Nov 16, 2017
It has rightly been observed that Achilles surpasses other heroes in terms of sympathetic imagination. He is able, poet-like, to reach out to the depths of grief, to absorb, adapt and externalize pain; his assimilation of a female-specific sub-genre is performed so effectively that Achilles is even able to compete with women mourners, as the antiphonal laments that he and Briseis express in Book 19 so eloquently show. This special ability he possesses is a sign of his higher authority as a heroic performer. Using lament as a point of reference, the poet of the Iliad has privileged his finest hero, rendering the expression of grief for Achilles a status-establishing process.
from Epic Grief by Christos C. Tsagalis (via cithaerons)
