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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agemegos" data-source="post: 1549107" data-attributes="member: 18377">I have just re-read it. [spoiler]He rejects both.He rejects Agamemnon's public apology and acknowledgement that only Achilles to defeat Hector. He rejects seven tripods untarnished by the flame, ten talents of gold, twenty gleaming copper cauldrons, twelve champion racehorses, seven Lesbian women of great beauty and skill at handicrafts, his pick of the gold and bronze of Troy to the extent that his forty ships will carry, twenty Trojan women of his choice (conditional on eventual victory, and Helen excluded), his choice of Agamemnon's [surviving, let's not forget Iphigenia] daughters in marriage (with the largest dowry ever paid, and no bride-price to pay), kingship of seven rich towns of Agamemnon's land, and guaranteed status the equal of Agamemnon's son Orestes. He rejects Briseis, even though Agamemnon has not slept with her. And he goes to bed with Diomede the daughter of Phorbas, whom he kidnapped from Lesbos.[/spoiler]This guy needed some work if he was going to be admired or even tolerated by modern audience. And that's without even thinking about the way he [spoiler]treated Hector's body[/spoiler]. Homer's Achilles is a monster: faithless, lawless, murderous, sacrilegious, and self-destructive. It is a real eye-opener that Alexander the Great admired him so much.On another point, I have read on since I last posted, and come to the bit where that discursive old windbag Nestor descibes how he and Odysseus [spoiler]recruited Achilles (and Patroclus) into Agamemnon's army[/spoiler]. (There is no mention of the compact of Helen's suitors here.) The film-makers indeed took liberties with the material (which was perfectly within the terms of their dramatic licence, and no more than previous authors did). But having Odysseus [spoiler]recruit Achilles[/spoiler] is not one.By the way, I would like to apologise for my rather tangential response to your post: I was aware of your previous indications that you understood the diversity of the sources for the Trojan War. I ought to have made it clearer that I was addressing the readership at large, and simply taking one of your turns of phrase as a jumping off point to address a misconception that I know you do not share.</blockquote>

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