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Wed. Sept. 25

The death of Hector. With the Trojan army safe within the walls, Hector determines to face Achilles. Then, as almost certain death approaches, he has second thoughts and runs for his life. This is a very human moment, and makes his ultimate heroism even more poignant. He is a mere mortal facing his fate at the hands of the implacable Achilles.

As Hector flees, Apollo strengthens his legs, prolonging the chase until the combatants have circled the walls of Troy three times. Athena complains that Hector’s fate is already determined, so Zeus allows her to intervene. Apollo abandons Hector, and Athena appears to him in the form of Deiphobus (another son of Priam), persuading him to stand and fight. Both Achilles and Hector receive aid from the fickle gods, but their fate is certain. 

Before the fight begins, Hector asks Achilles to join him in a vow not to desecrate the corpse of the loser and to allow decent funeral rites, only taking armor as a prize. This would seem a reasonable battlefield request of one warrior to another, following their code of honor. But Achilles refuses. He says lambs do not make pacts with wolves, nor men with lions. Instead, he calls on the gods to witness his “constant state / Of lasting rancour and eternal hate: / No thought but rage, and never-ceasing strife, / Till death extinguish rage, and thought, and life.” The wrath of Achilles has broken the warrior’s code, transforming him into the inhuman embodiment of vengeance.

The combat itself is just as brief as most other death scenes in the Iliad. Achilles throws his spear and misses, but Athena retrieves it for him. Hector doesn’t see this at first and exults for a moment, thinking he has an advantage, but his merely mortal lance bounces off the divinely forged shield of Achilles. Hector sees Achilles still has a spear, but when he turns to Deiphobus for his second, no one is there, and he realizes he has been deceived by Athena. Seeing his doom, he still attacks bravely with his sword. Achilles’ spear finds the gap in his armor at the throat, and Hector bleeds out in the dust. With his last breath, he once more asks for “The common rites of sepulture,” that his body not be left for dogs and vultures to devour, but Achilles gloats and says no ransom from Priam will dissuade him. The poet passes judgment: “Then his fell soul a thought of vengeance bred; / (Unworthy of himself, and of the dead).” He pierces Hector’s ankles (ironically, just where the fateful arrow of Paris will pierce his own) and binds the corpse behind his chariot so he can drag it around the city in a shameful display of pride.

On the city walls, Priam and Hecuba mourn the death of their son and the inevitable fall of their city. Andromache foresees the death of Hector’s son at the hands of his enemies, and her own enslavement.