The Iliad

Ancient Philosophy

Violence

• In the U.S., a man is about – nine times as likely as a woman to commit murder, – seventy- eight times as likely to commit forcible rape, – ten times as likely to commit armed robbery,– almost six and a half times as likely to commit

aggravated assault.

• Altogether, American men are almost eight times as likely as women to commit violent crime.

Violence

• Out of four thousand mammals and ten million or more other animal species, deliberate killing of members of their own species is known only among chimpanzees and humans.

Violence

• lethal raiding has been subject to continuous selection for 5-6 million years.

• In this time, both humans and chimps have developed violent brains that are capable of premeditated, unprovoked violence.

Scramble Competition

• Chimpanzees operate in a world of intense scramble competition.– food is often scarce and – is always unevenly distributed over a wide

territory.

Scramble Competition

• Groups of chimps move from food source to food source, consuming the food there, and then moving on.

• The larger the group, the greater the distances that must be traveled and the greater energy expended.

• When the food supply is low or in areas with poor food, groups become smaller, and some chimps move as individuals.

Scranble Competition

• Furthermore, males and females move at different velocities when moving between patches of food. Females with children move slower so that they can coordinate their movements with their young. Thus, females often move alone;in large parties, all the females are rarely in the group.

• Females are also less gregarious and have fewer bonds than their male counterparts, who reach the food sooner and as a group.

Violence

• This all combines to make chimpanzee groups very unstable internally. – All the members of a group are not always

present

• the number of females in a group fluctuates– female chimps are unable to form coalitionary

bonds– there is no counterweight to male aggression.

Violence

– The constantly changing numbers in the group mean

• that the power relationships between different groups fluctuate often,

• it is very likely that a larger group of males will encounter a smaller group or a lone individual from a rival group. 

• This increases the opportunity for violence

Civilization

• Raiding becomes battles• Military incompetence

– Incompetence because both sides suffer large costs

– evolutionary history of raiding has left us with a tendency to attack when costs are sufficiently low,

– we can deceive ourselves into thinking the costs are low or the benefits (often moral benefits) are great.

The Iliad

• A world of scramble competition– Reach resources quickly– Control them

The Judgment of Paris

• Eris (Discord) creates a feud between– Hera--ruler– Athena--warrior– Aphrodite—domestic

• Each offers Paris an appropriate gift

• He chooses beauty over ruling or being victorious in war

Artist Unknown,

The Judgment of Paris,

Fresco, 1st c. AD

Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Judgment of

Paris, 1508, Oil on Canvas

Lucas Cranach the

Elder,The

Judgment of Paris1530Oil on

Canvas

Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgment of Paris, Oil on Canvas, c. 1600

Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgment of Paris, 1636, Oil on Canvas

Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgment of Paris, 1639, Oil on Panel

Pierre Renoir, The Judgment of Paris, Oil on Canvas, 1914

Helen the Prize

• Leda and Tyndareus were married

• Leda had intercourse with Zeus on the same night she had intercourse with her husband.

• She had two female children– Helen from Zeus– Cyltemnestra from Tyndareus

Achilles

• Thetis, the mother of Achilles, was reluctant to send her only child into battle

• She dressed him up as a lady of Lycomedes’s court.

• Odysseus uncovered Achilles’s true identity

• Achilles was forced to join the Greek fleet.

Erasmus Quellen, Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes, c. 1630, Oil on

Canvas

Trojan War

• King Menelaus was hesitant to call Greece to arms against Troy.

• Agamemnon, seeking glory on the battlefield, took advantage of the suitors’ vow and united the forces into a magnificent fleet to take Troy.

War on Many Levels

• Divine

• Human

• Biological

• Elements

Trojan supporters

• Aphrodite (won the judgment of Paris)

• Ares (lover of Aphrodite, rival of Athena)

• Apollo (traditional friend of Troy)

• Artemis (sister of Apollo)

• Scamander (river of the Troad, fights Hephaistos)

• Leto (mother of Apollo and Artemis)

Greek Supporters

• Hera (lost the judgment of Paris)

• Athena (lost the judgment of Paris)

• Poseidon (traditional friend of Troy, but denied payment by Laomedon after building the walls: but he helps Aeneas in Book 20)

• Hephaistos (friend of Thetis)

• Hermes (fights Leto)

Trojan War

• Chryses, priest of Apollo, comes to the Greek camp to ransom his daughter, Chryseis, held captive by Agamemnon.

• He is insulted and sent away, and Apollo sends a plague on the Greeks.

• Agamemnon had to free Chryseis.

Trojan War

• He took Briseis, the slave girl of Achilles, to stand in her stead.

• This angered Achilles, who withdrew from battle and begged his mother to appeal to Zeus for the Trojans until Agamemnon apologized for taking Briseis.

• The Greek army suffered all the while at the hands of the Trojans without their greatest hero.

Michel Martin Drolling, The Wrath of Achilles, Oil on Canvas, 1816

Trojans

• The Trojans arm to meet the Greeks, and Homer names their warriors and troops as well.

• Hector, “the Tamer of Horses,” is their great warrior.

• His wife is Andromache • Priam is the king.• Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome,

is descended from the Trojans.

A.P. Losenko, Hector’s Farewell to Andromache, Oil on Canvas, c. 1770

J.H.W. Tischbein, Hector’s

Farewell, Oil on Canvas,

1812

Stalemate

• The battle ebbs and flows with neither side able to win.

• Types of power– Agamemnon-authority– Achilles-force– Nestor-rhetoric and the power of words– Paris-technology– Odysseus-strategy