Here and some fifty lines later (23.193) are the only two occurrences in the Iliad of the ἔνθ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ἐνόησε (“then he/she thought of other things”) formula, which occurs with much greater frequency in the Odyssey. In that poem, the formula functions as a marker of a more or less significant discontinuity: a change of scene or a turn of the plot in a substantially new direction (see Odyssey 2.382). In this instance, there is no such discontinuity, at least in terms of the scene or the forward movement of the action. Instead of a sudden departure in a new direction, we find a ‘zooming in’ on the goal of the action, from the Myrmidons as they march in Patroklos’ funeral procession to Achilles standing at the pyre. The discontinuity consists rather in the transition to a ritual act of special significance: Achilles’ dedication of the lock of hair that Peleus had vowed would be offered to the river Sperkheios on Achilles’ return to Phthia. The subsequent occurrence of the formula likewise marks the shift to an especially significant ritual act, namely, the lighting of Patroklos’ funeral pyre. The formulaic marker of discontinuity thus serves to highlight the most critical ritual moments in the otherwise continuous narrative of Patroklos’ funeral. Comparison with the usage of the formula in the Odyssey suggests further layers of possible meaning. At Odyssey 23.242, a variant of the formula occurs in a context in which, again, there is no immediately apparent discontinuity. And, again, this occurrence is followed by another a short while later (23.344). These two instances enclose what is arguably the most significant moment in the Odyssey: the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope, which Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus identified as the poem’s τέλος (see Odyssey 23.242). One might similarly view the ritual act enclosed by the Iliad’s two occurrences of the formula as the τέλος of that poem, for, by shearing the lock of hair he had saved for Sperkheios, Achilles ritually formalizes his destiny to die at Troy. In the Odyssey, furthermore, the ἄλλ᾽ ἐνόησε formula, which is used most often with Athena as subject, serves as an index of narrative control: it highlights the fact that Athena prompts and guides the action (see Odyssey 2.382). In Iliad 23, Achilles emerges as a comparable director of the action. Not only does he dictate the ritual procedures of Patroklos’ funeral; during the subsequent games he directs contests that restage, in various ways, many of the poem’s principal themes. Finally, it is tempting to draw some connection between the fact that, in the Odyssey, the formula is restricted to female subjects (Athena, Helen, Nausikaa, Penelope) and the fact that, in the Iliad, it refers exclusively to Achilles’ involvement in funerary ritual. As a mourner, Achilles participates in a sphere of action that is typically dominated by women (see Alexiou 2002 and Dué 2006: ch. 1). The application to Achilles of a formula that is otherwise associated with female actors may serve to highlight his assumption of a very different social role than he has hitherto occupied.

Bibliographical References

Alexiou, M. 2002. The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Rev. ed. Lanham, MD.

Dué, C. 2006. The Captive Woman’s Lament in Greek Tragedy. Austin.

analysis of Achilles’ address to the river Spercheius. The juxtaposition of Peleus’ intention with the theme of Achilles’ return underscores the latent connection of loss of “mind” with Achilles’ loss of “return”

in the context of discussing ērato and Arētē

analysis of Achilles’ acknowledgement of fate, which suggests that Achilles’ resolve to die is also a result of his own lack of “mind”

The funeral that Achilles arranges here for Patroklos in the Iliad is in some ways a preview of the funeral that the Achaeans will arrange for Achilles himself beyond the time-frame of the Iliad. A high point of the funeral in Iliad 23 is a spectacular chariot race arranged by Achilles to honor his dead comrade Patroklos. But an earlier high point is a comparably spectacular cremation of his friend’s body. But this cremation of Patroklos, as a ritual, is far from perfect: it is in fact polluted, and the pollution will make Achilles look bad, at least for the moment. The polluted thoughts of the hero, as evidenced by his dragging the corpse of Hector behind his speeding chariot, will drive him to extremes that will challenge the cosmic order. But the Master Narrator of the Iliad will remedy the pollution, and the remedy will take the form of actually narrating the grim story. In the process of this narration, a great lesson will be learned about life, death, and a hoped-for recovery of life.

