The Theme of the Suppliant-Exile in the Iliad
Author(s): Robin R. Schlunk
Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 97, No. 3 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 199-209
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/293625 .
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AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY
WHOLENO. 387
VOLUME97, No. 3
THE THEME OF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE IN THE
ILIAD
Examplesin Greekmyth of heroes forced into exile because
of defeat, jealousy, or murder are almost legion; indeed, it
seemed to Gilbert Murray, in reference to the widespread
worship of Achilles, that in prehistorictimes, "all Hellas was
dvdararog, driven from its home" by the "constant war paths
and uprootings of peoples."' A cursory list of such heroes,
exiled for whatever reason, should suffice: Perseus, Bellerophon, Heracles, Odysseus, and Aeneas. Of those exiled
specifically for murder, one thinks of Tydeus, Peleus, his
brother Telamon, and Patroclus. For the purpose of this discussion one mightalso includePhoenix, for althoughhe did not
murderhis father, the thought had briefly crossed his mind,
and his exile, if self-imposed, led him to the house of Peleus.
It is impossible to say whether or not these tales of exiled
heroes are variations of a single story pattern, as simple in
origin, perhaps, as the story of Cain. In the case of Peleus,
however, Albin Lesky has understoodthe tale of the murderof
his brother and exile as a means to return him to his "thessalische Heimat," a device he calls "Lokomotionssaga."2
This may explain why some of these tales of murderand exile
became a part of a specific hero's saga, and certainly helps us
The Rise of the Greek Epic, 4th ed. (Oxford 1934) 207.
"Der Mythos im Verstandnis der Antike," Gymnasium 73 (1966) 27-44,
reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, ed. W. Kraus (Bern 1966) 427.
2
AMERICANJOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY 97
Copyright ? 1976 by The Johns Hopkins
199-209
University
(1976)
Press
200
ROBIN R. SCHLUNK
understand one reason why it became a recurrent motif in
Greek mythology.
It would likewise be impossible to state the priority of these
tales, that is, which ones might have become independent lays
or even epics, and hence had some contaminating effect upon
Homer. Since for example, there is no mention of Peleus' act
of murder and exile in the Iliad, we dare not say that this part
of his life was known to Homer. On the other hand, the view
that Phoenix or, for that matter, Patroclus, was an invention of
Homer also lies outside the scope of this discussion.3 The
focus, here, is on the last extended simile of the Iliad and is an
attempt to show that this comparison is the culmination of a
closely knit series of images which run like a subcurrent
through the whole of the epic, intensifying in frequency from
Bk. IX to the conclusion. This is the theme of the suppliantexile. The simile reads as follows (XXIV, 477ff.):
ard
rov; 6'Taa0' eloeiOcvi HQlauog Eyag, aidXt6'daa
XeQalv 'AXtlAjo;5 dfAe yovvara xai xiva XLeQa
6eIvca dvgocp6ovovg, at oi 7ro)ea; xrdvov via;.
Sg6' Or'av iv6e'e
i
rr]
`vxtv)
di,Pv, 6g Tr'vl 7trZQtj
cp&raxaraxrtevag; aAcov gE'xero 6rM/ov,
dv6obg ;gdqpveIoV,Odpfog 6' etl eioooQ6vra;,
1i6v neQiayov eoeCt6Ela
(5; 'AtAeVg Od#iprlaev
'
Od/3iacrav6E xai ado, Eg d j' ;ovc 6 t6 ovro.
rTv xai
"'vrfat
ilaaouevoc; QILaMog Qogu/u0ov ?etEr'
'
raTrQogaolO, Oeoil; Ebrte)xe 'Aitev i....
