Abstract

FLOREZ FLOREZ, Alfonso. KOSMOS AND POLIS IN THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES. Univ. philos. [online]. 2011, vol.28, n.56, pp.23-59. ISSN 0120-5323.

Stirred by the death of his friend and comrade Patroclus, Achilles returns to the battlefield in order to confront Hector, leader of the Trojan army. His armor, however, has been plundered from Patroclus' corpse by Hector himself, his companion's slayer. Given this situation, his immortal mother, Thetis, rushes to the workshop of Hephaestus, the famous god of craftsmanship, to ask him to fabricate a new armor for her son. In a night's work, Hephaestus makes a complete armor, in which the shield excels. This shield's forge is sung in Book XVIII of the Iliad. Taken as a whole these verses make up in turn a poetic Shield. An examination of the relationship between the armor shield and the poetic Shield offers a glimpse of the reason for the warrior's fascination with the shield. In this impression the true heroic character of Achilles is anticipated. It will become manifest in his last appearance in the epic, as he gets related to the father of his archenemy, Priam, the aged king of Troy.

Keywords : Achilles; shield; Iliad; cosmos; polis.

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