The following essay is written as a companion to a lecture series in the Myths of Greece and Rome course at the University at Albany by Daniel Gremmler. It follows the translation and line numbering ofThe Essential Iliad (Hackett, 2000) and The Essential Homer (Hackett, 2000).
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Zeus continues where he left off in Book 11, fulfilling his promise to Thetis (Book 1) that the Trojans would push the Greeks back to their ships so long as Achilles remains out of the battle. Previously, the Greeks dug a trench and raised a fortification wall around their beachhead camp. Book 12 begins with the Trojans having crossed the trench and pressing the makeshift fortification wall. It is in this context that we meet Sarpedon for the first time. The Lycian prince proves himself to be a superior warrior whose efforts are invaluable in breaking through the Greek fortifications. Book 12 is also when Sarpedon delivers his famous monologue describing the reasons that heroes do battle in the warrior culture of the Iliad. We will focus on these two events.
Sarpedon is a prince of Lycia and mortal child of Zeus. As a Lycian, his situation is similar to that of Glaucus, whom we encountered in Book 6.[1] Lycia is located further inland than Troy, but the Lycians came to the summons at Troy, as many Asiatic or Near Eastern peoples did.[2] Homer’s introduction to Sarpedon is flattering. For while the Greeks may have been hemmed in behind their makeshift fortifications, the Trojans were having difficulty breaking through the wall:
For all this, though, Hector and his Trojans
Would never have broken the barred gate
Had not Zeus roused his own son, Sarpedon,
Against the Greeks, as a lion against cattle. …. Godlike Sarpedon felt impelled
To rush the wall and tear it down. (300-18)
In this way, Sarpedon is introduced as a mortal child of Zeus and given the honor of altering the battle for the walls. It is what he says in order to rouse the fighting spirit of his men that will concern us for this chapter.
Sarpedon, like Glaukos, is a Lykian lord. Lykia was an Asiatic ally of Troy located to the south and east of Troy. Many Asiatic peoples came to the aide of Troy during the Trojan war, including the fabled Amazons. Lykia (Lycia) is highlighted in light purple to the bottom right of the map.
Map created by Pinpin (wikimedia). Available here. Licence: (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The speech, or monologue, consists of approximately twenty lines, and in those twenty lines, the Lycian hero lays bare the underlying principles of heroic (warrior) activity as it applies to both Greeks and Trojans in the Iliad and, generally speaking, the klea andrōn [3] of Greek mythology. We quote the speech in its entirety here and will devote the remainder of the chapter analyzing it:
“Glaucus, you know how you and I
Have the best of everything in Lycia –
Seats, cuts of meat, full cups, everybody
Looking at us as if we were gods?
Not to mention our estates on the Xanthus,
Fine orchards and riverside wheat fields.
Well, now we have to take our stand at the front,
Where all the best fight, and face the heat of battle,
So that many an armored Lycian will say,
‘So they’re not inglorious after all,
Our Lycian lords who eat fat sheep
And drink the sweetest wine. No,
They’re strong, and fight with our best.’ Ah, my friend, if you and I could only
Get out of this war alive and then
Be immortal and ageless all of our days.
I would never again fight among the foremost
Or send you into battle where men win glory.
but as it is, death is everywhere
In more shapes than we can count,
And since no mortal is immune or can escape,
Let’s go forward, either to give glory
To another man or get glory from him.” (320-42)
The speech offers two rationalizations for warriors to fight in the Homeric world, each accounting for approximately half of the monologue.[4] The first argument is that of the relationship between timē and heroic action. Timē is the generic Greek term for “honor.” Honor (then and now) is a reward that society bestows on an individual for some service or activity.[5] For example, a graduation ceremony is meant to honor the graduates who have successfully completed their course of study. The gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded at the Olympic Games are trophies meant to honor the victorious athletes. A scholar may receive the title of “Professor,” “Assistant Professor,” or “Associate Professor.” These titles denote degrees of rank (honor) that separate the social strata in a given group, society, or culture. Service to the university results in a new title just as a king may award the title of “Duke” or the Pope the title of “Defender of the Faith” to a person who has done service to them. Whether it’s a physical thing, such as a trophy, precious items, or land; or something intangible such as first choice at the dinner table, a title, or placement at a feast, timē is a reward that honors the recipient for some virtue or deed.