In his discussion of this simile, which describes Achilles'
astonishment when he suddenly sees Priam before him, Bowra
wrote: "The comparison is surprising because Priam is compared to a murderer on the run, but it is entirely relevant, for
Priam's arrival is as unexpected as that of a murderer, and the
atmosphere is of bloodshed and death."4
There would, however, seem to be even more relevance to
3 On Phoenix as a possible invention of Homer, see B. Braswell,
"Mythological Innovation in the Iliad," CQ, N.S. 21 (1971) 22f.; for Patroclus,
see the bibliography in C. Beye, "Homeric Battle Narrative and Catalogues,"
HSCP 68 (1964) 372, n. 41.
4 C.
Bowra, Homer (New York 1972) 64.
THEME OF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE
201
this unique simile when one considers it in the light of the
several other references to suppliantsexiled for murderscattered throughoutthe entire epic. These references, taken as a
whole, comprise an importantif minor motif of the Iliad. The
confrontationbetween Priamand Achilles is, of course, a repetition of the very opening of the epic, and "It was no accident but a masterstroke of composition that made the Iliad
begin with the wrong done by King Agamemnonto a suppliant
father, and end with the right done by Achilles to the helpless
Priam."5
Arend has dealt in some detail with the theme of the
suppliant as following a fixed pattern in both the Iliad and
Odyssey, and this aspect need not detain us here.6 More recently, Beye has cited "migrationto avoid blood vengeance"
as one of the "importantthemes of (biographical)anecdotes"
in the Iliad.7 The pattern is simple: a man, because he has
committedmurder,flees his native land and seeks refuge as an
exile at the house of anotherlord. The simile clearly conforms
to the basic patternwhich we can now examine as partof what
mightbe termed a typical biographicaldetail in the description
of minor Achaean warriors.
The first occurs in the Catalogueof Ships (II, 653-70)where
the biographyof Tlepolemos, a son of Heracles, is given at
some length.8 After he had killed his father's uncle, he
J. Sheppard,The Pattern of the Iliad (London 1922)208. For furtherdevelopmentof the view, see E. Owen, The Story of the Iliad (Ann Arbor 1966)
5
242ff.; C. Whitman, Homer and the Heroic Tradition (New York 1965) 259ff.;
and W. Jackson Knight,Many-MindedHomer (New York 1968) 150ff..
6Die typischen Szenen bei Homer (Berlin 1933 = Problemata, Heft 7) 38
and 42f., "die Schutzflehenden."See, too, B. Fenik, TypicalBattlescenes in
the Iliad (Wiesbaden 1968 = Hermes Einzelschriften Heft 21) 83f.; and C.
Segal, The Theme of the Mutilation of the Corpse in the Iliad (Leiden 1971 =
MnemosyneSupplement,17) 38. The concern, here, however, is not with the
supplianton the battle-field,but ratherwith the exile seeking refuge and the
one who raises him up.
7
8
op. cit. 358.
For a rejection of the view that the biographyof Tlepolemos is a later
insertion, see R. Hope Simpson and J. Lazenby, The Catalogue of Ships in
Homer's Iliad (Oxford 1970)118 and 166;see, too, Whitman,op. cit., 11 and
322, n. 12.
202
ROBIN R. SCHLUNK
gathered his people together and sailed, a fugitive, to Rhodes,
where after wandering and suffering, he acquired wealth from
Zeus. He is not mentioned again until V, 628ff., when as son of
Heracles, he is overcome by Sarpedon, son of Zeus. There is
no mention of his murder and flight in the second passage.
The second fugitive-murderer is Medon, the bastard son of
Oileus: his history is narrated both in the description of those
opposing Hector in XIII, 694ff., and again, verbatim, when he
is slain by Aeneas (XV, 333ff.):
rjrot 68 v v6Oog vi;g 'OiUfjo0 OElO
EoxEMeOwv, Atavrog dJ6 -eqEdg avtraQ vatev
Ev PviAdx?yair,g d&ro raTzrQboo,
av6Qa xaraxta;,
yvwrov urTQvtg? 'EQtdLtb6o;, ijv x' 'Oi'iE5g
Fenik has called this "an excellent example, in miniature, of
the formulaic technique of biography. . ."9
The next example is very brief, and the emphasis seems to
be rather on those who had received the fugitive. Hector hurls
his spear at Ajax, but misses, striking instead his attendant,
Lycophron. The biographical detail is only that Lycophron
"dwelt by him, since he had killed a man in sacred Kythera
(XV, 431-32)." Homer continues to say that when Ajax saw
him fall, he shuddered and addressed his brother, Teucer, remarking that they had honored him in their house like their
"own beloved parents." Aside from the pathos evoked, the
esteem in which the sons of Telamon held the exile, Lycophron, is reminiscent of the love which Phoenix says Peleus
bore him after he had received him into his house: like that of a
father for an only son (IX, 481f.).
