CLA160H1 Lecture Notes - Thrice, Dirge, Helenus
Document Summary
This is the final book of homer"s iliad, the story of the trojan war. Achilles, the greatest greek hero, has spent most of the story sulking in his tent following an argument with the leader of the. However, achilles" closest companion, patroclus, was recently killed in battle by the trojan prince hector. Enraged, achilles rejoined the greek army and killed hector. Achilles has been disrespecting hector"s corpse, dragging it around behind his chariot and refusing to bury it. In this book, the gods convince priam, the trojan king, to bring a large ransom to achilles in exchange for his son"s body. The story ends abruptly; though there is plenty of foreshadowing, the iliad does not actually tell us how the trojan war ends. Greeks are not actually called "greeks" here - instead, they are usually called "achaeans" or "argives". The assembly now broke up and the people went their ways each to his own ship.
