When he sees Achilles, however, Hector is seized by fear and turns to flee. Achilles chases him around the city three times before Hector masters his fear and turns to face Achilles.
Hector wants to battle Achilles to avenge his country and defend it against future Greek attacks. In An Iliad, he considers reasoning with Achilles, but his pride overcomes him. Similarly, instead of letting bygones be bygones, Achilles swears vengeance on Hector and goes after him and his armies.
No, he did not. First, the gods had willed that Hector will die at the hands of Achilles which is why Athena comes to the help of Achilles. Also, Achilles was a better fighter and warrior and was nearly indestructible, thus Hector stood no chance of defeating Achilles.
Hector meets Achilles alone outside the gates of Troy, the rest of his army having hidden inside the city walls. Fearing what will happen if he fights Achilles, Hector runs away. Achilles chases him around the walls of Troy three times.
Achilles refuses to fight because Agamemnon stole away from him a beautiful young maiden named Briseis whom he'd won as a prize for his achievement in battle. Agamemnon confronts Achilles in Book 1 and, despite the great warrior's resistance, forces him to yield and give the young woman up.
But when Achilles was now sated with grief and had unburdened the bitterness of his sorrow, he left his seat and raised the old man by the hand. Achilles, seated, and Priam, crouched at his feet, cry at length, the one for Patroclus and Peleus, the other for Hector.
The one-on-one combat ends with Achilles killing Hector. Still pulsing with anger and needing to satisfy his revenge and grief for having lost Patroclus, Achilles allows Achaean soldiers to stab and mutilate Hector's corpse.
In the end, even if nothing is forgotten, everything seems to be forgiven. In front of Priam's humiliation, Achilles seems to forgive Hector's hand in the fall of Patroclus – he had his revenge, a life for a life. In having his son's body returned to him, Priam forgives Achilles' actions against it .
Achilles was so angered and distraught, that he went off the kill Hector. When Achilles finished, he tied Hector's body to his chariot and then rode in cirles around the city, dragging the body behind him.
The idea that Patroclus and Achilles were lovers is quite old. Many Greco-Roman authors read their relationship as a romantic one—it was a common and accepted interpretation in the ancient world. We even have a fragment from a lost tragedy of Aeschylus, where Achilles speaks of his and Patroclus' “frequent kisses.”
There is, however, a character from The Iliad who does provide a helpful model for men on attaining andreia. And he happens to be Achilles' mortal enemy: the Trojan prince, Hector.
Hector's greatest strength is his ability to fight as a great warrior. This is a weakness because he kills people without thinking of the consequences which causes him problems in the end.
If Zeus lets me kill you and survive, then when I've stripped you of your glorious armour I'll not mistreat your corpse, I'll return your body to your people, if you will do the same for me. ' Swift-footed Achilles glared at him in reply: 'Curse you, Hector, and don't talk of oaths to me.
If Hector is a tragic hero, than his tragic flaw would be his stubbornness to accept the force of fate and his own delusional belief in a Trojan victory. But beneath these flaws are the works of understandable human feelings; Hector does all this because of his desire to protect Troy, his people and his family.
When Achilles finally returns from chasing Apollo (disguised as Agenor), Hector confronts him. At first, the mighty Trojan considers trying to negotiate with Achilles, but he soon realizes the hopelessness of his cause and flees. He runs around the city three times, with Achilles at his heels.
The Iliad Book 22 Summary. Apollo, disguised as a Trojan soldier, leads Achilles outside the city walls as the Trojans barricade themselves inside again. Seeing Achilles furious at being robbed of further glory and death, King Priam urges his son Hector to not face Achilles alone.
When Achilles learns of the death of Patroklos, he bursts into tears, tearing his hair and throwing himself on the ground. His sorrowful lament is heard by his mother, Thetis, and she comes to comfort him. She points out that if Achilles avenges Patroklos, he himself will be killed.
Patroclus, that terror who routed Trojans headlong. Achilles led them now in a throbbing chant of sorrow, laying his man-killing hands on his great friend's chest: "Farewell, Patroclus, even there in the House of Death!
For the next twelve days, Achilles mistreats the body, but it remains preserved from all injury by Apollo and Aphrodite. After these twelve days, the gods can no longer stand watching it and send down two messengers: Iris, another messenger god, and Thetis, the mother of Achilles.
Priam adds that he has kissed the hands of the man who killed his children. By kissing Achilles' hands instead of avenging Hektor's death, Priam breaks a taboo, and by this act, Priam humbles himself before Achilles.
In other accounts, Achilles marries the Trojan princess Polyxena and supposedly negotiates an end to the war when Paris fires the shot that kills him. According to other ancient authors, after his death, Achilles is cremated, and his ashes are mixed with those of his dear friend, Patroclus.
Hector on the other hand, is a more sympathetic hero than Achilles. Hector is the leader of the Trojan forces in this epic poem. He is driven by the idea of protecting his home and his family; he is driven by a sense of responsibility.
Achilles' most distinctive characteristic is his invulnerability, coupled with the fact that he has one small spot on his body which is vulnerable. The lesson, it seems, is that everyone has their weakness, capable of bringing them down.
The wrath of Achilles is provoked by Achilles' sense of honor as a result of eris or discord, which leads to the warrior's alienation from the Greeks and eventually from human society. Second, the wrath of Achilles sets him up in clear contrast to his great Trojan counterpart in the story — Hektor.
Achilles was considered a hero because he was the most successful soldier in the Greek army during the Trojan War. According to post-Homeric myths, Achilles was physically invulnerable, and it was prophesied that the Greeks could not win the Trojan War without him.