The fourth, and last, of these minor figures is Epeigeus.
After he had killed a noble cousin in Boudeion, he came as a
suppliant (ixErevae) to Peleus and Thetis, and later was sent
with Achilles to Troy (XVI, 569-75). Sorrowing and then
angered by the death of his comrade (E`raQog), Patroclus
rushed against the Lycians (581-85).
In his discussion of this scene, Fenik, rightly noting that the
fugitive-murderer anecdote is common in the Iliad, adds that
9 op. cit., 153.
THEME OF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE
203
the point of interest, here, is that "Epeigeus is a Myrmidon,a
follower of Achilles. This puts him in the same class with two
other followers of Achilles: Phoenix (IX, 447) and Patroclus
(XXIII, 84). Patroclusand Epeigeus had to run away because
they had killed somebody, Phoenix, to avoid his father's
wrath. It is hard to know what to make of this."10 Fenik then
presents Strasburger'sview that Epeigeus, as an exile at the
court of Peleus, could appearas a "Doublette" to Phoenix and
Patroclus, and that his death, "as first offeringto the revenge
of the Trojansafter Sarpedon's death," is a foreshadowingof
Patroclus'imminentdeath.1 While admittingthat it is "striking that three persons who accompany Achilles should share
similar life histories," Fenik rejects the Epeigeus scene as a
foreshadowingon the groundsthat his is a "typical biography
which is shared by persons who have no connection with
Peleus or Patroclus," and because, up to this point, at least,
"this part of Patroclus' life is never emphasized." He continues his argumentby stating that although Patroclus' flight
was "a traditional part of his history . .. is it likely that an
audience, or even a reader, would think of Patroclus' past
history when he learns of the fate of Epeigeus? Hardly, because Patroclus is characterized above all as a friend .... His
earlier life has not only not been mentioned up to this point,
but it has no connection with his characterizationand function
in the poem."
Fenik is, of course, quite right in both his reasons: the biographicaldetail of Epeigeus' exile is "typical" and Patroclus'
exile plays no role in the Iliad until Bk. XXIII. Still, coming
where it does, the death of Epeigeus, once an exiled murderer
at the court of Peleus, seems to have some significanceas part
of the largertheme, the suppliant-exile.Surely the fact that the
biographicaldetail is formulaic,or "typical," need not deter us
from entirely rejectingStrasburger'sview, and it is manifestly
Homer's ability to manipulatethe formulaic scene that is so
striking,and could be thought, at least, to reveal his original10 op. cit., 206.
1 G. Strasburger, Die kleinen Kampfer der Ilias (Diss., Frankfort 1954) 30,
as cited by Fenik, op. cit., 207.
204
ROBINR. SCHLUNK
ity.12 In this respect it should be noted that this is the first
instance in which Homer mentions the motif of the suppliant
(ixeevoe,
XVI, 574) in his "typical biography," an aspect
which, if implied, is absent in the narratives of Tlepolemos,
Medon, and Lycophron.'3 The emphasis, moreover, as in the
case of Lycophron, is on the friendship between the two, and
hence Patroclus' grief (581) and anger (585) over his comrade's
death might also serve as a foreshadowing of Achilles' grief
and anger at Patroclus' death.
