Book 22: The Death of Hector

The Iliad

Let’s Look Back!

We left the gods quarreling and fighting with each other.

Achilles was slaying many Trojans.

The Trojans retreated back into the walls of their city.

Let’s Think about it!

How can death be glorious? What makes a hero?

Book 22: The Death of Hector Even Hector realizes the inevitability

of his impending death. Priam sees Achilles coming on and

advises Hector not to wait outside the walls to meet Achilles but to fight from inside the walls.

Priam realizes that his death will be very violent.

Book 22: The Death of Hector

Hector considers an alternative plan in which he would offer reparations for Paris stealing Helen, but he rejects any other course of action than meeting Achilles as unacceptable to the implacable Achilles (150). Notice that Hector would be more useful, here

again, retreating back to the walls of Troy and defending his city. However, his personal heroic code takes precedence over his social role (130).

He recognizes that it is his “reckless pride” that has brought defeat and that shame will come to him if he returns to Troy.

Book 22: The Death of Hector Hector is filled with fear, and Homer

compares him to a cringing dove (167) while Achilles is seen as a hound pursuing a fawn (225), as Achilles chases Hector around and around the walls of Troy.

All the gods observe the race. Zeus has pity for Hector, but Athena shames him into letting her do as she pleases to help Achilles (210).

Book 22: The Death of Hector Zeus formally holds his scales and

Hector's fate weighs down, and so now there is no possibility but death (250).

Athena disguises herself as Hector's brother Deiphobus and urges him to fight. He is deluded into a renewed courage and is ready (293). How beyond bounds is Athena's trickery, yet Hector's acting under delusion matches his self-delusion all along (Mueller 63).

Book 22: The Death of Hector Hector proposes a pact in which both

would promise that the winner allow the loser's comrades to rescue the corpse for proper burial (306).

But Achilles rejects all pacts with vehemence: "There are no binding oaths between men and lions." (310)

Athena repeatedly assists Achilles in the fight, deflecting a spear or retrieving one.

Book 22: The Death of Hector Hector throws his spear, futilely, and

asks Deiphobus for another. At that moment Hector realizes his fate when he no longer sees Deiphobus (350): "My time has come! …Well let me die…not without glory…in some great clash of arms that even men to come will hear of down the years."

Do you think that Hector is equal to Achilles? How?

Book 22: The Death of Hector Hector accepts his fate acting in

accordance with the heroic code, manfully, not cowardly.

Finally (386), Achilles stabs Hector with a fatal thrust.

“Die there! As for my own death, I accept it whenever Zeus and the immortal gods see fit to bring it to me.”

Achilles strips Hector’s body of its armor. The Greek soldiers come and stab his

body one by one.

Book 22: The Death of Hector Achilles cut through the tendons of

the feet of Hector and threaded them with ox-hide thongs and tied it to his chariot.

Hecuba and Priam lamented by shrieking and the latter, groaning.

Priam expresses his sentiments to the people, while Hecuba speaks of her grief with the Trojan women.

Book 22: The Death of Hector Andromache speaks of her grief with

her maids. As she saw Hector’s body being

dragged across the plain, she faints. She laments the fact that their son,

Astyanax, is now orphaned, and she, a widow.

Let’s Think About It!

Who between Hector and Achilles is the greater hero? Prove your answer.

What insights have you gained from the Iliad?

Quiz # 2The Iliad

Directions for Test One

Read the questions carefully. Give the correct answer by writing the letter corresponding to your response. No erasures.

Quiz # 2

1. Who sends the plague to the Achaean camp near the beginning of The Iliad?

(A) Apollo(B) Zeus(C) Hera(D) Athena

2. At what point in the story do the Achaeans hold their athletic competition?

(A) After the war(B) Before the war(C) After the funeral of Patroclus(D) When Achilles rejoins the

battle

3. Which of the following characters is Helen’s brother-in-law?

(A) Hector(B) Achilles(C) Odysseus(D) Agamemnon

4. Who suggests that Helen be returned to Menelaus?

(A) Hector(B) Hecuba(C) Paris(D) Antenor

5. Which god helps to bring about the death of Patroclus?

(A) Zeus(B) Hephaestus(C) Poseidon(D) Apollo

6. Why does Zeus initially agree to help the Trojans in the war?

(A) Because he thinks Paris deserves Helen more than Menelaus does.

(B) He does so as a favor to Thetis, who asks him on behalf of Achilles.

(C) He does so to spite his nagging wife, Hera.

(D) Because he despises Odysseus for lusting after Hera.

7. What provokes Achilles’ rage against Agamemnon?

(A) Agamemnon’s demand that Achilles hand over Briseis

(B) Agamemnon’s insults of Achilles’ lineage

(C) Agamemnon’s defeat of Achilles in a footrace

(D) Agamemnon’s repeated sending of Achilles to the front lines, where the danger of being killed is greatest

8. Who sets fire to a Greek ship?(A) Aeneas(B) Hephaestus, god of fire and

iron(C) Hector(D) Agamemnon, in a suicidal urge

9. What magical charm does Hera use in seducing Zeus and making him fall asleep?

(A) Some powder from a ground-up rhinoceros horn

(B) An enchanted girdle from Aphrodite(C) A magical potion mixed by the

Sirens(D) A talisman that Hermes gave her

10. What grave tactical error does Hector make out of overconfidence?

(A) He orders his men to put down their swords and fight with daggers.

