Leonard Muellner’s goal is to restore the Greek word for the anger of Achilles, menis, to its social, mythical, and poetic contexts. His point of departure is the anthropology of emotions. He believes that notions of anger vary between cultures and that the particular meaning of a word such as… Read more
Bibliography Alexiou, Margaret. 1974. The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge. Ameis, Carl, and Carl Hentze. 1906, repr. 1965. Iias für den Schuldebrauch. II Bd. 4 Hft. Gesang XXII-XXIV. Leipzig. Auerbach, Erich. 1953. Mimesis. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton, NJ. Austin, Norman. 1966. The Function of Digressions in the Iliad. Read more
Appendix. The Etymology of Mênis After the in-depth contextual analysis of mênis provided above, it should be possible to resolve some of the lingering questions about its etymology. In this appendix, I propose to (1) point out the existence of a word ultimately related to mênis that is attested in… Read more
5. The Mênis of Achilles and Its Iliadic Teleology This book began with an assumption that terms for emotions such as anger have meanings and resonance that are specific to their culture, so that it could be informative to reconstruct the sense of an epic word such as mênis within… Read more
4. The Mênis of Achilles and the First Book of the Iliad It is possible to foresee a sequel to the Theogony from within my metonymic analysis of its myth. [1] The stage has been set for another myth whose central theme is the mênis… Read more
3. The Narrative Sequence of the Hesiodic Theogony The purpose of this chapter is to articulate the relationship between the Hesiodic Theogony and mênis, the starting point of the Homeric Iliad. The existence of a global relationship between these poetic traditions has already been postulated by Laura Slatkin, who has… Read more
2. Mênis and the Social Order An irrevocable cosmic sanction that prohibits some from taking their superiors for equals and others from taking their equals for inferiors—this abstracted definition implies a rigid hierarchical structure and a predictable punitive response to violations of it that belie the richness and flexibility of… Read more
1. Mênis and Cosmic Status in the Hierarchy of Peers A good place to begin reconstructing the meaning of mênis is not the beginning of the epic, which may be all too familiar for the perspective I wish to attain, but an extended passage from the middle of it. At… Read more
Introduction: Approaching Anger The subject of the Iliad is the anger of Achilles, not Achilles himself. But what is this anger of his? It is a fair question, since few terms are more complex than those for strong emotions like anger. In fact, the study of emotional terms in modern… Read more
Acknowledgments During the gestation of this book, I have not lacked for support and material assistance from many people. My sincere thanks go to the following persons who have contributed to, corrected, and encouraged my work: Chris Dadian, Carol Dougherty, Judith Feher-Gurewitch, Carolyn Higbie, Stephanie Jamison, Claudine Kahan, Leslie Kurke,… Read more
