The Trojan Saga

Book I: The Wrath of Achilles

Agamemnon and Achilles clash over the return of Chryseis to her father in order to appease Apollo and stop the plague. Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles, who withdraws from the fighting. Thetis obtains from Zeus promise to favor the Trojans until Achilles's honor is satisfied.

II-XV: The Trojans win upper hand

1st day of fighting (II-VII)

Despite great showing by Diomedes (V), Trojans, now favored by Zeus, gradually win the upper hand, and Achaeans forced to build a defensive wall around the camp. One-day truce for burial of dead.

2nd day of fighting (VIII-X)

Trojans, seemingly on verge of decisive victory, bivouac on open field (VIII), hoping the next day to destroy the Achaean ships. Agamemnon, now recognizing his mistake, tries to be reconciled with Achilles; but despite the pleas of Achilles's own friends, his offer to return Briseis and to give many gifts besides is scornfully rejected (IX). A night-time raid by Odysseus and Diomedes behind Trojan lines follows (X).

3rd day of fighting (XI-XV)

Leading Greek warriors are one by one put out of action, and the Trojans at last penetrate the camp itself; Hector is within a hair's breadth of victory.

XVI-XIX: Achilles returns to battle

Still in 3rd day of fighting, Patroclus persuades Achilles to allow him to fight. Achilles gives him his armor, but orders him to turn back if he pushes the Trojans back from the ships. He does so, but is lured on by apparent victory, and is killed by Hector before the ramparts of Troy. (XVI). A terrible struggle breaks out over the body, but Menelaus and the two Aiantes manage to bring it back to the Achaean camp (XVII). Achilles, maddened with rage, seeks immediate vengeance on Hector, but he must wait for new armor to be forged by Hephaestus himself before he can return to battle (XVIII); meanwhile he has no further thought for his quarrel with Agamemnon, which is now swiftly patched up while Achilles prepares to reenter the fray (XIX).

XX-XXIV: The death and burial of Hector

Achilles, hunting down Hector, wreaks a pitiless slaughter on the Trojans, even testing his strength against the river Scamander. Hector is at last caught up and killed just under the walls of Troy, with his family and fellow-citizens looking on (XX-XXII). Achilles insults Hector's body, but gives Patroclus a splendid funeral (XXIII). The gods are indignant, and finally inspire Priam to go to his son's killer and beg for the return of the body for burial. Achilles is at last moved to pity and puts aside his murderous wrath (XXIV).

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Agamemnon and Menelaüs. AGAMEMNON, “lord of men,” was the leader of the expedition. He was a lesser warrior than Achilles and less good in council than Odysseus, but he was greater than both in prestige. His brother, MENELAOS, had less prestige and prowess, although he would have killed Paris in single combat if Aphrodite had not saved Paris.

Diomedes. Greater than Agamemnon and Menelaüs as a warrior was DIOMEDES, son of Tydeus and king of Argos. Diomedes was favored by Athena, who enabled him to wound even Ares and Aphrodite in battle. With Odysseus he fetched Achilles from Scyros, before the expedition, and Philoctetes from Lemnos towards the end of the war. He accompanied Odysseus in the night raid that led to the deaths of Dolon and Rhesus and the theft from Troy of the Palladium (a statue of Athena that Zeus had cast down from Olympus: it was the guarantee of the city’s survival).

Ajax the Great, or Greater. AJAX, son of TELAMON, was prince of Salamis and the most stalwart warrior after Achilles. He was the bravest defender of the ships against Hector’s onslaught, and he defended the corpse of Patroclus. He accompanied Odysseus and Phoenix on the embassy to Achilles and competed with Odysseus in the funeral games for Patroclus and in the claim to the armor of Achilles.

Ajax the Less, or Lesser. AJAX , son of OILEU], was prince of Locris and a leading warrior whose chief role in the saga occurred in the sack of Troy, when he violated Cassandra, who had taken refuge at the altar of Athena. He died during the return home, having offended both Athena and Poseidon.

Idomeneus, King of Crete. IDOMENEUS was a friend of Menelaos and was a leading warrior and counselor. His principal legend occurs after the fall of Troy.

