Disclaimer: I am not an ancient Greek scholar. For the full disclaimer, read here.
“Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion on me, who am the more pitiable, for I have steeled myself as no man yet has ever steeled himself before me, and have raised to my lips the hand of him who slew my son.”
Iliad, Book 24; Samuel Butler translation
Book 24 Summary
Achilles continues to mourn for Patroclus and takes his anger out on the body of Hector by tying it up to his chariot and dragging it around Patroclus’ tomb. Some of the gods have pity on Hector and his family. Zeus gives them permission to convince King Priam to prepare a ransom and meet with Achilles to get Hector’s body back. Meanwhile, Thetis is commanded to tell Achilles that the gods are angry with him for keeping Hector’s body and to accept a ransom for it should one be made.
Hermes visits Priam and guides Priam in the middle of the night to meet Achilles with a ransom, hiding him from all the Achaeans so well that he is not revealed until he is at the knees of Achilles. Achilles is moved with compassion as Priam reminds him of his own father and they both weep for the ones they lost. They share a meal together and Achilles agrees to keep the Achaeans from invading Troy for twelve days so Priam has enough time to prepare for and hold a funeral for Hector. They both retire, but before daybreak Priam is urged by the gods to leave the Achaeans’ camp. Priam brings Hector’s body back to Troy and the people, including his wife, mother, and Helen, mourn over his body. The Iliad ends with Hector’s funeral.
For a list of the major characters, with Greek and Latin names, go here.
A Father And A Son
The scene between King Priam and Achilles is probably one of, if not the most, iconic scenes in all of the Iliad.
It’s a very moving scene. A father who has lost his son, pleading with the very man who killed him to give up the body for burial. A son who is about to make his father childless, swayed with compassion over the father of the man who killed his best friend.
It’s also a very harrowing scene. You can feel the tension. You wonder if at any moment Achilles is going to snap and kill the frail Priam. You wonder if at any moment Priam is going to lose his courage and make a scene that will end his opportunity to get his son’s body back.
Can you imagine being a father going to your son’s killer and begging for the body so you and your family can have closure?
Can you imagine standing face to face with the father of the man who killed your best friend and he asks you for a favor?
I can’t imagine how many times this situation comes up in war.
I think this scene is a great one for reflecting on your own morality. Actually, I think the whole of the Iliad is that way, but this scene especially forces you to confront the meaning of revenge, compassion, and family.
You may wonder why I omitted forgiveness. It’s because there’s no sign of forgiveness. Priam doesn’t seem to forgive Achilles for killing Hector, and Achilles hasn’t forgiven Hector for killing Patroclus. However, for compassion toward Priam, Achilles quells his anger long enough to allow Priam to take Hector’s body back home. For the sake of his family, Priam kneels before his son’s killer, holds his hands, and begs him for Hector’s body.
Forgiveness is an important virtue, but it is one not taught in the Iliad—unless you want to infer it from the Iliad’s portrayal of the destructiveness of revenge.
The Anger Of Achilles In Reflection
The Iliad, as I’ve stated many times since Book 1, is about the anger of Achilles. Look at how it has evolved throughout the story:
The anger of Achilles is directed at Agamemnon and Achilles makes a foolish petition to Zeus in revenge for his damaged pride.
The anger of Achilles comes to fruition on the battlefield. Many Achaeans die, their camp is overrun with the Trojans, and now Achilles and his army’s well being are in jeopardy. Achilles sends out Patroclus and the Myrmidons to help push the Trojans back. Patroclus dies as a result.
The anger of Achilles is now directed at Hector and is stronger than ever. Achilles forgets about his feud with Agamemnon. It will cost Achilles his life, but he will see Hector dead at his own hands. Achilles is also angry with himself for not being there when Patroclus needed him most.
Even after Achilles kills Hector, he is not satisfied. He will deny Hector a proper burial. He will deny his family closure. He takes his anger out on Hector’s corpse day after day after day.
The anger of Achilles is tested by King Priam’s appearance. His anger is pacified long enough to allow Priam to take Hector’s body back for burial. He even allows Priam twelve days to mourn Hector.
The anger of Achilles doesn’t disappear. Achilles loses his patience with Priam at one point and threatens him if he doesn’t accept the invitation to eat a meal. He admits that if he allowed Priam to see Hector’s body and Priam mourns over it, it would send him over the edge and he would kill him. Hermes tells Priam not to tell Achilles how he made it to the Achaeans’ camp out of fear Achilles would snap—although Achilles is no fool and figures it out. Achilles doesn’t like giving up Hector’s body to Priam, apologizing to Patroclus for allowing this to happen.
It is really Achilles’ reverence for the gods that keeps his anger in check. We’ve seen multiple times that Achilles defers to the gods. He stops himself from killing Agamemnon when Athena tells him to. He has a special cup, an expensive one that he takes very good care of, which he only uses for drink offerings to Zeus. Achilles obeys the river god Xanthus when he tells Achilles to stop clogging his river with corpses.
