The Iliad closes with the rage of Achilles finally extinguished and with a display of humanity and mercy, before the war will continue to its final conclusion.
The Greek forces return to their ships at the end of Patroclus’ funeral games, while Achilles once more is overcome with grief for his lost friend. He stays awake, remembering Patroclus. His anguish increases, until he is moved to go outside and once again defile Hector’s body by dragging it three times around Patroclus’ tomb. Apollo continues to protect the body, ensuring that Hector’s skin is not torn despite Achilles’ abuse.
The gods watch and they mostly pity Hector. They encourage Hermes to steal the body from Achilles, while Hera, Poseidon and Athena maintain their hatred of Troy. Both Hera and Athena are still angry over the Judgement of Paris, which led to the war. Now, twelve days after Hector’s death, Apollo addresses the other gods angrily. He is angry that the corpse is still being defiled and that other gods help Achilles whom he characterises as murderous, lacking decency and pity. Hera reminds Apollo that Achilles has divine parentage and that the Olympian gods attended his parents’ wedding feast. She angrily suggests it is Apollo who has a misplaced allegiance. Zeus tells Hera she speaks too harshly. That Hector was loved and faithful to the gods. But, he says, Hector’s body cannot be stolen. He says that Achilles must be given a ransom from Priam for the body.
Zeus has Iris summon Thetis, Achilles’ mother, who is still mourning the fate of Achilles, even though he has not yet died. Thetis returns to Olympus and takes a seat among the gods, next to Zeus. Thetis is instructed to deliver a message to Achilles: that the gods are angry with him over the treatment of Hector’s body. At the same time, Iris is tasked to take a message to Priam, that he must pay Achilles a ransom for his son’s body.
Thetis visits Achilles and speaks to him of his short life and the need for him to enjoy what is left of it. She also delivers Zeus’ message and implores Achilles to take the ransom that will be offered to him for Hector’s body. Achilles agrees that he will do this.
Iris is asked to visit Priam with Zeus’ message: that he must enter the Greek encampment with no one to accompany him except a herald, and pay a ransom for his son. Zeus has promised that Achilles will not kill Priam, and that Hermes will be sent to accompany and protect him.
When Iris finds Priam he is abasing himself by smearing dung on his head, so great is his grief. Iris delivers Zeus’ message. She reassures Priam that Achilles will show mercy. Priam orders a wagon to be readied and inspects his treasure chamber for suitable gifts. Hecuba argues that Priam must not go: that Achilles cannot be trusted. She bears a terrible hatred for Achilles. She speaks proudly of their son: his courage and his defence of Troy. But Priam insists he must follow the instructions of the gods. He doesn’t care if Achilles kills him if he is able to hold Hector in his arms one last time. Priam gathers a ransom: twelve cloaks, ten bars of gold, tripods, cauldrons and a Thracian cup.
Crowds have gathered outside the royal halls. Priam angrily berates them, wishing them gone, and says that with Hector dead it will be easier for the Argive troops to slaughter them. Next, he levels his anger and grief at his sons who remain alive, saying he wishes they had died instead of Hector. He believes only the worst of his children remain.
The mule-wagon is readied for Priam. The ransom is loaded onto it and Priam’s chariot is also made ready. But before he can leave, Hecuba rushes out with a cup of honeyed wine and asks her husband to pour a libation to Zeus. She also asks for him to pray for a sign from Zeus that he will be safe: otherwise, she says, he should not go. Priam agrees to do this. He pours the libation and prays to Zeus, asking Zeus to send a bird of omen. Zeus hears the prayer and sends an eagle as a sign that Priam will be safe. Priam now leaves Troy with Idaeus, who drives the mule-wagon.
Zeus summons Hermes and asks him to escort Priam and keep him hidden. Hermes puts on his sandals and takes his wand which can enchant men’s eyes. Hermes startles Idaeus when he appears at the ford of the river where they are watering their animals. Idaeus fears they will be butchered by him. Hermes reassures them he means no harm, but says they are in danger if anyone from the Greek camp sees them. Hermes offers to protect them. Priam realises that Hermes has been sent by the gods. Hermes questions whether Priam is abandoning Troy with his treasure, or whether he intends to send it to safety somewhere else. Instead of answering, Priam asks who Hermes is. Hermes claims that he is Achilles’ aide, a Myrmidon, the seventh son of Polyctor. He says he has come from the ships to scout the plain, and that the Achaeans are now eager to continue fighting. Hector asks about the state of his son’s body. Hermes reassures him that Hector has not decayed and that Achilles has been unable to mutilate the corpse because the gods’ protect his body. Priam is glad of this and offers Hermes a cup as a gift. But Hermes refuses it, saying that the cup is meant for Achilles.
