Examine why the Iliad concludes with the funeral of Hektor. Could Hektors’ death be recognised as a major defining moment in the Trojan War?
In this essay I will illustrate how the burial customs of the late bronze-age Greeks facilitated the way in which the Iliad was structured; additionally in what way the belief of the Greeks in 8th Century (BCE) may have been represented in the discussions which took place between the living and the dead. Through these points I expect to show how this has influenced the way in which Hektor death links the tragic development of the epic poem.
Although we witness many deaths of Trojan and Achaian warriors we are only aware of the two funerals (held separately) of Patroklos and Hektor and it is not until this time that the concern with burial grows increasingly adamant. During the ceremonies of the two men we find differences in the manner of how each body has been laid to rest, though equally resulting with a funeral pyre. Throughout ‘The Iliad’ there are many recurring similes that befall in the concluding lines concerning Hektors funeral. Indeed Patroklos himself knows of his ultimate fate when he prepares for battle against Hektor , then, as does Hektor when he finally encounters Achilleus . We witness not only Troy’s eventual fate with reference to fire, but also the time span in which it occurs, a time that was prophesised by Kalchas, Thestor’s son;
‘so for years as many as this shall we fight in this place and in the tenth year we shall take the city of the wide ways.’
The Essay on Warriors Achilleus And Hektor Book Death Battle
Homer's Iliad, is a book about war. It was a war between the Greeks and the Trojans around 1100 BC. This story is mainly about two warriors: Achilleus and Hektor, both of them are the greatest in their own country. However, what makes them heroes of this book Besides their great combat skill, I would suggest their way to face their own death distinguished them from other characters in the book. In ...
this is mirrored by the funeral of Troy’s champion,
‘Nine days they spent bringing in an endless supply of timber. But when the tenth dawn has shorn forth with her light upon the mortals, they carried out bold Hektor’
This nine-day period is recognised as the time span established for performing burial rites, the period begins the day after death and ended as the last offerings are placed at the grave, hence creating a
enhanced image of the fall of Troy; since the first day of war it will be nine years until the great walls would fall and the city would burn, becoming its own funeral pyre.
The funeral rites we find in ‘The Iliad’ are separated into three stages. The first was the prothesis , the laying out of the body where it is cleansed and prepared for burial. The second was the ekphora (funerary procession)—held before sunrise where women displayed violent exhibitions of grief to please the dead spirit and musicians sang a funeral dirge.
‘the singers were to lead the melody in the dirge, and the singers chanted the song of sorrow, and the women were mourning beside them.’
The final stage was the deposition of the body on the pyre. Once the body had been set alight, libations were made and sacrifices were performed. The mourners would sit down to a funeral feast, called a perideipnon . At the feast, the dead man was said to be present, and the diners would speak only of praise for him. This was the last consecutive day of funeral rites for most people; the funerals of significant men ended in athletic contests; such as the games held by Achilleus in tribute of Patroklos.
The differences; aside from the duration of the account of the two funerals; (Patroklos funeral and subsequent funereal games taking up most of book 23 and yet Hektors funeral only 102 lines ) but also in the way the two men are venerated. Patroklos is honoured with a procession of chariots, horsemen and ‘a cloud of foot-solders by thousands;’ of lavish funeral gifts, including ‘twelve noble sons of the great-hearted Trojans’ in human sacrifice, but also as noted previously by a number of competitions, including a chariot race and a fight in armour; yet Hektors funeral is a much quieter sombre affair, although the entire city comes to mourn, the atmosphere is depicted with stillness ‘all were held in sorrow passing endurance.’ Surely Hektor was the key individual out of the two and yet his funeral
The Essay on Camp Graves Day Bodies
The movie begins with Simon Srebnik going back to Chelmno, he is one of the two survivors. He was taken to Chelmno when he was thirteen, his father was killed in front of him, and his mother died in the gas vans. He was known throughout the camp for his agility and his beautiful singing voice. Before abandoning the camp the Nazis shot everyone, including him, in the head. He was left for dead, but ...
is over in a matter of words, altogether summing up the final fate of his beloved city of Troy.
‘Let not the sun go down and disappear into darkness until I have hurled headlong the castle of Priam blazing, and lit the castle gates with flames of destruction.’ (Agamemnon speaks in prayer to Zeus)
Although the cultures that preceded the Greeks practiced inhumation exclusively, the Greeks eventually developed the custom of cremation (which is estimated to be dated pre-Dark Ages, roughly 2000BCE), and the two methods were used alternately over time. The first known example of this is from a tomb near Pylos, in which women were cremated. The custom seems to be localised to the Near East and Anatolia (Turkey), until it surfaces in Greece in the late 13th/early 12th BCE. The diffusion of practices from tumulus to pit to chamber and shaft is not replicated in ‘The Iliad’ as we only have reference to the cremation and earth-barrow/grave mound, which may prove that Homer did not try to adapt the local trends into the Heroic age of the poem. The reason for the style of Patroklos funeral may then have been because of his death in hostile land, if he had been buried then his body may have come under attack from the Trojans, just as Hektors remains are protected;
‘and on all sides were set watchmen for fear the strong-greaved Achaians might too soon set upon them.’
