An unpublished lecture by Dr. H. Reynolds Saint Leo University

HOW TO THINK ABOUT "THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES"

Today I wish to talk about the Shield of Achilles, which is described at the end of Book 18. Of course, you realize that there is much in the Iliad of importance that I have not covered in my lectures. But then, you are capable students who should learn to benefit from reading great literature on your own, without an experienced guide, like myself, to conduct you every step of the way. 

The famous Shield of Achilles is fashioned by the master craftsman, the lame Olympian god Hephaistos, at the request of Thetis. The elaborate decorations that Hephaistos inscribes on the Shield are an image of the cosmos, as the poet Homer understands that cosmos. The word cosmos is a Greek word meaning "order" or "rational arrangement", from which our English word "cosmetics" is derived. Cosmetics implies a beautiful arrangement or appearance. Carl Sagan chose to call his famous TV series which explored the Universe as modern science has come to understand it: "Cosmos." This use of the word "cosmos" closely approaches the Greek meaning.

At the center of the Shield of Achilles, on the raised part of the shield, known as the boss, the Heavens are displayed. Looking up at the night sky, the stars appear to the untutored eye to be fastened to a giant cup or inverted bowl, and this is the way the Greeks thought of the Heavens. Some constellations are fairly permanent, such as the Pleiades and the Hyades, which are prominent in the nighttime sky. According to the poet Hesiod, farmers began reaping in the summer when the Pleiades first make their appearance before sunrise, and commence winter plowing when the Pleiades begin to sink below the horizon just before sunset.

Orion is most prominent constellation in the southern sky throughout the winter. According to Homer's account, though, one constellation never dips below the horizon, and that constellation is located in the northern sky. The Greeks called it the Great Bear (to us it is known as the Big Dipper). This constellation rotates around one star that is relatively fixed in the Heavens, and can be used to navigate by if the nighttime sky is clear. It is the North Star.

The point here is that Homer stresses the permanence of the Heavens: the fixed and orderly nature of those things that lie above the clouds. If one knows the images of the constellations, one knows the cycle of the seasons, and if one is lost at sea, one can always locate the North Star to get one's bearings. 

On the outer rim of the Shield, running the entire circumference, Hephaistos portrays the Ocean. Recall what Patroclos said in condemnation of Achilles (331): "the rider Peleus was never your father, nor Thetis was your mother, but it was the grey sea that bore you and the towering rocks, so sheer the heart in you is turned from us." The Ocean stands for ever-changing, undifferentiated Being, or Chaos, or Death, if you like; just as the Heavens stand for Perfectly Ordered, Eternal Being. Between Undifferentiated Being, or Matter, and Perfectly Ordered Being, or Form, exists the Realm of the Human Things. 

Two cities are portrayed on the Shield: the City at Peace and the City at War: human things justly ordered, and human things in disorder. The Olympian gods, representatives of Ordered Being, make their appearance within the human realm, as do the nameless subterranean gods, Hate, Confusion, and Death, representatives of Undifferentiated Being. 

The Realm of the Human lies between the realm of Being and Non-Being: it partakes of both Being and Non-Being. It is the realm of Becoming. But Being, Becoming, and Non-Being are all part of the eternal order of things. They constitute the entire cosmos. 

Now, I ask you this question: Why does Hephaistos make this Shield for Achilles? What is the purpose of his designs. Does he wish to convey a message to Achilles? Consider what Achilles has done. Has he not repeatedly violated the order of things? Recollect that, in hardening his heart and failing to receive the supplications of Agamemnon, he set himself, a mere mortal (though half-divine), above the Olympian gods. By this act of hubris, he has attempted to subvert the order of the cosmos.

Notice also that Achilles has some knowledge of the future, but that his knowledge is incomplete. Achilles sends Patroclos to his death in partial ignorance, and because he fears his own mortality (in lying to Patroclos about not knowing his dual fate, he lies to himself). It is Achilles' ignorance of his own future and his unwillingness to accept man's fate, namely, that we will die, if not now, then later, that causes him first to sacrifice Patroclos and then to outrage the body of Hector. What Achilles needs most is knowledge: knowledge of the order of things and of  man's rightful place within that order. Achilles needs to reflect on the meaning of the images engraved on the divine Shield so that he can restore the order which his actions have disrupted.

Let's take a closer look at Human Things depicted on the Shield of Achilles. First, consider the actions taking place in the City at Peace. Within the City at Peace, there are two scenes: a Marriage Procession, and a Trial, or Judgment. The Marriage Procession includes the arts of Music, Song, and Dance. The entire city turns out to admire the Beauty of the procession, even the women stand on the thresholds, peering out from that which is most private towards that which is public. What do marriages represent? The continuation of the human species. The city supports and sanctifies the continuation of the species as compensation for the mortality of individuals. 

Next we have the Trial or Judgment. One individual has taken the life of another. The city, or human convention, supports restoring public order through the offering and acceptance of a blood price. The family whose member has been slain or injured agrees to accept something of value and a public apology from the one who has done the injury: something of value surrendered as a penalty, and a public apology accompanies it in order to restore the family's honor. Of course, acceptance of a blood price will never bring the dead man back, but it does prevent further domestic strife which can ruin entire cities.

