Notes on the Iliad

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American College of Education *

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2050

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History

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Oct 30, 2023

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Book 1: - The Trojan war is in its tenth year. - Character: Achilles- the greatest fighter for the Achaeans - King Agamemnon brought illness to the Greek army by keeping Chryseis as a prize - Character: Chryseis- daughter of a priest of the god Apollo - The king will not give back Chryseis - The priest asks for Apollo’s help and in result Apollo sends a plague - Achilles tells the king to give Chryseis back but the king rejects any further compensation - The king is a warrior and he lives moment by moment and he demands immediate restoration of his pride - The king takes Briseis who Achilles took as a prize - Goddess Athena intervenes by preventing Achilles from killing the king - Achilles vows Agamemnon will beg for his skills as a warrior and he will refuse to fight on the greek side of the war - Achilles appeals to his mother the goddess Thetis to avenge his pride - Thetis secures the pledge of Zeus, that the Achaeans will lose the war until the insult to Achilles’s honor has been repaired *The Iliad is about the consequences of Achilles rage. It’s about pride and honor* *Honor is a sacred concept in the ancient greek world* - Agamemnon’s loss of a highly valued prize is a significant loss of honor and his pride gets in the way of even considering it even for the promise valuable future prizes - Pride is both a strength and a weakness - The king argues with Achilles, who stands up to him and each man insults the others honor and pride - The king taking Brisseis, not only is Achilles dishonor but also his mother Thetis by extension - The king insulted his greatest warrior but he also insulted the gods bringing to boil all the ingredients that advance the plot - The gods pull a string of the human world, but the conflict between the king and Achilles has roots in human nature also - This fight would not have developed without Apollo sending a plague - Character: Hera- queen on the gods: looks over both sides of the war - Hera contributes by prompting Achilles to seek the cause of the plague - To the ancient greeks both internal motivations and events beyond human control could be explained as the work of the gods - Achilles is only prevented from killing the king by the goddess Athena emphasizing the power of his rage is beyond human control - Character: Thetis: mother of Achilles: Achilles asked his mother to talk to Zues that he receives another form on honor and that the Greeks do not win the war

Book 2: - Zeus sends the king a dream that he will defeat Troy - This causes the king to believe that all the gods support him - The king gathers the troops and he tests their will to fight by encouraging them to sail for home (WAS A TRICK) - Some soldiers rush for the ships - Characters: Odysseus and Nestor - They berate those soldiers who left but they inspire the ones who stayed - The king commands the army to prepare for battle - They make sacrifices to Zeus - The Trojans assemble - Achilles and his Myrmidon sit out of the upcoming battle - The Achaeans and the Trojans already have been fighting for nine long years *The author, Homer, briefly explains the cause of the war* - Zeus the god of gods wisely, not wanting to do it himself, appointed Prince Paris of Troy to judge which of the goddesses was most beautiful, Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite - Paris picked Aphrodite because she promised him the most beautiful woman in the world to be his if she won - Unfortunately it was Helen, the wife of Menelaus who is the King’s brother - Paris and Helen ran away with each other and the Achaeans as revenge attacked Troy - Paris’s choice brought the hatred of the goddesses, Hera and Athena upon his city of Troy - Zeus dictates his message for the King in a personified dream - The dream repeats nearly verbatim to the King - The king then relays the whole dream in exactly the same words to his troops *The language is representative and evocative of war from the way “bees pouring out of a rocky hollow.. Dark hordes swirling into the air, this way, that way”. Is described to the gathering of the animals war is everywhere Book 3: - Paris boldly strides in, the front rank of the Trojan forces but he hides when he sees Menelaus in the approached Achaeans - Hector denounces Paris for being more beautiful than brave - Paris doesn’t argue, however, his pride is hurt - Paris proposes settling the conflict over Helen in single combat with Menelaus - Hector accepts the challenge - The goddess Iris summons Helen to watch joining Priam on the walls - She calls out the Achaean champions including the King, Odysseus, and great Ajax - Priam offers sacrifices to bind the agreement and then leaves - Neither Paris or Menelaus wound each other with spear throws - Menelaus’s sword breaks on Paris’s helmet and then he attempts to strangle Paris with his helmet strap

