Homer's Iliad is replete with "bitterness," a term employed for its absolutist depictions of the ferocity and prolonged spite of ancient Greek warriors. The weight of this term is made apparent in the opening passage: "What god was it then set [Achilleus and Agamemnon] in bitter collision"" (I. 8). The seeds of bitterness have been planted and this story--an epical account of the Greeks pillaging the land of Troy in the final year of the Trojan War--is narrated not to recreate history, but to furnish a backdrop of wartime valor that brings to fore the struggles of pride entertained by Achilleus vis-à-vis Agamemnon. Their fueled interactions form the basis of The Iliad, advancing the plot-line and revealing peculiar insights into their self-absorbed and selfish natures--the ultimate focus of The Iliad.

The myriad shades of "bitterness," unfortunately, cannot be pinned in concise and pithy language. In the field of...