Cueva, Edmund, Harrison, Stephen and Mason, Hugh (Eds.). (2018). Rewiring the ancient novel. 1, Greek novels. Groningen: Barkhuis.  127-150

The fragrance of the rose: an image of the voice in Achilles Tatius. (2017). In Voice and voices in antiquity / (Vol. 396, pp. 416–432). Leiden ;: Brill,.

González González, M. (2018). Achilles /. Abingdon, Oxon ;: Routledge,.

Arieti, J. (1985). Achilles’ Guilt. The Classical Journal, 80(3), 193-203. Retrieved February 18, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296724

Generally speaking, this article provides a close examination of the new culture and value that Achilles embraces and his sense of guilt.

In the first half of this article, the author opens up with presenting the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon with Agamemnon grows angry first because he believes that the conservation should be downward communication rather than the lateral one. Therefore, he takes away Briseis as a punishment to Achilles’ arrogant attitude toward the king, who is in a superior hierarchy. This action resulted in the withdrawal of Achilles’ army during the Trojan war. The author deliberately presents the contrast between the traditional culture and value held by the general public and what Achilles’ belief, and this is implied by the firm stance of Achilles’ promise. Both Phoenix and Ajax fail to persuade Achilles with a warrior’s common shame-culture”. However, Achilles  is moved by the speech as he feels bad about his misconduct of obligation of friendship between him and Ajax and his distance of social love. Therefore, he allows his closest friend, Patroclus, to wear his armor and aid the Greek army.

In the second half of this passage, the author shifts his focus from revealing the traditional culture of the Greek to the new culture adopted by Achilles alone. After the death of Patroclus, Achilles is immersed in enormous guilt and profound regret that he does not take his responsibility as a helper and a protector of his present situation. The author claims that, in this way, Achilles acts like no other man in Homeric society because of his new perception of his responsibility. 

Interestingly, this article suggests Achilles commits suicide as he has always been informed that his death will come after that of Hector. The overwhelming guilt brought by the death of Patroclus serves as an internal motive of Achilles to find his new glory–killing Hector. It is at the time when Achilles lends his armor to his closest friend that his fate is fixed. After killing Hector, he also takes away his ego and life. The author states that Achilles has suicidal behaviors through analyzing Achilles’ weird actions, which include abstinence from food and abandonment of his sexual life, implicating the unbearable guilt is the cause of his death.

Lastly and most importantly, the author ends up notifying his reader that Achilles raises the poem to a monumental level in humanity, and initiates the search for a brand-new morality in Homeric society, which is based on individual responsibility rather than collective opinions.

Scodel, R. (1989). The Word of Achilles. Classical Philology,84(2), 91-99. Retrieved February 14, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/270264

This article focuses on Achilles’ characteristics and the influence of his word during the time when the Greek army retrieves back to their camp. It suggests that Achilles is a hero who commits to straightforward relationship between thought and word, word and action. In other words, his stubbornness and the strong sense of self-esteem which holds him back from rejoining the war. Though Achilles changes his mind continually from deep resentment toward Agamemnon and the Greek army to a more gentle mood when they ask for help , he still stands firmly by his final promise. Hence, the passage argues that he does not allow himself to act inconsistently, particularly in  public matters ,because he once promised that he would not fight until the fire reaches his ship. In Iliad, Agamemnon sends Odysseus to persuade Achilles with enormous gifts for compensation. Yet, Achilles refuses the proposal at once, showing no desire for gifts.Thus, the author presents Achilles with his stubbornness through his response to Odysseus and his reaction to the compensations. 

Stubborn as he is, Achilles indeed shows sincerity by sending patroclus to save the Acheneans. This indicates Achilles’ veracity even though he is still socially aloof from others,holding himself back from the battle. In this part, the author conveys to his reader that Achilles does care about the Acheneans, which indicates another characteristic of his personality. He does have sympathy and some traits of softness in his heart, but his stubborn nature restrains him from fully expressing his kindness.

Finally, the article examines how the word of Achilles reveals deeper problems in the Greek army. By only reporting the initial part of Achilles’ response, Odysseus tricks others through spreading fake news that Achilles is sailing home and encourages them to act the same. In this part, the author is trying to present his audience with the toxic environment  inside the Greek camp where heros have misunderstandings among themselves .The distorted communication and information asymmetry leads to exacerbated hate toward Achilles. From this perspective, the article dissects the Greek army in a way that offers his audience the evidence of social failure, and indicates how the word of Achilles affect the situation during the battle. 

Wright, I. (2016). The Wife of Achilles. Mnemosyne, 69(1), fourth series, 113-118. Retrieved February 14, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/24772033

This article is a close examination of the tragic ending of Achilles, and the role of Briseis in his life.At the beginning of this article, the author opens up the discussion by pointing out how Achilles lives a tragic life through “Achilles slept in the innermost of the well-built hut and with him slept beautiful-checked Briseis.” The article argues that Achilles has long been wishing for a happy domestic life at home with his bride mentioned in Iliad Book 9 several times, so  the audience can realize the mindset of Achilles. This makes him more human as the desire to go home reflects a person’s selfish perspective. Then, the article lets the audience know his inability to fulfill his desire because of his unchangeable destiny–die at Troy. By drawing a comparison between the typological images of Zues and Hera, Paris and Helen, and Achilles with his Briseis, the author further reinforces his claim that the tragic isolation that Achilles embraces as the former two are bonded with marriage, literally meaning sharer of the bed. However, Achilles never married Briseis in his life, which indirectly conveys the message of isolation to his readers.

 Furthermore, I think this article is useful in two ways.Firstly,it provides the audience with the information that, deep in Achilles’ heart, he already equates Briseis to his wife and disregards her status as a warprize by referring back to Iliad Book 19(297-299). This addresses my curiosity as I have long been wondering how significant Briseis is as Achilles withdraws from the war. Secondly, throughout the whole article, the author sticks to his point by repeatedly mentioning Achilles is a hero who lives a tragic life with inability to satisfy his personal desire, and emphasizes on his sacrifice in order to attain undying glory. Thus, the audience of this article is able to comprehend what the author is trying to convey, and have a general idea of a sad story of Achilles even though he wins a supreme glory for himself

Lastly, after going through this article, as a reader, I think this passage opens up a question for me to consider whether it is worth it for Achilles to sacrifice his life to earn the undying glory  as he plays multiple roles in his world as a warrior,a husband, and a son. There might be different opinions on this question if we analyze at a different angle. Therefore, the author successfully triggers the interest of his audience and engages them in thinking further questions.