In the poem "The Iliad," the author Homer, illustrates the extent that honor and pride played in the lives of the ancient Greeks. During that time period, men were willing to sacrifice anything and everything in order to achieve or uphold their honor and pride and the common goal to be remembered as a hero rather than to not be remembered at all would many times be the downfall for men of this era. "The …showed first 75 words of 2776 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2776 total…boy and a swineherd..." (XXI 273-82) At one point, while faced with the "...doorways of death," (IX 312) Achilleus questioned the value of the heroic ethic. Now that Patrokolos's death has caused him to once again espouse the values of his society, and literally dedicate his life to the pursuit of everlasting honor, Achilleus no longer fears his own demise. Rather, he fears dying the death of the unknown, of the swineherd, a death without glory.