Disclaimer: I am not an ancient Greek scholar. For the full disclaimer, read here.
He knew not what he was asking, nor that he was suing for his own destruction.
Iliad, Book 16; Samuel Butler translation
Book 16 Summary
Achilles notices Patroclus is troubled and asks him about it. Patroclus reveals that he feels sorry for his fellow Achaeans and wishes to help fight off the Trojans. Achilles reluctantly agrees, but warns Patroclus he should do no more than drive the Trojans out of the Achaeans’ camp. Do not, under any circumstances, chase the Trojans all the way back to Troy.
Back in the war, an exhausted Telamonian Ajax continues fighting off the Trojans from burning a ship. Hector cuts off the head of Ajax’ spear, forcing him to retreat. This gives the Trojans the chance to set the ship Ajax was defending on fire.
Patroclus immediately prepares for battle, putting on Achilles’ armor and readying his chariot in order to inspire fear in the Trojans. Achilles orders the Myrmidons ready for war and Patroclus leads them against the Trojans.
Patroclus, the Myrmidons, and the Achaean push against the Trojans and kill many of their leaders in the process. One such leader Patroclus kills is Sarpedon, son of Zeus. Zeus reluctantly allows his son to die, but refuses to let his body be desecrated and has him spirited away back to his homeland for a proper funeral.
Patroclus and his army chase the Trojans right up to their city. Apollo directly intervenes in the battle, first telling Patroclus to back away, then striking panic into the Achaeans and giving courage to Hector. Lastly, Apollo sneaks up behind Patroclus, strikes him dizzy, breaks his weapons and shield strap, and loosens his armor. A Trojan warrior comes up behind Patroclus and spears him. When Hector sees Patroclus retreating, he chases after him and delivers the fatal blow. As Patroclus dies, he prophesies’ Hector’s death at Achilles’ hands.
For a list of the major characters, with Greek and Latin names, go here.
The Unrighteous Prayer Fulfilled
Achilles’ petition to Zeus has been fully realized—and it costs him dearly.
Achilles got exactly what he wanted. The Achaeans are in trouble. They are pushed back to their ships and one of those ships is on fire. They are struggling without Achilles and his army.
However, Achilles is now confronted with two new issues as a result: 1) Patroclus, his close friend, is distraught over how much the Achaeans are suffering; and 2) Achilles’ ships and army are now in danger.
Achilles reluctantly agrees to let Patroclus lead the Myrmidons to battle to push the Trojans back. However, Patroclus must not pursue the Trojans once they flee back to Troy.
“And do not for lust of battle go on killing the Trojans nor lead the Achaeans on to Ilius, lest one of the ever-living gods from Olympus attack you – for Phoebus Apollo loves them well”
Iliad, Book 16; Samuel Butler translation
Of course, Patroclus forgets this warning in the heat of battle and pursues the Trojans all the way back to Troy. And, in the end, he is killed by Hector.
I mentioned back in my post on Book 1 that I was sympathetic with Achilles until his petition to Zeus. His quarrel was with Agamemnon, yet he dragged the entire Achaean army into it—even though the Achaean army was against Agamemnon’s actions. I would have understood if Achilles and his army simply backed out of the war and went home. I would have understood if only Achilles backed out and allowed his army the choice to fight or not. Heck, I would have even understood if he challenged Agamemnon and deposed him as commander of the army.
However, by asking Zeus to give the Trojans victory over the Achaeans, he dragged the entire Achaean army into his revenge. As a result, a lot of Achaeans died. Achaeans who were on Achilles’ side in the dispute. Achaeans whom Achilles had no grudge against.
“Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades…”
Iliad, Book 1; Samuel Butler translation
This ultimately included the brave soul of Achilles’ closest friend.
The Divine Conspiracy, Part 5 – More Evidence
I made a huge list of divine interventions in my post on Book 13. Here are three more in Book 16 to add to that list:
Jove shed a thick darkness over the fight, to increase the toil of the battle over the body of his son.
