The Pity of Achilles : Oral Style and the Unity of the Iliad

An examination of how the major themes of the "Iliad" -Achilleus' "wrath", heroic values such as honour and glory, and human mortality and suffering, to mention the most widely recognized - are connected to each other in a way that reveals the poem's structural coherence and unity.

In The Pity of Achilleus, Jinyo Kim examines how the major themes of the Iliad—Achilleus'' ''wrath,'' heroic values such as honor and glory, and human mortality and suffering, to mention the most widely recognized—are connected to each other in a way that reveals the poem''s structural coherence and unity. Kim asks whether Achilleus'' pity toward Priam at the poem''s close is, as is widely believed, a poetic deus ex machina. In other words, is the conception of Achilleus'' pity an expression of a ''later'' and ''more civilized'' era, as a way of ''correcting'' the warlike savagery that is an undeniable and significant part of the poem? She concludes, rather, that Achilleus'' final reconciliation with the old king of Troy— his ''enemy'' according to the warrior ethos in the Iliad— represents the integral and ultimate resolution of the theme of Achilleus'' ''wrath'' that is announced in the poem''s opening lines. This book will be valuable for students and scholars of classical literature and classical civilization.