The Iliad: Motifs 7 key examples

Throughout the poem, it becomes clear that an important step in winning victory in a confrontation with an enemy is to strip his armor. At the end of Book 4, for example, when Aetolian Thoas kills Thracian Pirous, Homer comments that he "took his life but he could not strip his armor." This is because the Thracians shove Thoas away from the body. And in Book 5, Homer describes Diomedes's determination to "kill Aeneas" and "strip his famous armor." In the same book, after Great Ajax spears Apmhius, he rushes "to strip his armor." However, because he has Trojans "swarming round him," he winds up being "helpless to rip it off his back." 

Homer stages multiple scenes in which Trojan and Achaean warriors fight over the remains—and honor—of their fallen comrades and enemies. Some of these clashes last for many lines, such as the fight over Sarpedon's armor in Book 16. After Patroclus kills Sarpedon, he's eager to get his hands on Sarpedon's body and armor: "If only we could seize his body,  mutilate him, shame him, tear his gear from his back and any comrade of his who tries to shield his corpse—bring that enemy down with ruthless bronze!” The clash over Sarpedon's body persists for a long while, as the Trojans and Achaeans keep "swarming round and round the corpse."

However, the fight over Sarpedon's body can't compare to the fight that follows Patroclus's death. After Hector strips the armor from Patroclus's body and puts it on at the start of Book 17, one of the poem's most violent fights begin. This battle continues into Book 18, when the Achaeans finally get hold of Patroclus's body. Achilles's armor, however, is lost. 

Throughout the poem, both mortal and immortal characters frequently look back on earlier times, sharing their own memories as well as more distant stories of a collective past. Occasionally, these recollections involve allusions to Heracles. By making Heracles a motif in the poem, Homer establishes that his life and labors are a core reference point in the Greek world.

Part of the reason why Heracles's name often comes up is that his descendants are fighting in the Trojan War. One of these is "Heracles’ son Tlepolemus," who leads "nine ships of the proud Rhodians out of Rhodes." Unsurprisingly, the identity of his father forms an important part of Tlepolemus's self-understanding. When Tlepolemus confronts Sarpedon in Book 5, he taunts him by saying he doesn't compare with other "fighters sired by Zeus in the generations long before us," contrasting him with "mighty Heracles." Before telling the story of Heracles's sack of Troy, Tlepolemus praises his father: "there was a man, my father, that dauntless, furious spirit, that lionheart." The glory he showers on Heracles and the stories he tells about his accomplishments reinforce the hero's mythical status.

However, mortals with no kinship ties to Heracles also bring him up. In Book 11, for example, when Nestor tells a story from his youth, he mentions that "mighty Heracles" has come against them years before: "he ground our lives out, killing off our best." And when Thetis expresses sorrow over her son's dark fate in Book 18, Achilles reminds her that "[n]ot even Heracles fled his death, for all his power, favorite son as he was to Father Zeus the King." Throughout the poem, the heroes often turn to myths to make sense of their situations, but Homer makes it clear that no hero of the past or present can compare to Heracles.

The immortal characters also make allusions to Heracles. After Diomedes stabs Aphrodite in Book 5, Dione comforts her by running through the many gods who "have had to endure such wounds from mortal men." One of her examples is when Heracles hit Hera "deep in the right breast with a three-barbed shaft, and pain seized her, nothing calmed the pain." Dione continues, recalling the time when even Hades was hurt by "the song of thunder-shielded Zeus." Before ending her speech, she rails against "that breakneck Heracles," whose arrows raked "the gods who hold Olympus."

In fact, it seems like the immortals' involvement in the Trojan War has something to do with Zeus's fatherly attachment to Heracles—and the resentment this sparked among the gods. To justify their participation in the war on the side of the Achaeans, Hera and Athena bitterly bring up Zeus's protection of Heracles. In Book 8, for example, Athena complains that Zeus didn't have "a thought for the many times [she] saved his son Heracles, worked to death by the labors of Eurystheus." Zeus himself is aware of Hera's jealousy of his attachment to Heracles. When he expresses rage at Hera in Book 15, he recalls the time he strung her in midair as punishment for sending Heracles to Cos: "Not even then would the stark grief for Heracles release my breaking heart—my own godlike son." 

Some of the characters in the Iliad are especially characterized by their oratory skills. On the Achaean side, both Nestor and Odysseus are known for their wise, persuasive advice. As a result, Agamemnon and other characters tend to listen when they speak—even in moments of heated argument. The way in which the narrator and the other characters describe Nestor and Odysseus gives insight into the power associated with rhetoric in Homer's time.

The first time Nestor is introduced in the narrative, the narrator describes him as "the man of winning words, the clear speaker of Pylos" and describes his voice flowing from his tongue "sweeter than honey." The respect Nestor commands as a speaker is partly related to his old age. More than once, he reflects on the strange experience of finding his body lose its former strength while his mind becomes wiser and more eloquent. He no longer participates in the war as a fighter, but he takes active part through rhetoric and debate.

