Disclaimer: I am not an ancient Greek scholar. For the full disclaimer, Read here.
The sun was beginning to beat upon the fields, fresh risen into the vault of heaven from the slow still currents of deep Oceanus, when the two armies met. They could hardly recognize their dead, but they washed the clotted gore from off them, shed tears over them, and lifted them upon their waggons.
Iliad, Book 7; Samuel Butler translation
Book 7 Summary
Athena comes down from Olympus to give the Achaeans an advantage in the fighting, but Apollo stops her. They agree to have one person on each side duel and then have the fighting stop for the day.
They reveal their will to Hector through a prophet and Hector has the Trojan army stand down. The Achaeans do the same. Hector then announces a duel between himself and a champion of the Achaeans’ choice, with the victor taking the armor of the loser but allowing the body to be returned to their side for proper burial.
After a long pause, because no Achaean wants to volunteer to fight the Hector, a handful are spurred on by the shaming of Menelaus and Nestor to have their names drawn by lot. Ajax, the son of Telamon, is chosen and he goes out to meet Hector in a duel.
Ajax, being a tall and strong man who carries a large, thick shield, has a clear edge in the duel. Before both Hector and Ajax can draw their swords and carry on in close combat, the gods move people on both sides to stop the duel since night was approaching. Both sides call an end to the fighting and go back to their sides. The Achaeans begin to build a rampart around their camp while the Trojans hold a council.
Antenor, one of the Trojan elders, suggests Paris give back Helen and end the fighting, but Paris refuses. However, he's willing to give back all the wealth he took from Sparta and add more to it. A Trojan messenger is sent to the Achaeans with this proposal along with a temporary cease fire to bury their dead.
The Achaeans refuse Paris’ proposal but accept the cease fire as they want to bury their dead as well. The book ends with both sides silently and solemnly gathering their dead and bringing them back to their sides for burial and funeral rites.
For a list of the major characters, with Greek and Latin names, go here.
Both Sides Are The Same
In Book 4, we saw enemies die side-by-side. In Book 5, we saw the dire consequences of hubris on the battlefield. In Book 6, we saw: men who almost have their lives spared only for that hope to be taken away at the last second; virtuous men die on the battlefield, their good deeds doing nothing to save them from death; enemies whose families know each other and promise to visit should they survive the war, as if there were no hard feelings between them. Now, in Book 7, we see two armies call a ceasefire to gather their dead.
Two armies, who attempted to slaughter each other not too long ago, are now just men gathering and mourning their dead. The Iliad has done a good job showing that, even though these armies are on opposing sides, they have quite a bit in common. If nothing else, they bleed the same, they die the same, and mourn for their comrades the same.
God Forsaken
This is Hector to the Trojan and Achaean army during his proposal for a duel:
“Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and covenants to nothing, and foreshadows ill for both of us, till you either take the towers of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your ships.”
Iliad, Book 7; Samuel Butler translation
It’s interesting to note that, earlier in the Iliad, King Priam said something to Helen that had a similar note of hopelessness:
“I lay no blame upon you, it is the gods, not you who are to blame. It is they that have brought about this terrible war with the Achaeans.”
Iliad, Book 3; Samuel Butler translation
It seems that the Trojans feel (and correctly) that they have been abandoned by the gods. Hector, at least, seems to be aware that Troy is fated to fall. The war is about to end and then someone on their side breaks the truce by shooting and almost killing Menelaus. Despite this, the Trojans still tried to appease Athena—ironic considering she is one of the goddesses who wants only to see their destruction (again, if you know the background of the Trojan War, you’ll know why; however, the Iliad has not given a reason yet).
Then again, all the Trojans had to do from the beginning was give Helen back and have Paris punished for his actions or given over to the Achaeans for punishment.
Seriously, Why Are They Protecting Paris?
The Trojan elder Antenor to the Trojan council:
“Let us give up Argive Helen and her wealth to the sons of Atreus, for we are now fighting in violation of our solemn covenants, and shall not prosper till we have done as I say.”
