From AllenAmet@aol.com Sun Nov 18 10:20:04 2001 Received: from mailscan3.cac.washington.edu (mailscan3.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.15]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.10) with SMTP id fAIIK3n79372 for ; Sun, 18 Nov 2001 10:20:03 -0800 Received: FROM mxu3.u.washington.edu BY mailscan3.cac.washington.edu ; Sun Nov 18 10:20:03 2001 -0800 Received: from imo-m06.mx.aol.com (imo-m06.mx.aol.com [64.12.136.161]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.10) with ESMTP id fAIIK2228217 for ; Sun, 18 Nov 2001 10:20:03 -0800 Received: from AllenAmet@aol.com by imo-m06.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v31_r1.9.) id d.96.1d5f7a81 (4420) for ; Sun, 18 Nov 2001 13:19:58 -0500 (EST) From: AllenAmet@aol.com Message-ID: <96.1d5f7a81.292955cd@aol.com> Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 13:19:57 EST Subject: Re: Ajax & Achilles To: classics@u.washington.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_96.1d5f7a81.292955cd_boundary" X-Mailer: AOL 6.0 for Windows US sub 10536 --part1_96.1d5f7a81.292955cd_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 11/18/2001 1:41:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, acd@rci.rutgers.edu Adrienne cites: > ." It is hinted in the textual description that the warriors are > taking a break from the war: "Their shields are nearby, and each man is > *************** This may indicate the prior relationship that Achilles and Aias had before Ch IX - when he is one of the ambassadors sent by Agamemnon. Or an alternate tradition (I'm reaching here) of a ritual that allowed such a game to be the arbiter as to whether Achilles would return to fight. But given the penchant for foreshadowing (in Homer - and the epic tradition?), could this game perhaps also refer to Achilles' fate on the day he died? Is there any textual (or other) reference to the events of the very day that Achilles was shot by Paris? Or... a prefiguring of Aias' loss to Odysseus in the wrestling contest - i.e. Aias didnt deserve to win the armor since he was not Achilles' equal in a board game .. Ah, speculation... Allen Koenigsberg BC --part1_96.1d5f7a81.292955cd_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 11/18/2001 1:41:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, acd@rci.rutgers.edu Adrienne cites:

."  It is hinted in the textual description that the warriors are
taking a break from the war: "Their shields are nearby, and each man is
ready for action at a moment's notice
***************
   This may indicate the prior relationship that Achilles and Aias had before Ch IX - when he is one of the ambassadors sent by Agamemnon. Or an alternate tradition (I'm reaching here) of a ritual that allowed such a game to be the arbiter as to whether Achilles would return to fight.

 But given the penchant for foreshadowing (in Homer - and the epic tradition?), could this game perhaps also refer to Achilles' fate on the day he died?

 Is there any textual (or other) reference to the events of the very day that Achilles was shot by Paris?

 Or... a prefiguring of Aias' loss to Odysseus in the wrestling contest - i.e. Aias didnt deserve to win the armor since he was not Achilles' equal in a board game
.
 Ah, speculation...

Allen Koenigsberg
BC
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