- Aphrodite intervenes and saves Paris, spiriting him off to his bedroom - Helen is brought to Paris and he mocks him at first but in the end they have sex - The king declares Menelaus the winner and demands Helen’s return - Helen is depicted as a sympathetic character - She regrets the cost of the conflict being fought over her and she wonders if her brothers aren’t in the Achaean army because they are ashamed of her - Helen resists Aphrodite bringing her to Paris at first - Aphrodite has the power to bend Helen to her will and make her continue to love PAris - Viewing divine intervention as an explanation for human mystery, Helen’s feelings for Parisare deeply conflicted - She loves him and despises him - Paris doesn’t seem to feel much shame or responsibility in his role for starting the war - Hector wishes that Paris had died before bringing doom upon their city - Paris is more motivated by self-preservation, pleasure over honor - It takes Hector hurting his pride to prompt him to duel but his enthusiasm for combat wanes quickly - He is not the least upset to end up back in his bedroom with Helen, leaving the army to continue fighting while he enjoys the spoils - The Trojans hate Paris like death, black death - Past the age of fighting for glory and honor, Priam is the character most connected with humanity - The other Trojan elders want to send Helen back to save their city - Priam does not blame Helen and treats her compassionately despite all the trouble she brought on Troy Book 4: - Starts on Mount Olympus, the gods argue about the war - Zeus suggests that peace holds and Helen goes home with Menelaus - He says Troy is his favorite city and he also wants to mock Hera and Athena’s passion for the death of Trojans - Hera protests, she wouldn’t object if Zeus destroyed her all of her favorite cities so he shouldn’t object or protest the destruction of Troy - Zeus yields and send Athena to provoke Troy to try and break the truce - Disguised as a soldier, Athena urges Panderus, a Trojan archer, to kill Menelaus - The arrow hits Menelaus in the back and draws blood - Athena doesn’t actually want Menelaus dead, but prevents a immortal wound - The truce however is broken - The king uses praise and scorn to rouse his troops - The Achaean army surges in violent waves to attack, as the gods drive them on, warriors on warriors, both sides dies in droves - The greek gods embody all the same passions and flaws as humans - They freely interact with humans to persuade them into action through reason and emotion

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- The difference is the gods cannot die, this makes their conflict seem trivial in contrast to what is happening down on earth - They face no consequences and they take pleasure in the conflict way more than the mortals do - When a truce is declared, there is a real chance that the war can end peacefully - Hera and Athena keep it going to avenge their injured pride - War erupts *Homer focuses on individual clashes that happen between champions, his descriptions of the deadly wounds, fighters inflict on one another are brutal* - Spears, arrows, rocks crush/slash/stab a rotating list of body parts with the occasion embellishment of an organ or other internal elements *Homer rearranges these basic elements with different specific details to create an almost endless variety of battle deaths* *Neither side is portrayed as better than the other* - Fighters from both sides die the same, this is illustrated with an image of two dead fighters from opposite sides lying next to each other as men from both sides of the conflict die all around them Book 5: - Athena empowers Diomedes and he sweeps through the Trojan troops - The archer Panderes shoots him in the shoulder - Diomedes appeals to Athena and she willingly renews his strength - Athena gives him the power to see the gods on the battlefield and tells him to spear Aphrodite - Aeneas and Panderes go after Diomedes - Athena guides Diomedes spear to kill the archer - Diomedes crushes Aeneas’s hip with a boulder- his death is imminent - Aphrodite appears to carry him away - Remembering Athena’s directive, Diomedes stalks Aphrodite and slashes her wrist - Aphrodite screams, drops Aeneas and leaves - Apollo brings Aeneas to be healed and then returns him to battle - Apollos brings back Ares back to fight - Heroes on each side take vengeance for the death of their men - After a number of clashes the Achaeans start to fall back - Hera and Athena gear up for war and secure Zeu’s permission to deal Ares of stunning blow - Hera shames the Achaeans calling thatAchilles never let the Trojans out of their gates - Athena helps Diomedes spear Ares in the stomach and the God of War flees to Olympus and Hera and Athena follow having accomplished their goal - Diomedes is inspired and empowered by Athena - His armor is highlighted and he triumphs despite being wounded - Many epic similes described the hero, Diomedes sweeps through the Trojans like raging water and attacks like a claw mad lion

