The Iliad – Summary Book XXIV (24)
Achilles cannot sleep. He continues to drag Hector’s body around
the camp. Apollo protects it from disfigurement.
The gods do not like how Achilles is treating Hector and denying
him a proper funeral. Zeus sends Thetis to tell Achilles to stop
mistreating Hector and to accept a ransom.
Zeus then sends Iris to Priam to tell him to go to Achilles with a
ransom for Hector. He must go on his own, with only an old herald
to guide the mules. Hecabe tries to stop Priam from going but fails.
Iris comes to Priam.
Priam sets off with the ransom and an omen from Zeus to reassure
him.
Zeus sends Hermes, in disguise as a Myrmidon prince, to escort
Priam safely to Achilles’ hut.
Priam appeals to Achilles for the return of Hector’s body. He
reminds Achilles of his own father, Peleus. Achilles is moved by
these memories of home and his father and agrees to accept
Priam’s ransom.
The two men weep together. Priam weeps for his son Hector,
while Achilles weeps for Patroclus.
Priam supplicates Achilles.
Achilles then asks Priam to share a meal with him, even though
they are so consumed with grief. He tells Priam the story of Niobe.
The story of Niobe:
Niobe, a daughter of Tantalus, was the mother of twelve children. She
had six sons and six daughters. One day, Niobe compared herself as an
equal to the goddess, Leto. She had just committed the sin of ‘hubris’.
Leto had been a bride of Zeus and had given birth to the twins Apollo and
Artemis.
When Leto heard that Niobe had claimed to be her equal, if not her
superior as she had more children, Leto was enraged. She sent Apollo and
Artemis to punish her. Apollo killed her six sons and Artemis killed her
six daughters.
Apollo and Artemis kill Niobe’s children.
For nine days Niobe’s children lay unburied as Zeus had turned the
people into stone. On the tenth day the gods felt sorry for them and they
were buried. Niobe was so exhausted from all her tears that she decided
she must have some food.
Afterward, she herself turned to stone and is now among the rugged rocks
in the hills of Sipylus. There, she still weeps for her loss.
The rock that is said to be Niobe.
Achilles gives Priam a bed to sleep in for the night.
Before Priam sleeps he asks for a truce from battle so that he can
give his son, Hector, proper funeral rites. Achilles grants this and
gives Priam twelve days.
During the night Hermes comes back to Priam and secretly escorts
him back to Troy in case any of the other Greek leaders were to
find him in their camp.
All the people of Troy come out to mourn Hector’s body.
Andromache, Hecabe and Helen all give their reasons for
regretting Hector’s death and lead the lamentations.
Wood is collected for Hector’s funeral pyre. He is cremated and
buried and a grave-mound set up. A funeral feast is held in Priam’s
palace.
Hector is laid out on his funeral pyre.