Protesilaus\u2019 was a minor character<\/a> who died in the early part of the war due to his pride. At the start of the war, all the Greek warriors refused to disembark from their ships because of a prophecy; the prophecy claimed that the first to set foot on Trojan soil would die.<\/p>\nProtesilaus considered his life worth nothing and believed that his death would leave his name in the annals of Greek history. Therefore, with pride, Protesilaus jumped from the ship,<\/strong> killed a few Trojans, and died at the hands of the greatest Trojan warrior, Hector.<\/p>\nProtesilaus\u2019 actions earned him a place in Greek mythology and religion as several cults in Greece developed around him. He had temples to his name and religious festivals are done in his honor which would bring him much pride.<\/p>\n
Hector\u2019s Pride<\/h2>\n
Hector was the strongest Trojan in the poem and just like his nemesis Achilleus, he had his honor to defend. It is said that with great power comes great responsibility and therefore bearing the title of the \u201cgreatest Trojan warrior\u201d<\/strong> Hector\u2019s reputation was at stake.<\/p>\nThus, he felt pride in leading his troops in the battle for he knew that glory awaited him at the end of the war. Though his wife and his son tried to talk him out of fighting, Hector\u2019s pride spurred him on.<\/p>\n
Even when he learned that he would be killed by Achilleus,<\/strong> Hektor knew no retreat nor surrender. He preferred to die on the battlefield than in the comfort of his home where there was no honor. Hector slew several Greek warriors including Protesilaus and only fell to the strongest warrior of both sides, Achilleus. For him, the afterlife in the Iliad was of more importance than the present life.<\/p>\nMenelaus\u2019 Pride<\/h2>\n
The ignition of the entire war was the wounded pride of Menelaus<\/strong>, Helen of Troy. Helen was known as the most beautiful woman in all of Greece and was the pride of King Menelaus of Sparta. As we\u2019ve already encountered, women were seen as properties and owning one, especially the most beautiful, was a man\u2019s honor. Thus, when Helen was abducted by Paris, Menelaus assembled a huge army just to retrieve her and restore his pride.<\/p>\nThough the war lingered for 10 years, Menelaus never gave up as he wanted nothing short of restoring his honor. He was willing to sacrifice huge resources and the life of his men to get Helen back. Eventually, Menelaus had his pride restored as Helen was returned to him<\/strong>. Without Menelaus\u2019 pride the story of the Iliad probably would not have occurred.<\/p>\nFAQ<\/h2>\nWas There Friendship in the Iliad?<\/h3>\n
Yes, though pride drove the warriors to fight,<\/strong> there were circumstances where they put away hostilities and extended a hand of friendship. A case in point was the scene between Hector and Ajax the Great. When the two great warriors faced off, there was no conclusive outcome as both were equally matched. Thus, instead of fighting for their pride, Ajax and Hektor swallowed it and became friends.<\/p>\nThe two warriors even exchanged gifts as a sign of their rapport which was in stark contrast to the hatred between the two sides. The hate in the Iliad was temporarily assuaged in this scene as both sides took time off the battlefield.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
This Iliad essay has explored the theme of pride<\/strong> and has given various illustrations of pride in Homer\u2019s epic poem. Here is a summary of all that has been discussed in this article:<\/p>\n\n- Pride is the heroic accomplishments of warriors on the battlefield and how they would be remembered.<\/li>\n
- Ancient Greek society viewed pride as an admirable character trait but frowned on hubris which was excessive pride.<\/li>\n
- The major male characters in the poem exhibited pride which also served as fuel for the plot of the Iliad.<\/li>\n
- Though pride runs through all of the Greek warriors, some of them swallowed it for the sake of friendship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Pride was like religion in the Iliad with honor and glory as the deities. Though today\u2019s society views pride as a vice<\/strong>, it was a virtue in the warring days of the Greeks that every warrior possessed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pride in the Iliad, written by Homer, was about the heroic achievements of warriors on the battlefield and how they would be remembered in years to come. However, in ancient Greek society, pride was thought of as an admirable quality, and people who displayed excessive humility were viewed as weak. Keep reading as this article…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23020"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23211,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020\/revisions\/23211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}