by Randy Pinion

Created on: December 16, 2006   Last Updated: May 13, 2012

Given that he wrote the Iliad many hundreds of years after the fact, Homer was destined for an eternity of skeptical questions, and not least amongst these questions is the possibility of anachronism. With little more than an ancient song to work from, it seemed almost natural that he would be forced, from time to time, to fill in the details' using terms and ideas more contemporary to himself. This tradition of doubt continues on today, and has found particularly strong footing on the subject of the Greek army as a polis. Despite a few exceptions, the theory holds firm: many of the descriptions of the Greek forces fit the modern definition of the polis.

For argument's sake then, what is this modern definition? Simply, a Greek polis in Homer's time (and for many years afterward) consisted of a city and the regions connected to it. These connections were not always those of geography, however (Indeed, the mountains and ravines of the Greek mainland make geography a divider, not a unifier). Instead, common religious views, similar politics, and a particular form of construction brought a polis together. For instance, many poleis featured a patron deity who was especially revered, on top of the standard Greek worship of all their gods. Furthermore, poleis were home to the increasingly powerful Greek middle class (hoplite farmers) and typically ran under some combination of singular rulers and powerful councils. Also, poleis featured a central, defensible location and spread out in an array of housing, government-centric areas, and religious sites from there. This structure is thought to be a result of (or perhaps a cause of) the Greek migration methods in the long period of time separating Homer from the war he described.

With this definition in hand, it is possible to begin examining Homer's descriptions of the Greek forces gathered at Troy, especially those of the first two books of The Iliad.

Throughout the epic, the Greeks were forced to contend with the whims and schemes of the gods. These religious figures factored into every decision and battle in the book, and the Greeks worshipped them consistently and constantly. When it was said that Phoibos Apollo had been angered no one denounced his godhood or questioned his existence, and when Kalchas suggested that the Greeks must "give the glancing-eyed girl back to her father", none questioned this logic . These things were accepted as true and undeniable. Furthermore, throughout the work, the image of gods as

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