Homer's epic poem about the Trojan War — following Achilles's wrath, his withdrawal from battle after Agamemnon dishonors him, his return after Patroclus is killed by Hector, and his killing of Hector — the foundational text of Western literature and the supreme expression of the Greek heroic ideal.
Establishes the vocabulary of Western heroism — timē (honor), kleos (glory), aristeia (supreme martial moment), and the knowledge that excellence and early death are bound together — and for Girard, the Iliad shows mimetic rivalry at the founding of Western culture: the war is caused by the desire to possess what another desires.
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