Book 20: After the longest strop in the world, Achilles Returns
Zeus Tells The Gods To Go Fight
While the Greeks were arming for battle, the Trojans were doing the same thing.
Zeus tells Themis to gather all the gods on Olympus for an assembly — and when I say all the gods, I mean ALL OF THEM. Themis rounds up even the minor river gods, with the only god who is mentioned to not be there is Okeanos himself. They all meet at Zeus’ home on Olympus.
Poseidon is the first to speak, asking Zeus why he has called them all to Olympus and if the reason is because the fighting has nearly broken between the two sides. Zeus replies and instructs the gods to go down to the battlefield to help their favourite sides because he believes if the gods are to leave Achilles to fight against the Trojans, the Trojans will not be able to hold him off for very long.
The gods go down to defend the side they support: Hera, Athena, Hermes, Poseidon and Hephaestus go to the Greek side, whereas Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Leto and Xanthos back the Trojans.
Gods On The Battlefield
When the Trojans see Achilles approaching, they are so scared that Homer notes that their knees begin knocking together as they tremble.
Athena comes down to the battlefield and lets out a war cry from the Greek side. In response, Ares gives his own war cry from the Trojan side (however, this one out in the form of a storm cloud so that’s a cool natural world connection there). This drives the mortals forward to engage in battle and as this happens, Zeus sends out a thunder clap and Poseidon makes the whole Earth shake. In fact, all this Earth shaking makes Hades jump up from his throne in the Underworld because he’s scared that Poseidon is going to break open the ground above him!
Poseidon marches over to Apollo to engage in battle.
Athena goes up against Enyalios.
Hera fights Artemis.
Leto goes against Hermes.
Hephaestus fights Xanthos.
Achilles vs Aeneas
While the gods are finding their footing on the battlefield, Achilles is trying to find Hector. However, the fight with Hector was not destined to happen so soon. As Achilles is stalking around, he comes face to face with Aeneas (who was actually pushed into Achilles’ path by Apollo. Apollo takes on the voice and appearance of Lykaon — Priam’s son — and tells Aeneas “what happened to you talking a big game before war??” Aeneas is like “why do you want me to fight Achilles when I have zero desire to do so?? This isn’t the first time I would fight him, way back when we fought near Ida because he had come to sack Lyrnessos and take the cattle. Zeus rescued me by putting strength into my legs so I was quick to run. Otherwise I would have died. There is always a god who is with him and beats death from Achilles AND IT’S NOT FAIR.” He claims if the gods weren’t on Achilles’ side he wouldn’t win so easily. Apollo replies telling him to make a prayer to the gods since he — much like Achilles — is the son of a god. So that’s how Aeneas ends up facing Achilles).
As Apollo is egging Aeneas on, Hera notices and talks to the other gods. She tells Athena and Poseidon that Aeneas is going to fight Achilles because of Apollo’s encouragement, so they must do something to make sure the pair do not meet. This is for a number of reasons, but the most interesting one is that Aeneas is a worthy opponent for the son of Peleus.
However, Poseidon retorts that it’s not fair if the gods fight with the mortals, so therefore they should all go to a viewing place and let the men handle it on their own. He states that only if Ares or Apollo actually get involved should they step in.
Poseidon leads them to “the stronghold” of Herakles. This place was built for Heracles by the Trojans (and Athena) as an escape from the sea monster which had driven him from the shores (this is a WHOLE backstory but I’m not discussing it here). Even Ares and Apollo go to join them so that they can all watch the drama play out.
Cut back to the mortals, and Aeneas and Achilles walk into battle. Aeneas walks out first, spear in one hand and his shield in the other. When Achilles comes to meet him, he’s described as doing so like a lion.
Achilles asks Aeneas why he feels brave enough to come and fight him. He reminds Aeneas that his bravery will not be rewarded in Troy, given he is not the son of Priam and only princes receive such public honours. Therefore, Achilles wonders if Aeneas has been offered some kind of prize to successfully kill him — which would make his courage make a bit more sense — but does warn him that killing him will not be so easy. He also uses this speech to remind Aeneas about that episode at Ida and how Aeneas ran all the way to Lyrnessus from him (which is actually the only reason why Achilles sacked the place). In that instance, Zeus is the only reason Aeneas survived and so Achilles stresses this and urges the son of Aphrodite to stand down.
Aeneas replies … oddly, to say the least. He states that they both know of each other’s divine parents, but neither of them have seen each other’s parents. Both parents will have reason to cry on this day because Aeneas believes only one of them will come out of this fight alive. Aeneas then goes through his WHOLE genealogy, then finishes saying (something like) “Come, let us not stand around and chat BUT FIGHT” like it wasn’t just him doing all the talking …
Aeneas throws his spear at Achilles first. Achilles holds his shield a little away from him to take the blow, assuming the spear will go through the shield, but Homer calls him a fool for not knowing how strong these gifts from the gods are. Although Aeneas’ spear doesn’t go all the way through the shield, it does go through 2 of the 5 layers (the initial two layers on the shield are made of bronze, the two on the inside tin, and the one in the centre was thin gold and it’s in this gold that the spear gets stuck).
Achilles then fires at Aeneas. As the spear is barrelling towards him, Aeneas crouches and holds the shield above his head to block the attack. Achilles’ spear is thrown with such force and precision that it hits the thinnest part of the shield and it goes all the way through the oxhide. If Aeneas had not been crouched then the spear would have hit him, but since he is, the weapon safely goes over his back and into the ground behind him.
