“Rage--- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ Son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost of Achaeans countless losses,” (Book 1, Lines 1-2). The first words of The Iliad sing to us the tune of combat, death, kill or be killed, the basis for the epic poem. In a time where Kleos and Timê ruled the minds of soldiers and was a basis for defending the country, one man fought for himself, for a friend , and not for honor and glory, even though Kleos and Timê are achieved after the severe slaughter of Trojans. Aristotle once said, “The man who is incapable of working in common, or who is his self-sufficiency has no need of others, is no part of the community, like a beast or god.” Homer lets us into a world unknown, a world where men are not human, a world where men are transformed into wild animals yet existing as gods at the same time. Achilles fits the words of Achilles to near perfection. Besides his wants for women, Achilles has no needs of others; he fights for a friend, slaying hundreds of men. We see that Achilles is self-sufficient when Agamemnon offers him goods to fight and Achilles replies that his life is more important than goods. It seems as though a beast or God could not be bought with goods as well, therefore Achilles fits Aristotle’s description as a God-like figure. When Patroclus dies, he turns into a wild beast and learns that he is in need of no one. However, Achilles also possesses features of a God. Numerous times in The Iliad, Homer refers to Achilles as “god-like” and describes him with the appearance of a god. When Achilles fights, his armor glows and he is very intimidating to the Trojans.
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