What the Grek Nobility Asked of Their Sons

Whenever I see someone say they prefer Hector over Achilles, I am forced to chimp out. Maybe I’m ignoring the good qualities of Hector and remember him fleeing three times around the walls of Troy to escape fate and vengeance. Only to turn and face the end after Athena tricked him. So let us talk about Grek nobility. You can compare the Grek elite to our elite. No, not the politicians, many of which are just for show and you see it when they’re forced to do anything normal — they reveal themselves to be empty shells. No, the real elite of our age is closer to the billionaire class who have grown smart enough to stay out of the limelight.

Why would the current elite wish to stay out of the limelight while the men we admire most from Ancient Greece wanted nothing more than undying fame? Eternal glory. To have their names remembered through all time. That is the question and it may only be answerable by the elite themselves, but I will offer my hypothesis. There’s often talk about cycles of civilization, Spengler’s idea of it being the most popular. We do see peoples rise and fall over generations. We have not, however, seen mankind as a whole undergo such a cycle. Maybe, we just don’t have enough information, but as a whole, mankind marches forward becoming more advanced and more numerous.

In the time of the Greks, being elite meant you were a king and leader of men, not because of your wealth, but your physical prowess and strength in battle. You were a killer of men who he counted on to take down your enemy’s champions. Furthermore, you could be counted on to provide counsel in war and wisdom. The Grek elite fought on the frontlines, displaying their innate excellence in hopes that it would BREAK the wills of their enemies. Even further than that, the Greks who fought were the elite. All of them. The slaves were not allowed to train and fight.

As time went on, technology and manpower increased. The might of the aristocrat didn’t matter as much. More still, his presence on the front created a problem. He could become a casualty and then, what? There has always been risk in war, but that risk over time became one not worth it to the elite. You see this in full force in colonial America. We like to look back to the founding fathers as rebels who fought for freedom and created the greatest country on earth, but you never really examine that strategy.

The founding fathers often dissented under anonymous names to not risk their status as a rising, new elite. They used the mob to target British power in the region in ways that mirror very much the riots that took place during the summer of Floyd in 2020. It’s much easier to pull strings from the shadows than to fight at the head of an army. More prudent in the era of democratic war. What are their reasons for this? They cannot obtain undying fame, correct? We can point at the desire for money and power as explanation or maybe they are trying to preserve their ancient bloodlines. People like BAP talk about the elite being true believers in the shit they force down our throats, but they have revealed themselves to be quite capable of wielding power despite the norm of leftists being dirty, lazy hippies that don’t want to work.

Part of the game of life is adapting to change. You cannot stop time. The bloodlines that adapt best to change become loved by God. How you respond to change matters. You cannot get comfortable. You cannot get soft. To lose your edge is to lose the favor of God.

But let us get back to Achilles.

To bring it back to the ancient Greks, who looked to Homer’s Iliad as their bible, it’s important to remember that the men we call heroes in the Iliad were KINGS of their respective city-states. Odysseus was a king, Achilles a king. They were a confederation of kings who had Agamemnon as their leader because he ruled over the most men. This was the convention of the Greks at the time. Yes, of course, they were heroes, but they were heroes because they were elite, because they were kings. To be excellent by nature was required by the elite of the time. It was a quality impressed upon from father to son. To be the best.

My fren The Last Pirate on twatter brought this to my attention a while back. The advice of the Grek fathers to their sons leaving for the Trojan War was to be the bravest and most pre-eminent. To not shame the race of his fathers. Peleus said this to his son, Achilles. Bravery requires no explanation, I’ve talked about the bravery of Achilles already. Pre-eminent is an interesting translation. It meant they wanted their sons to be the best above all others. To be more. To be better. To surpass all others. To prove themselves superior.

This isn’t something that comes from nothing. For Achilles to prove himself superior in the Trojan War meant that the work had already been done. His father had laid the foundations of it by having the young Achilles trained by Cheiron in the wilderness. He learned true nature. The Trojan War was merely his test. The proving of his aristeia. The movie sort of pays tribute to this idea when Achilles is asked why he came to Troy, and what made him better than all the others, to which he replies that he wanted what all men want, but that he wanted it more.

Too much gets focused on Achilles’ lineage as excuse for his excellence. That he was the son of a Goddess, of course, they often forget he is also the grandson of Zeus. All the heroes of the Trojan War were descended from The Gods. So what? Achilles proved himself better than them all still. Hector is appealing because he resembles the modern idea of what is a hero, but Hector was also a descendant of Zeus. Now, lineage matters. Being wellborn was and is important for the type of man you want to create, but don’t use it to excuse what truly made Achilles great. It was he who all Greks desired to become above all others.

His quality is recognized even by Oswald Spengler who said that a man should aim for the short life of glory demonstrated by Achilles over anything else. But more than this, Achilles devoted himself to being excellent above all others. He brought honor and glory to the race of his fathers. He got his name remembered for all time. In this age of ours, the hero defending his country and people is put ahead of all the rest as the heroic ideal, but we fail to recognize the time we are in. It’s not enough to aim for that ideal. You have to go for the jugular. You have to go to war to win, to impose your will, and break the wills of your enemies.

You are not the elite. The elite are hidden. They control the destiny of our people. You have to become elite. There will be no rising of the people, never has been. You have to adopt the mentality of Achilles. To do the work long before the fight begins so that you may show yourself bravest and pre-eminent over all others. And if this cannot be done, you go as far as you can and instill in your sons the same Great Work. That they too, must become the bravest and most pre-eminent. You have to become greater than those who would rule over you. To recapture sovereignty, you must prove yourself superior. Teach this to your sons.