior rather than inferior to Hector. Here I epitomize the analysis in GMP 300. Apollo now says, in the guise of Hector’s uncle: if you were that much inferior, then you would retreat in battle, I.16.723. But, since Hector is supposedly that much superior to his uncle, he is of course expected not to retreat. What is hidden in these comparisons is the relative stature of the god himself: the uncle is to Hector as Hector is to Apollo. From the standpoint of Hector, the premise in Apollo’s use of the idiom is reality: the uncle is inferior to Hector. Here I repeat the wording of I.16.722: αἴθ ὅσον ἥσσων εἰμί, τόσον σέο φέρτερος εἴην ‘If only I could be superior to you—as surely as I am that much inferior to you!’ From the standpoint of Apollo and the framing narrative, however, the premise is false: Apollo is superior, not inferior, to Hector. Therefore the wish that is based on the premise is augmented: the ‘that much’ of ‘let me be that much superior to you’ is immeasurably more than Hektor might think. [[GN 2016.11.09 via GMP 300.]]

I.16.767
subject heading(s): meliē as ‘ash tree’ or ‘ash spear’

Here the word means ‘ash tree’; elsewhere, as we saw in the comment on I.16.140–144, it means ‘ash spear’, I.16.143. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 156.]]

I.16.784
subject heading(s): ‘equal to Ares’

Patroklos has reached the point where he is about to die by way of Apollo’s direct intervention. At this point, I.16.784, he is described as atalantos Arēï ‘equal to Ares’. But this hero’s death is more complex, as we will see in the comment on I.16.786–804. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 293.]]

I.16.786–804
subject heading(s): mēnis ‘anger’ of Apollo; daimoni isos ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn]’; antagonism between immortal and mortal

Patroklos confronts Apollo four times and then, the fourth time around, he fails to back off as he had backed off in the previous confrontation at I.16.705–711. In the course of that previous confrontation, Patroklos had thus avoided the mēnis ‘anger’ of the god, I.16.711. But now he will fail to avoid the god’s anger. At the moment of his climactic fourth confrontation with Apollo, Patroklos is once again described as daimoni isos ‘equal to a daimōn’, I.16.786, just as he had been described in the previous confrontation I.16.705. And, once again, the ‘superhuman force’ to which this word daimōn refers here at I.16.786 can be understood to be Apollo himself. As earlier, we see here a climactic moment in a pattern of divine-human antagonism that links the god Apollo with the hero Achilles, and Patroklos will now take upon himself the role of a ritual substitute for Achilles. In this role, Patroklos is not only daimoni īsos ‘equal to a superhuman force [daimōn] at I.16.786: he is also atalantos Arēï ‘equal to Ares’, I.16.784. See the comment above on I.16.784. As a warrior, Patroklos is matched with Ares as the god of war. As a ritual substitute of Achilles, however, he is also matched with Apollo as the divine antagonist of Achilles. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 143–144, 293.]]

I.16.787
subject heading(s): second-person addressing of heroes

At this climactic moment of the hero’s death, the Master Narrator addresses Patroklos in the second person. Such poetic conventions reflect a phase of epic poetry when it was not yet fully differentiated from praise poetry. [[GN 2016.11.09 via PH 197.]]

I.16.804–806
subject heading(s): atē ‘aberration’

As Apollo strips away the protective armor from the body of Patroklos, piece by piece, the hero is being prepared for his ritualized death. At this moment, Patroklos is possessed by atē ‘aberration’, I.16.805. [[GN 2016.11.09 via PH 254.]]

I.16.815
subject heading(s): gumnos ‘stripped’

Patroklos is now gumnos ‘stripped’ of all his armor, ready to be killed. While he was still wearing the armor, he would have been been invulnerable. At a later point, after Hector has already taken possession of this armor and is now seen wearing it, I.17.194, the adjective ambrota ‘immortalizing’ is applied to these teukhea ‘arms’. This adjective ambroto– ‘immortalizing’ is applied to words that make the hero immune to death. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 173.]]

I.16.844–845
subject heading(s): nīkē ‘victory’

The nīkē ‘victory’ of Hector over Patrokos was granted, says Patroklos, by Zeus and Apollo. In most Homeric contexts, nīkē ‘victory’ is ordinarily granted by Zeus alone. [[GN 2016.11.09 via HC 4§109.]]

I.16.856
subject heading(s): psūkhē ‘spirit’

The psūkhē ‘spirit’ of Patroklos leaves him at the precise moment of his death. Here we see the most basic Homeric way of visualizing the psychology, as it were, of dying. [[GN 2016.11.09 via BA 168, GMP 88–89.]]

I.16.865
subject heading(s): therapōn ‘attendant, ritual substitute’

After having just killed Patroklos, Hector goes after Automedon, who is evidently still standing on the platform of the chariot and who is marked here as the therapōn of Achilles. Hector takes aim with his spear, but he misses hitting Automedon, who drives off with the chariot, I.16.864–867. Automedon here is no ritual substitute for Patroklos, nor is he now a ritual substitute for Achilles, since Patroklos has just now fulfilled that role by getting killed instead of Achilles. [[GN 2016.08.04.]]

Bibliographical Abbreviations

BA       = Best of the Achaeans, Nagy 1979/1999.

GMP    = Greek Mythology and Poetics, Nagy 1990b.

H24H   = The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours, Nagy 2013

HC       = Homer the Classic, Nagy 2009|2008

HPC     = Homer the Preclassic, Nagy 2010|2009

HQ       = Homeric Questions, Nagy 1996b

HR       = Homeric Responses, Nagy 2003

MoM   = Masterpieces of Metonymy, Nagy 2016|2015

PasP    = Poetry as Performance, Nagy 1996a

PH      = Pindar’s Homer, Nagy 1990a.

Bibliography

See the dynamic Bibliography for AHCIP .

Inventory of terms and names

See the dynamic Inventory of terms and names for AHCIP.