- The concerns of the Gods seem petty compared to the seriousness of battle for the mortals - The gods have little regard for the consequences of their actions unless they are protecting a favored individual - They seem concerned with opposing other gods neither Aphrodite or Ares handles their wounds well - Both come running home and whining about them to a parent as soon as they are hurt - The contrast with Diomeded reaction after he is wounded is striking vengeance killings and taunts - Two big patterns in the epic poem: comrades challenge each other’s bravery and honor to get into battle mode - Fighters also taunt their opponents to dishearten them - Homer alternates the killings pretty evenly between the two sides of the conflict and and this rotating perspective keeps the action from becoming monotonous and builds the suspenseful evan flow of battle Book 6: - The Achaeans drive the Trojans back toward their gates - Menelaus catches a Trojan charioteer and the Trojan begs to be ransomed - The king says no one will be spared and together they killed the Trojan - Hector returns to Troy to ask the queen to make an offering to Athena - Diomedes and Glocus meet on the battlefield - Diomedes wonders who Glocus is - He has never noticed him before - Glocus recited his lineage, they discover their forefathers once exchanged friendship gifts - The fighters also declare friendship and exchange Armour - Inside Troy, Hector rouses perishes to join in the fighting - He then visits his wife and Andromache and baby son Astiaxe and the wife fears for Hector wanted him to withdraw from fighting - His honor will not let him - He would die of shame, he throws the baby boy into the air and the family shares a moment of laughter - Hector returns to battle and his wife grieves as if he was already dead *In the book two scenes illustrate brutality and humanity and war* - Menelaus is inclined to show mercy to the captured Trojan charioteer - The king calls for the complete destruction of the Troy - Glocus and Diomedes managed to find a human connection in the middle of the war, their connection is based on guess friendships made by their forefathers - Guest-friendship was considered sacred and passed down through generations - The honor of guest-friends triumphing over the glory and honor of fighting is a hopeful sign for humanity *Homer doesn’t just celebrate honor and glory, he also explores their costs*

- Andromache fears the consequence of Hector’s courage, he is tortured by the thought of terrible consequences if he should lose - His sense of honor will not allow him to take a less glorious path - He prays for his son, wishes him to be glorious rather than for him to just survive - In the values of the ancient Greek world life without honor is not worth living Book 9: - There is panic in the Achaean camp - The king fears that they must sail home - Diomedes argues against such cowardice - He still has faith in Zeus’s promise of their victory - Nestor calms everyone and says it’s time to approach Achilles - The king offer great treasure to Achilles if he will fight again - If the king return Briseis, future plunder one of his daughters and seven cities are his - Three captains deliver his proposal, great Ajax, Odysseus, and old Phoenix - Odysseus appeals to Achilles responsibility to help his fellow Achaeans - Achilles refuses the treasure and threatens to sail home - He doesn’t want the king’s pay off - Phoenix asks Achilles to forgive, he tells a story of an angry prince who lost the honor of rich gifts because he waited too long to relent - Achilles doesn’t want honor that way - Ajax urges him to earn the love of his comrades - Achilles responds more warmly to Ajax, he still will not fight until Hector burns the ships - When Odysseus and Ajax deliver Achilles’s message, the Achaeans are stunned - Diomedes says not to mind Achilles and the king will lead them bravely in the morning - In the king and achilles’s second interaction, issues of pride and honor are again central - The turn that the war has taken forces the king to bend his pride enough to admit fault - He deflects responsibility though and isn’t humbled - Achilles bends his pride even less, Odysseus and Ajax wisely leave out bowing down from the king’s list of demands - Achilles also notices the lack of an apology, the honor he needs is the fate that Zeus has decreed for him, the honor of glorious death, he doesn’t have long to live - Prizes would be of little practical use for him, the enjoyment of them would be very brief - Achilles just can’t forgive the insult to his pride up to this point Achilles’s anger has seemed fairly justified, he turns down the offer clinging to his pride and anger - Achilles is acting very godlike, petty like Hera and Poseidon and Odysseus his speech makes a series of different appeals to try to change Achilles’s mind