Iliad, Book 7; Samuel Butler translation
Of course, Paris vetoes this. And why shouldn’t he do otherwise? The entire city, even though they hate him, is still protecting him. Even the messenger, who was sent to the Achaeans with the obviously insincere proposal by Paris, had this to say:
“All the treasure he took with him in his ships to Troy—would that he had sooner perished—he will restore, and will add yet further of his own, but he will not give up the wedded wife of Menelaus, though the Trojans would have him do so.”
Iliad, Book 7; Samuel Butler translation
The Trojans want Paris to give Helen back. The council wants Paris to give Helen back. Hector wants Paris to give Helen back. And yet he won’t. And worse, Priam, his father and king of Troy, does not force him. Couldn’t Priam just put an end to all of this? Give Helen back, compensate the Achaeans, and punish Paris?
This brings me back to my rant on Book 6. Am I missing something? Is my lack of knowledge about ancient culture keeping me from seeing something that will have all of this make sense?
Or, are the Trojans really acting irrationally and I'm not missing anything?
To me, I just see a lot of incapable leaders: Paris, Priam, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles… Men who are making selfish decisions or doing selfish actions which result in hardship and death for the people they are leading.
At the very least, it’s a great lesson in what not to do when you’re in a position of leadership.
Menelaus Almost Becomes A Pandarus
After Menelaus gets angry when no one volunteers to duel Hector and begins to volunteer himself, the narrator says this:
And then, O Menelaus, your life would have come to an end at the hands of Hector, for he was far better the man, had not the princes of the Achaeans sprung upon you and checked you.
Iliad, Book 7; Samuel Butler translation
This is the second time something like this happened to Menelaus. The other time was in Book 5 when Menelaus was about to confront Aeneas:
Brave Menelaus… made his way to the front, clad in gleaming bronze and brandishing his spear, for Mars egged him on to do so with intent that he should be killed by Aeneas; but Antilochus the son of Nestor saw him and sprang forward, fearing that the king might come to harm and thus bring all their labour to nothing...
Iliad, Book 5; Samuel Butler translation
So, are we learning that Menelaus is a less skilled warrior than Aeneas and Hector, but a better warrior than Paris (which isn’t saying much)?
What does Menelaus have going for him? It’s his wife that has been taken away (or ran away), and yet it is his brother who is commander of the army. He can’t take on the stronger warriors on the Trojan side. He is soft on his opponents and doesn’t seem to care much if Troy is sacked as long as he gets Helen back.
If you know the background of the Trojan War, you’ll also know why I asked this question. Suitors from all over came to ask for Helen’s hand in marriage. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world and every man wanted her as his wife. Menelaus sent Agamemnon on his behalf because he wasn’t all that confident he would be chosen. Menelaus was ultimately chosen.
No wonder Helen was easily seduced by another man—even though Helen came to regret her decision when she found out who Paris really was.
The rest of the story goes like this (at least, as I understand it, as the story is a bit muddled): In exchange for Helen’s father’s promise to put in a good word to marry Penelope (Helen’s cousin), Odysseus comes up with a plan to reign in all of Helen’s suitors. All the suitors would draw straws to determine who would marry Helen and make an oath to come to the aid of that chosen man should someone abduct Helen. The suitors agree to this oath, they draw straws, and Menelaus wins the draw. Since Agamemnon was sent there on Menelaus’ behalf, he was the one who drew the straw. In order to placate Agamemnon, Helen’s father gives his other daughter, Clytemnestra, to Agamemnon. Menelaus marries Helen and is given the throne to Sparta.
When Paris abducted Helen, this oath was invoked. Most or all of the Achaean leaders mentioned in the Catalogue of Armies in Book 2 were Helen’s suitors.
I believe this is why there was a lot of discontentment among the common soldiers fighting the Trojan War (on top of the fact that they were gone from home for ten years). They did not make the oath and they had no real stake in the war. Nevertheless, they had to follow their kings and princes and pay the price for this rash oath.
An oath those kings and princes made because they wanted the chance to bed the most beautiful woman in the world.
The same woman who became the most notorious adulteress in the world.
That’s all for Book 7 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: Ajax Heaves a Large Boulder At Hector by Peter Connolly. I couldn’t find a date of creation.