τὸν δ᾽ ὀλιγοδρανέων προσέφη κορυθαίολος Ἕκτωρ:
λίσσομ᾽ ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς καὶ γούνων σῶν τε τοκήων
μή με ἔα παρὰ νηυσὶ κύνας καταδάψαι Ἀχαιῶν,
ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν χαλκόν τε ἅλις χρυσόν τε δέδεξο340
δῶρα τά τοι δώσουσι πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ,
σῶμα δὲ οἴκαδ᾽ ἐμὸν δόμεναι πάλιν, ὄφρα πυρός με
Τρῶες καὶ Τρώων ἄλοχοι λελάχωσι θανόντα.
τὸν δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὑπόδρα ἰδὼν προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεὺς:
μή με κύον γούνων γουνάζεο μὴ δὲ τοκήων:345
αἲ γάρ πως αὐτόν με μένος καὶ θυμὸς ἀνήη
ὤμ᾽ ἀποταμνόμενον κρέα ἔδμεναι, οἷα ἔοργας,
ὡς οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὃς σῆς γε κύνας κεφαλῆς ἀπαλάλκοι,
οὐδ᾽ εἴ κεν δεκάκις τε καὶ εἰκοσινήριτ᾽ ἄποινα
στήσωσ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ ἄγοντες, ὑπόσχωνται δὲ καὶ ἄλλα,350
οὐδ᾽ εἴ κέν σ᾽ αὐτὸν χρυσῷ ἐρύσασθαι ἀνώγοι
Δαρδανίδης Πρίαμος: οὐδ᾽ ὧς σέ γε πότνια μήτηρ
ἐνθεμένη λεχέεσσι γοήσεται ὃν τέκεν αὐτή,
ἀλλὰ κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατὰ πάντα δάσονται.
355
τὸν δὲ καταθνῄσκων προσέφη κορυθαίολος Ἕκτωρ:
ἦ σ᾽ εὖ γιγνώσκων προτιόσσομαι, οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλον
πείσειν: ἦ γὰρ σοί γε σιδήρεος ἐν φρεσὶ θυμός.
φράζεο νῦν, μή τοί τι θεῶν μήνιμα γένωμαι
ἤματι τῷ ὅτε κέν σε Πάρις καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων
ἐσθλὸν ἐόντ᾽ ὀλέσωσιν ἐνὶ Σκαιῇσι πύλῃσιν.360
ὣς ἄρα μιν εἰπόντα τέλος θανάτοιο κάλυψε,
ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἐκ ῥεθέων πταμένη Ἄϊδος δὲ βεβήκει
ὃν πότμον γοόωσα λιποῦσ᾽ ἀνδροτῆτα καὶ ἥβην.
τὸν καὶ τεθνηῶτα προσηύδα δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς:
τέθναθι: κῆρα δ᾽ ἐγὼ τότε δέξομαι ὁππότε κεν δὴ365
Ζεὺς ἐθέλῃ τελέσαι ἠδ᾽ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι.
notes
Hector begs Achilles to accept ransom for his corpse and not to deny it proper cremation and funeral among the Trojans. Achilles refuses and promises his body will be eaten by dogs and birds of prey. Hector urges Achilles not to become the target of divine wrath on his own dying day, which, he says, is not far off. As Hector's soul departs to the house of Hades, Achilles promises to accept his own death whenever it comes.
Hector is essentially a disembodied voice now. As he lies helpless on the ground the dark fantasy from his monologue before the walls becomes real.
read full essay
Vulnerable and exposed, “like a woman” (22.124–25), he begs Achilles not to leave his corpse to be shredded by dogs and birds, but to accept ransom from Priam so he may be buried by the Trojans. Achilles’ reply is withering. Hector is reduced to a “dog” (345), whose flesh Achilles wishes he could bring himself to slice off and eat raw, joining the other scavengers he predicts will shred his enemy’s body while Patroclus receives a proper burial.
