Book 7: Hector and Ajax go to fight, but it’s a draw cause they’re both beasts
More Fighting …
Hector and Paris go through the gates and back into battle. Paris kills Menesthios and Phylomedousa. Hector kills Eioneus by shooting him in the neck. Glaukos kills Iphinoos by lodging his spear into the guy’s shoulder.
Athena sees the Trojans killing loads of the Greeks and she’s NOT happy. She goes down to Troy to pull Apollo for a chat. Luckily for her, Apollo is already waiting to meet her.
Apollo demands to know what exactly Athena wants from him, saying that she has no pity for the Trojans even though they’re dropping like flies. He suggests that he and Athena settle this war once and for all by orchestrating another one-on-one duel.
Athena agrees that another duel would be fun, and so asks which soldiers Apollo has in mind. Apollo states that he likes Hector, but thinks that Hector should be allowed to choose his own opponent. Athena nods in agreement.
Back on the battlefield with the mortals, Helenos goes to see Hector and suggests that he should call forward a Greek to fight him in another one-on-one duel, as the gods told Helenos that this would be a great idea. Hector is actually elated by this and goes in front of the Trojans to make them sit down where they are. Agamemnon notices Hector doing this, and so does the same with the Greeks to calm the fighting.
Seeing their plan come to fruition, Apollo and Athena take on the form of vultures to sit in a great oak tree to watch this impending duel.
Hector Challenges The Greeks
Hector stands between the armies to say that it is Zeus’s fault that the original duel didn’t pan out the way the guys wanted. Therefore, he believes that they should try again — but this time, the Greeks can choose the man to fight against him. Hector says that if his Greek opponent manages to kill him, then they are allowed to strip his armour and take it back to the ships BUT he must leave the prince of Troy’s body on home soil so that he can get the correct burial rites and vice versa. Hector ends this by saying that he is going to hang the Greek dude’s armour up in the temple of Apollo in Troy because that’s the god who’s on the Trojan’s side.
In response, the Greeks are silent. Homer tells us that it’s partially because they feel shame in leaving Hector hanging, but also because they’re scared to take up his offer.
Menelaus stands up and offers himself up to fight Hector. Remember: Menelaus has no business doing this considering he’s injured from Pandaros shooting his leg.
Homer tells us that Hector was ready to kill Menelaus … had not Agamemnon shot to his feet. Agamemnon says (something along the lines of) “ARE YOU MENTAL — HE’S WAY BETTER THAN YOU! EVEN ACHILLES IS SCARED OF HECTOR!!” He then tells Menelaus to sit down because another soldier must fight in his place. So Menelaus obeys and sits down.
Nestor then stands up and says that Peleus, Achilles’ dad, would be upset to see the Greeks right now. The old man exclaims that if only he was younger then he’d volunteer for the duel. In true Nestor fashion, he then goes on to tell a story from his youth about these great heroes and then concludes (something along the lines of) “I would if I could but I can’t so I shan’t”.
After Nestor has shamed the Greeks, he sits down once again. But this time, nine men rise to offer themselves as tribute to fight Hector. The first man was Agamemnon, the second Diomedes, then both Big and Little Ajax rise, followed by Idomeneus and Meriones, Eurypylos, Thoas, and even Odysseus. Seeing this, Nestor suggests that the men draw lots to decide who will fight Hector.
All the men mark their lot and then throw it into Agamemnon’s helmet. The helmet is then shaken up so that all the lots are shuffled. Other members of the Greek army start praying to Zeus in the hopes that Big Ajax wins — but if it happens to not be his time to fight, the people hope that Diomedes is chosen in his place.
Nestor pulls a lot from the helmet (which a herald holds up for all to see), and Big Ajax identifies the lot as his. He is THRILLED to have been chosen — so much so that he throws the lot on the ground and he yells to everyone (something like) “IT’S MINE!!!!” He asks the rest of the men to pray to Zeus while he’s putting on his armour. All the Greeks start murmuring in prayer.
Big Ajax Meets Hector In Battle
Big Ajax is now famously described as “the wall of the Achaeans”. He is noted as having a smile hiding beneath his brow, and his steps towards Hector are GIANT. The Trojans are positively sh*tting themselves when they see him — even Hector is terrified! But since he’s the one who presented this idea, he can’t run away even though he wants to.
As Big Ajax strolls over to Hector, he reminds all of us that Achilles is still in his tent (in case anyone forgot) and reminds us that he’s there because he’s mad at Agamemnon ... still, four days later. Big Ajax ends this by saying he’s ready to fight whenever Hector is.
Hector agrees that he’s ready and then throws his spear at Big Ajax, but it merely sticks into Big Ajax’s shield. The shield is quite the piece of art: made up of seven layers of ox-hide and a middle layer of solid bronze (which is the layer that the spear gets stuck in).
Big Ajax then throws his spear at Hector and it goes straight through the prince of Troy’s shield, corselet, and even the rest of his armour. However, kind of like Paris, Hector moves out of the way just enough for the spear to miss his skin.