Still in his prime, Odysseus participates in the war both as a fighter and as a speaker. Repeatedly referring to him as a tactician, Homer describes Odysseus as a "mastermind like Zeus" and shows him "taking the lead in tactics, mapping battle-plans." In Book 3, when Helen describes the various Achaean leaders to Priam, she says that when Odysseus lets "loose that great voice from his chest and the words [come] piling on like a driving winter blizzard— then no man alive could rival Odysseus!" Odysseus is himself aware of his reputation. When Achilles tries to ignore Odysseus's suggestion that he let the soldiers eat before going to battle, Odysseus encourages Achilles to let his "heart be swayed" by what he says, given that he might just "surpass" him in seasoned judgment.

Homer makes it clear that characters are expected to respect the power of words, but he also shows that the strongest leaders don't always heed other characters' advice—and that this typically doesn't go well. When the embassy to Achilles fails to convince him to return to battle in Book 9, Phoenix tells Achilles that heroes "in the old days" could be brought around "with gifts and winning words." Achilles's refusal to let his rage be tempered by the reason and wisdom of those around him eventually proves disastrous. Homer gives another example of this in Book 18: "They gave applause to Hector's ruinous tactics, none to Polydamas, who gave them sound advice."

Somewhat ironically, given the poem's preoccupation with rhetoric, the narrative itself is marked by the narrator's struggle with formulating himself and frustration over the insufficiency of his own words. From time to time, he asks himself questions like "but how can I tell it all, sing it all like a god?" and resorts to calling upon the epic Muse in order to tell the story.

Besides capturing Odysseus's contempt for the soldiers, this simile also gives insight into the warriors' gendered understanding of bravery. To shame the men for failing his test, Odysseus tries to emasculate them by comparing them to inexperienced boys and widowed women. This gendering of bravery, strength, and honor prevails throughout the Iliad. 

Throughout the poem, these similes often form the basis of taunts that the men level at each other while fighting. In Book 7, while Hector and Ajax fight each other, Hector tells Ajax not to "toy" with him like a "puny, weak-kneed boy" or like "a woman never trained in works of war." Diomedes formulates a similar taunt in Book 11, when he tells Paris that a "woman or idiot boy" could do as much harm to him as Paris has. And when Achilles and Aeneas taunt each other in Book 20, Aenaes asks Achilles why they're "cursing each other here like a pair of nagging women boiling over with petty, heartsick squabbles, blustering into the streets to pelt themselves with slander, much of it true, much not." Alongside the physical battle, Homer stages a battle of words—in which calling someone a woman is a key insult.

However, the poem's view of women is not completely one-sided. Sometimes Homer formulates comparisons in which women and female experiences connote strength and perseverance. For instance, when Agamemnon is injured in Book 11, Homer calls the pain in his arm "spear-sharp as the labor pangs that pierce a woman." The woman at the base of this simile is not weak or cowardly, but strong and resilient. While the women and boy similes typically express a gendered view of strength and bravery, the Iliad nevertheless contains figurative language that complicates this view.

Through Odysseus's flashback, Homer provides the reader with essential context and foreshadows later events. It becomes clear that the Achaeans have persisted with their siege of Troy in large part because of this omen. Since the narrative opens in the war's ninth year, the reader grows certain that the next few books will contain major developments. In the flashback, Homer also establishes the importance of bird signs—a motif that will resurface later in the story.

The reader recalls Calchas's omen in Book 12, when "a fatal bird-sign" flashes before the Trojans: this time an eagle clutching a serpent. When the serpent bites the eagle, the eagle drops the serpent to the earth and "[veers] off along the gusting wind." Like Odysseus in his flashback, the Trojans are immediately certain that this is "a sign from storming Zeus." While Achaeans interpreted their bird sign as a favorable omen, this bird sign makes the Trojans shudder. This time Polydamas serves as interpreter: 

All will end as the omen says, I do believe, 
if the bird-sign really came to us, the Trojans, 
just as our fighters tried to cross the trench. 
That eagle flying high on the left across our front, 
clutching this bloody serpent in both its talons, 
still alive—but he let the monster drop at once, 
before he could sweep it back to his own home ... 
he never fed his nestlings in the end. Nor will we.

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This scene offers insight into the elusive ways in which the immortals communicate with mortals.  While the fighters know that the outcome of the war is in the hands of Zeus, they have to rely on vague signs to glean how they're doing. Not everyone bows down to the omens and the conception of fate that underlie them, however. Hector refuses to let the bird sign make him complacent. Even if he's long since accepted that the war will bring the fall of Troy and his own death, he rejects Polydamas's sentence: "Bird-signs! Fight for your country—that is the best, the only omen!"

In this part, Menelaus has just expressed distrust of Priam's "royal sons" and requested Priam as a witness to their oath. This is striking: he doubts the intentions and conduct of Hector and Paris but trusts that their father will work towards mutual, enduring peace. This is because Priam is an old man, who "can see the days behind" and "the days ahead."

