Monthly Archives: April 2023

Grief (Iliad Book XXII)

April 27, 2023 – 6:54 pm

The fascinating moments in the Iliad are when somebody has to make a decision.

  • Achilles is a killing machine in Books XX and XXI; but back in Book I, enraged by his commanding officer, Achilles could nonetheless decide not to slay him.
  • At the end of Book XXI, Agenor was tempted to hide from Achilles, somewhere away from the walls of Troy; instead he served as a decoy to draw Achilles away from the city gates.
  • Now, in Book XXII, the other Trojans are running in through those gates like fawns. Hector is having trouble deciding whether to join them.

Wall assembled haphazardly of rubble, dressed stone, brick, and tile; weeds grow out here and there
Wednesday morning, April 12, 2023
Akarsu Sokağı (“Runningwater Street”)
Tarabya, Sarıyer, Istanbul

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By David Pierce | Posted in Homer, Plato | Tagged , | Comments (4)

Fishes (Iliad Book XXI)

April 19, 2023 – 6:51 pm

In Book XVII of the Iliad, Zeus pitied the immortal horses, Xanthus and Balius, as they wept for the slain Patroclus: “For in sooth there is naught, I ween, more miserable than man among all things that breathe and move upon earth.”

Stylized image of a shark on the door of a truck parked nose to nose with a taxi; foliage beyond
Monday morning, April 17, 2023
Sarıyer, Istanbul
Kefeliköy / Δικαία Πέτρα
(There exist a map and memoir of this settlement)

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By David Pierce | Posted in Homer | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Words (Iliad Book XX)

April 13, 2023 – 6:34 pm

“The feeling of helplessness and humiliation in the face of an abuse of power is an awful one.” That’s what Achilles found out, back in Book I of the Iliad; however, the words themselves, dated April 11, 2023, are by Claire Berlinski. Her Agamemnon is Elon Musk.

Two cats sit facing one another on a narrow ledge below one window and above another
“And when they were come near, as they advanced one against the other, then first unto Aeneas spake swift-footed goodly Achilles: ‘Aeneas, wherefore hast thou sallied thus far forth from the throng to stand and face me?’ ” (Iliad 20.176–9)
Kireçburnu (“Lime Point”)
Κλειδὴς καὶ κλεῖθρα τοὺ Πόντου (“Lock and Key of the Pontus”)
Sarıyer, Istanbul
Sunday morning, March 26, 2023

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By David Pierce | Posted in Homer, T. S. Eliot | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

Responsibility (Iliad Book XIX)

April 6, 2023 – 5:27 pm

Book XIX of the Iliad is all talk. This annoys Achilles, but is important for Agamemnon and Odysseus, and they should know better – Odysseus even says so.

Two corpulent dogs lie at the bottom of two slides in a children’s playground; one has started to raise himself
Achilles gets ready to fight while Patroclus lies dead
(or, one of two well-fed street-dogs goes through the motions of defense)
Şalcıkır Parkı, Tarabya
Sarıyer, Istanbul
Sunday morning, March 26, 2023

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By David Pierce | Posted in Homer, Maugham, Sex and Gender | Tagged | Comments (6)