Hermes sends Achilles sentries to sleep and opens his gates wide to usher Priam and Idaeus into Achilles’ encampment. Hermes now reveals his true identity to Priam. He says that as a god, Achilles cannot be expected to host to him, so he will return to Zeus. He advises Priam to clasp Achilles’ knees and plead for pity. Hermes departs.
Achilles has just finished dinner when Priam enters his lodge. He kneels and kisses Achilles’ hands. Achilles is amazed by this. Priam speaks to Achilles of the hero sons he fathered, fifty in total, nineteen from one woman, Hecuba. All are now dead. Priam says he has brought a ransom and deserves pity. He has kissed the hands of the man who slaughtered his son. Both men weep together: Priam for Hector; Achilles for Patroclus, as well as his father.
Achilles marvels at Priam’s daring. He speaks of the gods who have two jars, one of misery, another of blessings, which they dispense to mortals, thereby determining the happiness and misery of men’s lives, like the hardships piled upon his father Peleus. Similarly, Priam once lived a life of glory, but the gods have now heaped misery upon him. Achilles says Priam’s grief will do him no good; that he must soon suffer worse. Priam begs Achilles to accept the ransom and return his son’s body, since he has decided to spare him his own life. Achilles says he has already decided to return Hector after receiving a message from the gods. But he also warns Priam not to anger him. He seems irritated by Priam’s presumption that he is now safe. He reveals that he knows Priam was helped by a god to enter his compound.
The ransom is brought inside. Achilles orders Hector’s body to be bathed, anointed and wrapped in a battle shirt and battle cape. He also orders that Priam not be allowed to see the body before he leaves the camp, in case he flies into a rage inspired by his grief and Achilles is forced to kill him, after all. Once Hector’s body is prepared, Achilles invites Priam to dine with him, citing the story of Niobe who still needed to eat even after the loss of a dozen children. Achilles slaughters a sheep and it is cooked and they eat together. Priam now expresses a deep desire to sleep. He claims not to have slept since the day of his son’s death. Achilles has beds prepared for Priam and Idaeus outside where any captain entering Achilles’ lodge will not see them. Before Priam beds down Achilles promises that he will ensure a ceasefire for however long Priam needs to bury Hector. Priam anticipates nine days of mourning, a tenth day to bury Hector and an eleventh to raise a barrow over him. On the twelfth day the fighting can resume, “if fight we must”, Priam adds. Achilles agrees to this timeline.
Priam and Idaeus sleep on Achilles’ porch. Meanwhile, Hermes ponders the problem of getting Priam out of the Greek encampment safely. As Priam sleeps Hermes whispers the dangers into his ears: that if he is caught in the camp, he will make an even greater prize to force a ransom from the Trojan people. Priam wakes in terror, wakes Idaeus, and they flee the Greek camp while it is still dark. As they return to Troy, Cassandra sees their approach and lets out a cry to signal their return to the Trojan people. The people stream out of the gates of Troy to meet them. Priam enters the city with his son’s body, and Hector is placed on a bed in the royal halls. Songs of lament are sung for Hector. Andromache, Hector’s wife, grieves for her husband, and again foresees danger for their son, Astyanax, whom she fears will be killed out of revenge when the city is sacked. She anticipates a life of slavery for herself. For her part, Hecuba leads a chant of sorrow for her son, expressing her love for him and the merciless treatment Hector received in death, all to no avail.
Helen also laments Hector’s loss. She is much reviled in the city, but Hector always had a kind word for her and restrained others from showing their contempt too readily. She understands that, with Hector gone, she is now more vulnerable.
Priam tells the Trojans of Achilles’ promised cessation of hostilities. During the period of mourning the Trojans spend nine days hauling lumber to Troy to build a funeral pyre for Hector. On the tenth day Hector’s body is burned on the pyre. After that, the remaining fire is extinguished with wine and Hector’s bones are collected. They are placed in a golden chest, which is lowered into a grave. Huge stones are placed over the grave. A funeral feast is held in Hector’s honour.
