The True Hero of Homers The Iliad Essay -- Home Poetry Poem Iliad Ess

The True Hero of Homer's The Iliad The Iliad is a story in which many men should be recognized as great war heroes. They all show a tremendous amount of courage to fight in such a barbaric battle. But this paper?s main focus is between two great leaders of opposing sides. Achilles, who represents the Achaians and Hector, who represents the Trojans. Though both show their bravery during many different instances in the poem, it?s quite obvious to the reader who the better of the two is. The rest of this paper will prove why Hector is a greater hero in comparison to Achilles. The reader is introduced to Achilles in the first book of the poem. King Agamemnon and Achilles are having a conflict over a woman. But if you read deeper into the conflict it has more to do with honor. Honor seems to be the most important thing to all of the characters in the poem. In book two, after the argument between Achilles and King Agamemnon has come to a hault, Achilles has already decided not to defend his army. He feels the king has dishonored him, by refusing to give him Chryseis. So for about  ¾ of the war he did not help his fellow brothers in battle, instead he chose to pout for more than half of the poem. He knew that he was desperately needed at one point and still refused to assist in battle. He kept tabs on everything that was going on by sending out Patroklos to Nestor. Nestor would keep him up to date with the daily occurrences. There are three separate occasions where things weren?t going in favor of Achilles, and he would cry. His tears were so heavy and his cries so loud that his mother would come down from the heavens (She is a goddess) to offer her assi... ...his life. The battle was very intense and the poem gives a great description of the occurrences. The reader can easily get a mental image of the scene. Their final battle was described from the setting in the sky, all the way to Achilles? spear ripping through the flesh in Hectors neck.. I could almost hear the clanking of the weapons of the two warriors. In my opinion if Achilles would?ve been in battle for as long as Hector he wouldn?t have won. Hector died fighting for his country and that was believed to be the greatest honor of them all. If you take the two characters and hold them up next to one another there isn?t even a question in my mind as to who portrays the more heroic role. Achilles fought in the end because he blamed himself for the death of his friend. Hector fought for his country, his family, and for his honor.