ἦ ῥα, καὶ ἐκ νεκροῖο ἐρύσσατο χάλκεον ἔγχος,

καὶ τό γ᾽ ἄνευθεν ἔθηχ᾽, ὃ δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ὤμων τεύχε᾽ ἐσύλα

αἱματόεντ᾽: ἄλλοι δὲ περίδραμον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν,

οἳ καὶ θηήσαντο φυὴν καὶ εἶδος ἀγητὸν370

Ἕκτορος: οὐδ᾽ ἄρα οἵ τις ἀνουτητί γε παρέστη.

ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκεν ἰδὼν ἐς πλησίον ἄλλον:

ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δὴ μαλακώτερος ἀμφαφάασθαι

Ἕκτωρ ἢ ὅτε νῆας ἐνέπρησεν πυρὶ κηλέῳ.375

ὣς ἄρα τις εἴπεσκε καὶ οὐτήσασκε παραστάς.

τὸν δ᾽ ἐπεὶ ἐξενάριξε ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς,

στὰς ἐν Ἀχαιοῖσιν ἔπεα πτερόεντ᾽ ἀγόρευεν:

ὦ φίλοι Ἀργείων ἡγήτορες ἠδὲ μέδοντες

ἐπεὶ δὴ τόνδ᾽ ἄνδρα θεοὶ δαμάσασθαι ἔδωκαν,

ὃς κακὰ πόλλ᾽ ἔρρεξεν ὅσ᾽ οὐ σύμπαντες οἱ ἄλλοι,380

εἰ δ᾽ ἄγετ᾽ ἀμφὶ πόλιν σὺν τεύχεσι πειρηθῶμεν,

ὄφρά κ᾽ ἔτι γνῶμεν Τρώων νόον ὅν τιν᾽ ἔχουσιν,

ἢ καταλείψουσιν πόλιν ἄκρην τοῦδε πεσόντος,

ἦε μένειν μεμάασι καὶ Ἕκτορος οὐκέτ᾽ ἐόντος.

ἀλλὰ τί ἤ μοι ταῦτα φίλος διελέξατο θυμός;385

κεῖται πὰρ νήεσσι νέκυς ἄκλαυτος ἄθαπτος

Πάτροκλος: τοῦ δ᾽ οὐκ ἐπιλήσομαι, ὄφρ᾽ ἂν ἔγωγε

ζωοῖσιν μετέω καί μοι φίλα γούνατ᾽ ὀρώρῃ:

εἰ δὲ θανόντων περ καταλήθοντ᾽ εἰν Ἀΐδαο

αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ καὶ κεῖθι φίλου μεμνήσομ᾽ ἑταίρου.390

νῦν δ᾽ ἄγ᾽ ἀείδοντες παιήονα κοῦροι Ἀχαιῶν

νηυσὶν ἔπι γλαφυρῇσι νεώμεθα, τόνδε δ᾽ ἄγωμεν.

ἠράμεθα μέγα κῦδος: ἐπέφνομεν Ἕκτορα δῖον,

ᾧ Τρῶες κατὰ ἄστυ θεῷ ὣς εὐχετόωντο.

395

ἦ ῥα, καὶ Ἕκτορα δῖον ἀεικέα μήδετο ἔργα.

ἀμφοτέρων μετόπισθε ποδῶν τέτρηνε τένοντε

ἐς σφυρὸν ἐκ πτέρνης, βοέους δ᾽ ἐξῆπτεν ἱμάντας,

ἐκ δίφροιο δ᾽ ἔδησε, κάρη δ᾽ ἕλκεσθαι ἔασεν:

ἐς δίφρον δ᾽ ἀναβὰς ἀνά τε κλυτὰ τεύχε᾽ ἀείρας

μάστιξέν ῥ᾽ ἐλάαν, τὼ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀέκοντε πετέσθην.400

τοῦ δ᾽ ἦν ἑλκομένοιο κονίσαλος, ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται

κυάνεαι πίτναντο, κάρη δ᾽ ἅπαν ἐν κονίῃσι

κεῖτο πάρος χαρίεν: τότε δὲ Ζεὺς δυσμενέεσσι

δῶκεν ἀεικίσσασθαι ἑῇ ἐν πατρίδι γαίῃ.

