The Heart of Achilles: Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad [Paperback]

Graham Zanker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996

In The Heart of Achilles, Graham Zanker addresses the task of reconstructing the ethical thought-world in which the characters of the Iliad live and move. It is only against this background, Zanker argues, that we can convincingly place the ethical status of the heroes and their actions. This in turn helps us to form a comprehensive view of the Iliad's characterization of its people, especially that of Achilles, by examining all his responses to the question of allegiance, the value of heroic prowess, and of life itself.

"[Zanker] investigates altruistic behavior in the epic with professional sophistication but in a way that makes his investigation available to a wide audience from undergraduates to advanced scholars. . . . [A] very useful interpretative study." --Choice

Graham Zanker is Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472084003
• ISBN-13: 978-0472084005
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,564,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and helpful, February 28, 2003

By 

P. Soen (Itasca, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heart of Achilles: Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad (Paperback)

The heart of Achilles examines the ethical considerations set forth in the Iliad. Chapter 1 examines the psychological motives for behavior. Zanker says that the Homeric heroes were motivated by a system of shame and honor. For example, when the Trojans are gaining victory Hector urges them as such:

Trojans! Lycians! Dardan fighters hand-to-hand!
Fight like men, my friends, call up your battle fury-
make for the hollow ships! I see with my own eyes
how Zeus has blocked their finest archers arrows.
Easy see what help Zeus lends to mortals,
either to those he gives surpassing glory
or those he saps and wastes, refuses to defend,
just as he wastes the archives' power but backs us now.
So fight by the ships, all together. And that comrade
who meets his death and destiny, spirit or stabbed,
let him die! He dies fighting for fatherland-
no dishonor there!
He'll leave behind him wife and sons unscathed,
his house and estate unharmed-once these Argives
sail for home, the fatherland they love." (Fagles, 15. 565 -- 579)

The goal of their action is honor. And we can see in the same battle the Achean captains exhort their men with the flip side:

"Shame, you Argives! All or nothing now-
die, or live and drive defeat from the ships!
You want this flashing Hector to take the fleet
then each man walk the waves to regain his native land?
Can't you hear him calling his armies on, full force,
this Hector, wild to gut our hulls with fire?
He's not inviting them to a dance, believe me-
he commands them into battle! No better tactics now
than to fight them hand-to-hand with all our fury.
Quick, better to live or die, once and for all,
then die by inches, slowly crushed to death-
helpless against the hulls in the bloody press-
by far inferior men!"

Shame is to be dreaded, honor is to be sought. After Zanker lay the groundwork for the ethical, he examines the poems chief figure, Achilles. For Zanker, Achilles is challenging this traditional heroic code. Achilles is searching for a better reason to fight than personal glory (i.e. girls, gifts, gold, communal acclaim).
Zanker's conclusions on these matters are thought-provoking. On one level this book is an aesthetic/ethical critical work. That is, a work that examines art and that that art demands an ethical response. On another level, this book is challenging previous (Kantian) ethical interpretations of the Iliad. The principal figure that Zanker is reacting to his Adkins. Zanker calls for a more perspectival look at the characters in the Iliad. I found this book accessible to me. I am not a Greek scholar. Zanker does not pretend that his audience is familiar with Greek. He does not quote from Greek like a lot of critical works on the Iliad. (This can be most frustrating because than the reader is forced to keep referring to his English translation.) This book obviously requires a working knowledge of the text of the Iliad. I recommend Robert Fagle's translation. This book help me understand the community of the Iliad. It helped me understand why the characters argue certain ways and responds certain ways. When I first read the Iliad i did not understand if character was saying something offensive or honorable. The community of the Iliad offers both sympathy and it challenges. In such an individualistic society as ours, we need to be reminded of camaraderie and honor. Personal gain is not enough, life is too short, where we go from here?

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting work, March 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heart of Achilles: Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad (Paperback)

An interesting prodding of Achilles'character. His character, personality etc. Recommended for anyone who likes this ancient character.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting.., March 28, 2000

By 

zibute ulozevicius (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of Achilles: Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad (Paperback)

An interesting prodding of Achilles'character. His character, personality etc. Recommended for anyone who likes this ancient character. Forgot to mention name in above post-sorry!