The Odysseus Metaphor

There are many metaphors and similes throughout Homer's Iliad. Some are italicized and some are not. This, of course, is completely up to the translator. These metaphors or similes allow the audience to gain some knowledge of the character the metaphor describes or, in other cases, allows the audience to more easily picture a scene based on a more common image. For example, in Book 3 Homer writes that the older Trojans sat on the wall and the reader should, "Think of cicadas perched on a branch, their delicate voices shrill in the woods." (3.178-179). This gives the audience an idea of how the old counselors sounded. In addition, a very famous simile regarding Menelaus also occurs in Book 3. Menelaus is described as feeling "as a lion must feel when he finds the carcass of a stag or wild goat, and, half-starving, consumes it greedily even though hounds and hunters are swarming down on him." (3. 28-31). This simile comparing Menelaus to a lion seems to demonstrate his strength, ferocity, and magnificence as one of the greater Greek heroes. 

One of my favorite similes that I have come across so far, however, regards Odysseus. This simile is easy to miss, as Lombardo did not italicize it. In this instance Odysseus is said to be "roaming the ranks like a ram, that's it, just like a thick-fleeced ram striding through a flock of silvery sheep." (3. 210-212). This comparison is very foretelling for Odysseus. It foreshadows or references the encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus in the Homeric epic The Odyssey. Odysseus escapes from the Cyclops' cave by clinging to the underbelly of a ram. This adventure in The Odyssey is yet another demonstration of Odysseus' cleverness. This simile in The Iliad, however, is a demonstration of Homer's (or the author's) cleverness. The audience would have probably recognized this foreshadowing because they would have been familiar with the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops.