What a lovely Thursday to talk about the Iliad! I know you are all excited, and again, I'll try to keep it short!
Book XIII is titled "Fighting Among the Ships." Zeus heads back to Mt. Olympus thinking that no other gods will interfere with the war. You can probably guess that he was wrong, although Hera isn't the one to butt in, Poseidon is. Poseidon comes on the beach and disguises himself as Calchas. He talks to both Ajaxes and tells them to fight in a certain place at the wall where the Achaeans are weakest. He then gives them both strength and courage. They both realize a god has spoken to them and they rush off to fight. Poseidon as Calchas then tells Agamemnon to stop complaining about Achilles. A surge happens where the two Ajaxes are. Poseidon takes the disguise of another Achaean and starts helping them fight so Zeus doesn't realize its him. Then a lot of men die in gruesome ways in the rest of the book. At the end, Hector leads the Trojans into a rushed attack against the Achaeans.
Book XIV is titled "The Tricking of Zeus." Since I had an idealized notion of Zeus from the Disney movie of Hercules, I was obviously not a fan of Zeus in the Iliad. When I read this title, I thought to myself, "Good. Zeus is going to get what's coming to him." Just a personal side note. In the beginning of this book, Nestor steps out of his tent and sees that the Achaeans are losing the battle. He contemplates going to fight or to talk to Agamemnon, and he chooses the safer option and goes to talk to Agamemnon. Agamemnon (sometimes I want to call him Aggie, but then I think that might be inappropriate, so I don't), Odysseus, and Diomedes are all sitting together, nursing their wounds. Agamemnon, being the Pessimistic Polly that he is, says they're defeated so they should just start to sail back. Odysseus tells Agamemnon that that's not a good idea because if the other Achaeans see them leaving, they'll be downtrodden and the Trojans will kill them all. Agamemnon asks if anyone else has a better idea. Brave Diomedes says they should go back to battle. Everyone agrees to this so they head out to the battlefield. Poseidon disguised as another Achaean runs into Agamemnon and tells him that the gods haven't turned their back on the Achaeans and that the Trojans will fall one day. Poseidon then goes on to encourage the Achaeans. Back on Mt. Olympus, Hera sees what Poseidon is doing and she is overjoyed. She's also a little worried about what Zeus will do if he sees Poseidon, so she decides to distract him with her womanly ways. Hera tricks Aphrodite into giving her some help by borrowing desirability and loveliness. She runs into the Sleep and asks him to knock Zeus out after they've had sex. Sleep hesitates remembering the last time he did that and Zeus punished him once he woke up. Hera says not to worry and if he helps she'll give him one of the Graces as his wife. He agrees, takes the form of a bird, and follows Hera up to Zeus. Once he sees her, he's overwhelmed with lust and says we have to do it right now. Hera is "worried" people will see, so Zeus wraps the mountain in a cloud of mist. Once they're done, Sleep knocks Zeus out. Sleep then goes tell Poseidon to hurry and help the Achaeans while Zeus is unconscious. Poseidon leads the attack and Hector is knocked out and must be carried back to camp. The Achaeans are encouraged and press against the Trojans. More people die on the battlefield.
Book XV is called "The Achaeans Desperate." The Achaeans drive the Trojans out of their camp. Zeus wakes up and is obviously mad. Hera tells him that she didn't give Poseidon the idea to go out on the battlefield. Zeus is still angry but she has him call for Apollo and Iris. He tells everyone that the Trojans will keep pushing the Achaeans until they get to the ships of Achilles. Achilles will send out Patroclus who will kill Zeus's son Sarpedon, then Hector will kill Patroclus. Achilles will kill Hector which will eventually lead to the Trojans losing the war. Hera complains, but gets Iris and Apollo. Apollo is sent to fix Hector up. Apollo gives him courage and clears a path for him. The Trojans slaughter many Achaeans in a great push towards the ships. The Trojans push the Achaeans so far back that they have to fight from the decks of their ships. Patroclus sees what is going on and runs to Achilles. There's a lot of slaughtering that goes on and the book ends with Ajax fighting from his ship.
Book XVI is "The Death of Patroclus." I think you might be able to gather what happens. Patroclus gets Achilles's armor and Achilles says to only push the Trojans off of the ships and not to go any further. Achilles then sees the boat of Ajax burning because he has no strength left. Achilles urges Patroclus to hurry up. As Patroclus runs off, Achilles gets his men ready. He also prays to Zeus to keep Patroclus to be successful and safe. Zeus grants half of the prayer, and I'm sure you know which part. Patroclus leads Achilles's men out to fight, and the Trojans think it's actually Achilles. They're frightened and back off. Patroclus and other Achaeans kill a lot of Trojans. Zeus sees that Patroclus is about to kill Sarpedon and he asks Hera if it would be okay if he went down to take him out of battle. Hera said you can't do that or every other god and goddess would get their kids out of battle. The two fight and Patroclus kills Sarpedon. The Trojans rally around their fallen comrade. Zeus darkens the sky and looks for a way to kill Patroclus. Eventually, Hector (of all people) kills Patroclus. With his dying words, Patroclus says he can see Hector's death coming. Hector disregards him and the battle rages on.
Book XVII is "The Valiant Deeds of Menelaus." I like Menelaus. He deserves Helen, am I right? In the book, Hector takes the armor Patroclus had one, which is Achilles's armor. Zeus feels bad for Hector, knowing he's going to die soon, so he gives him some strength, though it won't last long. Battle ensues and various people die from both sides. Meanwhile, Achilles has no idea Patroclus is dead and he's waiting for him to come back. Athena then comes to the body of Patroclus and berates Menelaus for not protecting the body and armor more than he did. He tells someone to go tell Achilles of Patroclus's death, then scoops him up and brings him back to the camp.
Book BVIII is called "The Shield of Achilles." The men come back and give Achilles the bad news. He is distraught that he good friend and brave warrior died. Achilles lets out a cry that even his mother, who is in the sea, hears. Thetis comes and holds Achilles like he is a child and attempts to comfort him. She reminds him that Zeus granted his wish that the Achaeans would desperately need him because they're losing so badly. Achilles says none of that matters unless he can kill Hector. Thetis tells Achilles that it is prophesized that he will die shortly after he kills Hector. Achilles says he doesn't care. Thetis tells Achilles that he doesn't have any armor so wait until tomorrow when she can bring him some back from the gods. Iris comes and tells Achilles to go rescue the corpse of Patroclus. He tells her he has no armor and he told Thetis that he wouldn't fight until she brought him armor. Iris says just go stand in the trenches and the Trojans will be so scared that they will run away. When he gets to the trench, Athena gives him the shield of Zeus and crowns him with a flaming cloud. This frightens the Trojans enough that the Achaeans recover the body of Patroclus. While the Trojans are scared, Hector tells them they can't turn back now. Achilles says he won't bury Patroclus until he kills Hector (his grief reminds me of Gilgamesh, except it spurns him to action whereas Gilgamesh was lost). Thetis meets up with Hephaestus and he remembers how she once helped him after Hera threw him off Mt. Olympus because he was crippled. She's a great mom. Hephaestus fashions armor for Achilles and Thetis brings it to Troy.
We're almost to the climax of the poem. I can feel your excitement!
Cassy
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