Aeneas rises to face Achilles as the son of Peleus pulls out his sword. To defend himself, Aeneas picks up a rock which is described as being so large and heavy that two regular mortals working together couldn’t have even moved it. Aeneas picks it up with ease and aims it at Achilles.
Cut back to the gods watching this, and Poseidon starts to PANIC. He looks to the other immortals and says that it’s their job to go and save Aeneas because Zeus will be PISSED if Aphrodite’s son dies at the hands of Achilles. Although it is Achilles’ destiny to die at Troy, Aeneas’ destiny is to survive the Trojan war and continue the line of the Trojans.
Hera says it’s up to Poseidon what he decides to do with Aeneas because her and Athena have previously sworn oaths not to get involved. Therefore, they can’t do anything but advise and hang out.
And so, Poseidon marches over to where Aeneas and Achilles are. He quickly thows a divine mist over Achilles, and uses the chance to take Achilles’ spear and lay it at the hero’s feet. He then picks up Aeneas to remove him from the fighting. Hilariously, Poseidon has only covered Achilles in a divine mist and so when he picks up Aeneas, all the other men on the battlefield are staring at the magical flying Aeneas! Poseidon drops Aeneas to the edge of battle and says him “ARE YOU NUTS!? EITHER STOP FIGHTING OR DIE HERE AT TROY!” (basically — obviously that’s not an exact quote). He advises Aeneas to wait out the battle until Achilles dies, and only after this can he return to the fighting as there is no chance he will die once Achilles is gone. Poseidon then leaves him there and scatters the mist away from Achilles’ eyes.
Achilles comes to and says (something like) “Is this real!!!! My spear is right in front of me but there is no more Aeneas!!!” Aeneas’ mysterious disappearance proves to Achilles that he is loved by a god as Aeneas has been saved from his wrath. With this fight over, Achilles returns to his comrades.
The son of Peleus encourages the Greeks forward by — essentially — just screaming at them.
More fighting!
Over on the Trojan side, Hector is doing the same thing with his men. He instructs them not to be scared of Achilles as he is only actually going to do half of what he’s threatening he will. This is enough to shake fear out of the Trojans and the men raise a battlecry in support of Hector’s words.
Hearing this, Apollo can sense too much confidence coming from Hector. The god comes to talk to the Trojan prince and advises him not go out to fight Achilles alone. Instead, he urges him to go into battle with the rest of his men and wait for Achilles in the thick fighting, only to engage in a duel after Achilles has found him. Hector agrees and follows Apollo’s instructions, but Homer notes that his over confidence has been hiding his true feelings of terror.
As this has been going on, Achilles is super mad about the whole Aeneas debacle and so kills white a few Trojans to vent his rage: first Iphition, son of Orynteus, who Achilles hits with his spear in the middle of the head, causing the head to break into two pieces. Achilles comes over to pull his weapon out, gives a whole dramatic speech over the crumpled body, and then leaves it to be run over by the wheels of the Greek chariots. Secondly, Achilles goes to fight Demoleon, son of Antenor. The son of Peleus stabs him in the temple through the side of the helmet, the spear smashing the bone apart and splattering the brain. Nest he then goes up against Hippodamas, who he stabs in the back as the Trojan attempts to run away. Lastly, Achilles goes after Polydoros (the youngest of Priam’s son) and hits him in the middle of his back. The spearhead goes straight through him and comes out the front of him by the belly button. Polydoros drops to his knees and dies.
Hector sees his brother fall and is encouraged to face the son of Peleus. Achilles sees Hector approach and calls out “YOU’RE THE GUY WHO KILLED PATROCLUS — LET’S DO THIS THING”. Hector replies that he knows he is far weaker than Achilles, but this altercation relies on the gods, not them, which means there is a chance that he may be able to kill Achilles (yes, we are supposed to feel bad for Hector’s delusion because he really does not understand what’s happening).
The Trojan prince throws his spear at Achilles, but Athena is there to help. She blows the spear so it avoids striking Achilles. and instead acts in a boomerang fashion and comes right back to land at Hector’s feet.
Achilles then runs forward to put an end to Hector, but Apollo protects the prince by wrapping him in a thick, divine mist. Three times Achilles sweeps against the mist with his spear, and three times he doesn’t harm Hector. The fourth time he advances, Achilles says (something like) “You escaped death this time, you dog, only because Apollo has saved you. I’m going to give him time to come to his senses and go kill other people — but I’ll be back!!!” And off he trots.
Achilles stabs Dryops in the neck. While he leaves him there to die, he throws a spear into Demouchos’ knee to slow him down. Once he catches up, Achilles kills him with a sweep of his sword. Achilles then attacks Dardanos and Laogonos, sons of Bias: one he stabs with a spear and the other with his sword. Then he moves against Tros, Alastor’s son, who had actually gone to grab onto Achilles’ knees in the hope that he would spare him due to his youth. But Achilles is too angry and doesn’t care that Tros has his whole life ahead of him, and so stabs him in his liver. Achilles now turns to Moulios and throws a pike to his ear, which then came out the other ear on the other side of his head. Achilles’ hit Echekles (son of Agenor) in the middle of the head, and then Deukalion in the arm at the place in the elbow where all the tendons come together. Achilles then decapitates him.
If you think we’re done, we are most certainly not! Now the anger is directed at Rhigmos (son of Peires), whom Achilles stabs in the belly. This causes the Trojan to slumps over the side of his chariot, and as the charioteer (named Areithoos) goes to turn the horses round, Achilles stabs him with a sharp spear in the back. NOW we’re done with this fight scene (oh and, in case you were wondering, the horses run off so they’re fine — don’t worry).
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