The life of Patroclus, his murder of a playmate and flight to
the house of Peleus, is sufficiently well known, and need not
detain us here.14 It should, however, be re-emphasized that the
only explicit reference to him as an exiled murderer does come
late in the Iliad (XXIII, 85), when the ghost of Patroclus reminds Achilles of this fact and how Peleus received him and
raised him together with Achilles. The biographical detail
serves to remind Achilles of their close bond since childhood,
and is Patroclus' plea that their ashes be ultimately placed in
the same urn. Whether or not this "typical" detail is original
with Homer is not in question, but the introduction of it at this
late point in the Iliad is both poignant and moving, and in a
sense prepares Achilles for his magnanimous role at the funeral
games in honor of his beloved friend.
Phoenix's rehearsal of his past life during the embassy cannot
merely be his way of emphasizing his love for Achilles and
concern for his well-being. As such, it would seem far too long
and discursive.15 While it also serves this purpose, the parallel
12
See, e.g., M. Willcock, "MythologicalParadeigmain the Iliad," CQ,
N.S. 14 (1964) 141-54,and J. Haig Gaisser, "Adaptationof TraditionalMaterial in the Glaucus-DiomedesEpisode," TAPA 100 (1969) 165ff., and especially 171for the "patternof murderand flight" in the story of Bellerophon.
13 One could, of course,
argue that any exile who found refuge in another
land came as a suppliant.
14 The "facts" are given in XXIII, 85ff., thoughthey are alludedto in XI,
765ff..
15 The first half of Phoenix's plea, the narrativeof his crime against his
father, self-imposedexile, and upliftingby Peleus, is some fifty lines long (IX,
447-95)as opposed to the Meleagertale, which is seventy-fivelines long (52599).
THEMEOF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE
205
between his own past and Achilles' present wrath and withdrawal is too close to be coincidental.
As the scholia on this passage point out, Phoenix has been
attemptingto show that he, in taking his father's concubine,
was at fault even as was Agamemnon in taking Briseis from
Achilles, and that Agamemnon can be forgiven even as he,
himself, had been deemed worthy of forgiveness by Peleus:
6 /ot o
aaija^axi6oo EetE Xd(oaaro: otXEiaw raTaa
7Ze6C
rov Evexa r]; BLtorot6oS; zXaEratvovra, o1T ovyyVWTorEO
adaQroac;
nrEQl
XOQ6rlv
'AyacuE/vwv, el ye xai dvrTo
v avyyvdnrljg iicorat :raQaIleAEOag.(bT 449a)16
ayuarQTc
The parallel, of course, is not exact: Homer does not imply
that Peleus "forgave" Phoenix, but the quarrelover the concubine and Phoenix's awareness of his own guilt is similarto
the present situation.
In his plea to Achilles, Ajax remarksthat althoughone will
accept the blood price from the killerof his brother,or even of
his child, and that the killer upon payment remains among his
people, yet Achilles will not yield over the loss of Briseis,
despite Agamemnon'soffer to returnher and to make recompense with "countless gifts" (IX, 632ff.). In other words, Ajax
has contrastedAchilles' pitiless intransigencewith the pardon
granted even a murdererin returnfor a blood price, and still
more, he has emphasizedthe fact that upon such payment, the
murdereris permitted to remain among his people, i.e., he
need not go into exile.
In his angry response to Ajax, which is in effect his final
rejection of the Embassy and Agamemnon's offer of atonement, Achilles seems to continue the analog expressed by
Ajax, implyingthat he would yield to the kinghad Agamemnon
not treated him as though he were some "dishonored vag-
16 The scholia on this
passage also point out in detail that Peleus chose
Phoenix to be Achilles' tutor precisely because he knew that Phoenix had
repentedof his sin by virtueof his self-imposedexile (bT 447 and Porphyryon
B 480). Homer, however, is not explicit in this respect. The point is, though,
that Homer saw fit to use the "autobiography"at this particularpoint.
