H.E.P - Episode 14: Iliad Book 13

The Trojans have broken through the wall, and the fighting is fierce! Zeus takes a brief reprieve from supervising the battle, and Poseidon has a chance to step in and aid the Achaeans. He empowers the Aiantes, and the Cretans Idomeneus and Meriones, the former of which excels in battle this book. There is some humorous banter between the two Cretan heroes, but after putting jokes aside the two enter the fray. While not much appears to occur, this book connects with larger themes in the Iliad like the continuous cycle of violence that the heroes are caught in, as well as the pervading wrath of Achilles that drives the Iliad. Achilles wrath is reflected ‘mise en abyme’ style to us through the clever use of Trojans characters and traditions.

Sources used in this episode:

* Kirk GS. Book 13. In: Janko R, ed. The Iliad: A Commentary. Cambridge University Press; 1991:39-148.

* The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry, by Gregory Nagy. Accessed online from The Center for Hellenic Studies, http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_NagyG.The_Best_of_the_Achaeans.1999.

* Fenno, Jonathan. “THE WRATH AND VENGEANCE OF SWIFT-FOOTED AENEAS IN ILIAD 13.” Phoenix, vol. 62, no. 1/2, 2008, pp. 145–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25651702. Accessed 28 Sept. 2025.

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