(B) He orders his men to camp outside Troy’s walls.

(C) He gives permission for half of his men to go on vacation.

(D) He decides that his troops do not need to eat before fighting.

11. Who are the parents of Achilles?

(A) Thetis and Peleus(B) Aphrodite and Patroclus(C) Thetis and Zeus(D) Chryseis and Agamemnon

12. Who is the first Achaean warrior Athena aids in battle?

(A) Hector(B) Great Ajax(C) Diomedes(D) Odysseus

13. Who is Achilles' most beloved companion?

(A) Hector(B) Nestor(C) Patroclus(D) Diomedes

14. When Diomedes and Glaucus realize that their families have a friendly history, the two warriors:

(A) realize that Athena is playing a trick on them

(B) desert their respective armies(C) curse their fathers and charge

into battle(D) pledge friendship by exchanging

armor and vow never to kill each other

15. Who is the king of Ithaca?(A) Hector(B) Odysseus(C) Priam(D) Menelaus

16. Thanks to direct and indirect aid from Athena, which gods are wounded by Diomedes in Book V?

(A) Ares and Apollo(B) Ares and Aphrodite(C) Xanthus and Aphrodite(D) Zeus and Hera

17. Who is Hector's wife?(A) Andromache(B) Briseis(C) Chryseis(D) Hecuba

18. Who is the oldest of the Achaean kings?

(A) Agamemnon(B) Nestor(C) Achilles(D) Diomedes

19. In many works of Greek literature, pride:

(A) is always successfully held in check(B) is a horrible sin, the opposite of the

important heroic virtue of humility(C) is the road to success(D) is a cause of ruin but also an

inextricable part of greatness

20. Odysseus is especially beloved by which goddess?

(A) Thetis(B) Aphrodite(C) Hera(D) Athena

21. How does the Iliad reach its end?

(A) The eloping of Helen and Paris(B) Funeral of Achilles(C) Funeral of Hector(D) Wedding of Achilles

22. What offering leads the Trojans to believe that the Greeks are offering peace?

(A) The Trojan Horse(B) A message coming from them

saying that they can keep Helen(C) The return of Hector’s body(D) The girdle of Aphrodite

23. Which of the following events set the plot of the Iliad into motion?

(A) The rage of Achilles(B) The kidnapping of Helen(C) The judgment of Paris(D) The marriage of Peleus and

Thetis

24. Who is the wife of Agamemnon?

(A) Helen(B) Hecuba(C) Clytemnestra(D) Briseis

25. Who comes up with the idea that Patroclus should wear the armor of Achilles?

(A) Diomedes(B) Great Ajax(C) Nestor(D) Agamemnon

26. In which book are the funeral games held?

(A) Book XXIII(B) Book XIX(C) Book XVII(D) Book XXIV

27. Who is the son of Hector?(A) Telemachus(B) Astyanax(C) Bellerophon(D) Xanthus

28. The poem begins with the words:(A) "And which of the gods was it that

sent them to quarrel?"(B) "Sing O goddess, the anger of

Achilles son of Peleus . . .“(C) "The old man feared him and

obeyed.“(D) "Thus did he pray, and Apollo

heard his prayer."

29. What was the prophecy regarding Queen Hecuba’s youngest son?

(A) He would bring ruin upon Troy.(B) He would kill his parents.(C) He would die at the age of 12.(D) He would kill his father and

marry his mother.

30. Which of the following is considered to be FALSE?

(A) Homer is considered to be a blind poet.

(B) Homer is credited with the creation of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aeneid.

(C) Homer sang and performed these poems in front of an audience.

(D) Homer’s credibility is being questioned by scholars until today.

30. Which of the following can BEST describe the Iliad?

(A) It is an epic - a lengthy narrative poem – that describes the complexity of the ten-year war between the Achaeans and the Trojans.

(B) It is a narrative that presents the heroic deeds of Hector and Achilles.

(C) It is an important work, a canon in world literature.

(D) It is an epic tale, a story which spans more than just Greek lives; it also affects man’s view about human nature and morality.

Directions for Test Two

Read the following statements. Analyze the relationships between them and complete the statements based on the clues. No erasures. Wrong spelling is wrong.

Test Two

31. Thetis : Achilles ; ______ : Hector32. Agamemnon : Menelaus ; Hector

: _____33. Zeus : Poseidon ; Helen : _____34. Astyanax : Hector ; _____ :

Aphrodite35. The face that launched a

thousand ships : Helen ; The flashing-eyed goddess : _____

36. Sparta : Menelaus ; ____ : Odysseus

37. _____ : Helen ; Priam : Hector38. Diomedes : Glaucus ; ______ :

Achilles

Test Two

39. Athena : wisdom ; ____ : discord40. Priam : Troy ; Agamemnon :

_____41. Zeus : Athena ; Hera : _____42. Trojan Horse : Odysseus ; the

walls of Troy : _____43. Hector : impulsiveness ;

Achilles : _____44. Hector : Patroclus ; Achilles :

_____45. Greece : Athena ; Troy : _____46. Priam : Hector ; Agamemnon :

_____

47. Nestor : Patroclus wearing Achilles’ armor ; Odysseus : _____

48. Odysseus : Athena ; _____ : Aphrodite

49. Ares : Artemis ; _____ : Apollo50. Mt. Olympus : gods and

goddesses ; _____ : Paris and shepherds