A brief commentary on a famous passage of the dialogue between Ulysses and Achilles’ psyche in the Hades (Odyssey XI, 478-491), based on the discussion of the hypothesis of Karl Rüter who noticed there an inversion of the traditional roles of the two heroes in conflict: Ulysses deplores the sufferings of his nostos («regress») and exalts the kleos («glory») of Achilles; Achilles’ psyche, on its turn, disdains his non-perishable kleos and values, having before him the undermost state of the dead, any form of life (even the lowest in society), that is: the continuity of life implied in the nostos.
Ulysses; Achilles; psyche; Hades