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Book 16: - Patroclus tells Achilles how badly the battle is going - Achilles agrees to give his armor and troops to Patroclus to go into battle instead of him, he should only drive the Trojans back from the ships not follow them to Troy - The Trojans finally set fire to his shit, Patroclus dawns with Achilles armor thresh fighters turned the tide of battle - Hector and the Trojans break and run - In Achilles’s chariot Patroclus sweeps through the retreating Troys - Sarpeden turns to face Patroclus and they duel - Zeus wants to save his son from his fate , Hera argues that every god would then want to follow his example and Zeus agrees but weeps as Sarpeden dies - Zeus decides to glorify Patroclus before he dies by driving Hector back to Troy - He makes Hector retreat, the Achaeans get Sarpeden’s armor - Zeus sends Apollo to take his body home for burial - Patroclus chases the Trojan army to the walls of Troy - Patroclus kills Hector’s chariot driver and many other - Apollo strikes Patroclus in the back, knocking his armor and weapons away, a young Trojan spears him in the back and Hector finishes him off with a spear to the gut - As he dies, Patroclus warns Hector of his fate that Achilles will bring him down - Achilles rage may be waning a but his injured pride is still as as fresh as ever, he continues to act without humanity and shows no concern for the fate of the Archaean army - Patroclus is in tears over their plight, battles over fallen comrades and those become more significant - The desire to protect Sarpeden’s body motivates Hector to return to battle, Zeus wants Patroclus to achieve glory in battle before he dies - As Patroclus rises in glory, Hector seems to diminish - Patroclus’s death is strangely unheroic for both him and Hector - Apollo knocks his armor and weapons away and he was stabbed in the back by one of the youngest Trojans - Hector only delivers the final blow, the gods do most of the work - Zeus’s decision did not save his son explains the relationship between the gods and fate, fate can be changed because Zeus considers making an exception for his son - Even the king of the gods cannot escape fate without consequences Book 17: - A fierce battle rages over the death of Patroclus, the gods are assisting fighters on both sides - Menelaus kills the young Trojan who stabbed Patroclus in the back - He backs off once Hector joins the fight and calls in great Ajax to help him together as they drive Hector off before he could dismember Patroclus - Hector does come away with Achilles armor which he quickly puts on

- Zeus disapproves, he will empower hector because he is about to die but he has no right to the famous armor - Hector gathers his troops, Menelaus calls for his reinforcements - Zeus helps the Archaeans to shield Patroclus’s body - With both sides pushing back neither can move the other - Hector, Aeneas and others briefly try to seize Achilles’s horses but they quickly focus back on the corpse - Apollo strikes fear in the Achaeans with Zeus’s storm shield - Menelaus sends a message to Achilles hoping he can help retrieve Patroclus’s body - Great Ajax organizes fighters to carry the body off the field - Hector, Aeneas and the Trojans charged desperately, but are held off the battle rages on like a flash fire - The central conflict revolves around Patroclus’s honor - The Archaeans want to preserve it by protecting his body from mutilation and theft - The Trojans want to dishonor the body of their enemy to gain honor for themselves - Menelaus has a dilemma of honor as he first defends Patroclus’s body alone: should he stand against Hector and die or desert Patroclus who was there fighting for him - He fights the urges of pride to make a strategic retreat to find help - A mortal has made a significant decision without the prompting of any god - Menelaus’s death would remove much of the justification for the war and it might result in the Achaeans sailing home without victory - Hector gives in to his pride - Glocus calls Hector a coward for abandoning Sarpeden’s body and says he can’t stand up to great Ajax: this hurts hector's pride - He boasts over confidently of Zeus’s support and rashly chooses to wear Achilles’s armor *Homer sometimes describes a darkness or fog that comes over the fighters in battle, a physical manifestation of the confusion of war” - Zeus plays a similar haze of battle around the Archaeans guarding Patroclus - The haze hampers both sides, Ajax must pray for it to be lifted to find someone to go to Achilles Book 18: - Achilles has a bad feeling that Patrocolus is dead: Menelaus’s messenger arrives and he gets the news Achilles tears his hair and sorrow and curses: he will push aside his rage for the king and return to battle - The only thing to live for now is killing Hector - Achilles’s mother tells him not to go into battle until she returns: she will bring him new armor made by the god of fire meanwhile Hector and the Trojan fighters pursue Patroculous’s body - Athena lends Achilles powers of the gods, he makes one war cry from the Achaean walls sending panic through the Trojans

