The Death of Achilles

After the death of Hector, Achilles himself was not destined to a long life, but the Iliad concludes with the funeral rites of Hector and makes no mention of Achilles' death which is simply touched upon in the Odyssey (Book III, line 102) when Telemachus, Odysseus' son, visits Nestor, a leader during the Trojan War, who says:"Our best men all of them fell there - Ajax, Achilles..." But it was the Greek poet Arctinus who in his lost epics "Aethiopis" and "Iliupersis" ("Sack of Troy") took up the story of the Iliad and related that Achilles, having slain the Ethiopian king Memnon and the Amazon Penthesilea, was himself slain by Priam's son Paris, whose arrow was guided by Apollo. According to legend we read in Hyginus'Fabulae, (compiled from Arctinus), Polyxena, one of the daughters of King Priam, perhaps on occasion of the truce which was allowed the Trojans for the burial of Hector, went with her brother Troilus to a fountain where he watered his horse. Achilles appeared and slew Troilus. When Achilles caught sight of Polyxena, he fell in love with her and to win her in marriage, it is said (but not by Homer) that he agreed to influence the Greeks to make peace with Troy. While the hero was in the temple of Apollo negotiating the marriage, Paris, Polyxena' s brother, discharged at him a poisoned arrow, which, guided by Apollo, fatally wounded him in the heel. This was in fact his only vulnerable spot, for Thetis, having dipped him when an infant in the river Styx, had rendered every part of him invulnerable, except that by which she held him.

This study examines the death of Achilles in ancient myth, focusing on the hero's imperfect invulnerability. It is concluded that this concept is of late origin, perhaps of the Hellenistic period. Early evidence about Achilles' infancy does not suggest that he was made invulnerable, and early evidence concerning his death apparently indicates that Achilles was wounded more than once. The story of Achilles' heel as we know it is therefore late, though it is demonstrable that certain themes and motifs of earlier traditions about Achilles were preserved in later traditions. What caused the concept of Achilles' imperfect invulnerability to emerge, it is proposed, was the late story in which the hero is ambushed in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo. Certainly Achilles was wounded in the lower leg in early Greek myth. An explanation is needed if this does not reflect the story of his imperfect invulnerability, and the arguments of several scholars are surveyed. The theory that the "swift-footed" hero was first immobilized by a lower wound before being slain is ultimately favored, though it is suggested that invulnerable armor and poison may have played a role. A comparative approach to myth and ritual is employed, with attention given to evidence from various areas (e.g., Scythia, the Near East) and ages (Proto-IndoEuropean to modern) in an effort to illuminate stories about the infancy and death of Achilles. The study also assesses two alleged reflections in the Iliad of Achilles' death, the death of Patroclus in Book 16 and the wounding of Diomedes in Book 11. The evidence in ancient art and literature about the death of Achilles is often obscure, but this exploration of continuity and innovation in myth about Achilles should assist our understanding of it.

King Priam and Queen Hecuba Priam - King of Troy and husband of Hecuba, Priam is the father of fifty Trojan warriors, including Hector and Paris. Though too old to fight, he has

earned the respect of both the Trojans and the Achaeans by virtue of his levelheaded, wise, and benevolent rule. He treats Helen kindly, though he laments the war that her beauty has sparked. Hecuba - Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, and mother of Hector and Paris Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War, according to Greek Mythology. He had numbers of wives and children. Among his children Hector was his eldest son by Hecuba who was heir to the Trojan throne. Priam had fifty sons and 50 daughters. His sons which were mentioned by Homer are, Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, Helenus, Polydorus, Troilus, Polites, Hippothous, Kebriones, Gorgythion, Agathon, Mestor, Chromius, Doryclus, Democoon, Antiphus, Lycaon, Pammon, Dius, Isus, Antiphonus and Echemmon. His daughters which were mentioned by Homer are Cassandra, Laodice and Medesicaste. Hecuba was the wife of Priam, King of Troy therefore she was the queen in Greek Mythology. Priam and Hecuba had nineteen children. She was the mother of Hector.

