# Homer — Nicomachean Ethics character guide

> Homer in Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0003-book-i

## Snapshot

The epic poet whose lines Aristotle keeps within reach, summoned whenever an argument about friendship or virtue needs a witness older than philosophy.

## Who they are

Homer supplies the phrase 'two together' to show why friends make us more efficient in thought and action, and his authority quietly underwrites Aristotle's claim that friendship, not justice, is the bond holding states together. He never speaks in his own voice here; he arrives as quotation, a cultural memory that philosophy must reckon with. His presence reminds readers that these ethical questions were being lived and sung long before they were systematized.

## Relationships

### [Hector](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/hector)

_professional_

Homer is the poet who narrates Hector's story, making Hector a character within Homer's epic.

### [Diomede](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/diomede)

_professional_

Homer is the poet who includes Diomede as a character in the Iliad.

### [Polyclitus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/polyclitus)

_social_

Both are classical Greek artists—Homer a poet, Polyclitus a sculptor—often compared in discussions of artistic excellence.

### [Aphrodite](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/aphrodite)

_professional_

Homer includes Aphrodite as a goddess character in the Iliad.

### [Priam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/priam)

_professional_

Homer portrays Priam as a character in the Iliad, the king of Troy.

### [Hector](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/hector)

_professional_

Homer is the poet who narrates Hector's story, making Hector a character within Homer's epic.

## In the story

### [Chapter III: Deliberation and Choice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/iii)

Cited for the ancient constitutions where kings announce their choices to the people, illustrating the concept of choice.

### [The Several Moral Virtues and Vices](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/the-several-moral-virtues-and-vices)

Cited for examples of political courage in his characters Diomede and Hector.

### [Chapter VIII: The Varieties of Courage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/viii)

Quoted for examples of political courage in characters like Diomede and Hector.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/xi)

Cited as an authority on natural desire for sexual intercourse in the young and vigorous.

### [Chapter IX: On Suffering Injustice and Doing Injustice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/ix)

Cited for the story of Glaucus and Diomede to illustrate voluntary giving without injustice.

### [Book VI: Intellectual Virtues and the Unity of Prudence and Moral Virtue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/book-vi)

Quoted from the Margites to illustrate the concept of general wisdom.

### [The Intellectual Virtues](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/the-intellectual-virtues)

Quoted from the Margites to illustrate general wisdom versus specific skill.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/vii)

Quoted from the Margites to illustrate the concept of general wisdom.

### [Characters Other Than Virtue and Vice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/characters-other-than-virtue-and-vice)

Quoted regarding Hector's godlike excellence as opposite of brutality.

### [Chapter I: Incontinence, Continence, and the Brutal Character](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/i)

Cited as the source of the line about Hector being surpassingly good, used to illustrate godlike excellence.

### [Chapter VI: Incontinence in Anger vs. Appetite](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/vi)

Quoted regarding Aphrodite's embroidered girdle.

### [Book VIII: Friendship or Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/book-viii)

Quoted regarding the idea that friends working together are more efficient ('two together').

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/i)

Quoted regarding the efficiency of friends working together.

### [Friendship and Political Constitutions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/x)

Cited for addressing Zeus as father, illustrating kingly rule as paternal.

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/xi)

Quoted for calling Agamemnon 'shepherd of peoples,' illustrating the king's friendship for his subjects.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/chapters/endnotes)

Cited in a note referencing Homer's Iliad.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters/homer
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nicomachean_ethics_se/characters