Achilles dragging the body of Hector. Copperplate etching (1795) by Tommaso Piroli, after a drawing (1793) by John Flaxman. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Now the making of the funeral pyre may begin. And, in preparation, Achilles will cut his own golden-blond hair, I.23.141, placing into the lifeless hands of Patroklos the long lock that he shears off, I.23.152–153. (What follows is epitomized from H24H 12§26a.) The long unshorn hair of Achilles had ostentatiously signaled his pre-adult status. Once his hair is cut short, he can become an adult. In this Homeric scene, as we see Achilles standing on the heights of the promontory that will become the setting for the tumulus that encloses his own body, he wistfully looks out over the seas of the outer Hellespont, fixing his gaze toward the far west, in the direction of his native land of Thessaly, and longing for the river Sperkheios that flows through that distant land: it was to the waters of that river, which he will never live to see again, that he had hoped to sacrifice his long hair after he came of age and was ready to cut it, I.23.142-153. But now Achilles cuts his long hair prematurely and unseasonally as he stands there on the promontory, I.23.142. Meanwhile, the Myrmidons led by Achilles will anticipate his example, likewise cutting their hair, I.23.135-136. (At H24H 14§26a, I need to clarify what I say about I.23.135–136: it is only the Myrmidons, not the Achaeans en masse, who cut their hair here.) This ritual gesture of cutting the hair in mourning for Patroklos will later be extended after Achilles himself is killed: what then happens at his own funeral is that all the Achaeans, not only the Myrmidons, will join in the same gesture: as we learn at O.24.046, all the Danaoi=Achaeans will cut their hair for Achilles. But now, at I.23.138–153, Achilles himself will show the way by cutting his own hair, thus prefiguring what all the Achaeans will do en masse at his own funeral. Do as I do. Achilles shows the way to mourn him later by now cutting his own hair in mourning for his other self Patroklos. Moreover, this same ritual gesture of cutting the hair in response to the death of Achilles becomes an aetiology for explaining why it is that Greek men of the post-heroic age customarily wear their hair short, not long—except for such notable counter-examples as the Spartans. In a work of Philostratus, On Heroes (51.13), we read the following succinct formulation of an aetiology for this generalized Greek custom: ‘no longer could they [= the Achaeans] consider it a beautiful thing to grow their hair long, in the time after Achilles’ (οὐδὲ κομᾶν ἔτι μετὰ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα καλὸν ἡγούμενοι). In the wording of this aetiology, it is as if the death of Achilles were the single reason that explains why adult men of the post-heroic age no longer wore their hair long. It is as if all the ‘sons of the Achaeans’ were now ready to shift from pre-adult to adult status—once Achilles was dead and buried. The term ‘sons of the Achaeans’—as the Achaean warriors are conventionally described in the Iliad (I.01.162 and so on)—implies a pre-adult status for all those ‘boys’ who fought in the Trojan War. But now those fighting ‘boys’ of the heroic age have reached a post-heroic maturity that inaugurates a post-heroic age.

thematic and formal convergences of Achilles and Apollo (here, Apollo’s epithet akersekomēs as at I.20.039 and Achilles’ hairshearing in these verses)

commentary on xanthos in the context of immortalization

So far, the preparations for cremation, with all the preliminary rituals, have been open to all the Achaeans. But now Achilles urges Agamemnon to send them away to their dinners. So, attendance at the cremation will be restricted. Only the kind of person who was a kēdeos ‘mourning-relation’ for Patroklos may attend the event, I.23.160. Other than these men, only the agoi ‘leaders’ of the Achaeans are also allowed to attend, I.23.160. But there is something odd about the exclusion of the Achaean masses from participating in the cremation. This exclusion, as we are about to see, can be connected with five signs indicating that the ritual of cremation for Patroklos was about to be somehow compromised, even polluted.

example of formal divergence between phrases which are functionally parallel but occur in spoken dialogue as against narrative