King Tyndaraeus

As Hecuba was busy popping out kids, Zeus was also getting busy with a woman named Leda. Now, Leda was the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta. She had two children with him, Castor and Clytemnestra (who later became Agamemnons wife). One day, Zeus visited her in the form of a swan. Why a swan, I dont knowto avoid suspicion from Hera, or so King Tyndareus wouldnt knowwho knows, it was Zeus. Wham, bang, feathers flew, and Leda had two more kids, Pollux and Helen. Now, heres the catch. Tyndareus thought they were his kids. And so, the plot thickens! Lets let Helen grow up. Ok. Shes grown now. Naturally, Helen is HOT. She is a smokin an everyone wants her. All the kings and noble men from far and wide come to make pledges and seek the hand of Helen in marriage. There are so many that Tyndareus doesnt know what to do. He fears that if selects one, all the others will rise up against him. He finally gets all of the suitors to swear an oath that they will abide by his selection and if ever Helen is in trouble they will come to her aide regardless of whom Tyndareus chooses to be her husband. They swear and Tyndareus chooses Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, and even goes so far as to name him (Menelaus) the new King of Spartabut thats another storyo is beside himself and doesnt know what to do. Finally he makes a plan. He gets all the suitors together and says that he will make a the decision for Helen. Hector and Cassandra

In the Iliad, Homer calls him "breaker of horses," largely to maintain the meter of his lines and because Troy in general was known for horse raising. Hector is never specifically shown breaking horses. With his wife, Andromache, he fathered Astyanax. He had a horse named Lampos and friends named Misenus andPoludamas. His charioteer was Cebriones, his half-brother. Hector provides a stark contrast for Achilles, who was from first to last a man of war. Hector represents Troy and what it stood for. Some modern

scholars have even suggested that he, not Achilles, is the true hero of the Iliad. Hector was fighting, not for personal glory, but in defense of his homeland. His rebuke to Poludamas, "Fight for your country - that is the first and only omen" became a proverb to patriotic Greeks. Through him we can see glimpses of what life in Troy and elsewhere in the Bronze Age Mediterranean civilization depicted by Homer might have been like in more peaceful times. The scene where he bids farewell to his wife Andromache and his infant son is one of the more moving scenes in the Iliad. During the Trojan War, Hector killed Protesilaus and was wounded by Ajax. In the portion of the war described in the Iliad, he fights with many of the Greek warriors and usually (but not always) succeeds in killing or wounding his opponent. Nonetheless, Hector's fate is never in doubt. Achilles, raging over the death of Patroclus, kills him and drags his body around the walls of Troy. Ultimately, with the assistance of the god Hermes, Priam convinces Achilles to permit him to bury Hector. The final passage in the Iliad is his funeral, after which the doom of Troy is just a matter of time. In the final sack of Troy, as described in Book II of the Aeneid, his father and many of his brothers are killed, his son is hurled from the walls in fear that he would avenge Hector, and his wife is carried off by Neoptolemus to live as a slave. Cassandra was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the king and queen of Troy. Cassandra was the most beautiful of Priam's daughters, and the god Apollo*f fell in love with her. Apollo promised Cassandra the gift of prophecy if she would agree to give herself to him. Cassandra accepted Apollo's gift but then refiised his advances. Apollo was furious, but he could not take back the powers he had given her. Instead he cursed her, proclaiming that although she would be able to tell the future accurately, no one would believe her. Before announcing her prophecies, Cassandra went into a type of trance that made her family believe she was insane. In Homer's Iliad * , Cassandra predicted many of the events of the Trojan War*. Priam's son Paris planned a trip to Sparta. Cassandra warned against it, but her warnings were ignored. Paris traveled to Sparta, where he kidnapped Helen, starting the war with Greece. Cassandra later predicted Troy's defeat and warned the Trojans not to accept the Greek gift of the Trojan horse. Again she was ignored, and Greek troops hidden inside the wooden horse captured the city. During the battle, a Greek soldier known as Ajax the Lesser* raped Cassandra in the temple of Athena*. Athena later punished Ajax and his men for the deed. During the Trojan War, Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam of Troy, was attacked by Ajax the Lesser in the Temple of Athena. The scene is illustrated in this painting from a house in Italy. After the Greek victory, Cassandra was given to the Greek leader Agamemnon* as a prize. She bore Agamemnon two sons and later returned to Greece with him. However, she also predicted that a terrible fate awaited Agamemnon and herself. When they reached Agamemnon's home in Mycenae, they were both murdered by Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus

