Kleos – Glory earned in battle

One major similarity in the Iliad and Troy is that they both share the theme of Kleos. Kleos is the idea of earning glory though heroic battle, and is clearly expressed through Achilles in both texts. In Troy, Achilles quest for Kleos is demonstrated when his mother Thetis says

"If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories in thousands of years! And the world will remember your name”

 and it is also demonstrated in the Iliad, when Achilles says

“Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly”





Achilles in the film Troy

In both cases Achilles has been told that if he chooses to fight in the Trojan War he will earn the glory he seeks, however he will be killed, and in both cases Achillles decides to choose glory over a long life. The pursuit of Kleos by Achilles even though he knows it will lead to his downfall conveys a message of personal sacrifice, as Achilles knows to earn glory will cost him his life, yet he still carries own on his destructive quest. Achilles character blurs the line between bravery and stupidity in this situation, however the message of personal sacrifice for a greater reward remains. In the film Troy, Achilles achieves Kleos, but it came it the cost of his life, and Achilles is shown to question whether or not the glory was worth it, and after being mortally wounded by Paris, he says to Briseis (a Trojan priestess whom he fell in love with)

“You gave me peace, in a lifetime of war”

Which indicates that perhaps Achilles would rather have spent his life with Briseis than earn kleos.

The death of Achilles also presents the idea of fate, i.e. Achilles fate was told by his mother that he would die should he fight in this war, and no matter how much Achilles tried to change this fate, in the end he did indeed die. His fate was set from the beginning and there was nothing anyone could have done about it, even the gods themselves.