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The Funeral Games Are Put Together In Such A Sequence As To Suggest That Each ...

The funeral games are put together in such a sequence as to suggest that each forms a composite part of the warrior whole of Achilles the ultimate sporting hero intermeshed with the ultimate war-mongering warrior. Boxing is therefore just one part of a complex tapestry of heroic character that is, in the final analysis, beyond the realms of any mortal man. Essentially, Achilles is so devastatingly effective a fighter because of his unpredictable nature and his semidivinity, not in spite of it. Thus, Homer's vision of a hero is curiously both within and outside of the reach of mortal men.
The funeral games begin with Achilles' lament over the loss of his friend. Gifts are exchanged; food and wine are consumed. Achilles gives out symbolic prizes to the assembled guests. To the legendary fighter and Antilochus' father, Nestor, he gives a jar as a reminder of Patroclus' valour and the honour he found in death. Achilles thus states to Nestor:
Here, old friend a trophy for you too! Lay it away as a treasure let it remind you of the burial of Patroclus. Never again will you see him among the Argives. I give you this prize, a gift for giving's sake, for now you will never fight with fists or wrestle, or enter the spear throw, or race on sprinting feet, the burden of old age already weigh you down. (The Iliad, Book Twenty Three, 687694; pp.500501)
Here, the message being relayed is clearly that an inability to express oneself on a battlefield or within a combat sports context is tantamount to being dead. Nestor admits as much in his response to Achilles when he reminisces on his time as a renowned boxer. Therefore, there is an added equation of old age to ineptitude in the battle arena that clearly impacts upon Homeric society in a more profound way than is the case in the twenty first century. Old age meant becoming obsolete in military terms, which in turn telegraphed a sense of retirement above and beyond any resemblance of retirement as it is understood today. In this way, Nestor laments his metamorphosis from a champion into a spectator, dovetailing the earlier scene in Book Twenty Three when Antilochus and Menelaus almost come head-to-head at the start of the funeral games.
After acknowledging the insight gained via wisdom and old age, Antilochus says to the brother of Agamemnon: well you know the whims of youth break all the rules. (Book Twenty Three, 654; p.499) Thus, boxing is an essential part of the makeup of heroes; without the opportunity to express oneself in such a way, life becomes, according to the Homeric code, essentially meaningless. Furthermore, one becomes a burden to the family and to the state.
Achilles uses the funeral games to stoke up old rivalries within the Greek camp. In this way, Euryalus boxes on behalf of the Achaeans while Epeus boxes on behalf of the Argives in the second of the great contests included in Book Twenty Three of The Iliad.


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