5 Minute Summary, Iliad 14, by Patricia Johnson

Previously in The Iliad: The Trojans just charged the Achean wall.

In book fourteen, we find Nestor leaving the wounded Macheon in his tent, horrified by the Trojans, "pouring through the wall."  The first simile of the book compares Nestor's thinking to a dark, brooding sea stirred by a breeze which is his decision to find Agamemnon.  The "wounded kings", Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Diomedes meet him on the way from their tents.  A discouraged Agamemnon says that they should flee in the ships at nightfall.  Odysseus rebukes him and calls him cowardly, which Agamemnon accepts.  Diomedes says that the four of them should go encourage the men, but not fight, reciting his lineage to make up credibility for his young age.  The others agree and Poseidon encourages them saying, "Achilles' dark heart must be laughing now..." but, "you will see the Trojan generals...as they beat a retreat."  Poseidon also utters a great war cry to, "put strength into each Greek's heart."

Hera seducing Zeus on Mount Ida.  Work it, girl.

Meanwhile, Hera plans to distract Zeus so he won't get angry at Poseidon.  She gets all dressed up and asks Aphrodite for her sash of Sex and Desire, which Aphrodite hands over when Hera lies to her that she is going to fix the marriage of Father Ocean and Mother Tethys.  Hera also asks Sleep (Hypnos) to put Zeus to sleep, offering him a golden throne and footstool.  At first, Hypnos is afraid of Zeus's anger, having had previous experience with Hera's schemes, but she assures him that Zeus doesn't care as much about Troy as about Heracles (he was involved last time), promises him the Grace Pasithea as a wife, and swears on the River Styx, so he agrees.  They go to Mount Ida, where Hypnos hides, Hera tells Zeus the same lie she told Aphrodite, and Zeus is overcome by lust.  He covers the mountain in a cloud so he and Hera can make love privately, and then Hypnos puts him to sleep and tells Poseidon what Hera has done.

Waves crashing on rocks, also known as the Achean army.

Poseidon goes to the front of the army, orders the men to get their best gear and close ranks (the wounded kings help with this), promises, "You have my word... he [Hector] won't hold his ground," and then leads the Achean charge with a sword that is, "a weapon outlawed in mortal combat."  The sound of the advancing army is compared in a Homeric simile to crashing surf, roaring forest fire, and angry wind.

Hector throws the first spear, but Big Ajax's belts block it.  Ajax responds with a huge rock that knocks Hector unconscious and out of the battle.  A simile compares him to an oak tree felled by Zeus's lightning.  His men protect him and try to revive him in the river, but he returns to Troy.  The Acheans rally at this and little Ajax kill Satnius, sparking a prolonged battle over the body, armor, and honor in which Prothöenor (Greek), Archelochus (Trojan), Promachus (Greek) and Ilioneus (Trojan) die.  The Trojans are scared and begin to retreat, but the Acheans kill many.  The poet calls on the Muses to tell him who killed first (Big Ajax) and then says that Little Ajax killed the most.  The Trojans who dies were Hyrtius, Phalces, Mermerus, Morys, Hippotion, Prothoön, Periphates, and Hyperenor.

The Trojans and Greeks fighting on the beach; Poseidon's abandoned chariot is in the sea and the large warrior with a sword in the front is meant to be Poseidon himself.

This book continues themes common throughout the epic.  There are several graphic recollections of wounds (Satnius was hit by a spear in the flank, Archelochus' severed head, etc.).  The similes are, as always, very descriptive of nature, and the divine action re-articulates how trivial the gods find human affairs, and conversely, how trivial actions of the gods (Zeus's lust) can result in many human deaths.  Furthermore, kleos is given and emphasized and timê is listed by reciting lineages, gloating, and kills. One difference from recent books is the focus on strategy rather than brute force.  Nestor, Agamemnon, Diomedes, Poseidon, and Hera all display their strategic strength, as opposed to the physical strength of Hector, Big Ajax, Diomedes, and Zeus displayed in previous descriptions of the battle at the wall.  Overall, the big action in book fourteen is the way the tide of the battle turns to favor the Acheans, along with Hera's trickery of Zeus.