The Characters of Diomedes VS Achilles in The Iliad
In Homer’s Iliad, the audience is presented with the complex virtues of glorious battle – of warfare. In his portrayal of warfare, Homer offers many examples of supposed heroes, of whom, most debate between Hector or Achilles as the most prominent. The greatest hero presented in The Iliad, however, is Diomedes, the Tydides, son of Tydeus. When Agamemnon provoked his subordinates, who retained his composure? When Achilles stubbornly refused to fight for his leader, who championed for Achaea? On the battle-field, who equaled the fighting-power of the gods themselves? Diomedes truly triumphed in battle.
When Agamemnon taunts the Greek soldiers in order to rile them up, Odysseus gets angry and yells at Agamemnon for insulting his honor, but when Agamemnon tries the same thing with Diomedes, Diomedes takes it with humility because he respects Agamemnon's position of authority. Agamemnon’s taunts were very harsh, for example he says to Odysseus: “You there, Peteos' son, a king, dear to the gods! And you, the captain of craft and cunning, shrewd with greed! Why are you cowering here, skulking out of range? Waiting for others to do your fighting for you? You-it's your duty to stand in the front ranks and take your share of the scorching blaze of battle”. Agamemnon’s insult is that Odysseus is cowering in the back lines while watching as his comrades die – not doing anything about it. Odysseus, however, retorts: “Now what's this, Atrides. this talk that slips through your clenched teeth [...] You and your bluster-you are talking nonsense!” Odysseus, in his retort, goes so far as to claim his king, the lord among men, a non-sensical liar – though, Agamemnon himself did seem to acknowledge that he was being too harsh towards the tactician: “Seeing his anger flare, field marshal Agamemnon smiled broadly and took back his taunts at once”. But Diomedes, on the other-hand, does not get offended; he defends Agamemnon when someone tried to defend Diomedes. “Sit down, my friend, be quiet. Listen to me. I don't blame Agamemnon, our commander in chief, for goading his combat-ready Argives into battle”
While Diomedes is not as strong as Achilles, he is able to face the immortal gods on the battlefield. Diomedes manages to injure two gods, while Achilles struggles and almost dies in simple combat with a river – in rage, after the death of his best-friend, Patroclus, Achilles attempts to overcome the river Xanthus: “Bursting up from a whirlpool Achilles dashed for the plain, his feet flying in terror but the great god would not let up, hurling against him”. Achilles, however, found himself unable to overcome this mere river: “Pelides groaned, scanning the arching blank sky: ‘Father Zeus! To think in all my misery not one god can bring himself to rescue me from this river! […] Now look what a wretched death I'm doomed to suffer, trapped in this monstrous river like some boy, some pig-boy swept away, trying to ford a winter torrent in a storm!’” Diomedes was able to threaten the lives of two immortal gods, Aphrodite and even Ares, the god of war himself. Diomedes is shown rending the arm of Aphrodite after she is spotted out on the battle-field: “Tydeus' offspring rushed her, lunging out, thrusting his sharp spear at her soft, limp wrist and the brazen point went slashing through her flesh […] and immortal blood came flowing quickly from the goddess, the ichor that courses through their veins” Aphrodite, the immortal goddess of beauty, soon regrets appearing on the battle-field while the mighty Diomedes is near. Ares, the immortal god of war, even in an attempt to withstand the onslaught of the powerful Diomedes, also soon finds himself overwhelmed by a mere mortal: “Diomedes yelled his war cry, lunging out with his own bronze spear and Pallas rammed it home, deep in Ares' bowels where the belt cinched him tight. There Diomedes aimed and stabbed, he gouged him down his glistening flesh and wrenched the spear back out and the brazen god of war let loose a shriek” If Achilles is the most powerful fighter in the Iliad, then is Xanthus the most powerful god, or is Diomedes simply more powerful than Achilles? In perspective of the examples given, Diomedes seems to greatly exceed the power of Achilles.
When Odysseus got to pick his scouting partner, he picked Diomedes without a second thought. Diomedes also shows a lot of will power: he tried to continue fighting even after getting shot in the foot by Paris. While Diomedes is doing all of this, Achilles spends most of the story in his tents, crying and letting his comrades die because Agamemnon stole his prize. While Achilles may be one of the most powerful fighters, he is driven by anger and sadness which affects him on the battlefield. Achilles strength and speed mainly come from being the child of a sea nymph and a descendant of Zeus. Achilles is also the most handsome Achaean to ever bless Troy with his presence, the second being Nireus. Despite Diomedes being born of mere humans, he still wins the fight against the giant Ajax, rends the arm of Aphrodite, and stabs Ares in the gut. Not only do these feats show the power of Diomedes, but they also exemplify his reliability on the battle-field – something that Achilles greatly lacked.
Throughout the epic poem of the Iliad, Diomedes is shown with many of the same talents as Achilles. He becomes the hero the Greeks needed in the time of Achilles' absence; killing many Trojans, wounding even the gods, and showing courage and wisdom throughout the battle. Diomedes even shows mercy on the battle-field, a feat of virtue which even the great god-like Achilles was not able to do. Diomedes shows the characteristics of a true hero, even though Achilles obtains the majority of the fame throughout The Iliad. Diomedes respects his leaders, has the ability to show mercy and humility, and is a talented warrior. Diomedes is the true hero of the Iliad.
