HECTOR'S BODY

A great thing about my classical Jesuit high school education is that while avowing Roman Catholic ideology we mostly studied the pagan roots (classical Greece and Rome) of European culture.

First year Latin (Sweet) was taught using "basic sentences." The first basic sentence was Vestis virum facit. Clothes make the man.

I think number 2 was, Manus manum lavat. One hand washes the other.

Neither of which was uttered by Christ.

We were taught that some of the most basic European concepts and values were demonstrated in the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer.

So I was highly disturbed by Barack Obama's treatment of Osama Bin Laden's corpse.  Why?

Because Zeus finds it offensive.

Wikipedia synopsizes the final book (chapter) of the Iliad thusly:

(24) Dismayed by Achilles' continued abuse of Hector's body, Zeus decides that it must be returned to Priam. Led by Hermes, Priam takes a wagon out of Troy, across the plains, and enters the Greek camp unnoticed. He grasps Achilles by the knees and begs to have his son's body. Achilles is moved to tears, and the two lament their losses in the war. After a meal, Priam carries Hector's body back into Troy. Hector is buried, and the city mourns.

So, the final event of European "sacred scripture" is Greek hero Achilles returning the corpse of his mortal enemy, Hector, to Hector's people. This was Zeus' decision.

Failing to return Osama Bin Laden's body, for what his people would determine to be fitting disposition, is an offense against Zeus.

The Jesuits made it very clear: it's not wise to offend Zeus.

What if some victims of Maggie Thatcher's economic thuggery had managed to steal her corpse, and then announced that her body had been buried at sea?

Enormous outrage, no?

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