The Symbol of the Golden Apple Eris, who is Discord. She came, however. At the games that followed the wedding feast she threw a golden apple of Discord inscribed with the word "Kallisti" "For the fairest" into the party, provoking a squabble among the attendant goddesses over for whom it had been meant. Each of the three goddesses who was there wished to be known as the fairest and each claimed the golden apple--Aphrodite who inspired love; Athena who gave wisdom; and Hera who was the wife of Zeus, the greatest of the gods. But no one at the wedding would judge between the goddesses and say which was the fairest. And then the shepherd Paris came by, and him the guests asked to give judgment. Said Hera to Paris, Award the apple to me and I will give you a great kingship. Said Athena, Award the golden apple to me and I will make you the wisest of men. And Aphrodite came to him and whispered, Paris, dear Paris, let me be called the fairest and I will make you beautiful, and the fairest woman in the world will be your wife. Paris looked on Aphrodite and in his eyes she was the fairest. To her he gave the golden apple and ever afterwards she was his friend. But Hera and Athena departed from the company in wrath.

Eris The goddess Eris (Discord) was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles parents), so in revenge she threw a golden apple inscribed for the fairest into the banquet hall, knowing it would cause trouble. All the goddesses present claimed it for themselves, but the choice came down to threeAphrodite, Athena, and Hera. They asked Zeus to make the final decision, but he wisely refused. According to the Iliad, she wanders about, at first small and insignificant, but she soon raises her head up to heaven (iv. 441). She is the friend and sister of Ares, and with him she delights in the tumult of war, increasing the moaning of men. (iv. 445, v. 518, xx. 48.) She is insatiable in her desire for bloodshed, and after all the other gods have withdrawn from the battle-field, she still remains rejoicing over the havoc that has been made. (v. 518, xi. 3, &c., 73.) According to Hesiod (Theog. 225, &c.), she was a daughter of Night, and the poet describes her as the mother of a variety of allegorical beings, which are the causes or representatives of man's misfortunes. It was Eris who threw the apple into the assembly of the gods, the cause of so much suffering and war. Virgil introduces Discordia as a being similar to the Homeric Eris; for Discordia appears in company with Mars, Bellona, and the Furies, and Virgil is evidently imitating Homer. (Aen.. viii. 702; Serv. Aen. i. 31, vi. 280.)

Chryseis and Briseis

Achilles loves Briseis (and Briseis was said to love him back), comparing their relationship with that of man and wife (he refers to her as his bride and wife often) and explicitly to that of Menelaus and Helen, which was, after all, what the war is about.

Achilles is angry at Agamemnon, and seethes with rage in his tent: made furious by the thought of Agamemnon sleeping with Briseis. When Achilles returns to the fighting to avenge Patroclus' death and Agamemnon returns Briseis to him, Agamemnon swears to Achilles that he and Briseis never shared a bed.[3] Briseis was among those to lament and mourn over the death of Patroclus. She remained with Achilles until his death. His death plunged her into great grief and she took it upon herself to prepare Achilles for the afterlife. In medieval romances, starting with the Roman de Troie, Briseis becomes Briseida[4] and is the daughter of Calchas. She loves and is loved by Troilus and then Diomedes. She is later confused with Chryseisand it is under variations of that name that the character is developed further, becoming Shakespeare's Cressida. The poet invokes a muse to aid him in telling the story of the rage of Achilles, the greatest Greek hero to fight in the Trojan War. The narrative begins nine years after the start of the war, as the Achaeans sack a Trojan-allied town and capture two beautiful maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Achaean army, takes Chryseis as his prize. Achilles, one of the Achaeans most valuable warriors, claims Briseis. Chryseiss father, a man named Chryses who serves as a priest of the god Apollo, begs Agamemnon to return his daughter and offers to pay an enormous ransom. When Agamemnon refuses, Chryses prays to Apollo for help. Apollo sends a plague upon the Greek camp, causing the death of many soldiers. After ten days of suffering, Achilles calls an assembly of the Achaean army and asks for a soothsayer to reveal the cause of the plague. Calchas, a powerful seer, stands up and offers his services. Though he fears retribution from Agamemnon, Calchas reveals the plague as a vengeful and strategic move by Chryses and Apollo. Agamemnon flies into a rage and says that he will return Chryseis only if Achilles gives him Briseis as compensation. Agamemnons demand humiliates and infuriates the proud Achilles. The men argue, and Achilles threatens to withdraw from battle and take his people, the Myrmidons, back home to Phthia. Agamemnon threatens to go to Achilles tent in the armys camp and take Briseis himself. Achilles stands poised to draw his sword and kill the Achaean commander when the goddess Athena, sent by Hera, the queen of the gods, appears to him and checks his anger. Athenas guidance, along with a speech by the wise advisor Nestor, finally succeeds in preventing the duel. That night, Agamemnon puts Chryseis on a ship back to her father and sends heralds to have Briseis escorted from Achilles tent. Achilles prays to his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, to ask Zeus, king of the gods, to punish the Achaeans. He relates to her the tale of his quarrel with Agamemnon, and she promises to take the matter up with Zeus who owes her a favoras soon as he returns from a thirteen-day period of feasting with the Aethiopians. Meanwhile, the Achaean commander Odysseus is navigating the ship that Chryseis has boarded. When he lands, he returns the maiden and makes sacrifices to Apollo. Chryses, overjoyed to see his daughter, prays to the god to