If his mother Thetis hadn’t told him the gods were angry with him for desecrating Hector’s corpse, how would he have handled Priam’s sudden appearance I wonder?
In the end, the anger of Achilles is not fully satiated. Achilles is part god after all. I did the math on this. Achilles’ grandfather was a son of Zeus and a mortal.
“My father is Peleus, son of Aeacus ruler over many Myrmidons, and Aeacus was the son of Jove.”
Iliad, Book 21; Samuel Butler translation
That means Achilles is 1/8th god from his father’s side. Achilles is also the son of the sea goddess Thetis, making him 1/2 god from his mother’s side. That means, in total, Achilles is 5/8ths a god—he was more god than mortal. Plus, there was the prophecy about Thetis’ offspring. No wonder Achilles was so strong.
Throughout the Iliad, we’ve seen the gods act petty, petulant, aloof, and selfish (when they weren’t carrying out the will of fate). We also saw lesser versions of those traits in Achilles. It makes me wonder if the gods’ appearance in the Iliad was a way to not only show the deep contrast between them and mortals, but also to explain why Achilles acted the way he did.
The Iliad ends, but the anger of Achilles doesn’t. That doesn’t happen until his death. However, the ending does show the anger of Achilles could be restrained—if only briefly.
The Grudge
In Book 24, we find out, at long last, why Hera and Athena hate Troy.
“All were of this mind save only Juno, Neptune, and Jove’s grey-eyed daughter, who persisted in the hate which they had ever borne towards Ilius with Priam and his people; for they forgave not the wrong done them by Alexandrus in disdaining the goddesses who came to him when he was in his sheepyards, and preferring her who had offered him a wanton to his ruin.”
Iliad, Book 24; Samuel Butler translation
So, Paris “disdained” them in favor of “her” who offered him something lascivious—and this brought ruin. That thing could only mean the seduction of Helen and taking her home with him. So, who is “her?” Was it Helen herself? Or another goddess?
I already talked about how the Trojan War started and why it happened as a direct result of Helen’s abduction (see Book 7). Now, it’s time to talk about how and why Paris seduced Helen.
It starts with the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles’ parents). Since Thetis is a goddess, all of the gods are invited—all except Discord. Yes, before there was Sleeping Beauty where the evil witch was not invited to Sleeping Beauty’s christening and cursed the child, there was this story.
In the midst of the wedding, Discord tossed in a golden apple with the inscription “for the fairest.” Ultimately, it came down to a three way tie between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. No one at the wedding dared to make the final judgment as to which of the three deserved the golden apple.
Paris, for whatever reason (the accounts are mixed from what I could see), was picked to be the final judge. However, he couldn’t decide either, so the three goddesses resorted to bribing him. Hera promised him half of Asia, Athena promised him victory in battle, and Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite, enraging Hera and Athena which caused them to hate Troy and want to see it burned to the ground. Who was the most beautiful woman in the world at that time? You guessed it: Helen. The rest is history.
So, that’s right: Hera, the queen of the gods, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, got so offended at losing a beauty contest they wanted to see an entire city sacked and its people killed or enslaved. Because they were so insulted, they refused to compromise at any point in this vendetta—even prolonging a war that we know neither the Trojans, nor the Achaeans, nor even Menelaus, really wanted. They were so resentful, they didn’t even want any of the gods to help get Hector’s body back to Troy. If the queen of the gods and the goddess of wisdom act like that—what even is majesty? What even is wisdom?
It’s no wonder that so many Greeks in the generations to come had such an issue with the Trojan War, especially the reasons for it breaking out to begin with. Herodotus tried coming up with a more logical timeline for the Trojan War. I posted a summary of it here. For other explanations, see Euripides’ Helen.
Thank You!
Thank you for joining me on my journey through the Iliad! I hope, if nothing else, it was informative. If you haven’t read the Iliad before, I hope these posts will encourage you to read the poem yourself. Remember: you can do it!
It is not quite over yet, though. A final essay of the Iliad will be posted 10/9/2022. It will contain a summary of the whole work and a synthesis of my final thoughts and impressions. It’s long. Approximately 9600 words.
I hope to make an audio version of this final essay as well. After that, I hope to create an ebook out of all my posts plus some supplemental material. It will have to be purchased. The ebook will be further edited to make my posts more like chapters and to get rid of as many of the mistakes I missed as possible. I may also edit, add, and/or remove sections.
That’s all for Book 24 of the Iliad.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
The booklist I am going through can be found here.
If you want to learn a little more about the Iliad, I have a page devoted to it.
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Thumbnail: Priam and Achilles by Padovanino. Created in the 17th century. Public domain.