A major issue I’m having after reading the book and finding people to engage with is that they keep comparing the Achilles in TSoA to the historical version of Achilles. I keep reading comments on how they can’t have sympathy for him because he was a ruthless and cold leader according to other sources… but this book has nothing to do with those sources?
The Achilles in TSoA is his own character? It’s a fictional romance- fiction being the key term. I doubt the author wanted to be 100% historically accurate as it would take away from the story she wanted to tell. I mean most authors of popular fiction do that- look at Hamilton.
Maybe I’m over reacting? Not sure, just trying to see if others who enjoyed the book have found agitation in similar discourse.
by its_just_ace
4 Comments
People just love to complain. Madeline Miller is literally a classics professor so it’s not like she was unaware. She chose to write him a certain way and people can’t cope.
Achilles is not an historical figure, he’s part of the greek mythos. I mean, sure he was probably based on some warrior or warriors and real stories just like a lot of myths. For people to get upset because he was written differently than the “original” stories (and honestly those might be off too, as these stories were passed down orally and were different depending on location), these people are going to have a hard time with a lot of stuff out there
I find this especially hilarious as is it really confirmed that Achilles is “historical”?
I mean, he’s a classical character from one of the most famous epics of all time, but can we classify (no pun intended) that as “historical”? He’s a character in the Iliad as much as he is a character in TSoA. He didn’t exist.
That said, there may be historical evidence that a real Achilles existed that I’m totally unaware of, though a quick google search supports that he’s a fictional character in a classic, fictional epic (though possibly based on a real war, but there’s not even consensus that THAT was real or that Troy even existed at all). So I’m somewhat confident that there isn’t any historical evidence for the existence of Achilles.
What is “historically accurate” in this context anyway? I mean, that’s fiction based on mythology, not fiction based on the very accurate biography of a historical figure.
It makes no sense at all to just re-write Homer because if you want to read Homer, well, there’s Homer. Look at different translations, so how they compare, get the one you think is best. Done.