okay i will soon stop referencing iliad 10 and the poetics of ambush because i have actually finished reading it! the main reason i read it is mostly because book 10 is really not one of my favourite parts of the iliad, and also i was intrigued by the millennia-old scholarly infighting about it.
i can really recommend the "ehh this bit doesn't appeal to me. but... what if i learned more about it" route, it's been very rewarding so far.
anyway some intriguing bits:
the case that book 10 might be directly related to the "if rhesus and his horses eat/drink at troy they will win the war" prophecy even though that one isn't stated in the iliad. like it IS interesting how the goal of odysseus and diomedes' mission keeps fluidly switching through book 10 (surveillance mission becomes intentional confrontation becomes mass assassination becomes horse rustling), and how nestor somehow immediately assumes they succeeded because he hears the sound of horses approaching.
when diomedes lists why he wants odysseus for the night mission he says that with odysseus' help they're more likely to make it back to camp, which the authors point out is really that odysseus is chosen for his ability to return home. ohh.
i never considered the significance of diomedes and odysseus putting on non-plumed, non-metallic helmets for the night mission (including the famous boar tusk helmet). they're literally avoiding highly reflective or conspicuous materials! AND i didn't realize that's EXACTLY what the aeneid plays around with when nisus and euryalus' night mission goes wrong because one of them can't resist putting on a conspicuous helmet and is spotted!!
omg there ISSSS an argument for odysseus donning dolon's wolf pelt after they've killed him in the rhesus?? YAY CLAPPING MY HANDS that's delicious. a spy killing a spy and wearing his spy-skin. mmm.
i have NEVER caught that odysseus and diomedes already know dolon's name when they capture him, which is apparently pointed out in the scholia with a theory that since dolon's father is a herald, dolon would accompany him to the greek camp for delivering messages, so they've all met before and recognize each other. OOOOOH THAT ADDS SOMETHING DOESN'T IT. and i guess it's possible that dolon would accompany his father just for safety's sake (although dolon doesn't seem to be a typical warrior..) but it made me consider for the first time like. oh what if dolon is young? what if dolon is younger even than diomedes...?
also it's so funny when newer academic literature gets snippy about AWFUL scholarly opinion pieces of old. like someone argued that the fact that dolon is said to be an only son with five sisters is meant to imply that's he's, and i quote, "a sissy"?? jesus christ man. "i heard you have female siblings, what are you, GAY?". especially when the iliad and odyssey both follow men who are, or have, an only son, and that's CLEARLY meant to be an element of insecurity and potential source of grief for the family. but no oBvIoUsLy dolon having sisters is emasculating somehow 🙄
some of the arguments in the book feel a little circular but i gotta appreciate its several pages' worth of analysis just exploring what odysseus' smile in book 10 might mean. now that's the stuff.
