CLCV 2500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Simile, Trojan War, Odysseus
27 Sep 2017
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Ransom and mercy: how battles go and how fights go. The heroes approach each other, fight, and then one wins: a warrior who is defeated or disarmed asks for mercy or supplication. You have one hand around the knees of the person you are supplications, and the other hand is at their chin. If the request is granted, the defeated hero is taken prisoner: the idea that you can exchange goods for life is mentioned in the iliad. In book 21, lykaon a son of priam was taken prisoner by achilles. Achilles refuses his act of supplication, because at this time he was on his rampage for the death of patroclus: achilles meditates on death as something that cannot be inexchangeable. The iliad similes: the narrative setting of the iliad is 45 days from the beginning to the end. Out of these, only 12 days have action.