This final book of The Iliad is concerned with grief. Priam cries for his son, Hector, and Achilles cries with him for the memory of Patroclus, and his father whom he will never see again. Grief brings the two men together in an unusual moment of sympathy that is possibly the most poignant moment of the epic. Priam appeals to Achilles by asking him to remember his own father. Priam’s supplication is successful because Achilles feels the weight of remorse for his own father who will later grieve for him as Priam now grieves for Hector.
As in other books of The Iliad, Homer also makes allusions to other events outside the main story. In this last book he continues to do this. The first allusion is to an event now deep in the past, central to the beginnings of the Trojan War, which Achilles father, Peleus, was associated.
The Judgment of Paris is a foundational myth of the Trojan War, but like other details from the legends of the war, it falls outside the scope of Homer’s plot. Homer could have assumed that his audience knew these elements of the story. His allusion to the Judgment of Paris in Book 3 of The Iliad is vague enough that we might be confident of this. Hector, who feels Paris is cowardly, mentions “these gifts of Aphrodite” to suggest that Paris is effete. It is not until Book 24 that a fuller account of the legend is made:
These lines allude to a dispute which led to the Trojan War. The dispute occurred at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Achilles’ parents. Zeus reminds the gods that they attended this wedding when he wishes them to remember the allegiance owed to Achilles. However, not all the gods were invited. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding. In a rage she tossed a golden apple amongst the wedding guests which bore the inscription “To the fairest one”. This was enough to prompt a competition between Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. Paris was asked to judge the fairest goddess. However, Aphrodite cheated by offering Helen, Menelaus’ wife, as a bribe to Paris if he should pick her. Paris picked Aphrodite as the winner, and so Helen was the ‘gift’ of Aphrodite that Hector taunts Paris with in Book 3 of The Iliad.
The allusion to this myth returns the audience to the very beginnings of the war and Peleus’ connection with its causes. We may remember this as Achilles considers the sorrows of his father’s life who was given “an immortal goddess for a wife” but “only a single son he fathered, doomed at birth”.
Priam’s injunction to “remember your own father” therefore encourages Achilles to sympathise with him, it reminds Achilles of a father he will never see again, and it is a link to the causes that have brought misery to Greeks and Trojans, alike.
The story of Niobe is the second major allusion made in this last book of The Iliad. Achilles reminds Priam of Niobe’s story as he tries to encourage Priam to eat. It is a story Homer could have assumed his audience knew. Artemis and Apollo killed a dozen of Niobe’s children for her hubris. Achilles’ point is that Niobe, even in her great grief, felt compelled to eat when hungry:
Achilles story is a reminder that even in grief, Priam must eat, and it also reminds us that grief and loss are a part of life which must be endured. It is a point Achilles’ mother, Thetis, has already made to him when she has come to deliver Zeus’ message:
Achilles’ return of Hector’s body and the reprieve he gives Troy so that Hector might be properly buried are signs that Achilles’ rage is over. But his insistence that Priam eat shows he has learned to live with his grief, as well, as Niobe had to endure her own before her death. After nine days of grieving as her children lie in their own blood, the gods interred them and Niobe “turned her thoughts to food.”
But Niobe’s legend ends with her death. She is turned to stone by the gods and her stone edifice continues to weep water for her lost children, feeding the Achelous River. In this final book of The Iliad which becomes a meditation on grief, it is not surprising that Homer chose to insert the story of Niobe, who is the epitome of unending grief.
Boeskhorst’s painting depicts the moment when Artemis (Diana) and Apollo descend on the children of Niobe to kill them. The scene is the subject of several paintings which are easily found on the internet.
This rock outcrop is situated on Mount Spil, in Turkey, otherwise known as Mount Sipylus in ancient times, the name Homer uses to refer to the location:
The legend is that this rock outcrop is Niobe, turned to stone by the gods. The rock is made of porous limestone and it appears to weep after rain.
The final book of The Iliad is a brief respite from the violence and slaughter that has characterised much of the poem. It is a final moment of humanity in which two enemies come together and Achilles abandons his rage to show compassion. Achilles chooses to allow Priam to live and returns to him his son’s body. Achilles has previously sworn to feed Hector to the dogs, but through the intervention of Aphrodite and Apollo, Hector’s body has been protected and preserved. Of his own volition, Achilles offers to suspend hostilities while Priam and his city mourn Hector’s death and bury him.