206
ROBIN R. SCHLUNK
abond," Tlv' rztyrrov yuEravaorriv(II. IX, 648).17 The phrase,
which would seem to express his innermost feelings over the
insult, is a rare one, yet thematically suitable: Achilles feels
that he has indeed been treated like an outlander, or fugitive,
i.e., one with no rights or honor due him, and hence has withdrawn in a self-imposed isolation, as it were, from the Greek
host.18
The only other use of the phrase ltv' ari,rrov JueravadarTv
occurs when Achilles replies to Patroclus' request that he be
allowed to lead the Myrmidons to the aid of the beleaguered
Achaeans (XVI, 59). Repeating the cause of his wrath, Achilles
again bursts forth with the words of IX, 648, verbatim, though
he yields to his beloved friend's request. Since, after Phoenix,
Patroclus is the second example of Peleus' acceptance of
exiles, the phrase becomes ironic, here, when hurled out before his friend, the exile who had been raised up at the home of
Achilles, himself.19
Perhaps, then, the Epeigeus episode (XVI, 571ff.), coming
as it does shortly after this and immediately upon Sarpedon's
death, does loosely serve as a prelude to the death of Patroclus.
The "biographical detail" is traditional, but one wonders why
Homer chose to use it at this critical juncture unless it had
some bearing on Patroclus' life, his bond with Achilles, and
Achilles' bitter reaction to his death.20
In the final book of the Iliad, Homer describes in great detail
On the meaning of this term and its significance, see W. Leaf, The Iliad,
2nd ed. (London 1902), I, 418, n. 648, and A. Wace and F. Stubbings, A Companion to Homer (London 1962) 434 and 458; see, too, 439 on the meaning of
d&Ti,rloo5, and more recently, A. Adkins, Moral Values and Political Behavior
in Ancient Greece (London 1972) 14f. in reference to this phrase: "the wanderer without time who has no position and no possessions, nowhere to lay
his head save by favour of others, and no means of securing his own continued
existence. He may be harmed with impunity...."
18 On Achilles as "sojourner," see Whitman, op. cit., 185.
'9 A ueravdaras7 would seem to have less status than the suppliant, who has
Zeus 'Ixo'toc as his protector; hence the emphasis on draTirog.
20 The well-known trial of a murderer on the shield of Achilles (XVIII,
497ff.) does not fit the motif, but it does show the possibility of just atonement
in a well-ordered society. As such, it is an apt device for Achilles' shield.
17
THEME OF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE
207
the preparationsand journey of Priam to ransom his son's
body from Achilles. Especially noteworthy is Homer's emphasis on the father-son analogy in the dialogue between
Hermes and Priam, which is surely intended as a prelude to
Achilles' thoughts of his own father when actually confronted
by Priam. Indeed, the mood is set still earlier when Homer
likens Achilles' mourning over the pyre of Patroclus to a
father's mourningover the pyre of his son (XXIII, 222ff.).21
Before he addresses Priam, Hermes likens himself to a
young man (XXIV, 347), and greeting Priam as zrarrQj,continues with the assurancethat he will protect him on his quest:
"qpi) 6bae a araTi Etaxo. (371)." In reply Priam concludes
that the young man's parents must be fortunate in him (377).
Identifyinghimself, Hermes declares that he is a Myrmidon,
and that his father is Polyctor, a man of wealth, "but an old
man, even as you are (398)." Here, the bond that is being
forged between Hermes and Priam sets the stage for the interaction between Priam and Achilles. The god, as he leads
Priam to Achilles' door, at last reveals himself, and entreats
the aged king to graspthe knees of Peleion and to beseech him
in the name of his father, his mother, and his child in order
to move his heart (465ff.).22
Priam,then, suddenly appearsbefore Achilles, graspinghis
knees and kissing the handsthat had killed so manyof his sons.
At this moment Homer compares the astonishmentthat befell
Achilles to that which comes upon those who first gaze upon a
murdererwho has fled his homeland to the house of a rich
man, repeatingthe stock theme that is so closely associated
with Peleus in the persons of Phoenix, Patroclus, and
Epeigeus.23 Surely, Priam's first words of supplication
(iltao6Evo0,
21
485):
Peleus is also on Achilles' mind at XXIII, 140ff.
