Essay
Homeric Similes in Books 17 to 20 of the Iliad
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This is an essay focusing in on some key Homeric similes in books 17 to 20 of the Iliad, pulling examples from the original Greek.
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Lucy MartinIliad Essay – Week 6
Discuss the role of Homeric similes or Achilles’ shield.
In Homer’s Iliad, similes play a vital role in our understanding of the Iliadic world and
warfare. They add description and detail, making us sympathise with the characters more, they
make the most brutal scenes seem beautiful and serene and illustrate the emotions of the
characters in a way easy for the audience to understand.
Towards the beginning of book 17, Menelaus is said to have encountered Euphorbus in
battle, whom he overpowers and kills. Homer describes his death in very brutal terms in lines 47-60
with such techniques as allowing enjambment and separation from the rest of line 48 with ‘νύξ᾽’ a
stabbing and the emphatic placement of ‘αἵματί’, blood, at the start of line 51highlight the immense
brutality and gory nature which this scene possesses. Having set up this mood of intense fighting and
brutality, he then contrasts the horror of this scene utilising a simile which compares Menelaus'
killing of Euphorbos to:
‘τρέφει ἔρνος ἀνὴρ ἐριθηλὲς ἐλαίης
χώρῳ ἐν οἰοπόλῳ, ὅθ᾽ ἅλις ἀναβέβροχεν ὕδωρ,
καλὸν τηλεθάον: τὸ δέ τε πνοιαὶ δονέουσι
παντοίων ἀνέμων, καί τε βρύει ἄνθεϊ λευκῷ:
ἐλθὼν δ᾽ ἐξαπίνης ἄνεμος σὺν λαίλαπι πολλῇ
βόθρου τ᾽ ἐξέστρεψε καὶ ἐξετάνυσσ᾽ ἐπὶ γαίῃ: - lines 53 - 58
“a man nurtures a flourishing olive-shoot in a solitary place, where plenty of water wells up – a fine,
healthy shoot it is, shaken by the breath of every wind that blows, and it blossoms thick with white
flowers: but suddenly there comes a wind in a great storm, and uproots it from its trench and lays
out its length on the earth.” He begins this simile with the verb, ‘τρέφει’, he nurtures, which seems
to have been brought forward in its placement in the line to emphasise the act of caring, which is
rather odd and in some ways polarising as this image is introduced to us within the context of a
brutal killing and the first impression we get of the simile is one of caring and tenderness almost. The
image itself is also one of great beauty and peace, talking of such things as this shoot of an olive-tree
‘καλὸν τηλεθάον’ finely blooming, ‘βρύει ἄνθεϊ λευκῷ’ teeming with white flowers, then to talk of
the idea of this beautiful tree, which some man has taken such good care of, has been destroyed by
the wind. This illustrates the role of similes in making the audience feel something for the characters
by conveying an image of such beauty and as it is clear here that the olive shoot is representative of
Euphorbus himself. This helps his death seem far sadder, despite him being non-Greek, as it clearly
depicts an image of something being cut down in its prime very suddenly, for no reason and killed
arbitrarily. It is safe to say that without this simile, the impact of Euphorbus’ death would be far
smaller. Furthermore, in some small way this simile is a way of describing his death at the hands of
Menelaus in such a way as to lessen the brutality of the earlier description – almost as if to make the
reader forget the brutality for a while and get lost in the beauty of the image – as a rather
convoluted and subtle way of allowing the Greeks to continue to be praised and glorified for their
actions in war and not seen as so completely heartless and brutal as to lose all sympathy and respect
the audience may have for them. Thus, role of the Homeric simile here is to soften the brutality of
death to allow for a more favourable and honourable depiction of Greek heroes. On this matter,
Jean-Pierre Vernant1 says “As if it were an initiation, such a death endows a warrior with the set of
qualities, honours, and values for which the elite, the aristoi, compete throughout their lives. This
1
A ‘Beautiful Death’ and the Disfigured Corpse in Homeric Epic by Jean-Pierre Vernant in the book “Oxford
Readings in Homer’s Iliad” Edited by Douglas L. Cairns, published in 2001 by the Oxford University Press
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