Even before he takes his last breath, Hector has begun to pass over the boundary between human life and death, as he attempts to negotiate on behalf of his soon-to-be-dead self. The image of Hector’s body as he slips slowly toward death is disturbing, even grotesque, but the poet has his reasons for keeping our attention focused on this transition. The entire Iliad is in one sense played out around the boundary between life and death, where we are invited to reflect on the fundamental question of what it means to be human, what it means to be a creature that knows it must die. Hector has become, over the course of the poem, Homer’s most conspicuous example of humanity, with all his virtues and all his flaws. As he passes over into the undiscovered country of death, his body will continue to claim our attention, traveling through the last phases of Achilles’ katabasis, finally coming to rest again in Troy.
Hector whispers his last words, a grim recognition of his opponent’s implacable fury and a warning that his killing might become a μήνιμα, a source of divine anger, on the day when Apollo and Paris kill him by the Skaian Gates. We are not meant to worry, I think, about the fact that Hector, like Achilles’ horse (19.416–17), has suddenly acquired the art of prophecy. Rather, we might hear echoes of Patroclus, seconds before his death:
Boast loudly now, Hector. Zeus, son of Kronos,
and Apollo have given you victory, for they struck me down
easily and stripped the arms from my shoulders.
If twenty men like you had faced me in battle,
they would have died right there, killed by my spear.
But evil destiny and the son of Leto have killed me,
and of men, Euphorbos. You were only my third slayer.
But I will say another thing, and you store it in your heart:
Surely you will not live much longer, but already
death and strong destiny crowd around you,
soon to die at the hands of Aeacus’s strong son, Achilles.
Iliad 16.844–54
The echoes of Patroclus’ death in Hector’s continue as Hector’s soul (psyche) flies off to Hades:
As he spoke, the end of death covered him over;
his soul flew out of his body and went to Hades’ house,
lamenting its fate, leaving behind manhood and strength.
Iliad 22.362–63 = 16.856–57
As if unmoved by the prophecy of his own death, Achilles certifies the end of his opponent bluntly: τέθναθι, “be dead” (365). But then Thetis’s prophecy in Book 18, that Achilles would die soon after Hector, seems to surface in his mind again, as his next words repeat what he said to her there:
I will accept my death whenever
Zeus and the other immortals wish to accomplish it.
Iliad 22.365–66 = 18.115–16
As Hector passes from warm, living intelligence to lifeless flesh, the process is described in language that recalls the deaths of Sarpedon and Patroclus, confirming the linkage that the passage of Achilles’ armor extends beyond the end of the poem to Achilles’ own death.
As the story progresses from one death to the next, the treatment of each warrior’s corpse becomes a yet more prominent issue. As Patroclus closes in on Sarpedon, Zeus ponders whether to intervene, rescuing his son from his fated end. Hera convinces him to be content with arranging for the gods of Sleep and Death to carry him back to Lycia for a proper burial (16.433–61 and 16.666–83). Patroclus’s death prompts a fight over his corpse that lasts for all of Book 17 and much of Book 18. Achilles then keeps the body of his friend with him, refusing to bury it until he kills Hector, so Thetis must intervene to preserve the corpse with nectar and ambrosia. Once he has his enemy’s corpse, Achilles not only refuses to bury it, but relentlessly drags it around the pyre of Patroclus for days, until Zeus intervenes to stop the abuse. When Achilles releases Hector’s body (which has been protected from harm by Apollo) to Priam, the way is clear for the poem to proceed to its thematic resolution with Hector’s funeral.
The theme of the unburied corpse has been present since the poem’s prologue, with its image of warriors’ dead bodies left as carrion on the battlefield, a specter that hovers over all the battles in the Iliad. In its broadest sense, the unburied corpse signifies an interruption in the process by which communities try to reclaim what they can of any human life through funeral rites, gathering the person into their collective memory. That process begins for Hector with the laments that conclude Book 22. But first, we must witness the beginning of Achilles’ vengeful abuse of Hector’s corpse.
Further Reading
De Jong, I. J. F. 2012. Homer: Iliad Book XXII, 140–141. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, M. 1987. Homer: Poet of the Iliad, 295–298. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Griffin, J. 1980. Homer on Life and Death, 19–21. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Redfield, J. 1975. Nature and Culture in the Iliad, 179–186. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Segal, C. 1973. The Theme of the Mutilation of the Corpse in the Iliad. Mnemosyne Supplements vol. 17. Leiden: Brill.
