Johnny Halliburton

Achilles or Hector?

The Iliad is an Epic Poem with a huge cast of mighty heroes; so many, in

fact, that it can be difficult to determine who is the most heroic. It would be

easy to lapse into a playground argument about which hero would win in a

fight, who is stronger, smarter or more righteous. In order to avoid such biased

and unsupported banter, some sort of criteria must be established.

Aristos/nobility is fundamental, certainly. How can a hero be heroic unless he

stands for truth, justice and the Mediterranean way? The motivations of the

characters must also be taken into account and, as the pursuit of honor and

glory were not only cultural fixations but near universal themes in Epic Poetry,

those seem like necessary benchmarks against which to measure these heroes.

Lastly and maybe most importantly in the context of a Greek Epic, the heroes

must be judged by their power. Arête is the measure of a hero’s might,

prowess, reputation, and success in achieving his goals and as such is crucial

to evaluating the characters in terms of heroism. Upon applying such a rubric,

two names jump immediately to the forefront of the discussion, Achilles and

Hector.

Nobility is a core facet of the heroic persona and as such is a fitting place

to begin. A passage from "The Achaean Armies at Bay" p. 403, encapsulates

Hector’s motivation throughout the epic;

“And that comrade that who meets his death and destiny,
 speared or stabbed, let him die! He dies fighting for
fatherland--no dishonor there! He'll leave behind
him wife and sons unscathed, his house and estate
unharmed--once these Argives sail for home, the
fatherland they love.”

Hector’s primary concern is the defense of his city and its people against an

invading army. His love and devotion to his family is also one of his more

laudable qualities; not simply his determination to protect them but his sense

of loyalty and obligation to them. In "Hector Returns to Troy" p. 207, Helen

comments seductively to Hector “Would, at any rate, that I had been wife to a

better man…” She continues by offering him comfort “brother, come in and rest

upon this seat, for it is you who bear the brunt of that toil that has been

caused by my hateful self.” When faced with temptation at the hands of what

must be the most beautiful woman in the world, Hector denies her and goes to

see his wife and son. This is an unequaled feat of moral fortitude most of the

other heroes would not be able measure up to.

Achilles, on the other hand, is as much his polar opposite as can be

found. When Achilles’ pride is hurt by Agamemnon he reveals his true

character. He is completely selfish and chooses to abstain from battle to spite

Agamemnon. Achilles sits on the sidelines while countless Achaeans are killed

because his vanity has been wounded. His sole preoccupation is what he feels

he deserves. As shown in "The Rage of Achilles" p. 83, when quarreling with

Agamemnon, Achilles says

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 “My honors never equal yours, whenever we sack
some wealthy Trojan stronghold my arms bear the
brunt of the raw, savage fighting, true, but when
it comes to dividing up the plunder the lion's share
is yours, and back I go to my ships, clutching some scrap,
some pittance that I love, when I have fought to exhaustion.”

There is nothing morally praiseworthy here, just a spoiled child throwing a

tantrum.

That’s not to say that Hector is uninterested in honor or glory. Both men

hail from timocracies and are, indeed, products of their respective cultures. In

"Hector Returns to Troy" p. 210, the eponymous hero, when asked by his wife

not to risk his life on the battlefield, replies

“But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy and

the Trojan women trailing their long robes if I would
shrink from battle now, a coward. Nor does the spirit
urge me on that way. I've learned it all too well. To stand
up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan
soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself.”

He knows that facing the Achaeans will surely lead to his doom but he has set

himself to task that he will earn honor and respect for himself and for Troy

before he succumbs. Conversly, the idea that the men of Troy would lose

respect for him, should he shy from battle, is abhorrent to him.

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 Achilles, even more so than Hector, is consumed by the quest for greater

glory. His entire destiny is wrapped up in the search. This is best elucidated by

his account in "The Embassy to Achilles” p. 265,

“Mother tells me...that two fates bear me on to the day of death.

If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone,
but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my
pride, my glory dies...true, but the life that's left me will be long,
the stroke of death will not come on me quickly.”

This choice defines his life and he chooses glory time and again. Where he

differs from Hector, however, is that he doesn’t seem to care overmuch what

his comrades think of him. Everyone and everything falls in service to the

Legend of Swift-Footed Achilles.

Perhaps the most important aspect the heroic figure is arête. Without

arête, the figure is simply a well-respected guy who does the right thing,

admirable to be sure, but not heroic. Arête is what gives the character potency,

gives him the power to impact the world around him on a scale unobtainable

by normal men. Now, both of these men certainly have that, but which can

claim superiority? Both men are regarded as the greatest warriors of their

respective armies. The sight of each man in battle is enough to rally and

inspire their allies as well as strike fear into the hearts of their adversaries.

Each fights with superhuman might.

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 This is one category, however, of which an unequivocal judgment can be

reached. Achilles defeats Hector. When the two men ultimately meet on the

field of battle, not only does Hector lose, but three times he flees before the fury

of Achilles. He only turns to face Achilles when tricked into it by Athena and

then he is quickly bested (some divine intervention not withstanding). Now,

even the most gifted of fighters may be slain in war, there is no shame in such

a fate. The “death-blow” to Hector’s heroic image comes when he is proved a

coward. His fear of Achilles un-mans him and Hector runs.

Three. Damn. Times.

When using this sort of metric, the two men are very close. Neither one

truly personifies the heroic ideal but they are still both heroic figures. It’s only

when the two are thrown against each other on that bloody proving ground

that Achilles emerges the victor. So, it must be said that by Greek standards,

Achilles is more of an Epic Hero than Hector.

There is further proof to support this claim if the story is examined

through a modern lens. Today, we have a much more narrative sensibility than

in Homer’s time. We like our stories with clear protagonists, character arcs,

and well defined beginnings, middles, and ends. From this perspective, Achilles

is definitely the “star of the show.” The poem begins with an invocation to the

muse to tell the story about the rage of Achilles. From the beginning, the focus

is put squarely on him. It tells of the events directly leading up to and the

aftermath of Achilles’ choice not to fight. All of the conflict that occurs in the

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poem can be said to stem from Achilles’ withdraw from the war. The war has

been going on for nine years but the Iliad doesn’t tell that story. Only when

Achilles upsets the status quo is the listener brought into the tale. While

Hector is certainly the more likable character, he doesn’t even appear until

Book III! Most listeners would agree that the climax of the story is Achilles’

reentry to the war. Even the end of the Iliad gives clues as to the story’s focus.

The listener doesn’t even get to hear how the war turns out. The final part is a

transformative exchange between Priam and Achilles at the funeral of Hector,

Achilles’ foil. If the Iliad is deconstructed narratively, it becomes much clearer

who is the story’s Epic Hero.