ACHILLES’ WAR
As we rake through the ashes of the Iraq war –
and watch the one in Afghanistan rekindled – it seems a particularly
appropriate moment to look back at the great classics of war
literature in a search for meaning. At the top of any reading list
would be The Iliad. And yet, as Caroline Alexander stunningly
demonstrates, there could be no greater argument against war than
Homer’s great epic.
We all know the legendary events and themes of the Trojan War –
the Judgement of Paris; the beauty of Helen; the great martial feats
of Achilles and his tragic death; the scheme of the Trojan Horse;
the pillage of Troy, the enslavement of its women; the Trojan general
Hector’s baby son Astyanax dashed against Troy’s walls. Not a single
one of these things takes place in the Iliad, which in fact is devoted
entirely to a few mundane weeks at the end of a debilitating, waning
ten-year campaign; both armies want nothing more than to stop
fighting and go home; Achilles – the electrifying hero who is Homer’s
brilliant creation – quarrels with his tiresome, inept commander
Agamemnon, but eventually returns to the field to avenge a
comrade’s death.
And yet, Homer raises the most important questions soldiers have
faced throughout the centuries: Is a warrior ever justified in
challenging his commander? Must he sacrifice his life for someone
else’s cause? Giving his life for his country, does a man betray his
family? Can death ever be compensated by glory? How is a
catastrophic war ever allowed to start – and why, if all parties wish it
over, can it not be ended?
Just as she did with The Endurance and The Bounty, Caroline
has taken apart a story we think we know, and put it back together in
a way that lets us see why that story has had such an impact on us
for centuries; what its true power is – what Homer really meant.
Written with the authority of a scholar and the vigour of a bestselling
narrative historian, Achilles’ War is a superb and utterly timely
presentation of one of the timeless stories of our civilization.
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