338: λίσσομ᾽: = λίσσομαι. ὑπὲρ: “by/in the name of” + gen.
339: μή … ἔᾱ: “don’t allow” + acc. and inf., = ἔα-ε, neg. command with 2nd sg. imperative > ἐάω. καταδάψαι: aor. inf. > κατα-δάπτω, devour.
340: δέδεξο: = δέδεκ-σο, pf. mid. imperative > δέχομαι.
341: δῶρα: in apposition to χαλκόν, χρυσόν. τά: “which…,” demonstrative pronoun used as a relative.
342: δόμεναι: aor. inf. (Att. δοῦναι) used as an imperative > δίδωμι. We find an imperatival infinitive when conventional social procedures are invoked (de Jong).
342–343: ὄφρα … λελάχωσι: “so that the Trojans and the wives of the Trojans might make me have a share of fire when I am dead,” i.e., allow me to be properly cremated. ὄφρα + reduplicated aor. subj. > λαγχάνω without κεν/ἄν in pure purpose clause (Monro 287.1.b).
343: θανόντα: acc. sg. aor. ptc. > θνήσκω.
345: μή με γούνων γουνάζεο: “don’t grasp me by the knees,” neg. mid. imperative, = γουνάζε(σ)ο. Achilles repeats γόνυ and the related verb γουνάζομαι in a derisive figura etymologica. κύον: vocative direct address. γούνων: “by the knees,” genitive with verb of grabbing and taking (Monro 151.a). τοκήων: “(on behalf of your) parents,” supply ὑπέρ, a response to line 338.
346: αἲ γάρ … ἀνήη: “would that (my mind) drove me…” + acc. and inf., i.e., “would that I were able to bring myself to….” ἀνήη (> ἀνίημι) is a unique form, evidently aorist indicative, making this an unattainable wish with εἰ/αἲ γὰρ (as in 6.345; see Goodell 470.a). Some editors print the optative ἀνείη, which would make it a straightforward wish (Goodell 477). αὐτόν: intensive with με, obj. of ἀνήη.
347: ὤμ’: = ὤμα, neut. adj., modifies κρέα, predicative (“eat your flesh raw”). ἔδμεναι: pres. inf. > ἔδω (Monro 85.2). οἷα ἔοργας: “the kinds of things you have done to me,” i.e. “because you have done me such wrong,” a syntactically loosely attached, explanatory οἷος-clause (de Jong). ἔοργας: 2nd sg. pf. > ἔρδω.
348: ὡς οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅς: “as there is not (anyone) who….” σῆς … κεφαλῆς: gen. of separation governed by ἀπό- of ἀπολέξω. ἀπαλάλκοι: “could ward off,” 3 sg. aor. 2 opt. > defective ἀπαλέξω, potential opt. without ἄν (Goodell 478)
349–350: εἴ κέν … στήσωσ’ … ὑπόσχωνται: “not even if they weigh … promise,” protasis of future-more-vivid condition with 3rd pl. aorist subjunctives > ἵστημι and ὑπ-ισχνέομαι. For ἵστημι = "weigh," see LSJ s.v. ἵστημι A. IV. καὶ ἄλλα: “other things also,” adverbial καί.
351–352: ἀνώγοι: opt. > ἄνωγα, perf. with pres. sense, “should order.” Achilles changes from subjunctive to optative to indicate that he considers the act of Priam offering Hector’s weight in gold as merely possible rather than very possible (de Jong). σ’ αὐτὸν: “you yourself,” i.e. your bodyweight. χρυσῷ: dat. of means. ἐρύσασθαι: “(your bodyweight) to be weighed out (in gold),” lit. “to be drawn.”
352: οὐδ᾽ὧς: “not even at this price” shall your mother place you on a funeral bed (Benner).
353: ἐνθεμένη λεχέεσσι: “having placed you on a bier,” nom. sg. aor. mid. ptc. > ἐν-τίθημι, dat. pl. governed by ἐν- of εν-τίθημι. ὃν: “whom…,” relative. τέκεν: unaugmented aor. > τίκτω. αὐτή: “she herself,” intensive.
