Thomas Elliott
Professor Greg Decker
Foundations 111-I
10-3-12
In Search of A Hero What’s so interesting about heroes? Thousands murdered by thousands of murderers-war, the place where heroes are born through impossible acts or even death. The battle of Troy was a war in which the most famous of heroes were born. The battle, depicted by Homer in his epic poem the Iliad, gave birth to one of the mightiest of all heroes in history-Achilles. Achilles, renowned for his skills in combat and his blood lust for war, was a hero among the Greeks for his actions. Many considered him a demi-god, for his physique and skills in combat were similar to the of the war god Ares. He was a warlord, an expert in the profession of murder, who’s skills were considered unmatched by any mortal on earth. Achilles himself is the definition of interesting. Although heroes like Hector were mentioned, Homer depicted Achilles as the most ideal hero in the Iliad. Homer puts more emphasis on Achilles than any other character in the text. In fact, it was his name that was mentioned in the very beginning of the text. Homer starts his epic poem with, “Rage: Sing Goddess, Achilles’ rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks incalculable pain, pitched countless souls of heroes into Hades’ dark, and left their bodies to rot as feasts for dogs and birds, as Zeus’ will was done. Begin with the clash between Agamemnon-the Greek warlord-and the godlike Achilles.” (CR, 39) Right away Homer depicted him as a godlike man of war. Also, the text jumps right in to the actions of Achilles, thus centering the text through his actions. In fact, the very first word of the text, rage, is referring to the rage emitted by Achilles. The beginning text doesn’t depict the antagonist, Hector at all. However, that is just one example of the emphasis in which Homer portrays. Another example would be the way he