> [[ebbott]]. Comment on [[iliad]]8.266-272 in [[chs-homer-commentary]]. > [hcp](https://nrs.chs.harvard.edu/v2/urn:cts:CHS:Commentaries.AHCIP:Iliad.8.266-8.272.eZY59wn.0) > #link > **This passage describing the coordinated fighting method of the half-brothers Ajax and Teucer may depict a very old style of battle, and connects the identities of the two brothers in an ancient, perhaps even Indo-European, mythic way ([[ebbott2003]]:[41–44](https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/2-teucer-the-bastard-archer/))**. The brief simile comparing Teucer running behind Ajax’s shield in between shots to a child hiding behind his mother ([[iliad]]8.271) creates several powerful associations. Teucer’s illegitimacy is highlighted by his comparison to the child, since a “bastard” (*nothos*) could be imagined as a perpetual child in Greek myth and poetry ([[ebbott2003]]:31–40). The comparison of Ajax to the mother, moreover, highlights the emotional bonds between warriors: mother similes in the *Iliad* signify the care, love, and protection that comrades on the battlefield extend to one another ([[casey-ebbott2012]]).