Honor Fosters Bloodshed in ​The Iliad

In the Greek epic, ​The Iliad​, Homer consistently uses the theme of honor fostering

bloodshed to develop the story and its plot. The Greeks lived by a high standard of personal

honor and dignity. They would die horrible, painful deaths to achieve this honor and glory. For

most of their warriors, being publicly honored and having lasting glory was the main reason they

lived and fought and died. The theme that honor fosters (or encourages and promotes) bloodshed

is the theme that drives the entire story and plot. Honor is why the Greeks go to war with the

Trojans in the first place. Because of honor thousands of men leave their home country, spend

years away from their family, and die in a foreign land; because of Agamemnon’s twisted sense

of honor and dignity hundreds of his men are struck down by Apollo. Because of honor there are

many duels between the heroes of each side that results in the breakage of truces, and the deaths

of many.

Because of honor Achilles sits out of the war. This decision by Achilles eventually leads

to the Trojans killing many Greeks, the death of Patroclus, and the subsequent vengeful slaughter

Achilles brings upon the Hector and the Trojans. Homer shows that because of the Greek

standard of upholding one’s honor many, many soldiers are unnecessarily massacred and their

bodies desecrated. This is the theme that drives much of the story. One could say that not

Achilles, nor Odysseus, nor Hector are the reasons that many of the Greeks and Trojans are

slayed, but that their individual sense of honor becomes the greatest killer in ​The Iliad​. It is the

reason that the war even occurred, and that so many men died.
 In Homer’s account of the Trojan War, the war began because Paris took advantage of

Menelaus’ hospitality and eloped with his wife. Menelaus than convinced the Mycenaeans, who

were led by his brother Agamemnon, to go to war with the Trojans to bring Helen back to

Menelaus’ homeland. The Greeks sense of duty and honor makes them answer the call to fight to

retrieve the wife of the brother of their king. Thousands of men depart from their homes and

family to fight against a city who had never personally wronged them. The Trojans had not

attacked the Mycenaeans nor wronged Agamemnon, and according to Homer the only thing the

Trojans had done was taken Menelaus’ wife away from him and bring her to Troy. The

Achaeans only fought the Trojans to help win back Agamemnon’s and Menelaus’ pride: “ ‘No,

you colossal, shameless - we all followed you, to please you, to fight for you, to win your honor

back from the Trojans - Menelaus and you, you dog-face!’ ” (1. 186-188) The honor of

Menelaus and Agamemnon leads to a colossal amount of bloodshed. In Greek times women

were seen more as property to their husbands than actual people. They were meant to serve and

please their men, they did not have many of the essential rights such as to vote, and they could

not fight. So when Paris slept with Helen, he was disgracing Menelaus and the hospitality

Menelaus had extended to Paris. Thus, the Trojan war begins, with the Achaeans risking

everything in a country that never wronged them, for a king they never knew. The first example

of actual bloodshed caused by the Greeks’ perverted sense of honor can be found in Book I,

where Agamemnon has taken the daughter of a priest of Apollo and will not return her to her

father. This causes Apollo to become murderously angry with Agamemnon and the Achaeans,

and the god of the sun sweeps a fatal plague throughout the Greek camp. “Apollo the son of Zeus

and Leto…. Incensed at the king he swept a fatal plague through the army - men were dying and
all because Agamemnon spurned Apollo’s priest” (1. 10-13). When the priest begs the Greeks to

free his daughter, everyone agrees with him and tells Agamemnon to return the priest’s daughter.

Agamemnon refuses, and Apollo again strikes down the Greeks with his arrows of sickness and

death: “Nine days the arrows of god swept through the army” (1. 61). Agamemnon views

Chryses as his property; to give her back up to her father would be embarrassing and

dishonourable to himself. Agamemnon’s pride and honor causes countless deaths among his own

camp over one woman. The initial rift between Achilles and Agamemnon is formed in this

pivotal moment.

The second duel fueled by the Trojan and Greek sense of honor is fought between

Menelaus and Paris. Paris has long been avoiding any fighting in the war, and instead hides

inside of the city. Paris’ brother, Hector, convinces Paris to fight against the Greeks by insulting

Paris and his honor, “ ‘You gathered up your faithful comrades, sailed sea-worthy ships across

the ocean, went out among a foreign people, and carried back from that far-off land a lovely

woman linked by marriage to warrior spearmen, thus bringing on great suffering for your father

and your city, all your people - joy to your enemies and to yourself disgrace? And can you now

not face Menelaus?’ ”(3. 47-56) This insult issued by his own brother causes Paris to have a

feeling of duty, and honor. Thus Paris puts his fear and dread aside and fights Menelaus in

one-to-one combat. Paris and Menelaus decide to duel over the hand of Helen, and after the duel

the war would be over. Ultimately the gods interfere and no one wins the duel. Paris is whisked

back to his room in Troy by Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love who sides with the

Trojans. A Trojan archer is then convinced by Athena to shoot Menelaus with his bow. This

breach of the treaty causes an epic battle to ensue in which countless lives are lost on both sides.
The honor of Paris, Menelaus, and Pandarus the archer leads to rivers of blood being shed on the

battlefield outside of Troy.

