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Book Eleven
'AOrjvocicov IOTCCVTO cpaAayyes at 2.557-8 (see n.). J. Cuillandre, La Droite et
la gauche 23-34, has worked out the order of battle of the principal Achaean
contingents generally implied in the Iliad in so far as there is a consistent
picture (see also 13.68m.):
Left Centre Right
Aias Idom- Mene- Agam- Nes- Odys- Euru- Diom- Aias Meges Menes- Podar- Akhils.of
eneus laos emnontor seus pulos edes s.of theus kes leus
Telamon Oileus
In spite of the memorable position of his ship Telamonian Aias is (apparently)
brigaded next to Odysseus at 3.225 and between Idomeneus and
Nestor at 4.273. The two Aiantes also are often made to act in concert. In
the vauoraOuov itself some contingents in the centre were probably thought
to be quartered behind others (15.653 and n.), the whole protected by a
semicircular rampart (14.31-2, 14.75). ^ n tne normal order of battle the
two best Trpouccxoi are stationed on the wings, the right wing, as so often,
being the place of greatest honour. The left wing is only apparently weaker,
for the contingents of Idomeneus (80 ships), Menelaos (60), Agamemnon
(100), and Nestor (90) are among the largest. Agamemnon's offensive develops
on the left and in the centre, so that when it fails it is there that the
casualties, Odysseus, Eurupulos, and Diomedes, are sustained; Menelaos
(463), Idomeneus, and Nestor are also involved (51 off.), but Aias has to be
summoned (463ff.). In the absence of Akhilleus the right wing fails to
distinguish itself. Verses 5-9 = 8.222-6 and 11-14 (from ueyoc orOevos) =
2.451-4, arousing suspicion of secondary composition, see e.g. Von der
Muhll, Hypomnema 190, Reinhardt, IuD 178.
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