"It is said that Homer was a blind man. . . . But he allowed us to see what he himself could not see", Cicero said of the ideological value of "Homer's Epic". Indeed, "Homer's Epic" fully embodies the truth that "poetry is more real than history", at least, from the three main characters of "Homer's Epic", we can read the three characteristics of ancient Greek culture: strength, honor and wisdom.
Achilles embodies the ancient Greeks' worship of power. This man who is so sexy that women suffocate is of noble blood, the crystallization of the love between the mortal Peleus and the goddess Thetis. The identity of the half-blood makes him stand out in the mortal world and become the undisputed first warrior in the Mediterranean. War has always been a war of heroes, and there are only heroes' names in the history of writing. Therefore, although the participating sides in the "Homer Epic" used thousands of troops, there were only a handful of famous warriors, and these few warriors were only props to set off the bravery of Achilles.
The Greek soldiers were all cheerleaders watching Achilles' unrestricted performance, and Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition, was the captain of the cheerleading team, because one Achilles was enough to determine the direction of the entire war. In order to highlight the unique role of Achilles, Achilles' agent, the author of the epic, carefully designed the strategy of "entering the war - withdrawing - coming back" for him. When Achilles entered the war, the Trojans could only defend the city, and the Greeks had the upper hand. But once Achilles withdrew from the battlefield, the entire Greek coalition was beaten by a Trojan man named Hector, throwing away his armor and armor, crying for his father and his mother. After Hector was fully performed, people seemed to gradually forget about Achilles, thinking that the Mediterranean region had entered a "post-Achilles" era. But just like Hua Xiong's bravery is just to foil Guan Yu's bravery, Hector is just a springboard for Achilles to ascend to the throne of the god of war. Fate made these two sympathetic men meet. Hector, who had been invincible before, died under the sword of Achilles. It seems that the gap between the second warrior and the first warrior in the Mediterranean is not even a little bit.
The image of Achilles fully reflects the worship of individual heroism in Western culture. From this, it is not difficult for you to understand why in so many Hollywood blockbusters, a muscular man with a machine gun can save the United States and even the world. They are nothing but Achilles in the age of hot weapons.
Hector embodies the ancient Greeks' understanding and pursuit of honor. Achilles also rushed to Troy with the word "honor", but in the end he found that before he got the honor, his honor had been damaged by Agamemnon - Agamemnon took it away His beloved captive. Therefore, participating in the war is for honor, leaving the war is also for honor, and of course, returning to the battlefield is to defend one's own honor. However, there is still some difference between Achilles' "honor" and Hector's "honor", just as Hector's power and Achilles' power cannot be compared.
Although Hector is not as strong as Achilles in martial arts, he is still a real man. Because of his specific identity, he dared to take responsibility. Achilles fought only for himself because he couldn't fight for Greece. The Greek army was only that of Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus. King Agamemnon of Mycenae used the military power of Greece to realize his political ambitions, while King Menelaus of Sparta encouraged the warriors of Greece to go on an expedition just to vent that he was cuckolded by Paris. Grief and anger. In such a smoky army, Achilles could only kill and set fire to show off his strength. If he was wronged, he could not only withdraw from the battle, but also turn his ass and go home. But Hector is different. He is the prince of Troy. As the future leader of Troy, Troy is his own home. Therefore, his personal honor is not to grab a few women, or to do a few bodybuilding moves on the battlefield, but to defend his homeland. Because he knew that once Troy was over, his wife would become a Greek slave and his son would be thrown into the fire by the Greeks. So he had to say goodbye to his family, and without looking back, he took to the battlefield resolutely.
The scene of Hector ignoring his wife's cry left sentimental readers in a mess. This gives him a more flawless temperament than Achilles, though he does so with an element of circumstance. Had Achilles faced the same situation, he would have done a similar feat. But it can still be said that Hector's actions mended the ancient Greeks' concept of honor. Achilles is a man of temperament. He is young, passionate, with a Narcissus complex (narcissism complex), and he cares too much about his own feelings. Therefore, in the process of pursuing personal honor, he did objectively damage the whole of Greece. people's interests. On the one hand, Hector was more mature and stable than Achilles, who was not married, because he was the master of Troy, and on the other hand, because of his family and business. He spoke and acted like a big brother and a leader. More importantly, he closely linked the realization of his honor with the honor of the city-state, so that the Chinese use a word with Chinese characteristics to describe him: collectivist hero. His image formation symbolizes the perfection of the ancient Greeks' view of honor that was too heavy on Narcissus complex: the realization of personal honor needs to be established on the basis of working for others. From this, it can also be seen that the ancient Greek culture itself already contains Mechanisms for self-reflection and error correction.
Odysseus embodies the ancient Greeks' use and praise of wisdom. At that time, in order to avoid military service, Odysseus did not hesitate to pretend to be mad and foolish, putting cattle and horses together to cultivate the fields. When he joined the army and joined the army, he immediately gave full play to his ingenuity and made suggestions for the Greeks. When the Greek fleet approached the coast of Troy, all the heroes did not dare to act rashly, because they knew an oracle: whoever set foot on the land of Troy first would surely die. Odysseus threw his shield on the shores of Troy and jumped on his shield. A foolish Greek warrior thought that Odysseus was the first to set foot on the coast of Troy, but he didn't expect Odysseus to steal the concept, and what he set foot on was only his shield. This unfortunate Greek warrior came to Troy with the dream of making a fortune, but he didn't even see what the Trojans looked like, and was sent to the territory of the god of the underworld, Harris, by a spear flying in front of him: hell.
In The Iliad, Odysseus has shown his machinations on full display. You know, Achilles is powerful, but he can't break through the impregnable city of Troy. Odysseus did a little trick, and Troy became a sea of fire. Unfortunately, his light was overshadowed by the bravery of Achilles and the righteousness of Hector. It wasn't until "The Odyssey" that he quietly advanced to the lead role. In this blockbuster about "coming home," Odysseus uses his wits to forge a path back home.
Blinding the eyes of the Cyclops is a classic Odysseus battle. After he waited for Polyphemus to fall asleep, he blinded his eyes with a section of a red-hot olive tree, and then told the victim that his name was "No Man". The cry of the Cyclops summoned his companions. They asked: Has anyone killed you by conspiracy or violence? The Cyclops responded: "Nobody" killed me with conspiracy, not violence. Odysseus managed to escape ninety-nine-eighty-one hardships. He won by scheming and lost trust in the world. So much so that when he set foot on the land of his hometown, he also deceived Athena, who was visiting privately in Weiwei: he was a Cretan and drifted here because of a shipwreck. Athena secretly laughed in her heart: You are such a liar, you actually lied to the omniscient God.
Athena cleared the clouds to see the sun, and Odysseus finally kept the clouds open. But he was not in a hurry to meet his family, even though his heart was burning with anxiety. He will disguise himself as a beggar to deal with the suitors, and test the loyalty of the servants. Most importantly, he will learn to play his wife with Zhuangzi and test his wife: Do you still love me today?
China has become the hometown of anthropology, and ancient Hebrew has become the hometown of theology. From Odysseus, we can also see why ancient Greece became the birthplace of philosophy. Odysseus is indeed smart, but hides himself everywhere and calculates others, how much interest and meaning is left in life?
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