Sarpedon reminds Glaucus of this in the opening lines: there is a reason the two warriors are honored with “the best of everything in Lycia.” They receive the best seats at feasts; their cups are always full, and they receive the very best cuts of meat. Their holdings are large and the very best (most fertile) in the land as well. All of these honors are not, so Sarpedon suggests, warranted by the simple accident of their birth. Rather, they were awarded these honors for past deeds of valor or with the expectation that when the time for war comes, they would be the ones who stand on the front lines: “Well, now we have to take our stand at the front, where all the best fight, and face the heat of battle.” Like Hector and Agamemnon, these lords are warrior kings and princes. They can and do fight. They lead their men into battle literally rather than figuratively. The social status they enjoy, the timē they receive before and after the battle, reflects their warrior prowess and the expectation of their community that they will fulfill the role of war leader when danger strikes.
While the first half of Sarpedon’s monologue is concerned with timē, the second is focused on kleos.[6] Kleos is a kind of honor in the Iliad. Like timē, it is a reward that the hero receives from members of the community. The term means “glory” or “fame.” However, the way kleos manifests itself is notably different from timē. Kleos is always intangible. As we noted in our discussion of Achilles’ refusals to Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax in Book 9, kleos runs parallel to the titles and tangible prizes of ordinary timē. The significant difference is that kleos is intrinsically related to the deed to which it is attached. For example, a thief could steal the gold medal (timē) that an Olympic sprinter won, but he will not likely be confused with the person who actually won the race in front of millions of onlookers. The fame of winning the race has no inherent relationship to the trophy/medal. Furthermore, since kleos is intrinsically related to the deed, is not transferable, and is not a physical entity, it transcends death in a way that no other rewards or forms of timē can. Kleos is a possession that remains after the body is long burned and buried. It only exists in the minds of the community, and as long as the hero’s deed is of sufficient magnitude, his story and, thus, the memory of him and his name, will live well beyond his death. Kleos can be seen as both a compensation for the warrior’s short life and a kind of immortality that is appropriate for mortals in Greek myth.[7]
The second half of Sarpedon’s speech begins with a contrast between the immortality and agelessness of the gods to the mortality and aging of humans: “Ah, my friend, if you and I could only get out of this war alive and then be immortal and ageless all of our days.” This is not the expression of a will to escape the war, but rather, a means of highlighting the fact that Sarpedon and Glaucus are not gods. Even if they were to escape alive from this war, they would still grow old and die. This inescapable fact of human life was part of Hector’s rationale to Andromache in Book 6 when he explained why he must return to the battlefield. Sarpedon continues on the condition that if he and Glaucus were gods (immortal and ageless), “I would never again fight among the foremost or send you into battle where men win glory.” Because gods cannot die, the battlefield is no place for them to win glory. Only mortals win glory on the battlefield because only mortals can die: “but as it is, death is everywhere in more shapes than we can count, and since no mortal is immune or can escape, let’s go forward, either to give glory to another man or get glory from him.”
