Greeks 'Shame Culture In The Iliad'

Kent Allen
Professor Overholt
Greek Civilization
May 10th, 2017
Civilizing Greece A shame culture usually involves a person who tends to put a high level of importance on preservation of honor as well as on being publicly disgraced. Individuals tend to conform to the stipulated actions and norms for fear of being dishonored publicly or shamed. A guilt culture is defined as the internalization of moral codes. The conformity to a moral code normally takes place through a persons’ own will. In most cases, this usually has very little to do with the public approval of a given society. In the Iliad, an individual’s honor is greatly valued and for one to obtain that glory, he or she must be considered an incredible doer of deeds. This includes
For example, the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon portrays a shame culture. Agamemnon’s denial to return Chryseis is seen to have caused a plague that descended on the Greeks (Homer). He was publicly rebuked for his action and his prize girl was taken away with the purpose of shaming and dishonoring him. As a result, Agamemnon tends to seek a replacement because without his girl he would be regarded as the only one among what was known as Argives to stay without one. His status as a ruler meant that he must receive the most number of gifts. Therefore, for him to maintain his distinguished status, he should have received another girl. Therefore, when Achilles decided to call Agamemnon Greedy, Agamemnon decided to take Achilles woman with the intention of shaming and humiliating him. In another instance, Homer demonstrates shame culture when he talks about Paris. Paris had poor fighting skills and a tendency of remaining in the city during fights. This demonstrated a shame culture in the late Bronze
He believed that interstate politics usually lacked justice and regulation. For instance, in the Melian dialogue he claimed that in interstate relations, the strong usually do what their power allows them to do, while the weak simply accept what they are told. According to him, international relations usually allows the individuals considered as mighty to do what they please, and force the weak individuals to suffer in turn. One of the attributes of Greek that Thucydides brings out in his description of the Peloponnesian war is that in the city state, the laws and customs usually existed with the aim of treating the powerful and the weak equally. In conclusion, it is evident that the civilization of Greece can be analyzed through the perspectives of different authors. The Iliad by Homer and The Histories by Herodotus describes the civilization of Greece from a transformation of a shame culture to a guilt culture. In the Iliad individuals are publicly shamed for not conforming to the societal norms. However, in the Histories individuals begin to feel guilty for acting in a manner that is against the moral code. According to Thucydides, increment in power on one state allows it to oppress the weaker