- Petrocolus’s body is brought inside, The Achaeans mourn and Achilles vows Patroclus will not be buried until he kills Hector - Fearing Achilles’s return Palidimus recommends the Trojans return to Troy that night - Hector says he will never run from Achilles - Thetis asks Festus the god of fire to make her son new armor and he makes a breastplate, helmet, greaves, and a spectacular shield decorated with images of the heavens and the earth - Peace and war and life and death - Patroclus’s death changes everything for his dear friend Achilles, he realizes that his rage against the king has led to the death of his friend - He never thought that someone close to him would be the one who paid the price - He briefly wishes that all anger could be abolished from the world, he’s not capable of letting go of anger himself and he redirect all of his rage back at Hector - The shield that Fetus creates for Achilles is an instrument of war and a symbol for life: it is covered with scenes that show the scope of human existence - The entire halting advance of the Trojans: Patroclus’s attack to push them back and the aftermath of his death have happened in one long and bloody day, the evening provides a welcome break in the action. Both armies gather for the night in very different moods, The Achaean campus somber dominated by morning for Patrocolus’s death, the Trojan camp led by hector is optimistic Book 19: - It’s the next morning and Thetis delivers new armor, this gives him strength and promises to not allow Patroclus’s body to decay - Achilles calls his army together and renounces his rage toward the king: he now intends to immediately go into battle - The king also speaks, blaming the gods for his actions and promising Achilles the formerly offered treasure and the return of Briseis - Achilles is eager to fight in battle immediately - Odysseus insists that the army need food to fight, the king brings the offered treasure, Achilles will not - Athena fuels him for battle with the food and drink of gods, ambrosia and nectar - He dawns his new armor and boards his chariot and he scolds his immortal horses to keep him alive better than they did Patroclus: one horse replies, given the voice from Hera, that he will be saved once more but they cannot fight Achilles’s fate that is coming soon - Achilles isn’t moved, he has already chosen his fate, the conflict that is driven the story to this point is resolved - Achilles reconciles with the king, the resolution is not due to character growth on Achilles part, he has only changed the target of his rage from the king to Hector - He continues to disregard the needs of his own army, he feels everyone should be in mourning

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- Odysseus points out if soldiers are always fasting to mourn fallen comrades, they will never be able to fuel themselves for the next day’s battle: they have to be able to move on and fight and win glory - Eating represents acceptance that life goes on even after the most tragic events - Achilles’s rejection to food is the rejection of life itself - To sustain him through battle, the gods grant him privilege to living off their own food and drink: emphasizing his nature of being half mortal and half god - The king pledges to reward Achilles for returning to battle, and continues to deflect responsibility for his actions, blaming them on the goddess of ruin even Achilles blames his anger on the Gods - The king’s decision seems less like madness and more like self-isness Book 20: - Zeus calls the gods together and he gives them permission to intervene in the war however they wish - The gods pick sides but are reluctant to start fighting directly - Apollo urges Aeneas to go up against Achilles - Aeneas’s spear doesn’t pierce Achilles’s shield, Achilles throws a killing shot in return - Poseidon switches sides and tosses Aeneas to a different part of the battle field so he won’t be killed - The move is meant to preserve his destiny and lead the remaining people of Troy - Hector wants to battle Achilles and Apollo warns him to stay with his troops - When Achilles kills Hector’s youngest brother, Hector can’t hold himself back - He throws a spear at Achilles but Athena flicks it away - Achilles fights back, Apollo wraps Hector in a protective mist and warns Achilles that it is not Hector’s time to die - Achilles rages on killing warriors and allies of Troy without mercy - Zeus gives the gods free reign to intervene because Achilles could actually overpower the Trojans without devine help - Bringing down Troy before it its faded time even mortals can change fate even if the gods don’t actively counteract them - Zeus is most responsible for ensuring that fate is fulfilled, all the gods play their part - For later Greeks and Romans fate was much more fixed *Homer seems to view it as a result of a complex interplay of the actions of gods and mortals* - Poseidon briefly switches sides to ensure fate is carried out when he rescues the Trojan hero Aeneas - He pities Aeneas because he has always respected the gods and his destiny is to rule the men of Troy - Achilles is compared to a rampaging fireball in a wildfire an image of uncontrolled destruction - He is also compared to a huge ox crushing stalks threshing:this emphasizes Achilles’s strength and the crushing of his enemies

