Queries on the Iliad.

[marcus]

Thanks, Yiannis - it means I don't have to look it up myself! Anything that saves time is a bonus :-)All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Yes,Human sacrifice was certainly around in the Iliad as we can check with the 12 Trojan children sacrificed by Achilleus, at Patroklus' pyre although I had assumed that such barbarities had ended by the time Alexander was around.Achilleus' reasoning seems to be that his friend won't be able to cross the river of Styx unless there was some kind of sacrifice. Yet humans are not the only sacrifice made are Patroklus' pyre- horses, and even his own dog meets its doom there according to the text.The tradition of Funeral Games is also present and a much more "mature" Achilles than before leads them on. Best wishes,
Dean.

[marcus]

Yiannis,I have a slightly cruddy old dictionary of mythology that I had a look at last night (as opposed to the really good ones that I can't access until tomorrow) and it basically said everything you've outlined. However, it seemed clear (from that book, at least), that Peleus was never a king in Thessaly - just that he fled there after the murder of his brother.But I also saw something in Heckel's outline of what would have been in Book 1 of Curtius, that referred to Achilles as being a common ancestor of Alexander and "the Thessalians"... so I suppose your original point, that Achilles was Thessalian rather than Aeginetan, (ostensibly) would be right.However, he must have been 'claimed' by Aegina, too, becaue he led the Myrmidons to Troy. I suppose this was because he was related to the royal house of Aegina.All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Hola Marcus, Spain calling (albeit from a Yorkshire lad originally from Leeds)In my new edition of the Iliad it says that Achilleus' home was in Phthia in southern Thesally.Best wishes and see ya or hasta luego as the locals say here
Dean.

[dean]

Hello Aengus,Thanks for your reply.I didn't know that Thesallians treated this as a ritual with the chariots I mean. In the Iliad there are two places seemingly of importance to Achilleus- Hellas and Phthia- his hometown.Homer composed the Iliad several centuries after the war had supposedly ended- so even then when he began to weave his Trojan masterpiece there must have been some distortion already. I mean, it is like me sitting down now to write about Napoleon and the battle of the Nile- I'd be bound to miss details and change things unconsciously.Like we have mentioned the poem itself is grossly violent- Achilleus screams at Hektor that he will never return his body back for funeral rites and that he would gladly eat his flesh raw to avenge his friend Patroklus- all this moments supposedly before Hektor's demise.So, yes, I would imagine that Homer wouldn't have had any problem with Achilleus dragging a nearly dead Hektor in the dust.Best wishes,
Dean.