    Achilles strips the armor, and other Greeks stab Hector's lifeless body. Achilles at first urges an immediate assault on the city but, remembering that Patroclus lies unburied back by the ships, suggests they return singing a song of thanksgiving, since they have killed the main Trojan champion. Achilles attaches Hector's corpse to the back of his chariot with ox-hide straps threaded through its pierced ankles and sets off, dragging the body behind.

    Achilles’ bloody armor, stripped off the dead body of yet another warrior, lies to one side, and the Myrmidons crowd around, desultorily stabbing Hector’s corpse. His voice is still in our ears, but now Hector is something like a grotesque tourist attraction, pathetically “softer to handle” (373).

    read full essay

    The contrast between the great man, vividly present just seconds before, and the inert thing on the ground, is stark and unsettling. An uneasy atmosphere pervades the immediate aftermath of Hector’s death, as the presence of the body seems to prompt Achilles—and so us—to ruminate about life and death and the eerie places in between.

    After the stabbing ends, Achilles wonders what the Trojans will do now, “since Hector no longer exists” (Ἕκτορος οὐκέτ᾽ ἐόντος, 384). In context this genitive absolute seems to raise some questions: If Hector is gone, what is that thing on the ground, and why is Achilles talking to it? Achilles is not the only warrior to talk to the corpse of his victim, nor is this the only time he does so (cf. 16.830–42 and 21.122–35). The speech might be aimed in part at the others standing around the body: a vaunt to affirm Achilles’ superior strength, to them and to himself. But in this passage, where our attention will be insistently focused on the connection between the living and the dead, we might well wonder if Achilles is not yet finished with Hector, that a part of him yearns for his enemy to remain present, in more than a lifeless body, to be the object of his hatred and abuse. He has been keeping Patroclus’ corpse with him, unburied, while he hunts down Hector. Now that he has the corpse of his enemy, he will soon bury his friend, as if one body could take the place of the other.

    The motives for holding the two bodies seem markedly different. Achilles’ postpones burial for Patroclus out of love. Keeping the body with him delays the moment when he must acknowledge that his friend is gone. This is one reason we have funerals, so we can help each other let go of the person who has died and move on with life. Refusing burial to Hector, by contrast, seems an act of pure hatred toward all the Trojans (who would thus not be able to say goodbye to their hero) and especially toward Hector himself. We learn in Book 23, when Patroclus’s psyche comes to Achilles, that the souls of dead warriors cannot find rest until their bodies are buried (23.69–74). So, while the Trojans yearn to honor Hector, his soul will be condemned to eternal wandering outside the gates of Hades.

    The second-self motif suggests yet another motive for keeping Hector’s body available for abuse. As we have said, Hector comes to embody for Achilles his own mortal nature, which he and Thetis both seek to deny. From this perspective, Achilles’ savage treatment of Hector’s corpse is on one level an act of self-loathing, reflecting his impatience with the limits that define human existence, the most important of those being mortality. And here the connection between his clinging to the two bodies becomes clear. It is no accident that Achilles’ acceptance of his own mortality (24.139–40) is the prelude to his releasing of Hector’s corpse to Priam. His love for Patroclus can only reach its fullest expression when he is able to accept who he really is, an acknowledgement signaled by his release of Hector’s body. His own tortured soul can only find rest when Hector’s does.

    The existential nature of the questions raised by the abuse of Hector’s corpse by the Myrmidons (369–71) and then by Achilles himself continue to surface in the verses that follow. Hector’s unburied body leads Achilles to think of Patroclus, who lies “unwept, unburied” (386), which leads in turn to the assertion that he, Achilles, will not forget his companion as long as he is alive, that though the dead forget the dead in Hades, “even there” he will not forget Patroclus (390). Typically for him, Achilles assumes that he will not be confined by the limits of ordinary human life. But his claim prompts further questions: What does it mean to be dead? Is there consciousness in Hades?

    After glorying in his victory and vowing to bury Patroclus with honor, Achilles turns back to the body on the ground:

    He pierced the back of both feet behind the tendons,
    between the ankle and the heel, and pulled ox-hide thongs through,
    then tied them to the back of the chariot, and let the head drag;
    climbing up, he lifted the famous armor inside,
    and whipped the horses to go; and they flew forward willingly.
    A cloud of dust rose as Hector’s head was dragged, and the dark hair
    was spread out on the ground; his whole head, before so handsome,
    lay in the dust; then Zeus gave him to his enemies
    to disfigure in his own fatherland.