- Sustenance and violence coexist suggesting that they are part of the same world Book 21: - Achilles pushes the Trojan army back driving a portion of it into the river Santhus - Lycaon begs for mercy, there is none to be found in Achilles’s heart - Filled with rage of Patroclus’s death he cries Die, Trojans, die till I butcher all the way to sacred Troy - He kills so many that their bodies clog the river - This angers the god of the River, Achilles overwhelms waves, whirlpools, and floods - Hera sends Festus, the god of fire to not interfere with the fate of Troy and at this point the gods begin to fight each other directly - Athena knocks Ares out and injures Aphrodite when she tries to help him - Hera humiliates Artemis sending her running home - Apollo declines to fight Poseidon and retreats to protect Troy - The Trojan army scattered - Priam flings open the gates, Apollo distracts Achilles to protect their retreat - He inspires prince aganor to attack Achilles - When Achilles strikes back Apollo disguises himself as Aganor, he lures Achilles away until the last Trojan fighters reach the gates of Troy - Achilles’s grief and rage results in to the slaughter of the Trojan army like Acheon begging for mercy highlights the difference in Achilles’s past actions when he sometimes ransomed or sold fighters captured with his current state of mind which no one will be spared - He seizes some of his enemies that are alive to burn on Patroclus’s funeral pyre - It is a great practice to honor the dead, but seems a little close to barbarity - The rampage of Achilles is unstoppable, he even attacks Zanthus, god of the river - Achilles ends up having to call for help because he is mortal but he holds his own against the elemental force of the river - For the first time the gods fight each other directly without any mortals involved - The divine conflict (god’s conflict) parallels and contrasts of the mortal’s conflict playing outright beside them - Fighting between mortals grows more brutal and deadly: fighting between the gods becomes more petty and pointless - No longer are they affected by the course of the battle, they are fighting over personal conflicts, they are not affecting the battle either, gods don't die they risk only to temporary pain and humiliation and they rush to Zeus as soon as they are hurt - Artemis crushes Ares, the god of war with a boulder - Athena punches Aphrodite, the goddess of love and desire - Hera boxes the ears of huntress Artemis with her own hunting implements

Book 22: - Apollo reveals that he tricked Achilles to letting the Trojans escape - Achilles runs back to Troy, Hector waits outside the gate alone - Achilles approaches and Hector breaks and runs in fear - Achilles chases him around the plane of Troy blocking him from the city - Apollo give Hector extra strength to flee for a time - Zeus’s scales declare his doom and Apollo departs - Disguising herself as Hector’s brother Diphobus, Athena pledges to help Hector fight Achilles so that Hector will stand and fight on his own - Hector proposes a pact that the winner will not mutilate the loser’s body - Achilles responds that there are no binding oaths between men and lions - Achilles throws his spear first and Hector dodges, Athena then brings Achilles spear back to him - Hector’s spear throw hits Achilles’s shield dead center and bounces off - Hector calls for Diphobus for another spear but there is no one there - Realizing his fate is upon him, he charges with his sword, Achilles spears him through a hole in his armor and slashes Hector’s neck - Hector is dying and he begs Achilles to ransom his body back to his parent’s for burial - Achilles strips Hector from his armor, other Achaeans take turns stabbing Hector’s body - Achilles drags Hector’s body back to the Achaean camp and the whole city wales in mourning and hearing the cries Andromaches heads to the walls and faints when she sees what was done to her husband - Pride and honor finally brings Hector to his doom - Waiting at the gates he recognizes pride made him reject Palidimus’s advice, now he cannot retreat without facing dishonor - It is also what makes him honorable and heroic, even as he begs Hector to return to the city Priam fears the disgrace of dying an old man in a conquered city, and that it is better to die young gloriously - Hector’s vow to never run from Achilles gets thrown out when they actually face face to face - This scene compares the chase to a nightmare which the dreamer can never catch what he is chasing - Achilles is his most god like in battle but least human, Achilles doesn’t even treat Hector as human instead viewing him as prey, he refuses to agree to respect Hector’s body in life or death - These two warriors represent to different kinds of heroism - Achilles is all heroic strength and fighting prowess, but he suffers from character deficiency - Hector displays the more heroic character value in mutual respect even in the mid horrors of war and in the face of death

