Iliad 9: Agamemnon, Odysseus, Phoenix, Ajax, and... Achilles

Iliad 9 finally reintroduces the character of Achilles back into the main story, after the army left him in the Greek camp, when they went to battle the Trojans. ‘The Embassy to Achilles’ consists of Agamemnon offering gifts beyond most people’s wildest dreams and sending an embassy of the men Achilles holds closest to his heart to bring him to Troy, so that they may have a chance of defeating the mighty Hector and the rest of the Trojan army. The offer, however, deeply offends Achilles and, at the end of Book 9, they return without him to the dismayed and disappointed Greeks.

There is lots to observe about the key characters in Book 9, especially in the way they behave towards Achilles, since this reveals how well they know him. Agamemnon in the book especially has changed a lot from the man his record has previously made him out to be, going from a brave and strong leader who will go around to every man in his camp and encourage them to somebody who believes the Greeks have little chance of success, and that ‘the Trojan’s town with its broad streets will never fall to [the Greeks]’. This sudden change of heart indicates how concerned Hector has made him, and how fearful he is of loosing more of his army. 

In addition, but perhaps to his credit, Agamemnon’s opinion towards Achilles has also changed, and he is finally ready to admit that he needs Achilles to come back to the army. He offers Achilles amazing gifts, horses and women and land, all so that he ‘submits to [Agamemnon]’ and ‘abandons his anger’. This generous offer, however, is not well thought out: Achilles has no need of material gifts or land or women, for he has all of that back in his home and being told to ‘submit’ and ‘surrender’ is bound to upset him for he is proud, and what he really wants is an apology. Agamemnon insulted and degraded him, the best of the Greek army, and he wants Agamemnon to admit that he was wrong and he should not have behaved in the manner he did. This reveals to the reader how little Agamemnon knows about Achilles and how self-absorbed he is, because he is assuming that the lavish gifts that would win him over if offered will win over anyone else, but as demonstrated by Achilles’ reaction later, that is not the case.

Odysseus is one of the men sent on the embassy to Achilles and is the first to tell Achilles why they came. He is given the job of repeating what Agamemnon has offered to him word for word, but he leaves out something that he knows will upset Achilles – he does not mention how Agamemnon specifically asked him to ‘surrender’ and ‘submit’ to him. Odysseus is very aware of how much this will enrage Achilles, and whilst Achilles is offended and angry anyway, he would never have agreed to help the Greeks to any degree if he knew how Agamemnon was insulting him still. Odysseus also includes at the end of Agamemnon’s offer a small speech on how much the soldiers need him, and it is not only Agamemnon. He knows that Achilles is angry and upset, but pleads with him to look past this for the sake of his comrades and come to Troy and fight to keep them safe and not necessarily on Agamemnon’s behalf. In book 9, Odysseus is shown to be a true friend to Achilles, one who understands that his pride has been hurt and who does his job in telling Achilles about all that Agamemnon has offered him, but also in reminding him that Agamemnon is not the only Greek who is in need of Achilles’ power right now.

Phoenix is also sent with the men on the embassy to the Greek camp and he has the longest of all the speeches in this episode. You find out here that he effectively raised Achilles after not being able to have any children of his own and that he was like a father to him, which is most likely why Agamemnon decided he must go to persuade Achilles, because if anyone can get through to him, it would be the man who raised him. Phoenix tells him lots of stories, tales of people who have done wrong and suffered for it, but the most significant of these is the story of Meleager. Meleager, an incredibly strong fighter just like Achilles, refused to fight for his army after his mother offended him and begged for him to be killed. In the end, he came to fight for the Aetolians, but only once the Curetes had started setting fire to the town, and the gifts that he had been offered earlier in return for going and fighting were now lost. Phoenix realises that this story relates to Achilles’ situation, and implores him to act differently and to come and help the Greeks before things go too wrong and while he can still benefit from the situation financially. 

Phoenix, however, does not understand that for Achilles, this is not about the material gain – his pride has been hurt. He wants an apology from Agamemnon and that is something that Phoenix cannot offer him.

Finally, Ajax, a man of few words, is the last to speak and, despite this being the shortest of all the speeches to Achilles, it is Ajax longest speech in the entire Iliad and it actually does the most to persuade Achilles to stay. He uses reverse psychology on Achilles by telling the men that they should leave now, because Achilles has ‘hardened his once noble heart and become quite unreasonable’ and, whilst it seems as if he is insulting Achilles for much of his speech, he is actually the most persuasive of all the men, because, at the end of it, Achilles agrees to come and fight once Hector reaches the Greek ships. This shows that, whilst Ajax is not a talkative person, he is observant, and knew what to say to Achilles to persuade him to come and help the army and that what he needed was to be faced with the reality of how he is behaving, which is obstinate and childish – he is willing to let the whole Greek army suffer because one man made a fool of him.

And finally, Achilles, the man so insulted by Agamemnon, has a lot revealed about his character, especially seeing as he has not been present in the epic for many of its books. He is previously shown to be liked and respected by his fellow comrades, and this holds true as he greats them warmly upon their arrival, inviting them into his home and offering them strong wine. However, this quickly changes after Odysseus makes his offer and he becomes outraged, ranting for a long time about how he has neither need nor want of Agamemnon’s gifts. Achilles is already a rich and honoured man back where he lives and he would easily be able to find a wife if he wanted. Agamemnon’s gifts do not tempt him because what he wants is an apology. He wants Agamemnon to admit he was wrong and should not have taken advantage of his status or reacted childishly. He shows this contempt for Agamemnon by sarcastically complimenting his leadership skills, which also reveals his lack of respect for his political betters and, in turn, reveals that Achilles may consider himself to be above other people. This would explain why his pride will not let him come back and fight for the Greeks without an apology from Agamemnon. However, despite this, Achilles does relent about his plans for helping the Greeks in Troy slightly – he goes from deciding he shall return home the very next day all the way to confirming that he will come and help the Greeks, but only once Hector has reached the Greek ships. This leaves the audience with hope that Achilles will come to the Greeks' rescue and that his pride will not always rule his actions.

LK