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From beginning to end of the Iliad, Agamemnon and Achilleus are locked in a high-stakes struggle for dominance based on their efforts to impose competing definitions of loss incurred and the nature of compensation thereby owed. This typology of scenes involving apoina, or 'ransom' and poine, or 'revenge' is the basis of Donna Wilson's detailed anthropology of compensation in Homer, which she locates in the wider context of agonistic exchange. Wilson argues that a struggle over definitions is a central feature of elite competition for status in the zero-sum and fluid ranking system characteristic of Homeric society. This system can be used to explain why Achilleus refuses Agamemnon's 'compensation' in Book 9, as well as why and how the embassy tries to mask it. Ransom, Revenge, and Heroic Identity in the Iliad thus examines the traditional semantic, cultural and poetic matrix of which compensation is an integral part.

Epic poetry, Greek --- Trojan War --- Identity (Psychology) in literature. --- Revenge in literature. --- Heroes in literature. --- History and criticism. --- Literature and the war. --- Homer. --- Agamemnon, --- Achilles --- Achìe --- Achilas --- Achille --- Achilleus --- Achilli --- Ahil --- Ahile --- Ahilej --- Ahillejs --- Aĥilo --- Aichill --- Akhilles --- Akhilleus --- Akhilleusz --- Akiles --- Akili --- Akille --- Akilles --- Akkilles --- Aquiles --- Aquilles --- Axill --- Axilles --- Ἀχιλλεύς --- آخيل --- アキレウス --- Akireusu --- 아킬레우스 --- 阿喀琉斯 --- Ахіл --- Ахил --- Ахилл --- Akhill --- Ахіллес --- אכילס --- Akhiles --- Agaiméamnón, --- Agamemno, --- Agamemnonas, --- Agamemnoni, --- Agamennone, --- Agamemnons, --- Agamenón, --- Agememnon, --- Ἀγαμέμνων, --- Αγαμέμνονας, --- أجاممنون --- آگاممنون --- Агамемнан, --- Агамемнон, --- 아가멤논, --- אגממנון --- アガメムノーン, --- 阿伽门农, --- Homer --- In literature --- In literature. --- Agamemnon (Greek mythology) in literature. --- Achilles (Greek mythology) in literature. --- Arts and Humanities --- History