Another important elder character in the Iliad is Nestor, "the seasoned charioteer." When the Achaeans are laying plans and discussing tactics, Nestor tends to be front and center. Agamemnon acknowledges that "the great leveler, age, has worn [him] down," but that his advice is indispensable. At one point, Nestor proudly points out that "no one will heap contempt on what [he says], not even mighty Agamemnon." Nestor often employs ethos before and during his speeches. To emphasize his own authority, he reminds his listeners that he's advised some of the "strongest mortals ever bred on earth." And to prove that his wisdom comes from experience, he often looks back on his younger days on the battlefield. Through Nestor, Homer shows that though age may bring physical weakness, it also brings new forms of strength.

One of Achilles's main advisors is Phoenix, another elder character. When the embassy fails to convince Achilles to rejoin the battle, Phoenix makes an attempt of his own. In his speech, he employs pathos when he evokes Achilles's childhood:"I loved you from the heart [...] I made you my son, I tried, so someday you might fight disaster off my back." Phoenix also employs logos, reasoning that it's "[h]arder to save the warships once they’re up in flames." Overall, Achilles's stubbornness seems to be the exception to the rule and, for the most part, Homer gives the impression that the younger men listen to their elders.

Through Odysseus's flashback, Homer provides the reader with essential context and foreshadows later events. It becomes clear that the Achaeans have persisted with their siege of Troy in large part because of this omen. Since the narrative opens in the war's ninth year, the reader grows certain that the next few books will contain major developments. In the flashback, Homer also establishes the importance of bird signs—a motif that will resurface later in the story.

The reader recalls Calchas's omen in Book 12, when "a fatal bird-sign" flashes before the Trojans: this time an eagle clutching a serpent. When the serpent bites the eagle, the eagle drops the serpent to the earth and "[veers] off along the gusting wind." Like Odysseus in his flashback, the Trojans are immediately certain that this is "a sign from storming Zeus." While Achaeans interpreted their bird sign as a favorable omen, this bird sign makes the Trojans shudder. This time Polydamas serves as interpreter: 

All will end as the omen says, I do believe, 
if the bird-sign really came to us, the Trojans, 
just as our fighters tried to cross the trench. 
That eagle flying high on the left across our front, 
clutching this bloody serpent in both its talons, 
still alive—but he let the monster drop at once, 
before he could sweep it back to his own home ... 
he never fed his nestlings in the end. Nor will we.

Cite this Quote

This scene offers insight into the elusive ways in which the immortals communicate with mortals.  While the fighters know that the outcome of the war is in the hands of Zeus, they have to rely on vague signs to glean how they're doing. Not everyone bows down to the omens and the conception of fate that underlie them, however. Hector refuses to let the bird sign make him complacent. Even if he's long since accepted that the war will bring the fall of Troy and his own death, he rejects Polydamas's sentence: "Bird-signs! Fight for your country—that is the best, the only omen!"

In Book 2, Homer gives the impression that eating a large meal—"[putting] aside desire for food and drink"—is an important preliminary step before going to battle or reaching consequential decisions. After the men make sacrifices to the gods, they lay out a feast and eat well: "no man's hunger lacked a share of the banquet." In Book 9, as Agamemnon and his men hatch a plan to convince Achilles to return to battle, Homer again mentions that the characters "put aside desire for food and drink." He uses this formulation a second time in the same book, when Achilles honors the custom of feeding his guests before asking anything of them. Odysseus expresses contentment, toasting Achilles that they have "no lack of a handsome feast" and that they "can all banquet here to [their] heart's content."

In these scenes, Homer reminds the reader that the characters are mortal. No matter how battle-hungry they may be, their literal hunger poses notable restrictions to their participation in the war and all its related activities. Moreover, food plays a crucial role in social and cultural customs, another thing the fighters are bound by. When a mortal attempt to ignore these humans needs and customs, it is likely to be interpreted as hubris—a claim to be immortal.

When Achilles resolves to rejoin the war in order to avenge Patroclus's death in Book 19, he and Odysseus dispute over the necessity of food. After Achilles requests that Agamemnon "call up the wild joy of war at once," Odysseus tries to curb his battle-hunger by reminding him that the warriors can't go into battle if they're hungry.

Not so quickly, brave as you are, godlike Achilles. 
Achaea’s troops are hungry: don’t drive them against Troy 
to fight the Trojans. [...]
No fighter can battle all day long, cut-and-thrust 
till the sun goes down, if he is starved for food. 
Even though his courage may blaze up for combat, 
his limbs will turn to lead before he knows it, 
thirst and hunger will overtake him quickly, 
his knees will cave in as the man struggles on. 

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In these lines, Odysseus reminds Achilles of one of the basic facts of life—and moreover reminds him that this is also a basic fact of war. One cannot be hungry if one is to fight one's enemies at "full force." In order to feel courage and physical strength, the warriors need to take their "fill of food and wine." Achilles counters Odysseus's counsel, saying he'd "drive our Argives into battle now, starving, famished."

On the one hand, Achilles's inability to eat or drink makes him human. It's his sorrow for Patroclus that makes him "have no taste for food." On the other hand, the intensity of his sorrow—and of his anger towards Hector—separates him from other mortals and their mortal needs. Homer underlines this when Athena feeds him nectar and ambrosia—the food of the gods.