Context:

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that this goddess is a sister of Eris, whose trick with the golden apple started the whole mess the Achaeans and Trojans find themselves in.

The goddess has a bad track record; it was she who persuaded Zeus to swear that a great mortal descended from him would be born on the very day of the oath (Zeus hoped it would be Heracles but it turned out to be Eurystheus). Zeus flung Até by the hair out of Olympus, but it is said that rather than wandering on the earth, she walks on men’s heads, causing mischief.

When Achilles relates the events of Book 1 to his mother, Thetis, he says:

Make wide-ruling Agamemnon son of Atreus realise the delusion (ate) he is under…

You can see the Ate is lurking in the background of the Iliad. But what Achilles does not recognise is that he will become the greatest victim of blind folly. 

Patroclus:

Key Scholar:

W. Allan describes the death of Patroclus as:

the turning point in the Iliad, which prepares for the subsequent conduct and fate of Hector. Homer describes Patroclus as possessed by ‘Recklessness’ (the Greek mentions Até)

Thus, we can see that Até is instrumental to the plot of the Iliad. Use this table to help collect evidence for this:

N.B. a version of this table can be found in the appendix of your Iliad Book XVII booklet.

Of course, Até’s most notable victim is Achilles himself. Allan notes that 

whilst the death of Patroclus foreshadows Hector’s demise, both point towards the eventual fate of Achilles, which remains left untold by the end of the Iliad.

Task: when you have finished studying the Iliad, you should be able to complete the table below and demonstrate how many other characters also succumb to her:

N.B. there is a copy of this table found in the appendix of your Iliad Book I handout.

Key Scholar:

E. T. Owen on Patroclus in Book XVI:

Patroclus has forgotten the injunction of Achilles. He in his turn is in the power of Ate and is rushing blindly to his death.