In this case, the offended party acts like Achilles and refuses to accept the monetary compensation and a public apology. But, instead of waiting for the opportunity to take revenge, as Achilles does, the offended party agrees to submit the question to arbitration. Notice that the difference of opinion as to who is right and who is wrong threatens to dissolve the entire community, as the people take sides in the controversy.

The judges who are to assist in the arbitration are the old men of the community: they represent conventional wisdom. (Zeus does not come down from Olympus to give the definitive answer.) Both sides are heard, and then the judges render their verdicts. The judge who speaks best is rewarded. He receives two talents of gold. Perhaps each party to the dispute must deposit a talent. In any case, it is unclear who decides which judge speaks best. Evidently, in the City at Peace, the just speech naturally attains universal acceptance. Wisdom is honored, and political unity is restored through consent.

Now let's turn to the City at War, where we are again offered two important scenes, The Siege and The Ambush. Notice, first of all, that the besieging army is divided by a difference of opinion, not at all unlike the army of the Greeks before Troy. One half of the besieging army wants to entirely destroy the city, the other half is willing to accept tribute. Half of the besieging army is angry with the enemy and wants to annihilate them, the other half is merely greedy. Whose side are the gods on? Both Athena and Ares, the most warlike of the Olympians, fight on the side of the besieged. (Recall the situation at Troy where Ares and Athena fight on opposite sides.) On the Shield of Achilles, justice does not lie with the quarreling besiegers, but with the besieged. This is Homer's way of condemning War: War undermines the order of things. (Some folks think All Quiet On the Western Front is the greatest anti-war novel; those with less taste prefer The Naked and the Dead. I myself regard the Iliad as the greatest of all anti-war tracts.)

Take the Ambush. What happens? Innocent herdsmen and animals are slaughtered. Look at the description of the battle as it rages. Where does dying for honor make its appearance here? "Hate was there with Confusion among them, and Death the destructive; she was holding a live man with a new wound, and another one unhurt, and dragged a dead man by the feet through the carnage. The clothing upon her shoulders showed strong red with the men's blood. All closed together like living men and fought with each other and dragged away from each other the corpses of those who had fallen." There is no independent human activity; the nameless gods of the underworld do everything. Where is the glory of battle?

The rest of the Shield portrays various phases of pastoral activity. The three scenes of ploughing, reaping, and gathering the vintage represent the cycle of the seasons: winter, summer, and fall. Although the ocean surrounds the Shield, the seafaring art is not represented. Commerce and piracy are not favored by Homer. These arts nourish greed and give rise to injustice among peoples. The siege of Troy is unimaginable without the discovery of the art of navigation.

The combat with the lions ought be mentioned. Nature is not all gentle; fighting valor is required: but not against men, against marauding beasts. The violent struggle of bulls, lions, and dogs, however, is offset by the depiction of peaceful flocks of sheep.

Finally, in the next to the outermost ring, Hephaistos circumscribes an endless dance. "The girls wore fair garlands on their heads, while the young men carried golden knives that hung from sword-belts of silver. At whiles on their understanding feet they would run very lightly, as when a potter crouching makes trial of his wheel, holding it close in his hands, to see if it will run smooth." A beautiful simile, is it not? The realm of the Human Things is enclosed on both ends with a Musical ritual, a Wedding and a Courtship dance. Art somehow surrounds and encloses the realm of the Human.

To summarize our findings so far: from reflecting on the Shield we have learned that (1) primary responsibility for justice lies with humans, (2) justice cannot be perfect (some imperfections must be tolerated), and (3) thumos must be moderated.

Perhaps, we should stop here and ask the important question: Who is Homer, the man behind the poem, and how does he represent himself? Are we agreed that Achilles stands in need of the knowledge conveyed by the images on the Shield? Who creates these images? The god Hephaistos, the lame artisan. What is the Iliad? Is it not a collection of images also? Images that convey knowledge about the order and arrangement of the cosmos, from the very top to the bottom. Can Homer, the Poet, view himself as a kind of craftsman or potter, who attempts to smooth this motley collection of images, giving Ordered Perfection or Form to Undifferentiated Being or Matter? Are there risks involved? To imitate creation itself: is that not to challenge the gods with one's imitation? To challenge the gods is hubristic? Is Homer flirting with hubris? 

Turn to page 92: in the midst of the soporific, sleep-inducing, catalogue of ships, the Poet has hidden a clue. While speaking of Nestor's homeland, Pylos, mention is made of the fate of another poet, Thamyris the Thracian. There, "the Muses, encountering Thamyris the Thracian stopped him from singing as he came from oichalia and Oichalian Eurytos: for he boasted that he would surpass, if the very Muses, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis, were singing against him, and these in their anger struck him maimed, and the voice of wonder they took away, and made him a singer without memory." As Hephaistos, the great artisan, was made lame by Zeus, just so the tradition holds that Homer was a blind poet.

I'm sorry that we will not be able to read the Odyssey together. It is a poem that especially appeals to the experienced and mature reader who seeks to understand Love in all its manifestations as well as to the child who is enthralled by myth.

But since you are just approaching maturity and the desire for honor burns hot within you, so I reasoned that it would be more expedient to have honor students reflect upon the danger of immoderate quest for perfection.

Copyright -- Hudson Reynolds, Ph.D. Last reviewed 9-19-98