lift the plague from the Achaean camp. Apollo acknowledges his prayer, and Odysseus returns to his comrades. But the end of the plague on the Achaeans only marks the beginning of worse suffering. Ever since his quarrel with Agamemnon, Achilles has refused to participate in battle, and, after twelve days, Thetis makes her appeal to Zeus, as promised. Zeus is reluctant to help the Trojans, for his wife, Hera, favors the Greeks, but he finally agrees. Hera becomes livid when she discovers that Zeus is helping the Trojans, but her son Hephaestus persuades her not to plunge the gods into conflict over the mortals. Tamer of Horses In 1817, 11 years after the Liverpool-born horse anatomist and painter died, a whole troop of horses went on display in London that eclipsed anything a British recorder of horseflesh might do. These horses were attributed to the ancient Greeksculptor Phidias, who probably was responsible for the design of the marble frieze taken from the Acropolis in Athens by the British diplomat Lord Elgin after paying off the Turkish rulers of Greece. Acquired by parliament for the British Museum, the frieze from the Parthenon - built at the command of Pericles in 500BC after the Persians sacked the old temples on the citadel - was regarded by Hanoverian neoclassicists as the single greatest achievement of ancient Greek art. This judgment stands. Today, you can walk along the parade of horses in Bloomsbury and marvel. Horses have never been portrayed with more variety, character and life than they were by Greek stone carvers two and a half millennia ago. It's a cliche to call classical art "chilly", almost as cliched as calling marble "cold". The Elgin Marbles disprove both received ideas. Some horses raise their heads proudly, others blow downward furiously; one strains, another is sedate. The young men riding them - mostly robed, but some nude - turn and talk or struggle with an unruly mount. All of them, though, maintain control, finally. Why do horses figure so largely on these stones? Why so many, in such proud array? The frieze probably depicts the Great Panathenaic procession that made its way up to the Acropolis every four years. This ideal image of the world's first democracy is typically seen as an assertion of order against the forces of chaos, the cavalcade of riders always on the edge of breaking ranks - a triumph of hard-won harmony and balance, like the doric Parthenon itself up there in the blue sky. I think there's a simpler explanation. The Athenians are showing off. They are boasting how well their young men can ride. The presence of these riders is a mystery - the real procession involved infantry, who are absent. The display of horsemanship seems connected to the Panathenaic games. Naked riding was an Olympic sport. There's a gratuitous, free spirit to the marble horse riders - a pride in achievement for the sake of it, just like the Greek athletic spirit the modern Olympics dimly echo. Taming and riding horses was a matter of great pride in ancient Greece. In Homer's Iliad, the hero Hector is given the epithet "tamer of horses". In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles

