A Hero's Tears

There is a theme throughout The Iliad of the major participants shedding tears. It happens more frequently than one would imagine while reading a story about rage, war, and killing. For example, Achilles cries when Agamemnon takes Briseis from him. Patroclus comes to Achilles with tears pouring down his face after watching his fellow Greeks dying at the hands of the Trojans. Achilles weeps uncontrollably for Patroclus after he learns of his death. There are many more examples as well of other heroes crying when they thought all was lost or their friend perished. The amount of crying that goes on amongst the heroes of The Iliad seems to suggest that this was a common occurrence and that a hero crying was not something that lowered their worth. Our modern society depicts heroes as people who cannot be broken. They are people who are strong, courageous, and resilient. Our idea of a hero tends to insinuate that they never show any weakness. Perhaps that is the difference between our society and that of Homer. Perhaps to the Greeks crying did not necessarily signify weakness the way we tend to see it. Maybe instead, crying was just another way to demonstrate a hero’s mortality. Crying could have been seen simply as a human trait rather than a weakness. Therefore, every demonstration of humanity in The Iliad could remind the audience that all heroes are mortal, they will all die, and they are all human in the end.