Of most importance is a poignant moment when Achilles and Priam share their grief:
Priam implores Achilles to “remember your own father”, a plea that seems to resonate with Achilles. He remembers that despite his father’s glorious marriage to his mother, his own father suffered, especially for the sake of Achilles:
It is interesting to keep these moments of empathy between the two men and Achilles sense of his own grief and loss as you study the following representations of this scene. A striking feature of the four pieces of art I have selected is how similar they are in detail. Homer’s description of the scene is quite specific – how Priam clutches Achille’s knee to make his plea – so this is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how pitiless Achilles appears in each representation.
Automedon and Alcimus are present in Achilles’ lodgings when Priam enters. Homer describes their reaction:
This first painting by Theobald Chartran certainly captures the reaction of wonder from Automedon and Alcimus in the background. Perhaps this in the first moment when Priam kneels before Achilles, before the two men share their moment of grief together. But Achilles does not appear to marvel at Priam’s appearance. Instead, he seems quizzical, maybe doubtful. Behind Achilles is the shield that Hephaestus forged for him at his mother’s request. Priam looks frail and vulnerable, particularly with his shoulder exposed.
Lyvan’s depiction of the scene presents us with different reactions again. Automedon and Alcimus lean over a table, taken by surprise by Priam’s supplication. Achilles looks both surprised as well as angry or annoyed. There is one moment in this book when Priam assumes he is safe, which angers Achilles somewhat. Reacting also to the breach in his own security, he says to Priam,
However, Lyvan’s painting seems to represent the moment when Priam first appears. We should not be at this momentary anger, yet. The emotion expressed on Achilles’ face seems out of touch with the account we are given by Homer.
Alexandr Ivanov’s representation of this scene presents further details for consideration. Like Chartran, Ivanov chooses to portray Achilles’ lodgings as well-constructed and somewhat permanent looking, rather than the makeshift tents we may expect the Greek forces to have occupied. The quality of Achilles’ lodgings is actually suggested by Homer’s description:
Neither Automedon, Alcimus nor Achilles look either surprised or upset by Priam’s supplication. Automedon and Alcimus stand apart, obviously discussing this development. But Achilles looks either indifferent or contemptuous of Priam. Achilles, like the figures painted by the previous artists, leans backwards, withdrawing from Priam. Achilles is a man surrounded by wealth and culture, with exotic animal furs, sculptures and urns. We know from the games held for Patroclus that he has a great deal of wealth, some of which he offered as prizes. Now, it makes him seem frozen and aloof. It is hard to imagine from this scene that he will be the man who will weep with Priam.
This final piece, a relief sculpture by Bertel Thorvaldsen, shows Achilles and Priam as the central pair in this representation, flanked by two other pairs, either end of the relief. It is difficult to read Achilles’ reaction accurately. But the fact that he looks intently into Priam’s eyes as he makes his plea shows a good deal more connection with Priam than any of the Achilles who appear in the paintings. He seems to be seriously considering what Priam is saying to him.
The two figures on the left do not appear in any of the paintings. At first, they might be mistaken as Achilles’ servants, bringing food for Achilles and Priam, since one is bearing an amphora. Their stance as they approach seems deferential, which would be in keeping with their status as servants. However, we know that Homer’s description of the scene has Achilles just completing his own dinner when Priam enters. We are told that Automedon and Alcimus have been serving Achilles, a fact that does not match with the detail in this relief. Given that the second leftmost figure is carrying something that does not look like food, we can presume that these men are carrying in the ransom for Hector’s body. Their deferential stance suggests they are Priam’s men, as does their headwear, which matches Priam’s. This is a small detail that does not match Homer’s account. In Homer Achilles, Automedon and Alcimus go outside to unload the ransom from the mule-wagon and bring Idaeus, Priam’s herald, the only man allowed to travel with him, back into Achilles’ lodgings.
The two figures on the right of the relief sculpture, behind Achilles, must be Automedon and Alcimus. Their demeanour is entirely different to the representations we find in the above three paintings. The foreground figure stands casually with his hand on the table. The background figure sits with his hand on his cheek, suggesting boredom. They seem emotionally disengaged by the scene, unlike the figures in the previous paintings who express surprise, or appear to be discussing what is happening, at least.