Agamemnon in the Iliad

The Iliad, written by Homer is the western world’s oldest epic composed in 700 BC. It is an oral

narrative that begins “in media res”, in the ninth year of the Trojan War. A peculiar face of the epic is

that the protagonist, Achilles, remains absent for the two-third of the narrative. But, Homer retains

Achilles’s importance by constantly comparing him to other significant heroes including Agamemnon.

The proemium talks about the anger of Achilles not against the Trojans but Agamemnon, Aristos

Achaion-the best of the Greeks.

According to M.I Finley, A hero’s honour in the Homeric Period is measured by two ways-his lineage

and his material possession(The World of Odysseus,1962). Nestor, the oldest Greek hero justifies

Agamemnon’s political authority by giving three arguments in the epic. Firstly, Agamemnon is said to

be the richest and the widest ruling hero among all the Greeks, contributing his 100 ships to the war.

Secondly he possesses a very high heroic lineage as being the son of Atreus and ultimately being the

ruler of Mycenae. His lineage was associated with cannabalism, oath breaking and incest. “The term

Anax Andron seems to denote Agamemnon’s position as the cheif of the Greek alliance although it is

occasionally used of much lesser figures such as the trojan and the Anchisis. The position seems

however more a war time expedient than a well defined governmental role. Agamemnon is the

mightiest Greek Basileus and therefore the commander of the host...(Richard A Posner, The

Economics of Justice,1981). Also, Agamemnon, the lord of men holds the sceptre of power and his

authority is metaphysically sanctioned by the father of all the gods, Zeus.

According to the book, Agamemnon and Achilles’s differences doesn’t exist on an individual level.

Instead, ideologically, they are also different in terms of how they see and understand the world in

they live. “Agamemnon believes that political authority resides in who he is. Whereas Achilles thinks it

should come from what he does. Agamemnon also oversteps the bounds of traditional authority”(Joel

P Kristensen,Failure of Speech, Rhetorics and Politics in the Iliad,2007). This is shown in the book

when Agamemnon says that he will give her girl but in return he wants someone else’s prize.On the

other hand, Achilles thinks that a hero’s honour and prize should be proportional to his performed

excellence. This contrast openly shows the public debate over the nature of political authority. “It was

no coincidence that Iliad begins with the wrong done by king Agamemnon to a supplient father and

ends with the right done by Achilles to the helpless Priam”(Robin Schlunk,The theme of the supplient,

Exile in the Iliad,1976).

Many critics who have seen him principally as a foil to Achilles, have underestimated the complexity

of his personality. Unlike Whitman who calls Agamemnon ”the nadir, as Achilles is the zenith, of

heroic assumption...a magnificently dressed incompetence, without spirit or spiritual concern...”(C H

Whitman,Homer and the Heroic Tradition,1958), other commentators have called him a frightened,

over bearing, irresolute,insensitive, self centred,concerned cheifly with his own honour and a little

else. Agamemnon in his first appearance, drives away the priest Chryses, in the Iliad. This

immediately characterises him as an authoritative monarch who allows no interference with his will.

Agamemnon is shown as a poor leader who is not able to lead properly. A hero’s Aristea is said to be

seen either in a battlefield or in an Agora. But Agamemnon, the greatest of the Greeks fails at both

places. He’s never shown leading the army on the battlefield in the book. Also, he never addressed

an assembly, instead, Achilles calls an assembly to find a solution for the greif of the army and proves

his leadership qualities. But Agamemnon, despite leading the forces didn’t call the assembly even

after seeing the sufferings and loss faced by his army. This clearly depicts his insensitivity towards his

people who were in greif.

Be it Hera, Athene, Helen or Clytaemenestra,the role of women both as mortals and immortals is

shown important in the epic by Homer. Agamemnon was both a warrior and a leader but he could not

become a loyal husband to his wife. He compares his wife, Clytaemenestra with his prize Chryseis

openly in the assembly. He announces that he likes fair cheeked Chryseis more than his own wife

Clytaemenestra and appreciates Chryseis’s work both in the kitchen and the bed. When Chryseis was

taken away from him he wanted another girl in return. At this moment he’s shown as a person who

treats women as objects who can be exchanged.

In the Iliad, Agamemnon is referred as Aristos Achaion which means the best of the Greeks. But

Homer continuously gives instances in the Iliad where the title given to Agamemnon- the best of the

Greeks is questioned. From the very beginning of the book he proves his failure. When Calchus, the

soothsayer blames Agamemnon as the reason for the wrath on the Greek army, Agamemnon gets

infuriated and looses his control and insults the priest further. Also, when Zeus sends him a dream,

he misinterprets it because of his delusion and ego which again shows his failure to the audience.

“When the Greek army is on the verge of defeat we see in Agamemnon a desperate concern. In

despair and wakeful, he called for an assembly where he spoke softly and blamed his infuriation with

Achilles on blind folly and delusion. Guided by Nestor, Agamemnon decides to redeem his mistake of
dishonouring Achilles in the traditional way, i.e.,by presenting him with prestigious gifts and returning

Briseis. Apart from this, he also promises his daughter’s hand in marriage keeping the fact that the

Greeks emerge victorious in war. Lastly Agamemnon says “Let him surrender.” This statement shows

that he wants Achilles to accept his superior power. It’s a magnificent offer but there is one thing

missing; Agamemnon offers no apology to Achilles, no admission that he was in the wrong. His

confession that he was mad at the beginning of his speech, is effectively cancelled out by the way he

ends it- ‘let him surrender’. The word translated surrender is a passive form dmetheto of a verb

damno which means tame or subdue”(Bernard Knox,1990:129-150).

After the criticism of Agamemnon in terms of his cruel and arbitrary actions and his inability to lead,

his aristea ends in emasculation in the narrative. His pain is compared to woman’s pain while giving

birth to a child and the message given is that one should not become merciless and self centered like

Agamemnon.
Bibliography

-Finley M I, The World of Odysseus,1962

-Posner Richard A, The Economics of Justice,1981

-Kristensen Joel P, Failure of Speech, Rhetorics and Politics in the Iliad,2007

-Schlunk Robin, The Theme of the Supplient, Exile in the Iliad,1976

-Whitman C H, Homer and the Heroic Tradition,1958

-Knox Bernard,1990:129-150

-Homer, The Iliad,2003(translated by E.V.Rieu’s translation,1950)

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