Nestor, King of Pylos. Two leaders were especially prominent in the councils of war, Odysseus and NESTOR, son of Neleus and king of Pylos, who had become king after Heracles had sacked Pylos. Nestor appears in the Iliad as an old and very experienced warrior whose advice, usually given at some length, was greatly valued by the younger leaders. His son, Antilochus, was killed by Memnon, but Nestor himself survived the war.

Odysseus, King of Ithaca. The second great councilor and orator was ODYSSEUS, son of LAËRTES. When the expedition was being gathered, he tried to avoid service by pretending to be mad, a ruse that was uncovered by PALAMEDES. He rallied the Achaeans in Book 2 of the Iliad to stay and finish the war, and he asserted the status of the Achaean leaders by beating the sardonic THERSITES, who had spoken bluntly but inappropriately in the council of war. He led the embassy to Achilles, and he undertook the night expedition with Diomedes to take the Palladium from the Trojans. Important as he is in council and in fighting, his major legends concern the fall of Troy and his return home.

Achilles. Greatest of all the heroes on either side was ACHILLES, son of Peleus and Thetis and leader of the Myrmidons. He was the swiftest and most handsome of the warriors, invincible in battle and eloquent in council. His passionate nature caused him to withdraw, which did great harm to the Achaeans, and when he returned he turned the tide of the war in the Greeks’ favor. His mother had dipped him in the waters of the river Styx to make him invulnerable, so that only his heel (by which she held him) was vulnerable. The centaur CHIRON educated Achilles. Thetis tried to keep her son from going to a war, in which she knew he would die young, by hiding him, disguised as a girl, among the daughters of LYCOMEDES, king of the island of Scyros. His disguise was revealed by Odysseus and Diomedes, and he joined the expedition. On Scyros he loved DEIDAMIA, by whom he was the father of Neoptolemus.

Phoenix and Patroclus. Achilles had as friend and tutor PHOENIX (one of the envoys sent by Agamemnon to persuade Achilles to relent), and his closest friend was PATROCLUS, son of Menoiteus, who had been his companion as a boy. The death of Patroclus in single combat with Hector was the turning point in the events of the Iliad.

Neoptolemus. Achilles’ son, NEOPTOLEMUS (known also as PYRRHUS, joined the Achaeans at Troy after the death of Achilles and played an important and brutal role in the sack of Troy.

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The Achaeans gathered at AULIS, where contrary winds kept them from sailing. The prophet CALCHAS, said that Artemis had caused the unfavorable weather and could be appeased only by the sacrifice of IPHIGENIA. Agamemnon sacrificed her, favorable winds blew, and the fleet set sail.

At Aulis, Calchas interpreted two omens: an eagle devouring a pregnant hare—an omen symbolic of Agamemnon’s violence—and a snake devouring a bird and her eight fledglings—an omen meaning that the Achaeans would fight for nine years before capturing Troy in the tenth year.

Philoctetes. At the island of Chryse, during the voyage, PHILOCTETES, was bitten in the foot by a snake. The wound festered, and the Achaeans abandoned him on Lemnos. Philoctetes was son of Poeas, who had inherited the bow of Heracles, which was necessary (so the Trojan prisoner, Helenus, told the Greeks) for the capture of Troy. In the last year of the war, Odysseus and Diomedes fetched Philoctetes and his wound was healed by the sons of Asclepius, Podalirius and Machaon. With the bow, Philoctetes shot and killed Paris.

Telephus. The Greeks also landed in Mysia (an area of Asia Minor), where Achilles wounded the king, TELEPHUS, son of Heracles. Advised by the Delphic oracle, Telephus went in disguise to the Greek camp at Troy, and there the wound was healed by scrapings from the spear of Achilles for, said the oracle, “he that wounded shall heal.”

Protesilaüs and Laodamia. The first Greek to leap ashore at Troy was PROTESILAÜS, who was killed by Hector. Hermes brought back Protesilaüs from the Underworld to his wife, LAODAMIA, and when he had to return, she killed herself.