praises man, wonder of the world, who has tamed "shaggy-maned horses". You see those same shaggy-maned horses portrayed, 2,000 years before the Parthenon, on the Standard of Ur. This isn't really a standard but a box, whose purpose and even original shape are unknown, discovered by British archaeologists in Iraq in the late 1920s. Its scenes, inlaid in blue lapis lazuli, red limestone and shell, are among the oldest representations of human society that exist depicting everyday life in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. Horses are shown pulling chariots. No one rides them, though. The Sumerians can't make that boast. Astyanax Hector also prepares to return but first visits his wife, Andromache, whom he finds nursing their son Astyanax by the walls of the city. As she cradles the child, she anxiously watches the struggle in the plain below. Andromache begs Hector not to go back, but he insists that he cannot escape his fate, whatever it may be. He kisses Astyanax, who, although initially frightened by the crest on Hectors helmet, greets his father happily. Hector then departs. Andromache, convinced that he will soon die, begins to mourn his death. Hector meets Paris on his way out of the city, and the brothers prepare to rejoin the battle. As Andromache nurses baby Astyanax, the audience is reminded of the way in which war separates families and deprives the innocent. When Hector hastily removes his crested helmet upon seeing how it frightens Astyanax, we realize that this great warrior, who has just affirmed his glorious aspirations and his iron will to fight, also possesses a tender side. The scene at once relieves the tension heightened by the descriptions of battle and emphasizes these battles tragic gravity. In Greek mythology, Astyanax was the son of Hector, Crown Prince of Troy and PrincessAndromache of Cilician Thebe.[1] His birth name was Scamandrius (in Greek or , after the river Scamander[2]), but the people of Troynicknamed him Astyanax (i.e. high king, or overlord, of the city), because he was the son of the city's great defender (Iliad VI, 403) and the heir apparent's firstborn son. During the Trojan War, Andromache hid the child in Hector's tomb but the child was discovered, and his fate was debated by the Greeks, for if he were allowed to live, it was feared he would avenge his father and rebuild Troy.[2] In the version given by the Little Iliad and repeated by Pausanias (x 25.4), he was killed by Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus), who threw the infant from the walls.[1] Another version is given in Iliou persis. It has also been depicted in some Greek vases that Neoptolemus killsPriam, who has taken refuge near a sacred altar, using Astyanax's dead body to club the old king to death, in front of horrified onlookers.[3] In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the child is thrown from the walls by the Greek victors (13, 413ff). In Euripides's The Trojan Women (719 ff), the herald Talthybius reveals to Andromache that Odysseus has convinced the council to have the child thrown from the walls, and the child is in this way killed. In Seneca's version of The

Trojan Women, the prophet Calchasdeclares that Astyanax must be thrown from the walls if the Greek fleet is to be allowed favorable winds (36570), but once led to the tower, the child himself leaps off the walls (11003). Other sources for the story of the Sack of Troy and Astyanax's death can be found in the Bibliotheca (PseudoApollodorus), Hyginus (Fabula 109),Tryphiodorus (Sack of Troy 6446).
[4]

HELEN OF TROY Throughout time, men have waged war. Some for power, some for glory, some for honor - and some for love. In ancient Greece, the passion of two of literature's most notorious lovers, Paris, Prince of Troy and Helen , Queen of Sparta, ignites a war that will devastate a civilization. When Paris spirits Helen away from her husband, King Menelaus , it is an insult that cannot be suffered. Familial pride dictates that an affront to Menelaus is an affront to his brother Agamemnon , powerful King of the Mycenaeans, who soon unites all the massive tribes of Greece to steal Helen back from Troy in defense of his brother's honor. In truth, Agamemnon's pursuit of honor is corrupted by his overwhelming greed - he needs to conquer Troy to seize control of the Aegean, thus ensuring the supremacy of his already vast empire. The walled city, under the leadership of King Priamand defended by mighty Prince Hector , is a citadel that no army has ever been able to breach. One man alone stands as the key to victory or defeat over Troy - Achilles , believed to be the greatest warrior alive. Arrogant, rebellious and seemingly invincible, Achilles has allegiance to nothing and no one, save his own glory. It is his insatiable hunger for eternal renown that leads him to attack the gates of Troy under Agamemnon's banner - but it will be love that ultimately decides his fate. Two worlds will go to war for honor and power. Thousands will fall in pursuit of glory. And for love, a nation will burn to the ground. Here's Another: As the story opens, 3,500 years ago, civilisations are being built, wars fought, alliances forged, across the cradle of the West. Legendary Greek warrior Achilles fights with, but not for King Agamemnon's army. Half God, Achilles is faster, stronger, and more deadly than any man, as he shows defeating the giant Boagrius in single combat, thereby binding Thessaly into Agammnon's growing nation. This establishes one wing of Homer's complex plot: Both Achilles and Agamemnon have their eye on immortality, of the kind that will see their names on our lips thousands of years hence. As King of Troy Priam seems to have begun a negotiated peace with King Menelaus of Sparta and perhaps larger Greece, his son Prince Paris has become infatuated with Menelaus's the beautiful wife Helen . News that Trojan Paris has stolen away Spartan Helen unites all the Greek armies under Mycenaen Agamemnon. Thus, with a dispute between two men, begins the conflict of nations: The Trojan War. A total of 50,000 soldiers set sail to Troy in a thousand ships, and soon the walls of Troy, invincible to all previous invading armies will test this new alliance. The battle begins with Achilles and his Myrmidons forging a beachhead, and through discipline and skill taking the beach and the

