Achilles and Beowulf: Mirror Heroes

Abstract

Comparative Indo-European (I.E.) and Proto-Indo-European (P.I.E.) studies have for the past 250 years been the crowning achievement of classical philology, brought to the fore by Sir William Jones in 1786. Since his third discourse to the Asiatic Society, a myriad other scholars have directed their tireless effort towards the discovery and classification of P.I.E./I.E. sound-laws through the comparative linguistic approach. Similarly, much ink has been spilled over the exact whereabouts of the hypothetical P.I.E. homeland. One of the most fascinating avenues of research, however, is the comparative reconstruction of many P.I.E. cultural beliefs and figures, such as their cosmogony, cosmology, social structure/practice, and, most importantly to this work, their heroes. This work uses the aforementioned comparative methods and archaeological theories to link and contrast the heroes Achilles and Beowulf, concluding that they are mirror images to one-another. Sharing a common I.E. cultural origin, each reflects a different telling of the same story: the hero *Trito’s struggle against a foe who has slighted his tribe, and the eternal glory he gained after death for his deeds. Achilles and Beowulf face the same struggle and receive the same recompense as their forebear *Trito. However, while Beowulf directs his actions towards glory through the heroic code, Achilles does not, usurping glory for himself outside the code instead. It is through the adherence or departure from this code that these two heroes reflect one-another, offering a broader view on what exactly the character of the I.E. hero is: a man who is principally interested in gaining his own immortality through glory.