Kleos is the perpetuation of a hero’s fame, the glorification of his name in connection with his act(s) of heroism. In this sense, it becomes a form of immortality – his name and memory transcend his death. This kind of kleos, Sarpedon explains, is only possible because humans are mortal. Unlike the gods, Sarpedon and Glaucus have everything to lose on the battlefield; they risk their very existence, their lives. There are many ways to define a hero, past and present. However, one virtue is constant in these definitions from the ancient past to the modern day: courage. It is often said that heroes are the people who run toward the crisis that everyone else runs away from. It isn’t necessarily that they don’t fear death (although courage and madness are common acquaintances) but, rather, that they overcome their fear and possess the courage to risk their greatest possession, their lives. This act of courage or valor earns a warrior his place in the songs of his people and, he receives kleos as compensation for his early demise. In other words, if death is inevitable, then rather than clinging to life for as long as possible – as Andromache urges Hector to do in Book 6 – Sarpedon suggests that how one meets the inevitability of death is the difference between being forgotten and erased from human memory, or gaining kleos amphitrion, undying fame.[8]
Sarpedon’s speech rouses Glaucus, and the two lords lead their Lycians in a determined effort against the Greek fortifications. Although Glaucus is wounded in the assault and forced to withdraw, Sarpedon proves to be a match for the Greeks, who were reinforced by Ajax and his half-brother, Teucer:
Sarpedon wrapped his hands around the battlement
And pulled. The whole section gave way, exposing
The wall above and making an entrance for many. (414-16)
Yet even Sarpedon, protected by his father, Zeus, is not able to force his way through the opening he has created as he remains locked in a stalemate between his Lycian contingent and the Greek forces marshalled by Ajax.
Zeus calls on Hector to aide Sarpedon, and the Trojan hero rallies the rest of the army to Sarpedon’s side while Hector finishes the task that Sarpedon began:
Hector
Scooped up a stone that lay by the gates,
A massive boulder tapering to a point.
It would take two men to heave it onto a cart –
More than two as men are now – but Hector
Handled it easily alone. (468-73)
Imbued with strength by Zeus, Hector hurls the boulder at the gates of the wall and crushes them. “Hector jumped through, a spear in each hand” (487) as he earns the honor of being the first to break through the Greek defenses.
In some sense, the events of this book are confusing. The suggestion and, in fact, credit for breaching the wall was given to Sarpedon at line 300, preceding his speech and the ensuing assault on the wall. However, it is Hector who both breaks through the gates and is first to set foot on the other side of the battlements. One could rationalize this discrepancy away by inferring that Sarpedon’s actions motivated the Trojans and, thus, were responsible for the final push that culminated in Hector smashing through the gates, or that Sarpedon peeled back an outer layer of the defenses, exposing them to Hector’s assault. Either of these interpretations is reasonably accurate, but the deeper importance is that this sequence of events provides something that Iliad has done little of to this point: it shows, rather than tells of, excellence on the battlefield by the Trojans and their allies. In the person of Sarpedon, we are not simply told of a warrior’s name and heritage so that his name can be notched on a Greek belt. Nor does he act ignobly as Pandarus did in reigniting the flames of war in Book 4 or Paris retreating from a duel in Book 3. We now have three heroes on the Trojan side whose martial prowess is proven in an unequivocally positive light during the poem. In the figures of Sarpedon, Glaucus, and Hector, the narrative has developed figures with a kleos, worthy foes to prove one’s virtue against on the field of glory.
[1] Glaucus is descended from Bellerophon, a child of Poseidon. Thus, while the blood of the gods runs more diluted in Glaucus, both he and Sarpedon trace their ancestry to powerful Olympian deities.
[2] Aside from Sarpedon in the Iliad, the most famous of these are Penthesilia with her Amazons and Memnon with his Aethiopians. The priest of Apollo from Book 1, Chryses, was also allied with Troy but not from there. As regards the summons of Troy, one might think of it comparably to Gondor, the White City, and its relationship to the people of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings mythology.
[3] Klea andrōn, “fames of men” or “fames of humans.” This is what the Greeks called their hero tales, the myths that centered on mortal protagonists.
[4] The paragraph break is inserted to mark the shift from one rationalization to the other.
[5] Questions of whether the honor is merited are another matter, but they are theoretically merited.
[6] Kleos is one of two terms used in the Iliad that we translate as “glory” or “fame.” The other is kudos. Kleos, however, is more closely connected to the function of memory and story. Hence, the myths (stories) that are told about heroic exploits are referred to as klea andrōn, the “fames of men.”
[7] For further discussion of timē and kleos, see James Redfield’s Nature and Culture in the Iliad. Duke UP, 1994.
[8] See J. P. Vernant, “The Beautiful Death and the Disfigured Corpse.”