temple of Apollo almost by singlehandedly. In a memorable scene, Achilles looses his spear several hundred meters, driving it through the head of Trojan warrior Tecton. Priam's brave and level headed son Prince Hector (Eric Bana) leads the force to hold the Greeks on their beach head and enters the temple. Here he meets Achilles, who he lets him go free. Achilles is not wont to kill a fellow warrior, and yet knows and says that he will: But another day, perhaps when their tragedy can play to a better audience. Tensions build between Agamemnon and Achilles. As Agamemnon takes tribute from his fellow kinds for his "victory", Achilles' is disdainful, and, Agamemnon takes the young priestess Briseis from Achilles he curses Agamemnon: Achilles is not owned by Agamemnon but is his own man, and he and his men remain out of the next battle. The massed armies meet before the gates of Troy. Agamemnon demands the return of Helen to his brother and submission of Troy to the Greek empire. Rebuffed by Hector, Paris offers to fight Menelaus in single combat. But Paris, foolish romantic boy who stole Helen away is not the man his brother is. Defeated, he crawls back to his brother's feet. Paris kills Menelaus. The die is cast: Battle ensues Without the Myrmidons and Achilles tactical genius, the Greeks are beaten badly: fighting beneath the walls of Troy, they fall in their thousands to massed Trojan archers, with all the advantages of height and distance. Odysseus advises Agamemnon- fall back: you won't have an army if you don't fall back. With Menelaus gone, the original purpose of the war is gone. Still Achilles will not rejoin the army, despite Odysseus' reasoned argument. Reunited with Briseis, Achilles engages her with a deeper intellect and reflective nature than she thought possible. Achilles' sense of individualistic timelessness - that all will begin and all will end, but that how we perform our hour on this stage is everything sees Briseis fall in love with him and Achilles determines to return home. All council Greek retreat. In the Trojan camp, religious leaders, who know nothing of battle, but everything of court politics argue for immediate attack. Hector now shows a break with human history: he is not impelled by the day's victory, nor by gods and omens, but councels that Troy not repeat the Greek's mistake of underestimating their enemy: they have a proven strategy, the Greeks have failed to respond - perhaps, as is the case, they might now return home in their hubris. Priam listens to the priests omens over his son's reason, and the Trojan army prepare to attack, far from their defensible walls, driven to drive the Greeks into the sea. The Trojans attack with fire: tremendous straw balls burning like Napalm. The Apollonian force and Trojan army descend on the Greeks, their backs to the sea. But then Achilles appears, Mrymidon's with him: the Greeks rally tremendously, Hector easily kills this ill-coordinated and weak "Achilles" in battle - only to find it is Achilles young cousin and lover

Patroclus , tired of being out of the fight and dreaming of glory. The battle ends: Hector knows that defeat has been snatched from jaws of victory and prepares his wife to escape should the Greeks now win the war. Vengence turns Achilles mind from love to blood: He challenges Hector, and they fight to the death, a fabulous pitched battle of two men, ending in Achilles dragging the dead Hector's around Troy behind his chariot. Priam pleads for his son's body, and Hector is returned for a ceremonial funeral lasting 12-days of truce. At the end of this time, the Greeks appear to have left: a large Wooden Horse (Odysseus's idea) their parting gift to Troy. The wooden horse is taken into the city, and the Greek soldiers inside open the gates of Troy to the Greek army... all is lost, all is won. Brave and wise Hector and his kind peaceful father Priam are dead. Menelaus, Patrcoclus, Achilles, all dead. Romantic Paris escapes to live in the wilds with Helen. The Greek victors begin their Odyssey.