Zeus intervenes to prolong the fighting over Sarpedon’s corpse. After some time, he has Sarpedon’s body transported to his homeland for proper burial. Why didn’t Zeus do that right away?
Nor did Jove turn his keen eyes away for one moment from the fight, but kept looking at it all the time, for he was settling how best to kill Patroclus, and considering whether Hector should be allowed to end him now in the fight round the body of Sarpedon, and strip him of his armour, or whether he should let him give yet further trouble to the Trojans. In the end, he deemed it best that the brave squire of Achilles son of Peleus should drive Hector and the Trojans back towards the city and take the lives of many.
Zeus protracts the fighting longer before deciding it’s the right time for Patroclus to die.
The sons of the Achaeans would now have taken Troy by the hands of Patroclus… had not Phoebus Apollo taken his stand upon the wall to defeat his purpose… Apollo shouted to him with an awful voice and said, “Draw back, noble Patroclus, it is not your lot to sack the city of the Trojan chieftains, nor yet will it be that of Achilles who is a far better man than you are.”
Apollo prevents Patroclus from sacking Troy because “it’s not his lot to.” Does that mean Patroclus could have ended the war right there?
Apollo says something else though: it won’t be Achilles’ lot either. Remember Apollo saying this because it will become more relevant in Book 20.
Three more instances of the gods prolonging the war. What could it mean?
As I said on my post for Book 15, the intervention of the gods is also going to get more and more blatant. And here in Book 16, we see the most blatant case yet aside from Athena enticing Pandarus to shoot Menelaus and reignite the war (see Book 4).
Once again, Apollo is the culprit:
Apollo tells Patroclus to back off after he almost makes a successful attempt at sacking Troy
After Patroclus backs off in obedience to the god, Apollo sneaks up behind him and strikes him in the back, disorienting him
Apollo hits the helmet off Patroclus’ head
Apollo breaks Patroclus’ spear and the band that he held his shield with so it falls
Apollo undoes the fastenings on Patroclus’ armor
While Patroclus is still disoriented, the Trojan Euphorbus comes up behind him and spears him in the back. Alarmed at what’s happening, Patroclus backs out of the fighting, but Hector charges at him and spears him in the stomach, killing him.
This is far more than what Poseidon did to that one Trojan when he blinded him and stiffened his limbs. It could be argued that Patroclus wouldn’t have been killed had he not been disoriented and stripped of his weapons and armor.
You can probably guess how Achilles is going to react to Patroclus’ death. The Iliad is, after all, about the anger of Achilles.
We Have To Talk About Ajax
Telamonian Ajax to be exact. He really held his own in Books 15 & 16. In fact, you may have noticed that Ajax is quite the warrior. He wields a giant shield, he almost killed Hector twice, he ran to Odysseus’ rescue and got stranded, and now here he almost single-handedly defended a ship from getting burned with a “great sea-pike” that was “twelve cubits long” (Book 15). That’s approximately 18 feet or 5.5 meters!
I’ll say it now since the story is going to focus more on Achilles from here until the end of the poem, but Ajax is one of the few Achaean heroes who doesn’t get wounded. This is despite all the crazy situations he ends up in. Ajax is the real deal.
However, my image of him got tainted a bit when I read Sophocles’ Ajax. He did something wrong, but I also feel bad for him and it’s why my opinion of another major hero in the Greek tradition diminished as well. I’ll just say that the story Sophocles tells wasn’t made up by him. It was already immortalized in all the stories the Greeks had about the Trojan War. In fact, it’s briefly talked about in the Odyssey. I’ll go into more details when I cover the Odyssey and Ajax.
That’s all for Book 16 of the Iliad.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
The booklist I am going through can be found here.
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Thumbnail: Ascent of Sarpedon by Henri-Leopold Levi. Created 1874. Public domain.