Delahoyde Orpheus HOMER'S ILIAD: BOOK V

Questions for Book V:

• This book is an "aristeia," which means, in this case, it's "the best of" Diomedes. How are we to understand such a thing mythologically?
• The sense of war etiquette is by now pretty clear. What is the process, step by step, for engaging oneself in a fight?
• Can gods be wounded with mortal weapons?
• What is "ichor"?

"Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus' son Diomedes
strength and daring -- so the fighter would shine forth" (5.1-2).

The book can almost read like an independent poem, some say, suggesting the possibility that it was originally the separate story of Diomedes, incorporated into the Iliad at a late stage of development. This "aristeia" or "best of" Diomedes can be understood as a sort of peak experience -- it's a natural high when you have one of these days, and it's as if a god is metaphorically present. "Breaking ranks they rushed ahead in their chariot,
charging Diomedes already dismounted,
rearing up on foot" (5.12-14). A famous error on Homer's part suggests to the scholars that the poet was unclear about certain aspects of military history. Apparently, after all the hoopla, these warriors use their chariots only to taxi themselves to the line of battle; then they park, dismount, and start the day's fight.

Diomedes kills one Trojan; Hephaestos shrouds the brother in invisibility. When Athena urges Ares off the field, Greek captains each kill Trojans.

"the famous spearman struck behind his skull,
just at the neck-cord, the razor spear slicing
straight up through the jaws, cutting away the tongue--
he sank in the dust, teeth clenching the cold bronze" (5.80-83). We get many gruesome and stark details of war in this book.
Pardarus scores a hit against Diomedes and is encouraged by Aeneas to shoot again, but it's as if Diomedes is fighting with the strength of a god, and Pandarus soon becomes another of his victims -- interesting to students of Chaucer, who quite rightfully despise Diomedes, who for all his success here is still essentially a butthead. "Just as Diomedes
hefted a boulder in his hands, a tremendous feat --
no two men could hoist it, weak as men are now." (5.336-338) Aeneas is hit by this rock, but his mother Aphrodite protects him. Diomedes actually wounds Aphrodite though in "her soft, limp wrist" (5.376), and "ichor" (blood of the immortals) flows out as Diomedes actually dares to mock her cowardice. Apollo protects Aeneas. (The scene is included among the sixteenth-century Giulio Romano paintings in the Sala di Troia at the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, described by Shakespeare in Lucrece.)

Aphrodite borrows Ares' horses to ride to Olympus and hears from another immortal of instances when gods have been hurt.

"can't you go and drag that man from the fighting?
That daredevil Diomedes, he'd fight Father Zeus!
He's just assaulted Love, he stabbed her wrist--
like something superhuman he even charged at me!"
(5.525-528). So Apollo calls to Ares, god of war. Hector is rallied and the fighting is full-on. Meanwhile, Hera complains to Zeus about Ares: "aren't you incensed at Ares and all his brutal work? ... this manic Ares -- he has no sense of justice" (5.869, 874). Zeus sends Athena against Ares; she urges Diomedes to attack him. With the help of Athena diverting Ares' spear, Diomedes is able to wound Ares, who complains to Zeus about favoritism: Zeus always sides with Athena (5.1015ff). But Ares, god of war, is surprisingly chewed out in this war epic: "You -- I hate you most of all the Olympian gods" (5.1030). Ares is, however, cleaned up; and at the end of the book, no gods are involved in the war directly.

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Iliad: Book VI
Iliad Index
Orpheus: Greek Mythology