    Iliad 22.396–404

    The clinical detail, entirely characteristic of Homer’s style, is devastating here. Hector, “before so handsome,” is now just a piece of meat to be flayed in the dust. The brutally swift transition from warm blood to cold flesh, from courageous warrior to dead weight, again fixes our attention on the boundary that defines human life, the site for much of the poem’s meditation on the limits and costs of heroic aggression. We are a long way from the Achilles who spared Andromache’s father (6.414–20).

    The death of Hector is the dramatic climax not only of Book 22, but of the entire Iliad. The rhythm of both, a dramatic climax some distance from the end, followed by a falling of tension while the implications of the climax are explored, is found in many works of archaic Greek literature. After Odysseus returns home from Troy, kills the suitors and reunites with Penelope, we then see the impact of his return on his family and household in the last books of the epic. In Sophocles’ Oedipus The King we witness Oedipus learning the terrible truth of his identity, and then what that knowledge does to his city and loved ones. Now that Hector is dead, we will see what his loss means to those who hated him and those who loved him.

     

    Further Reading

    Griffin, J. 1980. Homer on Life and Death, 84–85. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Nagler, M. 1974. Spontaneity and Tradition: The Oral Art of Homer, 156–164. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Redfield, J. 1975. Nature and Culture in the Iliad, 160–182. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

    Schein, S. 1984. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad, 154. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Van Nortwick, T. 2006. “Achilles at Work.” North Dakota Quarterly. 73.3: 8–20.

     

    367: ἦ: “he spoke,” 3rd sg impf. > ἠμί (Goodell 383).

    368: τό: “and this,” ἔγχος. ἔθηχ᾽: = ἔθηκε. ὃ δ᾽: Achilles.

    369: περίδραμον: “ran up and stood around,” aor. > περιτρέχω, only here in Homer (de Jong).

    370: οἳ καὶ: “who also,” relative. καί emphasizes the fact that the relative clause contains an addition to the information contained in the main clause (de Jong).

    371: οὐδ᾽ ἄρα οἵ τις ἀνουτητί γε παρέστη: “not one stood by without stabbing.” The litotes gives the statement a somewhat sardonic tone. οἵ: “beside him,” “him,” dat. governed by παρ- in compound παρ-ίστημι (Monro 145.6), the accent is due to the following τις. τις: “anyone.” παρέστη: 3rd sg. aor. > παρ-ίστημι.

    372: τις εἴπεσκεν: “many a man would say,” -σκ- indicates iterative aor. (Monro 48–49), τις and the verb suggest that the one speech which is quoted represents many similar speeches (de Jong). ἐς: “at.”

    373: ἦ μάλα δὴ: see 22.229. μαλακώτερος ἀμφαφάασθαι: “(Hector is) softer to handle,” i.e. easier to wound, explanatory (epexegetical) infinitives with μαλακώτερος (Goodell 565).

    374: Ἕκτωρ: supply a linking verb ἐστί. : “than,” following μαλακώτερος. ἐνέπρησεν: aor. > ἐμ-πίμπρημι, a verb unattested in the present. πυρὶ κηλέῳ: dat. of means.

    375: τις εἴπεσκε: see line 372. οὐτήσασκε: “(each) would stab,” “wound,” another iterative aor. with -σκ-. παραστάς: aor. ptc. > παρίστημι.

    379: ἐπεὶ δὴ: “since in fact,” δή indicates that what Achilles says is evident to both himself and his addressees (de Jong). ἔδωκαν: i.e. allowed, 3rd pl. aor. > δίδωμι.

    380: ὃς: relative. κακὰ πόλλ᾽ὅσ᾽ οὐ: “many evils, as many as all the rest did not do,” i.e. “more evils than all the rest.” ἔρρεξεν: aor. > ῥέζω.

    381: εἰ δ᾽ ἄγετε: “now come…,” εἰ with an imperative (usually in connection with ἄγε/ ἄγετε) functions as an interjection. πειρηθῶμεν: “let us make trial of,” “attack,” hortatory subj., aor. pass. with mid. sense > πειράω, supply gen. object Τρώων.

