Achilles in the Classroom

ACHILLES IN THE CLASSROOM

Achilles’ questionable actions in the Iliad provide material for discussion in the classroom both in antiquity and today. Libanius, a fourth-century CE professor of rhetoric, wanted to train his students in critical thinking and to develop their independent judgment. Libanius’ encomium and invective of Achilles below are two model exercises that were probably used as a pair and present the same events (taken from the Iliad) in fundamentally contrasting ways.

". . . [Achilles] was mistreated and deprived of his prize, and though he was entitled to detain and kill those who had come to him and, in addition, the one who had sent them, he gently gave up Briseis without throwing everything into turmoil. He did not, however, remain in the alliance; instead, he showed good sense by not quarreling over the woman, but showed that he would not tolerate being grossly abused by withdrawing from the alliance; for by his actions he wanted to teach that insolent man what sort of person he had wronged. And he was not premature in his anger. . . ."

(Libanius, Encomium of Achilles 3.13–15; trans. Craig A. Gibson)

. . . [Ἀχιλλεὺς] προὐπηλακίζετο καὶ τοῦ γέρως ἀπεστερεῖτο κύριος μὲν ὢν κατασχεῖν καὶ τοὺς ἥκοντας ἀποσφάξαι καὶ προσέτι γε τὸν ἀπεσταλκότα, πρᾴως δὲ τῆς Βρισηΐδος ἀποστὰς τοῦ μὴ πάντα συγχέαι. οὐ μὴν ἔμεινεν ἐπὶ τοῦ συμμαχεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ἐπιείκειαν ἔδειξεν ἐν τῷ μὴ φιλονεικῆσαι περὶ τῆς ἀνθρώπου, τὸ δὲ μὴ παροινούμενος φέρειν ἐν τῷ τῆς συμμαχίας ἀποστῆναι. ἔργῳ γὰρ ἐβούλετο διδάξαι τὸν ὑβριστὴν εἰς ὅντινα ὄντα ἡμάρτανε. καὶ οὐκ ἔφθη χαλεπήνας. . . .

"But when Agamemnon was chastising and teaching and trying to make him better by removing the girl, he became angry and unreasonable and was overcome by wrath—then what did he not say? What did he not do? When he had abusively gone through a full list of evils, he finally attacked him with his sword in the midst of the Achaeans, and if one of the gods had not prevented him, a terrible deed would have been done. But in response to this he withdrew from the alliance, and looking toward the woman as she departed, he began to cry, and he cursed his kinsmen, did not know how to endure even this trivial slight, transferred his goodwill to the Trojans, and was completely transformed because of one captive woman."

(Libanius, Invective of Achilles 1.9–10; trans. Craig A. Gibson)

τοῦ δὲ Ἀγαμέμνονος αὐτὸν σωφρονίζοντος καὶ παιδεύοντος καὶ πειρωμένου βελτίω ποιεῖν τῇ τῆς κόρης ἀφαιρέσει πεσὼν εἰς θυμὸν καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ἀπολέσας καὶ κατασχεθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τί μὲν οὐκ εἶπε; τί δὲ οὐκ ἔδρασεν; ὡς δὲ πάντα τὰ κακὰ ὑβρίζων διεξεληλύθει, τελευτῶν ὥρμησεν ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ἐν μέσοις τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς μετὰ τοῦ ξίφους καὶ εἰ μὴ θεῶν τις ἐκώλυσεν, ἐπέπρακτο ἂν τὸ πρᾶγμα <τὸ> δεινόν. ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀφίσταται τοῦ συμμαχεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα βλέπων ἀπιοῦσαν ἔκλαε καὶ κατηρᾶτο τοῖς οἰκείοις καὶ οὐδὲ τὰ μικρὰ ταῦτα φέρειν ἠπίστατο καὶ μεθίστη τὴν εὔνοιαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Τρῶας καὶ ὅλως μετεβέβλητο διὰ μίαν αἰχμάλωτον.

Image: A ring gemstone with a representation of Achilles from Ammaia, Portugal. © National Museum of Archaeology, invoentory no. Au 1205, 2nd century CE.