Episode Details

Mortality and the End of the Iliad. Guest: Professor Emily Wilson. The final stages of the Iliad focus on Achilles' intense grief and the rituals surrounding death. Following the violent funeral pyre for Patroclus, Achilles organizes funeral games, which Wilson suggests represent his growing realization that all mortals are ultimately "losers" in the face of death. These games provide a new model for competition where skillful men can win prizes without the conflict ending in the destruction of society. A significant moment of reconciliation—or perhaps a "sick burn"—occurs when Achilles gives Agamemnon a prize for spear-throwing without requiring him to compete, acknowledging Agamemnon's status while potentially mocking his habit of taking things he did not earn. The poem notably concludes not with the fall of Troyor the Trojan Horse, but with the voices of three women—Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen—singing laments. Their grief highlights the future of enslavement and loss facing the survivors. This ending, marked by a humanitarian pause for Hector's funeral, underscores the poem's central theme: the universal struggle to accept human mortality. 1