    382: ὄφρά κ’γνῶμεν: “so that we may know” (Monro 287.1.b). νόον ὅν τιν᾽ ἔχουσιν: lit. “the mind of the Trojans, whichever they have,” proleptic use of νόον. ἔτι: “further,” as the next step (Monro).

    383–384:ἦε: “whether … or,” in apposition, introducing an alternative indirect question with the indicative.

    383: πόλιν ἄκρην: “the acropolis.” To abandon it was to desert the city entirely. Cp. 24.383 ff. (Monro). τοῦδε πεσόντος: gen. abs., “now that this man has fallen.”

    384: μεμάασι: “they are eager,” 3rd pl. > μέμονα, reduplicated perf. with pres. sense (Monro 36.5). καὶἐόντος: “although…,” gen. absolute, concessive in force. 

    385: τί ἤ: “why indeed?” see 22.122. μοι: “with me.” φίλος: “my own,” “my dear,” as often, this adj. carries the meaning of a possessive.

    386–387: note the forceful lack of connectives (a figure called asyndeton).

    387: τοῦ δ᾽: Patroclus, genitive with verb of forgetting (Goodell 511.b). ἐπιλήσομαι: fut. > ἐπιλανθάνομαι. ὄφρ᾽: “as long as,” conditional temporal clause with ἄν + subj. (μετέω and ὀρώρῃ in the next line).

    388: μετέω: 1st sg. pres. subj. > μέτειμι, “am among” + dat.  μοι φίλα γούνατ’ ὀρώρῃ: “my limbs have power to move.” ὀρώρῃ: 3rd sg. pf. subj. > ὄρνυμι. The pf. ὄρωρα means “move, stir oneself.” See LSJ s.v. ὄρνυμι A.1

    389: The subject of καταλήθοντ(αι) is indefinite: “they forget” (Benner). “Men forget,” to be taken closely with εἰν Ἀΐδαο: “if the dead forget their dead, so will not I” (Monro).

    390: καὶ κεῖθι: “even there,” -θι indicates place where, i.e. when Achilles is dead. μεμνήσομ’: = μεμνήσομαι, “will remember” + gen., fut. > μιμνήσκομαι.

    391: νῦν δ’ ἄγ’: introduces imperatives and hortatory constructions (see 22.174). παιήονα: a paean, a song of thanksgiving, cp. 1.473 (Monro).

    392: νεώμεθαἄγωμεν: “let us go and bring,” hortatory subjunctives.

    393: ἠράμεθα: “we have carried off,” i.e. “we have won,” aor. mid. > αἴρω (Att. ἀείρω). ἠράμεθαἐπέφνομεν: the asyndeton is expressive and adds weight to ἐπέφνομεν. As the scholiast notes, the use of the plural “makes the victory a common one, in a typically Greek way” (de Jong). ἐπέφνομεν: 1st pl. reduplicated aorist > θείνω (Monro 36.5).

    394: : “to whom,” obj of εὐχετόωντο. κατὰ: “throughout” (Monro 212.1). θεῷ ὣς: “as if to a god,” “like a god,” anastrophe. εὐχετόωντο: “prayed to” + dat., unaugmented impf. > εὐχετάομαι (= εὔχομαι).—

    395: : “he spoke,” 3rd sg impf. > ἠμί (Goodell 383). ἀεικέαἔργα: “disfiguring deeds,” it does not so much imply wrong deeds (for Achilles to commit) as shameful deeds (for Hector to suffer) (de Jong). μήδετο: “devised (+ acc) for (+ acc),” governs a double acc., unaugmented dep. mid. impf. (Goodell 534).

    396–398: “He pierced the tendons of both feet at the back from heel to ankle, attached straps of ox-hide (to the pierced feet), bound (the straps) to his chariot, and let the head drag (over the ground)” (de Jong).

    396: τέτρηνε: unaugmented aor. > τετραίνω. τένοντε: dual acc.

    397: ἐξῆπτεν: impf. > ἐξ-άπτω.

    398: κάρη: acc. sg. neut.

    399: ἀναβὰς: nom. sg. aor. ptc. > ἀναβαίνω. ἀνάἀείρας: tmesis, aor. ptc. > ἀναίρω, ἀνά often means “up and off” or “off.”

