Trojan War Wednesday: "Achaeans Assemble!"
Author Commentary for the 8th Installment of RAGE!
Housekeeping:
Earllier this week, I published a review of one of my favorite movies, Time Bandits (1981), through a mythological lens. This classic Terry Gilliam-directed movie depicted King Agamemnon in a very different light than we see in Homer’s Iliad.
Today I’ll be commenting on the 8th installment of RAGE! but if you want to read ahead, there are now 17 installments currently available on the Mythoversal website.
Author's Commentary:
Achilles and his infamous rage are at the center of the Iliad, and Achilles has been central to many of the installments so far, but this chapter is the first in this story that I’ve done from Achilles’s perspective. Hopefully by this point, the stage has been set.
Retelling this story from multiple perspectives has allowed me to explore different facets of this complex character. To Briseis, he’s a broken monster. To Phoenix, he’s the son he never had. To Calchas, he’s his most likely protector. And there are perspectives upcoming from Agamemnon, Patroclus, Thetis, Hector, and others as readers work to determine who this man is and what he represents to them.
Upon reading the Iliad, some people see Achilles as a flawed hero while others see a selfish prima donna. Both opinions are valid, but here at the story’s opening we get to see Achilles at his absolute best:
The Achaeans are facing a crisis. Apollo’s plague is ravaging their camp. Soldiers are getting sick, getting weak, and dropping dead. Morale is suffering, and the entire campaign is approaching a tipping point of failure. Everyone suspects that Agamemnon’s impious behavior is the cause of Apollo’s anger, but no one is willing to say so to their overlord’s face, not even Calchas who speaks with the authority of a prophet. After ten days, Achilles takes it upon himself to call an assembly of the leadership. He pledges his strength to protect Calchas as he speaks truth to power, knowing that he will likely suffer retaliation and consequences, and he persists even when nobody else steps forward to back him up.
To me, this shows courage, compassion, integrity, and a sense of justice that would mark Achilles as the “best of the Achaeans” even if he weren’t also the most effective warrior. Unfortunately for him, it’s all downhill from here.
As the drama plays out for Achilles, and bad choices are made, it will be fun to see it happen from multiple sets of eyes.
—Greg R. Fishbone, Mythoversal Author-in-Residence
Nine years into the siege of Troy, the greatest Achaean warrior, Achilles, is sidelined by rage and resentment following a conflict with his commander, Agamemnon. This short but intense phase of warfare leads to devastating losses on both sides, conflict among the gods, and great tragedy on a human level.
Rage! is a disruptive retelling of Homer’s Iliad, restoring diversity, inclusion, and equity to a three-thousand-year-old tradition.
Through retold myths, informational articles, and educational resources, Mythoversal seeks to foster a deeper understanding of traditional cultures, their impact on each other, and on the modern world.
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