The Story of Troy: Part Six

Thetis heard him, flew to Olympus and begged Hephaestus, the smith of the gods to fashion her son new armor. All night he labored with hammer and tongs. At dawn Thetis entered Achilles’ hut with such arms and armor as no man had known. The brass helmet was of unsurpassed strength. The breastplate shone brighter than fire. The five-layered shield showed myriad scenes rendered in silver, gold, and gemstones.

Achilles buckled on the armor. He took up his spear and slid his sword in his sheath. Then he bolted outside, ready for revenge.

With a thunderous shout, Achilles woke the Greeks and bid them make ready for battle. Agamemnon, elated to see him, sent to his hut Briseis and the gifts he offered. Achilles took no notice. He could think of nothing but Hector.

The Greeks marched out. The Trojans met them and fell in hundreds before Achilles’ spear. Seeing his soldiers in full retreat, Priam opened Troy’s gates to them. All entered but Hector, who stood fast outside. Weeping, tearing out his white hair, Priam begged his son to seek safety. Hector refused, heard the gates shut, then saw Achilles advancing and ran. Achilles gave chase. Four times they circled Troy. At last Hector stopped and threw his spear. It rebounded off his foe’s divine shield. Achilles then raised his own spear and with the sum of his strength drove it through Hector’s neck. Down to the ground crashed the pride of Troy.

“Give my body to my father and mother,” Hector pleaded as he died.

“Never!” screamed Achilles. He stripped Hector of his armor. Maddened with grief for Patroclus, he pierced Hector’s feet behind his heel tendons, threaded through the belt Ajax had given him, tied it to his chariot, and dragged Hector’s body through the dirt, around and around the walls of Troy. In horror, Priam and Hecuba turned their heads from the sight.

Achilles trailed Hector’s body all the way back to the Greek camp. There he saw to Patroclus’ funeral, sending out scores of woodcutters and building a vast pyre of logs one hundred feet square. The flames lit up the land for miles. Achilles made sacrifices and held funeral games, and each dawn afterward he dragged Hector’s corpse three times around Patroclus’ tomb.

Achilles’ behavior so repelled the gods that at last Thetis urged him to return the body. That night, Priam entered his hut in secret, kissed the hands that had slain is son, and begged Achilles to accept the body’s weight in gold as a ransom. The anger left Achilles’ heart. He knew his own death was drawing close, that his coming to Troy had fated him for a short, glorious life. Both mean wept.