Hector and Achilles
Achilles returns to battle after Patroclus' death and confronts Hector outside the walls of Troy.
The Story
After Patroclus died, Achilles returned to the war.
His old armour had been taken by Hector, so Thetis went to Hephaestus and obtained magnificent new equipment for her son.
Achilles re-entered battle with overwhelming force.
The Trojans fled toward the city.
Hector remained outside the walls.
Priam and Hecuba begged their son to come inside, but Hector could not abandon the field.
When Achilles approached, Hector's courage failed for a moment.
He ran.
Achilles pursued him around the walls of Troy.
Eventually Hector stopped.
The two warriors faced one another.
Hector proposed an agreement that whoever won would return the loser's body for proper burial.
Achilles refused.
He was still consumed by grief and rage.
The duel was brief.
Achilles killed Hector with a spear.
He then tied Hector's body behind his chariot and dragged it away.
For Achilles, killing Hector was revenge for Patroclus.
But it did not end his grief.
Later Priam entered the Greek camp secretly.
The old king approached Achilles and begged for the body of his son.
He reminded Achilles of his own father Peleus.
For the first time since Patroclus' death, Achilles' rage gave way to pity.
He returned Hector's body.
The Iliad ends not with the fall of Troy, but with Hector's funeral.
The final movement of the poem is therefore not victory.
It is recognition of shared grief between enemies.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
The duel between Hector and Achilles represents the clash between the two greatest warriors of the war, but the later meeting between Achilles and Priam gives the story its deeper emotional resolution.
Traditions & Variations
Homer's Iliad provides the defining version of Hector's death. Later traditions continue Achilles' story beyond this point and provide different accounts of his own death.