Barry Nurcombe

The Iliad of Homer, Books XIII-XXIV (Volume 2) Barry Nurcombe

"The people took the bones, enwrapped them withSoft purple robes, and laid them down withinA golden urn, to place it in a hollowKist of stone, and cover it aboveWith close-set rocks and earth to make a mound.... When they had raised the moundOf earth above the grave, they went back toThe city and assembled for a splendid Banquet in the hall of Priamos. Thus were the funeral rites completed forIllustrious Hektor, the horsetamer."When the humiliated Akhilleus withdrew from battle, the Akhaians were on the verge of being defeated by the Trojans. However, in this second volume, when Patroklos, Akhilleus' beloved comrade, dies in battle, Akhilleus is enraged. Dressed in a divine panoply, he returns to the fray, defeats the Trojans, and slays their champion Hektor, desecrating the corpse of his opponent so outrageously that the Gods are outraged. They arrange for King Priamos to be escorted across the battle lines to Akhilleus' abode. There, touched by the old man's grief and courage, Akhilleus breaks down and achieves redemption by returning Hektor's corpse to Troy for honorable burial. The Iliad ends with Hektor's funeral rites. This volume ends with Notes for Books XIII-XXIV, and Glossaries describing the characters and the gods.