Tom dismisses one of the world’s greatest epics, a 3,000 year old classic of war, on the grounds that its heroes cannot be verified and nor did they even use cannon. Pitiful. Unlike the Duke of Wellington, alive and well in Tom’s time and in full...
Caught up in the maelstrom of battle between the Greeks and Trojans, these horses have just seen their master massacred, and free of his chariot, and possibly traumatised by the violence, they try to bolt, but are held back. Homer never shies away from the graphic...
None other than Artemis, or Diana, Apollo’s twin, and goddess of wild animals and hunting. Struck by Ever Angry Hera (or Juno), my least liked goddess, and a handful even for omnipotent Zeus. ‘Artemis sweet-garlanded lady of clamours answered him:...
Famed with good reason – see his bringing another warrior to meet his ‘dark-named destiny’. However, the most graphic and distressing spearing I recall from the Iliad is by Patroclus, Achilles’ great pal.  And that’s before we let loose...
A terrifying image of Odysseus in pursuit of prey, like a flesh-tearing dog on the trail of a defenseless deer or rabbit. Odysseus, loving son, father, husband, great wise hero and, let us not forget, ‘sacker of cities’. He’s a complex...
A libation to Athene in thanks for her beneficence. But first, a bath and a meal. And then that lovely offering of ‘sweet-hearted’ wine. See also the bestellar reviews, complete with rich quote-mosaics, of Adam Nicolson’s magnificent Why Homer Matters and...
Consider the vital role of the herald before mechanical forms of broadcast, and how important the quality and strength of their voice. Here, like leaders before and for millennia after, Agamemnon relies on heralds to summon his men. Another age-old though unlamented...
The Trojan war was a Bronze Age affair, magnificently evoked in different sea-surrounded places by two books of Adam Nicolson. His Sea Room touches on the Bronze Age in a remote island off the coast of Scotland, while Why Homer Matters brings it into vivid view in...
The wild card of ancient Greek military planning was the existence and randomness of divine intervention. You never knew which god was backing your enemy, or when or how they might suddenly rouse themselves in wrath and take destructive action against you. Hence, the...
In an age of over-fishing I like these two triologisms suggesting cornucopian fish stocks. Firstly, a reference to the brightness of Achilles’ shield, resembling a beacon giving light to mariners being buffeted on a stormy sea. The second describes Iris carrying...
Here Zeus spurs Athene to intervene in the Trojan war, and she descends to earth in the guise of a glorious soaring hawk, nose-diving. See also the bestellar reviews, complete with rich quote-mosaics, of Adam Nicolson’s magnificent Why Homer Matters, and...
An amazingly intricate way to remind you to eat, no matter what the gods are hurling at you. Artemis is the huntress, and I liked this description of her as ‘shaft-showering’. And boy, between Apollo and Artemis, poor Niobe had a double helping of tragedy....
In with the gore and glory of Homer’s war-words, there are repeated expressions of sorrow at human hatred. ‘Soul-perishing’ echoes our more commonly used ‘soul-destroying’. Either way, to be avoided if possible. See other such pleas by...
Homer’s Iliad pulsates with war and violence, sometimes wrapped in glory but often shrouded as much in sorrow. Here, hostility and quarrel are portrayed as heart-breaking, or as we might say, soul-destroying. The second stretch simile is particularly a plea...
