The Iliad of Homer

mortality

• By rejecting kleos he is questioning his world's whole paradigm of what it means to be human.

  IHE-RC-022

• The existence of the psyche in the Underworld is vague and unsubstantial. Only kleos provides any kind of significant immortality.

  IHE-RC-021

• Their lack of human vulnerability also means a lack of any capacity for nobility. A being that cannot die cannot achieve true greatness.

  IHE-RC-025

shame

• A 'shame' culture, in which a warrior's sense of worth is largely determined by how others perceive him.

  IHE-RC-014

• Phoinix' appeal to the authority of antiquity functions as a paradigm for appropriate behavior; Achilles rejects it no less firmly.

  IHE-RC-019

grief

• Only the visit of Priam to ransom Hektor's body can reintegrate Achilles into the human community.

  IHE-RC-036