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.

    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: μήἔᾱ: “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: ὄφραλελάχωσι: “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 etymologicaκύον: 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 γάρἀνήη: “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….” σῆςκεφαλῆς: 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 κένστήσωσ’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. IVκαὶ 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: κατὰδάσονται: “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. μήγένωμαι: “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 κένὀλέσωσιν: “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.

    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

     

    article nav
    Previous
    Next

    Suggested Citation

    Thomas Van Nortwick and Geoffrey Steadman, Homer: Iliad 6 and 22. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-947822-11-5.https://dcc.dickinson.edu/homer-iliad/homer-iliad-xxii-337-366