354: κατὰ … δάσονται: “will divide up,” i.e. “will tear apart.” πάντα: “(you) completely,” modifies a missing (σε). This predicative use, “tear you apart you complete,” is best translated as an adverb.
355: τὸν δὲ: “this one,” Achilles.
356-7: οὐδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔμελλον / πείσειν: “as it seems, I was not going to persuade you.” For ἄρα + impf. as ex post facto realization see 22.301.
357: σοί γε: “your,” possessive dat. pronoun, γε emphasizes the clause. σιδήρεος: “(is) of iron” nom. predicate, supply ἐστί.
358: φράζεο: pres. mid. imperative. μή … γένωμαι: “lest I become…,” negative purpose clause with aor. subj. > γίγνομαι. τοὶ: = σοὶ, “against you,” dat. of interest. θεῶν μήνιμα: “a cause of wrath against you on the part of the gods.” θεῶν is a subjective gen. (Benner)
359: ἤματι τῷ: “on that day,” = ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἤματι, dat. of time when with a demonstrative (Goodell 527.c). ὅτε κέν … ὀλέσωσιν: “when they kill,” subjunctive + κε/ἄν in a general temporal clause (kindred with a future-more-vivid condition) (Monro 296), aor. subj. > ὄλλυμι.
360: ἐόντ᾽: “though being,” concessive ptc.
362: πταμένη: “flying,” nom. sg. dep. mid. aor. > πέτομαι. Ἀϊδόσδε: “to Hades’ (house).” The suffix -δε implies place to which (Monro 335.2). βεβήκει: “turned its step,” “approached,” unaugmented 3rd sg. plpf. act. > βαίνω, aorist in sense.
363: ὃν: = ἑόν, “his own,” possessive adj. > ἑός. γοόωσα, λιποῦσα: pres. and aor. ptc. modifying fem. ψυχή.
364: τὸν: “him,” Hector. καὶ τεθνηῶτα: “even though dead,” adverbial καὶ signals a concessive ptc., pf. > θνήσκω.
365: τέθναθι: “be dead,” pf. imperative > θνήσκω, which suggests a state of completed action. The imperative standing alone is abrupt and dismissive.
365–366: ὁππότε κεν δὴ: “whenever at all.” δή increases the indefiniteness of this general temporal clause (see line 359).
366: ἠδ’: “and,” joining the nominatives.
vocabulary
ὀλιγοδρανέων: able to do little, feeble, powerless
πρόσφημι, impf. προσέφη, aor. προσεῖπον or προσέειπον: speak to, address
κορυθαίολος: crest-waving, gleaming-crested
Ἕκτωρ: Hector, the most distinguished warrior of the Trojans, son of Priam and Hecabe, and husband of Andromache.
λίσσομαι: to beg, pray, entreat, beseech
γόνυ, gen. γόνατος or γούνατος: knee
τοκεύς –ῆος ὁ: a parent
κύων κυνός ὁ or ἡ: a dog
καταδάπτω, aor. inf. καταδάψαι: to rend in pieces, devour, tear
Ἀχαιός: Achaian340
χαλκός –οῦ ὁ: bronze
ἅλις: in heaps, crowds, swarms, in abundance, in plenty
χρυσός –οῦ ὁ: gold
δῶρον –ου τό: a gift, present
πότνια: mistress, honored
οἴκαδε: to one's home, home, homewards
ὄφρα: in order that; as long as, until
Τρῶες: Trojans
ἄλοχος -ου ἡ: wife
λαγχάνω λήξομαι ἔλαχον εἴληχα εἴληγμαι ἐλήχθην: to obtain by lot; to have one's fair share
ἄρα, ῥά (enclit.), ἄρ, ῥ᾿: so, then, as you know, you know, it seems. Very often it marks an action as natural, or reminds of something recently said. It also marks transitions.
ὑπόδρα: adv. with a sullen or grim look
ὠκύς ὠκεῖα ὠκύ: quick, swift, fleet
Ἀχιλλεύς -έως or -ῆος ὁ: Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis, leader of the Myrmidons and Hellenes in Thessaly, the mightiest warrior before Troy, and the principal hero of the Iliad.