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Book 23: - Achilles and his army return to Achaean camp - They mourn Patroclus and Achilles fence his anger by abusing Hector’s corpse - He vows that he will not wash Hector’s blood from his body until he has buried Patroclus - Later Achilles is asleep on the beach, Patroclus’s spirit visits him in a dream asking why he was forgotten him, his spirit cannot enter the land of the dead until his body has been burned - Patroclus asks that their bones be interned in the same jar when Achilles dies - Achilles reaches out to Patroclus but he slips away like smoke, the next day the Achaeans build a pyre for Patroclus - His body is surrounded by slain animals, enemies, and other goods - Achilles cuts a lock of hair that he has been growing out and burns it will Patroclus, he vows that dogs will eat Hector’s body - Aphrodite and Apollo keep it safe from animals and the elements - Achilles gathers the Achaeans for funeral games the following day - Diomedes with Athena's help wins the chariot race - Nestor’s son Antilicus appeases Menelaus by giving up his second place prize - Odysseus and Great Ajax tie in a wrestling match - Odysseus wins the foot race - Warriors compete in a boxing match, a duel, a shot put, and archery contest - Achilles awards the king with first place for the spear throwing contest - Achilles takes his anger against Hector too far abusing his body and killing captured enemies to burn with Patroclus’s body - The appearance of Patroclus’s ghost emphasizes the importance of a proper burial - Achilles is denying this for Hector expressing a feeling of responsibility for Patroclus’s death, cutting the lock of hair he has been growing out symbolizes his choice to die with glory and war rather than return home - Achilles’s rage takes a backseat to his role of the host of the games, he is fair and diplomatic, graciously resolving the dispute about prizes that contains echoes of his own conflict with the king - These games were a way for fighters to win glory, honor, and prizes in a peacetime and they share many of these attributes of war - The games test many of the same skills used to make war without hurting the participants, and boosting plays a similar role as they do in battle Book 24: last book - For the next several days, Achilles drags Hector’s corpse around Patroclus’s tomb - Apollo protects the body from decaying and damage - Hera, Athena, and Poseidon won’t let the other gods steal the body and return it to Hector’s family - Zeus decrees a compromise, Achilles will give up Hector’s body for a ransom, Priam will bring in person and alone

- Priam gathers all the treasure and prays for a sign of approval - Zeus sends a huge eagle in confirmation - Zeus sends the god Hermes disguised as Achilles aide, to hide him and guide him safely, arriving at Achilles’s lodge, Priam kneels before him and kisses his hands - Priam’s appeal touches Achilles heart and they weep together - Achilles agrees to give up Hector’s body, after ordering Hector’s body prepared Achilles shows hospitality and pledges to hold off attacking until Hector is buried - Fearing Priam might be captured, Hermes wakes him before dawn and guides him out of the Achaean camp with Hector’s body - Priam’s daughter Cassandra sees him approach and the entire city gathers at the gates to conceive their favorite son - Andramachea, Hecuba, and Helen sing songs of mourning, after 9 days of mourning the body is burned and his bones are interned in a golden box - Abusing the corpse of noble Hector, offends the gods and brings Achilles no honor - When Achilles weeps with Priam, he is mostly crying for his own losses and he also empathize with Priam’s pain and recognizes that his own father will feel the same grief after Achilles sees death - Offering to hold off the Achaeans until Hector’s burial is inspired from his own compassion, no prompting of the gods - Achilles is putting aside his god like rage and finding his humanity - This gentler Achilles will not stick around for long, he warns Priam to not to insult his honor with suggestions that he sails home without glory and he avoids rousing Priam’s anger fearing it will ignite his own rage again and he will kill Priam in deviance of Zeus’s decree - The eagle of Zeus appears as a sign of the god’s approval for Priam’s trip to the greek camp - As an animal with excellent vision, it also symbolizes that gods will help the king to navigate successfully into the darkness - The god hermes who acts as Priam’s guide is likewise associated with clear sight - The choice to end the story with this emotional resolution rather than with a dramatic battle focuses on the emotional journeys of the characters - The burial of Hector parallels the burial of Patroclus and the mourning is not only for Hector but for all of those who die - The story of the Trojan war continues in many other ventures including the Odyssey and the story of Achilles rage is done