The Greeks’ best soldier in the Trojan War was Achilles. However, after a disagreement with Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek armies, Achilles refused to fight, and the Trojans gained the upper hand. At this point Achilles’ best friend and companion, Patroclus, decided to go into battle in Achilles’ chariot, wearing Achilles’ armor. He reasoned that if the Greek soldiers thought he was Achilles, they would be encouraged to fight harder. He was right, and the Greeks began to force the Trojans back toward the city. Seeing what he thought was Achilles joining the battle,
The Trojan War split the loyalties of the Olympian deities, with some favoring the Greeks and some the Trojans. One of the most powerful gods to intervene in the mortal conflict was Apollo. According to Homer, Apollo's involvement in the war came late, some nine years after the fighting began, when the daughter of one of Apollo's priests was abducted by Agamemnon. The angry god sent a pestilence into the Greek camp, ailing and killing many soldiers. Several of his later involvements directly involved Hector. When Hector was badly wounded by a large bolder thrown at him by the Greek warrior Ajax, Apollo was ordered by Zeus to heal Hector's wounds. Another more famous incident occurred when Patroclus was battling Hector. Apollo first knocked off Patroclus's helmet, then his shield and breastplate, and finally the deity split Patroclus's spear, leaving the Greek hero completely defenseless against Hector. When Achilles avenged his friend's death, Apollo was unable to save Hector from Achilles' deadly spear. Yet Apollo did preserve the Trojan's body while Achilles dragged it behind his chariot. Apollo also played a part in the death of Achilles. Before Troy fell, Paris shot an arrow at Achilles and Apollo guided the arrow toward the only vulnerable part of Achilles' body, his heel.
Hector was afraid. He knew that Achilles was the only fighter who could match him. Overcoming his fear, Hector fought his enemy in single combat, and since it turned out to be Patroclus and not Achilles, Hector killed him easily. Hector took Achilles’ armor from Patroclus’s body and afterward wore it himself.
When he realized that Hector had killed his friend Patroclus, the grieving Achilles resolved to take his revenge and rejoined the battle. Seeing the danger from Achilles, Priam ordered the Trojan army to retreat back into the city, but Hector refused. He stayed outside to fight Achilles, but then lost his nerve and began to run away. Achilles chased him around the battlefield, until the goddess of war,
Athena, who favored the Greeks, deceived Hector. She appeared to him in the form of one of his brothers, Deiphobus, and encouraged him to stand and fight. Tricked into thinking he had his brother to help him, Hector turned to face Achilles. It was then that Achilles killed Hector with a spear wound to the neck.
Battlefield before taking it back to his camp. Urged on by Zeus, Hector’s brokenhearted father, Priam, visited Achilles and begged to be given the body. Achilles took pity on the old king and released the corpse. Priam then returned to Troy with Hector’s body and prepared it for a funeral.
Not long after Hector’s death, the Greeks finally tricked their way into Troy using the Trojan Horse, burned most of the city to the ground, and took Helen back to Greece. Hector’s son, Astyanax, was thrown from the battlements and killed in case he tried to take revenge after he grew up, and Andromache was taken prisoner.
World History