The myth and cult of death in ancient Greece centred on the different beliefs concerning the inherent nature and fate of the psyche. However, in Homeric thought, the psyche was not a person’s spirit or personality at all, but rather a being without feeling. Homeric poetry, which was intended for the higher classes, tended to be more cynical than the customs and beliefs of the peasants. It has been acknowledged that for some the burning of the body was necessary for the psyche to leave (or at least, to leave immediately), so cremation was performed for the sake of the dead man’s soul, and so that his ghost would not plague the surviving relatives. In Homer,
The Essay on Simile In Iliad
There can be a numerous amount of reasons that an author decides to write a particular work. However, the common goal of all authors is to catch the attention of the reader and eventually make an impression of some sort on the reader. There are many different approaches that the author may take in order to achieve this common goal. One approach that can be used is the particular style of writing ...
the psyche becomes a shade after death, a mere after-image of the person it once occupied. There is some exceptions though, found both in ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ (but I will only be concentrating on the example found in ‘The Iliad’), where we find the
characters speaking to spirits of their dead companions, Achilleus comments that the ghost of Patroklos had ‘a soul and an image, but there is no real heart of life in it.’ It cannot communicate with the living, nor is it immortal. Although in the Iliad we witness that Patroklos’ ghost confronts Achilleus
on his funeral arrangements, “Bury me as quickly as may be, let me pass through the gates of Hades.” This passage shows a glimpse of the belief in the soul’s continuance after death. After the cremation the relatives pour ‘gleaming wine’ to put out the flames, the ashes were then placed in an amphora and buried in the same fashion as a body; in the two funerals we find the bones of the deceased heroes removed in the same way,
‘Then they gathered up the white bones of their gentle companion, weeping, and put them in a golden jar’ (Patroklos)
‘the brothers and companions of Hektor gathered the white bones up, mourning…Then they laid what they had gathered up in a golden casket’
We find that Homers uses of thematic formulas (repeated situations) controls the configuration of the narrative allowing us to follow the two important and interwoven deaths of Hektor and Patroklos, this is noticeable from the first book to the last, and ultimately in books 16 and 22 in which both men are found competing in their last battles. Such cross-referencing give structure and sequence to the narrative; there are two examples of this formulaic style in which Homer keeps the exact wording for each, the first in which the men blame the gods for their death and the second recounting the instance of death. There are other similes found when Hektor marshals the Trojans to fight in book 2, we witness him standing on a sacred burial mound and of course at the end he is buried beneath his own. We also find the difference through the perspective of the Trojan people, when Hektor first calls them to battle they ‘come on with clamour and shouting,’
then through the description of the death of Hector, we hear the sighs, sobs and groans, and then the shrieks and screams of the watchers on the walls when Hector is killed and the utter horror when Achilles ties his body to his chariot and pulls him three times round the walls of Troy, and finally as Hektors boy is prepared for the funeral the multitude stands around the body lamenting and weeping.
The Essay on The Iliad By Homer
The poem The Iliad written by Homer is the story of the tenth year of the Trojan War. It depicts the nobility and honor given to a slayer in warfare and the humanity that warriors show to the slain. It also illustrates the Greek code of ethics, that was in that time honor. Warriors fought for honor to insure a reputation that would outlive them. Honor is given to the great warriors through gifts, ...
In conclusion the death and burial of Hektor is not only interlocked with the death of Patroklos, but also brings the narrative to a close. We know how the story continues Troy falls with the intervention of the wooden horse and Achilleus is killed. Hektor himself prophesises Achilleus’ fate, ‘on that day when Paris and Phobios Apollo destroy you in the Skaian gates.’ In answer to the question, the death of Hektor was a defining moment in the war, but it was part of a sequence of major encounters which resulted in the death of other key figures; Patroklos fight with Sarpedon (on which I have not spoken), the resulting fight with Hektor, and ultimately Hektors battle with Achilleus, which finally brings about the honorific burial of two heroes; ‘Such was their burial of Hektor, breaker of horses.’
Brief Bibliography
The Iliad of Homer. Translation by Richard Lattimore
Athenian Funeral Rituals. Ian Bonner
Textual resources
A companion to the Iliad, based on the translation by R.Lattimore. Malcolm M. Willcock
In search of the Trojan War. Michael Wood.
The Mycenaean Heritage. Emily Vermeule.
Homer. Reading and images. C.Emlyn-Jones, L.Hardwick & J.Purkis (O.U. resource book)