    400: μάστιξέν ῥ’ ἐλάαν: “he whipped (the horses) to make them go,” "whipped his steeds to a run" (Benner). ἐλάαν: pres. inf. > ἐλαύνω, here a loosely attached inf. of purpose (Goodell 565). τὼοὐκ ἀέκοντε πετέσθην: “these two (horses) sped on not unwillingly,” dual nom. with impf. 3rd pers. dual.

    401: τοῦἦν ἑλκομένοιο κονίσαλος: “there was a cloud of dust of him (Hector) as he was dragged,” i.e. “a cloud of dust arose created by him being dragged.” ἀμφὶ δὲ: “and round (about),” adverbial.

    402: πίτναντο: “streamed,” impf. > πίτνημι.

    402–403: ἅπανχαρίεν: modify neuter κάρη. πάρος χαρίεν: “formerly beautiful.”

    403: κεῖτο: impf. > κεῖμαι. δυσμενέεσσι δῶκεν: “gave (him) to the enemy.”

    404: ἀεικίσσασθαι: “to disfigure, abuse” a loosely attached aor. mid. infinitive of purpose (Goodell 565). ἑῇ: “his,” Hector’s, possessive > ἑός.

    ἠμί, impf. ἦ: to say, speak. ἦ καί is used after a speech that is reported, where the same subject is continued for the following verb.

     

    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.

     

    νεκρός –οῦ ὁ: a dead body, corpse

     

    ἐρύω: to drag, pull, tear; draw up, raise, balance

     

    χάλκεος: of bronze, bronze

     

    ἔγχος –εος τό: spear, lance

     

    ἄνευθε: without; far away (+gen)

     

    ὦμος ὤμου ὁ: shoulder (with the upper arm)

     

    τεῦχος –εος τό: (pl.) arms, armour

     

    συλάω: to strip off

     

    αἱματόεις: bloody, covered with blood

     

    περιτρέχω, aor. περίδραμον: to run up from every side

     

    Ἀχαιός: Achaian

     

    θεάομαι or θηέομαι, aor. θηήσαντο: to gaze in wonder at, admire370

     

    φυή: growth, stature

     

    ἀγητός: admirable, wondrous

     

    Ἕκτωρ: Hector, the most distinguished warrior of the Trojans, son of Priam and Hecabe, and husband of Andromache.

     

    οἱ (enclitic, dat. 3rd pers. pron.): (to) him, (to) her

     

    ἀνουτητί: adv. without dealing a wound

     

    παρίστημι: to make to stand

     

    πλησίος –α –ον: near, close to

     

    πόποι: alas!

     

    μαλακός: soft, gentle

     

    ἀμφαφάομαι, inf. ἀμφαφάεσθαι: to handle

     

    ἐμπρήθω, impf. ἐνέπρηθον, fut. ἐμπρήσειν, aor. ἐνέπρησε(ν): to set fire to, burn

     

    κήλεος: burning, blazing

     

    οὐτάω: to wound, hurt, hit375

     

    ἐξεναρίζω, aor. ἐξενάριξε(ν): to strip of armor, despoil; to lay low

     

    ποδαρκής –ές: swiftfooted, epithet of Achilles

     

    δῖος –α –ον: divine, noble, illustrious; marvelous, magnificent

     

    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.

     

    πτερόεις πτερόεσσα πτερόεν: feathered, winged

     

    ἀγορεύω, aor. ἀγόρευσε: to speak, say, tell

     

    φίλος –η –ον: friend; loved, beloved, dear

     

    Ἀργεῖος –η –ον: of/from Argos, Argive

     

    ἡγήτωρ –ορος ὁ: a leader, commander, chief

     

    ἠδέ: and

     

    μέδων –οντος ὁ: leader, counselor, commander

     

    δαμάζω: to overpower, tame, conquer, subdue

     

    ῥέζω: to do, perform, offer380

     

    σύμπας –πᾶσα –πᾶν: all together, all at once, all in a body

     

    ἄγε: come! come on! well!