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The events of the first nine years of the war were narrated in epic poems that are no longer extant. The Iliad is concerned with part of the tenth year. Its theme is “The Wrath of Achilles” (the first words in the poem), and its events start with the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the first book and end with the ransoming of Hector’s corpse by Priam and his burial in the twenty-fourth book.

The Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. The quarrel broke out over division of the spoils from raids on cities in Asia Minor. When Agamemnon had to give back his prisoner, CHRYSEÏS, because of the anger of Apollo (whose priest was the father of Chryseïs), he took BRISEÏS, the prisoner of Achilles, in her place, thus insulting and devaluing Achilles in the eyes of the Achaeans. Achilles withdrew from the fighting, and his mother, Thetis, persuaded Zeus to honor Achilles by allowing the Trojans to be victorious in his absence.

The Role of the Gods. The gods have a prominent role in the Iliad. Apollo (the first to appear) favors the Trojans; he helps Hector kill Patroclus and later refreshes the corpse of Hector after it has been dragged behind the chariot of Achilles. Athena and Hera support the Greeks, and Athena assists Achilles in his final combat with Hector. Aphrodite protects Paris and compels Helen to make love to him after Aphrodite had saved him from death at the hands of Menelaüs. Thetis comforts her son Achilles after his humiliation by Agamemnon and again after the death of Patroclus, when she obtains new armor for her son from Hephaestus. She brings the order from Zeus to Achilles to desist from desecrating Hector’s corpse and to give it back to Priam. Hermes escorts Priam through the Achaean camp. On two occasions the gods fight on the battlefield among themselves, and even are wounded (see above, under Diomedes).

The Role of Zeus. Supreme among the gods is Zeus. While he is constantly opposed by Hera (who deceives him into making love at one point, so that while he is asleep the Greeks may be successful), his will is supreme. He honors Achilles in response to the complaint of Thetis, and he resists the importuning of Athena and Hera, who are impatient at the continued success of the Trojans.

Hector and Andromache. In Book 6 Hector returns to Troy from the battlefield and there meets with Hecabe (Hecuba), with Helen and Paris, and finally with Andromache and their son, Astyanax. His parting from Andromache brings into sharp focus the loss that the survivors in the defeated city must bear, and it foreshadows his death and the mourning of Andromache in the last books of the poem.

The Embassy to Achilles. In despair at the Trojan successes, Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Ajax (son of Telamon), and Phoenix to offer gifts and honor to Achilles in restitution for the dishonor done to him, if he will return to the fighting. But Achilles refuses.

The Death of Patroclus. The friend of Achilles, Patroclus, persuades Achilles to let him fight in Achilles’ armor as the Trojans reach the Greek ships. He is victorious at first, killing Sarpedon, son of Zeus, but eventually is killed by Hector, with the help of Apollo. Hector strips the corpse of the armor of Achilles and puts it on.

The Return of Achilles to Battle. The death of Patroclus drives Achilles to relent; Thetis brings him new armor made by Hephaestus, including a splendidly decorated shield. He ends the quarrel with Agamemnon and returns to battle.

Achilles kills countless Trojans and even fights the river-god Scamander, whose flooding waters are quenched by Hephaestus. Eventually the Trojans are penned into the city.

Achilles and Hector. The two heroes are left to fight in single combat. Zeus weighs the fate of each in his golden scales, and Hector is doomed. Achilles kills him with a spear thrust in his throat.

Each day for twelve days Achilles dragged Hector’s corpse behind his chariot round the tomb of Patroclus. He celebrated funeral games in honor of his dead friend and relented only when Zeus ordered him, through Thetis, to give up his wrath against Hector and to ransom his body.

Priam and Achilles. Escorted by Hermes, Priam makes his way to the hut of Achilles and there ransoms Hector. The mutilation of Hector's corpse is perhaps the most extreme example of the passionate and violent nature of Achilles. Yet Achilles relents with magnanimity in relinquishing the corpse to Priam, who returns to Troy, and the Iliad ends with the lamentations of Andromache and Helen and the burial of Hector.

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