Allegory Between Nestor and Hephaistos in Book One of the Iliad

By Evan

This is my first essay of my colllege career. Enjoy, or at least writhe in pain away from me.

Nestor and Hephaistos parallel each other in many ways. Nestor attempts to solve the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilleus over the taking of Briseis. Hephaistos does likewise with the disagreement between Hera and Zeus about Zeus's listening to Thetis and bringing destruction upon the Achaians . They also utilize similar techniques in their attempts to settle the disputes. Nestor and Hephaistos both council more or less the same thing to the disputing parties, that everyone will be happier if they don't fight. Nestor tells the two feuding Achaians "Oh for shame. Great sorrow comes on the land of Achaia." (The Iliad Book One Line 254) which is part of an unsuccessful attempt to get Achilleus and Agamemnon to realize that arguing amongst themselves is bad for the war effort. Similarly Hephaistos warns his mother, Hera, "Have patience, my mother, and endure it, though you be saddened for fear that, dear as you are, I see you before my own eyes struck down..."(The Iliad Book One Lines 586-588) which is the same message that Nestor gives to Agamemnon and Achilleus, fighting amongst each other only brings destruction and ruin.

Nestor and Hephaistos both feel the need to back up their advice with their credentials and to show why they are capable of advising upon the disputes. Their reasons for their ability to advise differ slightly, however. Nestor says, "In my time I have dealt with better men than you are, and never once did they disregard me." (The Iliad Book One Lines 260-261) in order to convince Achilleus and Agamemnon that if their betters listened to Nestor's advice, then so should they. Hephaistos, however, emphasizes his personal experiences of Zeus's strength, "There was a time once before now I was minded to help you, and he caught me by my foot and threw me from the magic threshold and all day long, I dropped helpless..." (The Iliad Lines 590- 593) and therefore he is in a position to know well the power that Zeus possesses.

Nestor and Hephaistos behave very similarly with regards to the two different disputes. Yet Nestor fails to ease the tension between Achilleus and Agamemnon and Hephaistos succeeds in healing the rift between his parents. The parallels between the two levels of divine and human and the fact that the dispute between the deities worked out better would seem to suggest that the gods are more willing to forgive and forget than humans are.

Talkback: Post Reply | View replies (0)