Crime and punishment : Achilles in Homer’s Iliad

Abstract

Homer’s Iliad is commonly thought of as the story of the siege and the fall of Troy, and many, who have not yet read the book for themselves but are familiar with the name of the bard and the work ascribed to him, might be surprised to find out that the book does not feature Achilles being pierced in the ankle by Paris’ arrow or, even more shockingly, that the Trojan Horse is altogether absent in the Iliad itself.

The Iliad, however, makes it abundantly clear from as early as its very first line that the true subject of its tale is not the war itself, which really and truly becomes merely the setting in which the primary story-arc plays out, and much less its completion, but rather Achilles and his character development as a result of his quarrel with Agamemnon and its consequences.