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Throughout the story of the Iliad the heroic code and what it embodies strongly affects a lot of the character’s actions and in turn, affects the way the story progresses. In the Iliad, the heroic code is a straightforward and simple idea, for heroes to achieve the honor. The way these heroes achieve honor is described through three Greek words that help embody the heroic code: Aristos, Aristeia, and Arete. In the Iliad, Achilles, Hector, and Diomedes all have different views and actions based on what the heroic code was. Each person has a different view on the heroic code because it is largely dependent on each of their views on life and morals that each of the adhere to.
Throughout the story Achilles’ is influenced most by the heroic code as he is shown to act upon his emotions the most in the story of the Iliad. The first part of the heroic code, Aristos, in Greek literally translates to “best”. In the Iliad, it translates to the idea that the hero is the best at whatever they are doing in each situation, for example, during the war, they are the best at killing. The Iliad takes place during wartime, so a hero following the heroic code during this time must be the best at killing, and Achilles wants to and does follow this code multiple times throughout the story. The most notable example of Achilles following this code is when he killed the trojan Prince Hector outside the gates of troy. This is a notable feat because Hector is considered the strongest warrior amongst the trojans and even he was no match for Achilles, “Achilles is an extraordinary fighter, in a class by himself, such that he engenders fear of such magnitude that it is an irresistible fear that Hektor is experiencing and that overwhelms him” (Reid 193). For a moment Achilles is no longer aristos, the best of the Achaeans. This moment was when Achilles left the war. In book 9 Achilles says, “Cattle and fat sheep can all be had for the raiding, / tripods all for the trading, and tawny-headed stallions. / But a man’s life breath cannot come back again— / . . . / Mother tells me, / the immortal goddess / Thetis with her glistening feet, / that two fates bear me on to the day of death. / If I hold out here / and I lay siege to Troy, / my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. / If I voyage back / to the fatherland I love, / my pride, my glory dies
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