     

    ὄφρα: in order that; as long as, until

     

    Τρῶες: Trojans

     

    νόος: mind, perception

     

    καταλείπω, fut. καταλείψουσι, 2nd aor. κάλλιπον: to leave behind, abandon

     

    ἄκρος –α –ον: uttermost, topmost, highest, at the top, end, edge, or surface of; πόλις ἄκρη, ἄκρη πόλις, 'upper city' (=ἀκρόπολις)

     

    μέμαα, perf.: to be eager, rush on impetuously. μεμαότες: eager

     

    τίη: why? wherefore?385

     

    διαλέγω διαλέξω ἐδιάλεξω ἐδιάλεχα ἐδιάλεγμαι ἐδιαλέχθην: to pick out one from another, to pick out

     

    νέκυς -υος ὁ: a dead body, a corpse, corse

     

    ἄκλαυστος –ον: unwept

     

    ἄθαπτος –ον: unburied

     

    Πάτροκλος: Patroclus, son of Menoetius and Opus and comrade of Achilles. He is slain by Hector.

     

    ἐπιλανθάνομαι, fut. ἐπιλήσομαι: to forget (+gen)

     

    ζωός or ζώς: alive, living

     

    μέτειμι: be among; (+dat and gen) have a share in

     

    γόνυ, gen. γόνατος or γούνατος: knee

     

    ὄρνυμι: to stir, stir up

     

    καταλήθομαι: to forget utterly

     

    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.

     

    ἀτάρ: but, yet390

     

    ἐκεῖθι: there, in that place

     

    ἑταῖρος –ου ὁ: a comrade, companion, mate

     

    ἀείδω, impf. ἄειδον: to sing

     

    παιήων –ονος ὁ: song of thanksgiving, paean

     

    κόρος or κοῦρος -ου ὁ: boy, young man

     

    γλαφυρός -ά, -όν: hollow, hollowed

     

    νέομαι: to go

     

    κῦδος -εος τό: glory, renown

     

    θείνω, aor. ἔπεφνον, πέφνε, inf. πεφνέμεν: to strike, beat, wound; to batter, kill (only in forms with redupl. πεφ-)

     

    ἄστυ ἄστεος τό: a city, town

     

    εὐχετάομαι, inf. εὐετάασθαι: to pray

     

    ἀεικής: unseemly, shameful; adv. ἀικῶς, in an unseemly way, horribly395

     

    μήδομαι, aor. μήσατο: to contrive, plan

     

    μετόπισθε: from behind, backwards, back + gen.

     

    τετραίνω, aor. τέτρηνε: to bore through, pierce

     

    τένων –οντος ὁ: tendon

     

    σφυρόν: the ankle

     

    πτέρνη: heel

     

    βόειος: of oxhide

     

    ἐξάπτω, impf. ἐξῆπτεν: to attach

     

    ἱμάς –άντος ὁ: a strap

     

    δίφρος: footboard of a chariot, chariot box, chariot; stool, low seat

     

    κάρη κρατός τό: head

     

    ἕλκω: to draw, drag

     

    ἀναβαίνω: to go up, mount, to go up to

     

    κλυτός –ή –όν: famed, glorious, magnificent

     

    ἀείρω: to lift, heave, raise up

     

    μαστίζω, aor. μάστιξεν: to whip400

     

    ἀέκων –ουσα –ον: against one's will, unwilling

     

    πέτομαι, 2nd aor. ἔπτατο, aor. partic. πταμένη: to fly, speed on

     

    κονίσαλος: a cloud of dust

     

    χαίτη: (pl.) hair, mane

     

    κυάνεος: dark-blue, dark, black

     

    πίτνημι, impf. pass. πίτναντο: to spread out, float

     

    κονία or κονίη: dust, a cloud of dust

     

    πάρος: before, formerly

     

    χαρίεις –ίεσσα –ίεν: graceful, beautiful, pleasing; superl. χαριέστατος

     

    Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus, son of Cronus, the husband and brother of Hera and the wisest and mightiest of the gods.

     

    δυσμενής –ές: hostile, evil-minded; (pl.) enemies

     

    ἀεικίζω, fut. ἀεικιῶ, aor. subj. ἀεικίσσωσι, aor. mid. inf. ἀεικίσσασθαι: to treat unseemly, insult, disfigure

     

    ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her own

     

    γαῖα –ας ἡ: a land, country

     

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    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-367-404