When Priam first saw the body of Hector being ravaged by Achilles, he
knew that he, himself, must go to beseech him, "if in any way he will pity and
respect my age, old as I am. Even so, likewise, is his father, Peleus ... (XXII,
416ff.)." This is Priam's hope, and it initially comes from within himself, not
from the gods. See Zeus' later instructions to Thetis (XXIV 115-19) and Iris
(144ff.).
23 Leaf s
observation, op. cit., II, 570, n. 480, of Priam's appearance as "the
22
208
ROBIN R. SCHLUNK
JrarQo; aoto, Oeolg eteiX&' 'AXi{?eV,
oe 7r yjQaog ov6b.
e?ydwv, 6oo)
rlAtiov s&;JTCQ
xatl Ev trOVxetvov 7rEQtvatETra ad(pls Eo6vre
reiova ', o e6 rig &rrv
a
agrjv xal )ot7yv 4 3Ovat.
"/vvrjat
are closely linked, too, with the suppliant-exile'splea for protection: a "typical scene," perhaps, but one fraught with
meaningfor Achilles' final appearancein the Iliad.
At this point, then, in direct contrast to his rejection of the
appeal of the Embassy, where it is emphasized how much he
had failed to follow his father's precepts (IX, 252-59and 43843), Achilles now weeps for his father and Patroclus. He then
uplifts the suppliant before him and attempts to console the
aged king with the myth of the jars on the thresholdof Zeus.24
The one is a jar of blessings and the other, of evil (529-33):
" f?uv x' dauei[a; 66ba ZecV;reQrtlX avvo;,
iA)ore #YEvre xaOL 6 ye xvTerat,
Ai.oT? 6' Ea0AO '
0 6e xE rTv AvyQ&v6&t?,awopfqTv
EO0 xe,
xat
e xaxir popot3wourt; .ri XO6va 6lav tkaivet,
cpotr{i 6' ovTr OeoloL Teltyu-vo; ovre ,PQOTIoaV .
.".
Here, for the last time, the picture of the wanderingexile is
broughtinto focus as Achilles is moved to comparethe suffering of his father, aged and alone, with the fate of Priam.
The simile, depicting the traditionalscene of the suppliantexile at the house of a rich man, is comprisedwholly of stock
elements from the "formulaictechnique of biography." And
yet, concludingthe motif of the suppliant-exileas raised up by
Peleus and now by Achilles, the simile might be said to be
"thematically" the right one to introduce the "humanitarian
spirit" which pervades the close of the Iliad. Achilles, blinded
by his indignationover Agamemnon'sinsult, could see himself
only as some dishonoredueravdaTr;, and then, distraught
with grief over Patroclus' death, became obsessed with the
familiar scene of a homicide exiled from his own land and taking refuge with a
chieftain .. ." is precisely Homer's intent.
24
On Achilles' compassion for Priam, see S. Benardete, "Achilles and the
Iliad," Hermes 91 (1963) 16, and G. Dimock's review of K. Deichgraber, Der
letzte Gesang der Ilias (Wiesbaden 1972) in AJP 96 (1975) 77.
THEME OF THE SUPPLIANT-EXILE
209
total annihilation of Hector. Achilles, moved, now, by
thoughts of Peleus, fulfills the legacy of his father by uplifting
the suppliant before him, and with profound compassion,
grants his request.25The denial of the suppliant which had
opened the Iliad is indeed reversed by Achilles' upliftingof the
suppliantbefore him, and Achilles, even as he has been called
fromthe openingline of the epic, now trulyhas become the son
of Peleus.
ROBIN R. SCHLUNK
THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
25
Lesky has seen fit to give in his RE article on Peleus a separate heading,
"Schutzflehende bei Peleus," Bd. XIX, col. 305, though he draws no specific
conclusion.