Combat and Classics Podcast

It's here: our last episode on the Iliad! Achilles continues to mourn Patroclus, and to try to disfigure Hector's body. After days of this, Apollo intervenes, and the gods help Priam to retrieve his son's body from Achilles' tent. Brian, Shilo, and Jeff consider Achilles' "foreign policy" in his dealings with Priam, and the meaning of Homer's epic as a whole. Does the end of the Iliad portray a decline to a world run by liars and dancers, or an ascent to an almost joyful tragic insight into human power? In the final analysis, is it better to be a human being than to be a god? Do we need to read the Odyssey together to answer these questions?

After our antepenultimate Iliad episode comes... the penultimate episode! In Book 23, Hector is dead, and Achilles mourns Patroclus, who comes to Achilles in a dream and demands a funeral. So Achilles organizes funeral games: chariot and foot races, boxing and wrestling, and more. The Argives compete, and contend over the justice of their competition. We ask: why does Homer's description of the chariot race take up half of the book? Does Achilles do a good job of managing this race and judging its outcome? Join Brian, Shilo, and Jeff as they discuss the "domestic policy" of the post-wrath, or dead, Achilles. Does he now permit pity and skill to come to the fore, and is this a sign of growth or decline? Is the world of pity and skill a world where one person can be good at everything?

Here's our antepenultimate episode on the Iliad! In Book 22, Apollo, disguised as Agenor, lures Achilles away from Troy. When he sees through the deception, Achilles goes after Hector, and chases him around the city's walls. This goes on until Athena disguises herself as Deiphobus, and tricks Hector into facing Achilles. Then Achilles kills Hector, and drags his corpse around behind his chariot. Brian, Shilo, and Jeff ask: why does Hector decide to face Achilles, rather than taking refuge within the walls of Troy? We discuss whether his choice makes sense, and whether he is driven by a just (or an unjust) shame. We also consider whether Hector could have gotten help, whether he could have negotiated with Achilles, and whether he and Achilles, under different circumstances, could have been friends.

We're back, with our preantepenultimate episode on the Iliad! In Book 21, we get into the action. Achilles kills so many Trojans that the river Scamander protests the mess he is making. So Achilles fights the river, and nearly dies. Then there is a war between the gods; they lay it on without restraint. Meanwhile, Achilles kills two of Priam's sons, as he watches. And the Trojans are driven back into the gates of Troy. Join Brian, Shilo, and Jeff as they talk about what it might look like to fight a river, and wonder why Achilles cares about how his body looks after he dies. Is Achilles driven by justice in this book, or the noble, or both? Is excellence more visible in a contest between equals, or between unequals? And does Zeus enjoy the suffering of the gods because it makes them better?

In Book 20, Achilles gets new armor from his mom, and rejoins the battle. Zeus tells the gods to take sides, and to go nuts. And Achilles faces Aeneas and Hector, and fights them, so that the gods have to save them. Brian, Shilo, and Jeff talk about why Achilles' single combat with Aeneas is the centerpiece of the book, and why Achilles and Aeneas talk so much before they fight. Does the combat between Achilles and Aeneas prompt Poseidon to change sides? We also talk about why Zeus wants to see the spectacle of all the soldiers at Troy and all the gods fighting one another. Does Zeus find the suffering of soldiers and gods to be pleasant?

We're back! And so is Achilles. But what is he back for? Join Brian, Shilo, and Jeff as we ask why the Iliad isn't over, now that Achilles says his wrath is done. We discuss whether Achilles has a new cause for wrath, against Hector, for the death of Patroclus', and whether this new cause is the same or different from his old cause for wrath, against Agamemnon, for the theft of Briseis. Are both causes for wrath based on an injustice? Who really is responsible for Patroclus' death? We also consider how the gods use nectar and ambrosia to embalm Patroclus' corpse and spare Achilles the need to eat. Are the gods' bodies dead?

Achilles is crushed by Patroclus' death.  Thetis, his mother, helps him to revenge himself on Hector by asking Hephaestus to make Achilles some new armor.  We ask about the elaborate and famous description of Achilles' shield.  How should we understand the details on this shield, which looks like the world of the living?  Does the shield conceal the world of the dead, who are under the shield just like Achilles is?  We also think about Hephaestus' intentions in making Achilles' shield.  Is he the artisan who makes the artifact that must fail?  Is Hephaestus the wisest god because he can sum up human life?

Shilo gets a new gig, and we offend a whole county!  But back in the Iliad, Patroclus is dead, and the Greeks and Trojans fight over his body.  Why is a whole book concerned with Patroclus' body?  And why do we care about the armor and the horses of Achilles?  Brian, Shilo and Jeff talk about how this book contributes to the suspense of the story, and about the meaning of Patroclus' embodiment.  Is Patroclus his body, or is he different from his body?  Are human bodies different from those of the gods?  We explore the strange image of the stretched bullhide, and whether Patroclus' body is a valuable commodity.

In this book, Achilles comes upon the crying Patroclus, and pities and chides him.  Then Patroclus puts on Achilles' armor, joins the fight, is stunned by Apollo, and killed by Hector.  Brian, Shilo and Jeff ask why Achilles lets Patroclus join the fight wearing Achilles' armor, when Achilles himself says he is ready to return to battle?  We explore Achilles' thinking: what is it like to be far superior to everyone around you?  Does Achilles want everyone around him, Greek or Trojan, dead -- except Patroclus?  We learn why Plato's Socrates warns against identifying with Achilles' wrath, and how superior human beings dangerously test their friends.

Zeus wakes up, and gives us a spoiler of the rest of the Iliad.  Then he sets his will in motion.  Apollo fills Hector with chutzpah, and he leads the Trojans to fight among the Greek ships.  In this episode, Brian, Shilo, and Jeff ask about the smile of Zeus.  Has he caught Hera in a lie?  Does his smile mean that he thinks he is superior to all the other gods?  Is it boring to be by far the greatest of the gods?

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