Patroclus borrows the armor; Patroclus dies
The middle of the poem. Patroclus puts on Achilles's armor and goes out in his place. Hector kills him.
Summary
Patroclus reaches Achilles's tent in tears. He has seen the wounded captains, the burning ships, his friends dying, and his commander still in his tent. He pleads. He calls Achilles cruel, says even the sea-cliffs that bore him would have been gentler. He asks one thing: to wear Achilles's armor and lead the Myrmidons — Achilles's own contingent — out to drive the Trojans from the ships. The Trojans, he reasons, will see the armor, think Achilles has returned, and panic. Achilles agrees. His one condition is precise: drive them back from the ships, do not pursue them onto the plain, do not approach the walls of Troy.
Patroclus arms in Achilles's armor — the helmet, the breastplate, the famous shield (the only piece of armor he cannot wear is the great spear, which only Achilles can lift). He leads the Myrmidons out. The Trojans see the armor and the Myrmidons coming and break. Hector pulls back. Patroclus drives them back from the ships and across the plain. He is exultant. He kills man after man. He kills Sarpedon, son of Zeus, who falls "like an oak struck by lightning." Zeus, watching, considers saving him and is restrained by Hera; Sarpedon dies. The Greeks fight over his body and strip it.
Patroclus does not stop. He chases the Trojans all the way to the walls of Troy and tries three times to climb onto them. Apollo, hidden in mist, knocks him back each time. The fourth time, Apollo's voice from the air orders him: stand off — Troy is not for you. Patroclus turns. In the chaos Apollo himself comes up behind him, strikes him in the back, knocks the helmet from his head, the spear from his hand, the armor loose on his body. A minor Trojan named Euphorbus throws a spear into his back. Patroclus, half-dazed, staggering, is caught by Hector. Hector drives a spear through his belly. Patroclus dies — predicting Hector's own death, in the same breath, "by the hands of Achilles." The book ends with Hector stripping the armor of Achilles from the body, and the long fight over the corpse beginning.
- Book 1The poem's first day. Apollo's plague, Agamemnon's refusal, Achilles's withdrawal. The chain of bad decisions that the rest of the...
- Book 2Zeus's deceitful dream rouses the Greek army; Agamemnon's botched test nearly breaks it; Odysseus rallies the men. The book ends...
- Book 3The duel that should have ended the war. Paris and Menelaus fight; Aphrodite saves Paris just before he is killed. Helen, on the...
- Book 4The gods on Olympus argue. Athena tricks a Trojan archer into shooting Menelaus and breaking the truce. The first full day of...
- Book 5Diomedes's day of glory. Athena fills him with battle-fury and lets him see the gods on the field. He wounds Aphrodite, then Ares....
- Book 6The poem's most famous domestic scene. Hector returns to Troy and finds his wife Andromache on the wall with their infant son. She...
- Book 7Hector and Ajax fight to a draw and exchange gifts. The Greeks, that night, build a defensive wall around their camp. Poseidon...
- Book 8Zeus forbids the gods from interfering and weighs the day on golden scales. The Greeks lose. Hector pushes the army to the Greek...
- Book 9Agamemnon's great offer. Three captains — Odysseus, Phoenix, Ajax — go to Achilles's tent with restitution beyond anyone's memory....
- Book 10Sometimes called a later interpolation. A nighttime raid: Diomedes and Odysseus catch a Trojan spy, kill him, then go behind the...
- Book 11Agamemnon's day of glory. He kills men until midday, then is wounded in the arm. Diomedes wounded by Paris; Odysseus wounded; the...
- Book 12The Trojans reach the Greek wall and attack on foot. An omen warns them off; Hector dismisses it ("the only good omen is to fight...
- Book 13The fight is inside the Greek camp now. Zeus looks away; Poseidon, in disguise, walks the line and rallies the Greeks. Idomeneus...
- Book 14The most flagrant scene in the poem. Hera dresses up, borrows Aphrodite's magic belt under false pretenses, and seduces Zeus to...
- Book 15Zeus, awake and furious, sends Apollo to restore Hector. The line breaks. Apollo himself kicks down the Greek wall. Hector reaches...
- Book 16The middle of the poem. Patroclus puts on Achilles's armor, leads the Myrmidons out, drives the Trojans back from the ships, then...
- Book 17The whole afternoon spent fighting over the corpse. Hector strips Achilles's armor and dons it. The Greek captains, one by one...
- Book 18Achilles hears and collapses. Thetis rises from the sea. Hephaestus, on Olympus, forges him new armor — including the great...
- Book 19Achilles formally renounces the wrath in front of the assembled army. Agamemnon makes his own speech of restitution. The men eat...
- Book 20Zeus releases the Olympians to choose sides openly. The gods pour onto the field. Achilles meets Aeneas in single combat...
- Book 21The most surreal book in the poem. Achilles kills so many men in the river Scamander that the river-god himself rises to fight...
- Book 22Hector waits outside the walls. He sees Achilles coming and runs. They run three times around the city before Athena, in disguise...
- Book 23Patroclus is given his funeral. The pyre burns through the night. In the morning Achilles holds funeral games — chariot race...
- Book 24Twelve days after Hector's death. Priam goes alone, with Hermes guiding him, through the Greek camp to Achilles's tent. He kneels...