I have to say that's an odd reading of the Illiad. In fact, the representation of people in the Illiad illustrates my point: the concept of personhood in a given time and place is a social accomplishment, not an immutable component of human nature. Bruno Snell is good on this:
"According to his [Homer's] view—and there could be no other for him—a man's action or perception is determined by the divine forces operative in the world; it is a reaction of his physical organs to a stimulus, and this stimulus is itself grasped as a personal act. Any new situation is likely to be the result of stimuli, and the source of new stimuli in its turn."
--Snell, The Discovery of Mind, p. 43.
(The heroes of the Iliad are about as far from free-willed individuals who makes autonomous decisions as you can get!)
Miles
^^^^^
CB: Can we say they have destinies ?