Achilles Hero Quotes

Merriam-Webster defines hero as a person who is admired for his great acts or fine qualities and is greatly admired. In the Iliad, there are numerous examples of characters acting heroically. However, there are some cases where they don't act like a hero. In adventure writer Homer’s epic poem the Iliad, he contradicts about what is considered a hero, specifically that Achilles is not an epic hero because he is not brave, does not follow war code, and breaks cultural values. In stories there are always a hero in a story and most people are brave in everyday life, and they can also be brave in stories. In the Iliad, there are examples of heros being very brave or not brave and almost cowardly. For example, take the character, Achilles some people may argue that Achilles is an epic hero, but he does not exemplify being brave. Achilles says,“‘What worthless, burnt-out coward I’d be called if I would submit to you and all your orders, whatever you blurt out. Fling them at others, don’t give me commands!” (Homer, Iliad Book 1) This quote also says that he does not want to take commands from the Greek army all because he does not receive his war prize. First off, it is childlike to act like that since he did not obtain his way and is not what a hero does. Also, since he basically does not care that he will be called a “burnt-out coward.” That states that he does not care about helping his people in need and therefore is not brave. Also, he says
Achilles does not fight for the Greeks and that makes him selfish, not brave, and does not follow cultural values. Also, he breaks war code which is an important cultural value of the Greeks. That does not make him a hero because he was disrespectful to the body and the wishes of Hector and goes against the cultural values. After all is said and done, why do people still consider Achilles a classic epic