Priam Brings Hector Home aka THE END! (The Iliad, Book 24)
ALEXA, PLAY - Closing Time by Semisonic
You guys! We did it! We reached the end! This is the final book of The Iliad! Let’s see how it ends, shall we?
After the funeral games, the men all go eat dinner, because you know how hungry you get after playing outside all day. And then they go to bed because again, playing outside all day really wears ya down.
Achilles, of course, still in mourning, still can’t sleep. So to make himself try to feel better, he ties Hector’s dead body to his chariot again and drags it in circles around Patroclus’ tomb. Then he goes back to camp and just throws Hector’s bod into the dirt.
Apollo sees Achilles treating Hector like a ragdoll and decides to protect the corpse. In a meeting with the gods, Apollo makes his case to everyone who isn’t adamantly rooting against the Trojans to get Hector’s body back to Troy by stealing it away from Achilles.
Hera hears this and goes into a rage. (Remember, Hera is a big fan of the Greeks and does not want to do anything nice for the Trojans, ever.) She goes into a long history about how Achilles is the son of a god (Thetis) and Hector is but a mere mortal. But mostly Hera is still bitter that the Trojan, Paris, chose Aphrodite instead of Athena during the Judgement of Paris.
Big Daddy Zeus steps in to calm Hera down. He says that Hector was always good to the gods, making sacrifices and praying, and generally being a good dude. Also, it would be silly to try to steal Hector away from Achilles because he’s being protected by his mother, Thetis. But perhaps instead of stealing Hector, some sort of deal could be arranged. Zeus sent the messenger god, Iris, to summon Thetis to Mount Olympus.
Zeus tells Thetis to talk to Achilles and tell him that maybe he should think about giving up Hector’s gross dead body because the gods aren’t pleased with the way he’s been treating it. To soften this blow, Zeus also sends Iris to King Priam to ask the King of Troy to prepare some gifts to offer Achilles in exchange for the body.
We all know by now that Achilles is a bit of a mama’s boy, so he agrees when Thetis goes to talk to him.
Meanwhile, King Priam orders his remaining sons to get a wagon full of treasures ready for Achilles. He would bring it to the Greek soldier himself in exchange for his son’s body. His wife, Hecuba, is not happy about the whole thing. She hates Achilles. She hated him before, but since he murdered her son, she hates him so fiercely if she thought about it too hard her head might explode. She tries to talk Priam out of the exchange but Priam doesn’t budge. Reluctantly, Hecuba agrees to let him go, but before he does, they pour out some sacrificial wine to Zeus and ask him to send a sign. Zeus sends an eagle to swoop over them and Priam, loaded with gifts, heads towards the Greek camp.
While Priam is on his way, Zeus sends Hermes down to help him along to make sure the King gets there safely. Hermes appears to Priam in the middle of the night disguised as an aide to Achilles. Hermes in disguise reassures Priam that Hector’s body is still intact and has not been fed to the dogs or the birds. Priam is relieved and allows Hermes to guide him back to the camp.
Once they get inside the camp, Hermes reveals that he is actually a god and leaves Priam to deal with Achilles on his own.
Priam enters Achilles’ tent. The exchange between them is uneasy. Priam kisses Achilles’ hand and asks for forgiveness. Priam, an old man, tells Achilles that he should think of his own father, Peleus, who is still alive and must be so glad that his son is still alive and not in the position Priam is in. Priam started the war with fifty sons but only eight are still alive. This pulls at Achilles’ heartstrings and they both mourn their losses. Achilles knows his fate, that he will not survive the war and tells Priam that even though his father is still alive, he will never see him again.
Priam gets down to business and asks Achilles if he would accept the gifts he brought in exchange for Hector’s body. But because Priam basically ignored Achilles’ comment about his father, Achilles gets a bit annoyed but agrees to the exchange.
Achilles’ henchmen go to unload Priam’s cart full of treasures, while his serving maids clean up and anoint Hector’s body to prepare him for transport. Achilles says a little prayer to Patroclus, asking his forgiveness for relinquishing his killer’s body and promising that he would share the treasure.
After all that, Priam stays for dinner and asks if they could have a temporary cease-fire for eleven days for mourning again. Achilles agrees. Then Priam asks if he could spend the night as he hasn’t slept since he learned of Hector’s death. Achilles puts him up outside on the back porch of his tent, so that anyone coming to seek Achilles’ counsel in the night won’t find the King of Troy.
Hermes reappears to Priam in the middle of the night and tells him that they should leave right now, so that the King could sneak out undetected. Just because there is a temporary truce with Achilles doesn’t mean the rest of the Greek soldiers would not kill Priam on the spot. Hermes stays with Priam to keep him safe from harm until he reached the Xanthos river.
Upon arrival back in Troy, the women in the family gather around to mourn Hector - his sister, Cassandra, his mother, Hecuba, his wife, Andromache, and even Helen, his sister-in-law all wail and lament. They each make a little speech about how much Hector meant to them.
The people of Troy spend the next few days mourning and building the funeral pyre for their greatest warrior. They hold a feast in his honor. He is burned and his bones are buried. “And so the Trojans buried Hector, breaker of horses.” is the very last line of the poem.
And so concludes our dive into the epic, The Iliad! Thank you so much to everyone who has joined in on the journey. We’ll be taking a little break but then we’ll be jumping into The Odyssey, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, if you haven’t already, you can always browse earlier myths in the substack.