The Iliad -- Book Two

BOOK TWO

The repetition of the dream message, from Zeus to Dream, from Dream to Agamemnon, and from Agamemnon to his counselors emphasizes the oral tradition that forms the basis of this work. The repetition and rhythm is compelling when spoken out loud, even in a translation.

Regarding the mustering of the Achaians, Agamemnon states:

Yet first, since it is the right way, I will make trial of them
by words, and tell them even to flee in their benched vessels.

And Rumour walked blazing among them.

Agamemnon’s symbol of power is the scepter wrought by Hepahistos for Zeus. It’s lineage is thus: from Zeus to Hermes the courier, and then to Pelops the driver of horses, and then to Atreus, ruler of men, and, on his death bed, to Thyestes (of the rich flocks), and then to Agamemnon, ruler over all Argos.

After Agamemnon has convinced the Argives to sail back to Argos (apparently as a test of will) the poet says that Hera sends Athena down to stop the men from fleeing. She does this by imploring Odysseus to convince the men to stay. While on his way to the fleeing men,

He came face to face with Agamemnon, son of Atreus,
and took from him the scepter of his fathers, immortal forever.
With this he went beside the ships of the bronze-armoured Achaians.

This taking of the scepter is an amazingly dramatic event which is disposed of in one sentence. I want to know what happened. What did Odysseus say to Agamemnon? Was there fear or guile in Agamemnon’s eyes? Was there a struggle, or did Agamemnon give it up without a fight? I want to know what he said as Odysseus left.

I imagine Odysseus saying to Agamemnon, "Your fear betrays us all." I think that Agamemnon eyes shown first with fear and then with guile. I believe that Odysseus snatched the scepter right out of Agamemnon’s hand with a violent, righteous sweep that Agamemnon did not even try to stop. I believe that as Odysseus went forth to marshal the Achaians, Agamemnon whispered to his back, "Go forth and do my work."

"For the anger of god-supported kings is a big matter." – Odysseus speaking Agamemnon.

Thersites is a colorful character. He is the ugliest person to come to Troy. He is bandy-legged, club footed, stoop shouldered, slope-chested, and pointy headed. To boot, he is known as Thersites of the endless speech, and would apparently castigate both Achilleus and Odysseus to no end. Needless to say, there was no love lost between them. Odysseus even goes so far as to threaten to strip him and beat him back to the ships if he doesn’t quit abusing (this time) Agamemnon.

Nestor is the paragon of a grizzled, wizened, battle-tested field general. He brings to mind a character from the Shogun novel by James Clavel, Toda Hiromatsu, general Toranaga’s principle advisor.

Once the Achaians are mustered, and Agamemnon’s preeminence established, the poem takes on a much different voice. The poet writes,

Tell me now, you Muses who have your homes on Olympos.
For you, who are goddesses, are there, and you know all things,
and we have heard only the rumour of it and know nothing.
Who then of those were the chief men and the lords of the Danaans?
I could not tell over the multitude of them nor name them,
not if I had ten tongues and ten mouths, not if I had
a voice never to be broken and a heart of bronze within me,
not unless the Muses of Olympia, daughters
of Zeus of the aegis, remembered all those who came beneath Ilion.
I will tell the lords of the ships, and the ships’ numbers.

This, to my recollection, is the first instance that the poet uses a first person narrative. The poet then lists the individual leaders, the number of their ships and troops, and even their battle positions (I am sure some military buff has created a diagram based upon these descriptions). These passages are reminiscent of the "begats" found in the Old Testament. I will list a few of the more interesting Greek leaders.

The poet goes to great lengths to praise the leader of the Athenian troops, Menestheus, son of Peteos. "Never on earth before had there been a man born like him for the arrangement of horses and shielded fighters." Sounds like a little home-town hero worship to me.

Diomedes "of the great war cry" was the leader of the troops from Argos and Tiryns.

Menelaos, brother of Agamemnon (and cuckold of Helen), led the troops from Sparta.

Nestor is the leader of the troops from Pylos and its environs. This portion contains an interesting anecdotal digression about Thamyris the Thracian, whose singing was so beautiful and powerful, he boasted that it would even surpass the Muses. Needless to say, he really pissed off the Muses. They "struck him maimed, and the voice of wonder they took away, and made him a singer without memory." Yet thousands of years later, here I sit at my keyboard clicking away and wondering what Thamyris was thinking when he threw down on the Muses like that. My guess is that somewhere in this untold tale lies the hand of a woman. Perhaps more fodder for cheap poetry; "The Ballad of Thamyris the Thracian." The alliterative possibility alone are intriguing.

Nireus was the most beautiful man (after Achilleus) who went to Troy, but he was a weakling.

Protesilaos was the leader of the men from Pteleos, but he was the first Achaian leader killed in battle when he leapt from his ship in Dardania. His brother took over command.

Once the poet finishes his litany of leaders, he beseeches the Muse to tell him . . . who were the best and bravest men and . . . HORSES (I kid you not). The best were the mares of Eumelos Pheres’ son. They were "swift-moving like birds" and had "backs drawn level like a plumb-line." They must have been two amazing horses for me to be reading about them thousands of years later. Of the men, since Achilleus was still pissed off and pouting, the poet claims that the best one was Telemonian Asia.

The poet recounts how Achilleus’ men are goofing off around camp while the rest of the Achaians prepare for battle. ". . . his men amused themselves with discs and with light spears for throwing and bows. . . ."

The Trojans muster on "The Hill of the Thicket" which was the last resting place of "dancing Myrina." Now I wonder who was dancing Myrina? She was the queen of the Amazons who defeated the people of Atlantis. She is also believed to have been the wife of King Dardanus, one of Priam’s ancestors.

Upon the marshaling of the Trojan troops, the poet begins the begats of the Trojan leaders. Again, I’ll list a few of the more interesting ones.

Hektor "of the shining helm" was by far the best and the bravest.

"Pylaimenes the wild heart was leader of the Paphlagones,
from the land of the Entetoi where the wild mules are engendered."

"Nastes came like a girl to the fighting in golden rainment,
poor fool, nor did this avail to keep dismal death back;
but he went down under the hadns of swift running Aiakides
in the river, and fiery Achilleus stripped the gold from him."

Now that the field has been laid out, the fighting commences.