The men of Troy and Greece are not the only ones who let their honor get in the way of

valuing human life. The gods of Olympus interfere in the war numerous times so that they will

be honored and so that their own selfish needs and wants will be met. During the battle that takes

place after the duel between Menelaus and Paris, many gods become involved in the battle.

Apollo fights with the Trojans and downs many Greeks with his bow, Athena persuades

Pandarus to break the truce, Aphrodite saves Paris from the duel in which he would have been

killed by Menelaus, and Athena fights alongside the Achaeans and helps them throughout the

battle. Instead of letting the war be fought fairly between the two sides, the Olympians let their

own pride and honor lead them into error. The gods pursue recognition from the men on earth,

and want to be honored by them and worshipped. If the gods had not interfered the war would

not have lasted so long, and perhaps not so many lives would have been lost.

After Agamemnon is forced to return the priest’s daughter, he takes Briseis, one of

Achilles most prized and treasured women, as a form of “reimbursement” for his loss of Chryses.

This causes Achilles to recall all of his soldiers and troops from the frontline and back to their

hollow ships. Achilles himself refuses to fight for the prideful king when he would not return the

priest’s daughter, exclaiming: “ ‘What a worthless, burnt-out coward I’d be called if I would

submit to you and all your orders, whatever you blurt out. Fling them at others, don’t give me

commands! Never again, ​I​ trust, will Achilles yield to ​you​. And I tell you this - take it to heart, I

warn you - my hands will never do battle for that girl, neither with you, King, neither with any

man alive’ ” (1. 343-350). Achilles was the Greeks’ prized fighter and leader, and was the most
fearsome and courageous soldier in their entire army. When he pulled himself and his army away

from the Greeks and their fight, not only did the Greeks suffer a loss of manpower and warriors,

they also became incredibly demoralized. This loss leads to many failed attacks and defenses for

the Greeks. Achilles’ honor prevents him from performing his duty to his friends and soldiers.

Agamemnon’s pride, and corrupted sense of honor gets into the way of his common sense,

leading to hundreds upon hundreds of deaths for the Greeks.

The final two major deaths caused by a desire to preserve honor that have major

influence on the story are the deaths of Patroclus and Hector. While Achilles is sitting out the

war, Agamemnon sends a convoy of Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to convince Achilles to rejoin

the war. The king offers many riches, any women that Achilles wanted, and even gives him back

Briseis. Achilles again refuses to fight; it is then that Patroclus begs Achilles to lend him his

famous armor. Achilles relents, but on the principle that Patroclus will not fight past a certain

point. Patroclus kills many Trojans in Achilles’ armor, however his fatal mistake is that he

disobeys Achilles’ order and he continues his attack right up to the walls of Troy. It is fated by

Zeus that here he is to die, “If only he had obeyed Achilles’ strict command he might have

escaped his doom, the stark night of death. But the will of Zeus will always overpower the will

of men” (16. 305-308). Patroclus would have lived if he had not let his honor and thirst for glory

get in the way of Achilles’ order to not fight to the wall of Troy. Hector then kills Patroclus with

the aid of Apollo.

Patroclus’ death gives Achilles the wake up call he needs to return to the battlefield.

Achilles becomes extremely murderous and is filled with a blood-thirsty rage that can only be

quenched with the death of Hector. Achilles slaughters hundreds of Trojans in his pursuit of
Hector, doing all of this to honor his late friend. Again and again the Greeks and Trojans sense of

honor gets thousands of men and woman killed. Their honor leads to bloodshed, and disaster.

Achilles then easily kills Hector, with the whole city of Troy watching. “Death cut him short.

The end closed in around him. Flying free of his limbs his soul went winging down to the House

of Death” (22. 425-428).

The Greek and Trojan soldiers valued three things in their lives; glory, riches, and honor.

However, they valued honor among these three the most. They let their twisted, corrupted sense

of honor get in the way of the lives of their comrades and friends. This honor and pride leads to

the Trojan war when Paris takes Helen from Agamemnon. Hundreds of Achaeans are slayed by

Apollo when Agamemnon lets his honor and pride distort his common sense. Honor is the reason

there is an initial duel between Menelaus and Paris, and it is also the reason the truce is broken

and an epic battle ensues after the duel. Honor and selfishness are the reasons that the gods of

Olympus interfere with the affairs of men. Because of honor, neither Achilles nor Agamemnon

would apologize to each other, which would have saved the lives of countless Achaeans, and

because of this petty argument between the warrior and the king Patroclus is killed by Hector.

Homer gives the reader many themes in this astounding work of literature, but centerstage in this

epic is that an over-inflated sense of honor fosters bloodshed.

Lawall, Sarah ​The Norton Anthology of World Literature, ​Second Edition, W. W. Norton &

Company, Inc. 2002, pp. 48-49.