Gandhi 1

Jivan Gandhi
Greek Thought and Literature
Jared Secord
11/1/2013
War and Creation
In Homers The Iliad, the narrator talks about the Shield of
Achilles in the same matter-of-fact tone that he uses throughout the
poem, which may make it seem that he is digressing, and that the
passage is only worthy of passing interest. Actually, from a
philosophical standpoint, the Shield of Achilles is one of the most
important parts of the poem, because, on the surface, it addresses the
inherent dichotomy of war and peace in human life. However,
peace is not the only other converse to war; I will argue, the state
of creation is another opposite of war. In fact, creation is just another
form of peace. Not only that, but creation/peace is intertwined at its
most basic levels with aging and maturity, all of which is expressed in
the shield.
In order to properly prove that creation is an opposite of war, one
must first define the concept of war. For our purpose, war is a fight,
where between two people, or groups of people, there is a point of
contention. War almost inevitably leads to some amount of destruction.
Within The Iliad, this war is the Trojan War, and the point of contention
is the abduction of Helen. This idea of war can be extrapolated and

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applied to many different scenarios; divorce, individual fights, verbal
arguments, philosophical debates, even (perhaps especially) religion. It
is here that we see the connection with the shield of Achilles. In the
city of peace, which is one city depicted on the shield, there is a
wedding, which is, at a basic level, an act of creation. The diametric
opposite is divorce, which is one of our forms of war, or destruction. In
the city of war, there is a siege, where, eventually, the two armies
begin slaughtering each other. Here in this passage, the reader sees
Death, now seizing a man alive with fresh wounds, now one unhurt, /
now hauling a dead man through the slaughter by the heels, / the cloak
on her back stained red with human blood (18.624-6). There is no
argument that the opposite of Death, an act of destruction, is Birth,
which is most definitely an act of creation. This is the difference
between war and creation.
Though not only is creation an opposite of war, it can also be
the same as peace. In a time of peace, the world flourishes, whether
by human civilization, or the ecosystems of the earth. As a more
concrete example, the narrator describes, a thriving vineyard leaded
with clusters, / bunches of lustrous grapes in gold, ripening deep
purple / and climbing vines shot up on silver vine-poles (18.654-6). In
this creation setting, where grapes are growing and aging, there are
children dancing and singing, picking grapes off the branches and
carrying them away. The narrator says that their hearts [were] leaping

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in innocence (18.662). In contrast to the innocent children standing
guard / on the ramparts (18.599-600), who are defending the city at
war, the children picking the grapes seem at peace, relaxed, and
carefree. This stark difference between the two groups of children also
makes the difference between war and peace obvious. Similarly, it
does seem that peace and creation are the same thing, or are at least
tightly interwoven with one another. The children are playing in a field
of creation, and they are surrounded by aging plants, which are
flourishing in the small, microcosmic world of the shield.
This concept of age, which is related to creation, is also
expressed within the shield. There is a field that has been plowed for
the third time, before anything has grown on it, and there is also a field
that is being reaped, with workers cutting down the tall grain and
bundling it together. These two different stages of farming are
representative of age in life, and growing older. This theme is present
in the aforementioned vineyard passage, and again in the city at war,
where the children guard the gates, flanked by elders bent with age
(18.600). Even here, there is the juxtaposition of age and innocence,
similar to the juxtaposition of war and peace throughout the passage.
While war is certainly a converse to peace/creation, they are
more closely related than just being opposites. War, which is a
destructive force, can also act as a creative drive. In fact, the shield
itself is being created for the purpose of war; this thing of beauty, a

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great and massive shield (18.710) that will protect Achilles from
death, is created out of destruction to do just that: to protect Achilles
from death. In this way, war is not only an opposite of creation (or
peace) but can also be the parent of it.
Hephaestus creates Achilles shield in the same way that, in
Genesis, God creates the world. The images on the shield are
metaphors for the universe, and the world that humans inhabit.
Hephaestus is creating a world that is relatable for the people listening
to the poem. In their lives, there is war, which is represented in the
shield by a besieged city; and there is peace, which is represented by
the city with the wedding. There are also more dichotomies within the
other aspects represented; the field with the cattle is being attacked,
while the field with the sheep is a peaceful setting, shaded by trees,
with plentiful grass for grazing. In this way, Homer, or the narrator,
makes the story within the shield relatable to his audience, and as such
creates a connection. This connection is important because it more
easily expresses the human nature that is represented by the shield as
a whole.
Looking at the passage as a whole, the shield is an incredible
creation that at least semi-accurately represents the world of The Iliad.
War, peace, and creation are all represented simultaneously
throughout the passage, and if one were to look at the entirety of The
Iliad, there would certainly be a combination of war, peace, and

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creation occurring, all in different sections of the work. Overall, the
shield of Achilles is an interesting and important passage that should
not be ignored, or else we may not take from it the lessons about life
that Homer is attempting to impart.