WHO ARE ULYSSES AND DIOMEDE?



Ulysses and Diomede are two Homeric heroes featured in Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as in Virgil's Aeneid in Book II. These two Greek heroes are positioned in the Councillor's of Fraud, and are placed in a flame floating.



In Book II of the Aeneid, the pair are responsible for the destruction of Troy, as Ulysses' trickery with the Trojan horse is unveiled by Virgil. Homer represents Ulysses as intelligent and masterful at oratory and trickery, managing to stop the Greeks from leaving Troy in a particular episode of the Iliad by his talent of manipulation of speech. Although Homer perceived this as skillful, Dante takes a conflicting opinion and judges it as a sin. Additionally Ulysses was responsible for sealing the statue of Pallas Athene from the Trojans.



The plan to hide the Greeks in the Trojan horse is successful. The Trojans believe that the Greeks have given up and sailed away from Troy, leaving the horse as an offering. They do not know that they are all hiding inside the belly of the horse, and once the horse is brought inside the walls of Troy, the destruction of Troy is a bloodbath, leaving extreme devastation.



Cicero and Horace perceive Ulysses in a positive light, with Horace exalting him as a Stoic hero, especially in regard to resisting the sirens. Ulysses is called an 'inventor of crimes', and Diomedes is in the Councillor's of Fraud for his impious part in the theft of the Palladium.



The tip of the flame begins to speak to Dante, and Dante the writer gets Ulysses to confess that he did not care about his wife and son, thus  portraying him as a selfish man. This acts in contrast to Aeneas who is depicted by Dante as a pious family man.