Following this, the two men both go at each other with their spears. Hector stabs Big Ajax’s shield again, but this time, his spearhead bends on contact. Big Ajax then chucks his spear at Hector as Hector raises his shield to block his neck. The spear goes straight through the shield AGAIN, but it slices the side of Hector’s neck as it whizzes behind him. Hector doesn’t seem to notice this, though. He picks up a rock and throws that at Big Ajax’s shield (he needs to stop with this tactic because this is the third time now, albeit with a different weapon — but still). It does nothing.
Big Ajax picks up an even BIGGER rock to throw at Hector, but Hector blocks it. Unfortunately, Hector’s shield gets a massive dent from the rock and the force pushes Hector backwards. Apollo sees this happening and moves in to catch Hector so that he has a second to breathe, and then the pair (sans Apollo) take out their swords and start going at it in close combat.
We are told that Hector and Big Ajax would have kept fighting if it wasn’t for two heralds — Idaios (Trojan) and Talthybios (Greek) — who stood up. Both of them go to stand in between Big Ajax and Hector to demand that they stop fighting. They say (something along the lines of) “Zeus loves you both equally so there’s no need to continue fighting … but also it’s nighttime now and we should all go to bed”.
Big Ajax suggests that because Hector came up with the one-on-one duel plan, whether they stop or keep fighting is really down to him. Hector agrees that they should stop fighting, but clarifies that they will fight again so that the gods can choose one of them to win.
To signify the truce, the men exchange armour. Hector gives Big Ajax a sword plus the sheath and belt to hold it, whereas Big Ajax gives Hector a purple war belt.
As the heroes head back to their respective camps, the reactions from both armies are rather notable. On one side, the Trojans are thrilled to see Hector return because Big Ajax is a monster. They believed that he would have definitely killed been killed, and so they rejoice seeing their prince come back in one piece. Meanwhile, the Greeks see Big Ajax return and they’re happy because it reflects well on Agamemnon that Big Ajax didn’t die. Upon Ajax’s return, Agamemnon sacrifices an ox to Zeus. In the subsequent feast, Big Ajax was given the best bit of the meat by Agamemnon.
Nestor stands up as the men are eating and suggests that the soldiers should go onto the battlefield to retrieve those of them who died. If they hold off on fighting for the moment, it will give them the chance to perform the correct burial rites for each individual, take their bones and bring them to the appropriate ships for the leaders to then return to the fallen soldier’s family. He suggests burning all the bodies in one pyre, and once that’s done, then the men should dig a ditch right out front of their camp walls just in case the Trojans attempt to attack the ships. Everyone agrees.
Trojan Meeting
Over on the Trojan side, they’re also having an assembly. Antenor gets up to speak and he says (something along the lines of) “Here me out: why don’t we just give Helen back??” He says he doesn’t see the war going well if they don’t just cut their losses and give Helen — and lots of gifts — back to Menelaus.
When Antenor sits down, Paris pops up to argue. He says (something like) “Yeah … that doesn’t sound like something I want to do”. He follows this up by stating that if the Trojans really believe he should hand Helen over, then the gods have clearly screwed with everyone’s brain because there’s literally no way he sees himself doing this. However, he does present a compromise of giving Menelaus all his stuff back as compensation.
Priam stands up after Paris sits down. The king decides to settle the matter by sending Idaios to talk to the sons of Atreus and let them know that Paris is going to give them stuff. He also tells Idaios to ask if the Greeks will allow them to pause the fighting so that the Trojans can burn the bodies of their own dead. Everyone agrees. Priam sits down. All the men sleep.
Idaios Is sent to the greeks & The Dead Are Buried
At dawn, Idaios rises bright and early to run his little booty over to the Greeks. He relays what we have just heard (also blames Paris for the whole war), BUT he stresses that although Paris will give them loads of stuff, he will not return Helen.
Idaios is met with silence. Diomedes finally says (something like) “... Ya, that’s gonna be a no from us. We don’t want stuff”. All the Greeks roar in approval.
Agamemnon now steps forward. He says that although he agrees with Diomedes, he is more than happy to agree to the not-fighting-to-bury-the-dead offer. And so, Idaios runs back to Troy to deliver the news. Hearing this, everyone gets to work.
Homer goes through the Trojans washing the bodies, piling them up, burning them etc, followed by the Greeks. On the Greek side, we also get a description of them digging that ditch Nestor was talking about.
While all of this is happening with the mortals, we now cut to the gods to get our first glimpse of Poseidon, god of the sea. He says (something along the lines of) “Yo Zeus, notice how the Greeks are digging a ditch and haven’t thought to make an offering to us ONCE!? What is that about!?”
Zeus turns to his brother and agrees. However, the king of the gods does take this one step further and gives Poseidon full permission to destroy the wall around the camp and fill it with sand.
Cut back to the mortals and it’s now the end of the day. The Greeks finish off their hard labour and go to eat dinner, accompanied by wine sent by Jason’s son (via Hypsipyle) from Lemnos. While they’re all partying and having fun, Zeus is noted to be threatening evil, which causes the greeks to feel a sudden jolt of fear. They all begin pouring wine out of their cups in honour of Zeus, and then go to bed.
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