γουνάζομαι, fut. γουνάσομαι: to implore, beseech345
μένος –εος τό: might, force, strength, prowess, courage
ἀνίημι, 2nd. pers. ind. ἀνιεῖς, fem. partic. ἀνιεῖσα, fut. ἀνήσει, aor. ἀνῆκε or ἀνέηκεν, aor. subj. ἀνήῃ, aor. partic. ἀνέντες: to let go, free, urge on
ὦμος: raw
ἀποτέμνω or ἀποτάμνω: to cut off, sever
κρέας τό: flesh, meat, a piece of meat
ἔδω: to eat
οἷος –α –ον: of what sort, what kind of, what, such as, as
ἔρδω: to do, accomplish, perform
ἀπαλέξω, 2nd aor. opt. ἀπαλάλκοι: to ward off
δεκάκις: ten-times, tenfold
εἰκοσινήριτος: twenty-fold
ἄποινα -ων τά: a ransom
ἐνθάδε: thither, hither, here, there350
ὑπισχνέομαι, aor. imp. ὑπόσχεο, aor. inf. ὑποσχέσθαι: to promise
ἐρύω: to drag, pull, tear; draw up, raise, balance
ἄνωγα (perf. as pres.), impf. ἄνωγον, plpf. as impf. ἠνώγει or ἀνώγειν: to command, order, bid
Δαρδανίδης –αο: a son or descendant of Dardanos
Πρίαμος: Priam, son of Laomedon. King of Troy.
ἐντίθημι, aor. ἔνθεο: to put in, set in
λέχος –εος τό: a couch, bed, bier
γοάω: to wail, groan, weep
οἰωνός: bird
δατέομαι: to divide, distribute
καταθνῄσκω, 2nd aor. κάτθανε, perf. κατατεθνήκασιν: to die355
προτιόσσομαι: to gaze upon
σιδήρεος: made of iron
φρήν φρενός ἡ: heart, mind
μήνιμα –ατος τό: a cause of wrath
ἦμαρ –ατος τό: day
Φοῖβος: Phoebus, epithet of Apollo
Ἀπόλλων: Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, brother of Artemis, God of the sun and light, of song, of herds, of the bow, and of health and disease. He favors the Trojans against the Greeks.
ἐσθλός –ή –όν: good, decent, honorable, noble, generous; capable, able; (of things) good, useful; (of words) wise, sensible360
ὄλλυμι, fut. ὀλεῖται, ὀλέσεις, aor. ὤλεσα, ὀλέσ(σ)ῃς, ὄλοντο, οὐλόμενος, perf. ὀλώλῃ: to ruin, destroy, kill, lose; mid. and perf. to be destroyed, perish, die
Σκαιαί: the Scaean Gate of Troy, the only gate of the city which Homer mentions by name. It appears to have faced the Greek camp, affording a view over the Trojan plain.
πύλη –ης ἡ: one wing of a pair of double gates; (pl.) gate
μιν: him, her, it
καλύπτω, aor. (ἐ)κάλυψε(ν): to cover with
ῥέθος –εος τό: a limb
πέτομαι, 2nd aor. ἔπτατο, aor. partic. πταμένη: to fly, speed on
ᾍδης, gen. Ἀίδεω and Ἄϊδος, dat. Ἄϊδι, Ἀϊδωνῆι: Hades, god of the unseen lower world. His realm is the home of the dead, and in the Iliad it is beneath the earth, while in the Odyssey Odysseus sails to it, across Oceanus, and finds in it a faint, ghostly imitation of life on earth.
ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her own
πότμος: fate, death
ἀνδρότης: manliness, manhood, courage
ἥβη: youthful prime, youth, vigor
προσαυδάω: to speak to, address
δῖος –α –ον: divine, noble, illustrious; marvelous, magnificent
κήρ κηρός ἡ: doom, death, fate365
ὁπότε: when
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus, son of Cronus, the husband and brother of Hera and the wisest and mightiest of the gods.
τελέω τελέσω ἐτέλεσα τετέλεκα τετέλεσμαι ἐτελέσθην: to complete, fulfil, accomplish
ἠδέ: and
ἀθάνατος -ον: undying, immortal, imperishable. οἱ ἀθάνατοι: the immortals