The Myth of Achilles | Troy and The Odyssey: Achilles, Hector, Patroclus, His Weakness, and His Death Explained

The greatest warrior of the Greek army, Achilles, lays down his spear in the middle of the battlefield. This is not a sudden retreat in the middle of fighting the Trojan forces, but a choice he made himself after clashing with the commander-in-chief Agamemnon over honor. How this single choice leads to the death of a comrade, and then to the resolve to put on armor again, forms the main thread of the Iliad story. Achilles' own death and the weakness of his heel are separate from this flow, told separately in traditions that came after the Iliad.

The Choice That Clashed with Agamemnon: Withdrawing from the Battlefield

Book 1 of the Iliad opens with Achilles and the commander-in-chief Agamemnon clashing head-on over the captive Briseis. When Agamemnon invokes his authority and takes Briseis away, Achilles feels that his honor has been trampled and decides to withdraw completely from the fighting.

The absence of the greatest warrior left a huge gap. As the price of Achilles' withdrawal, the Greek army keeps losing ground to the Trojans, and amid this crisis the weight of the next scene passes to his comrade Patroclus.

The Death of Patroclus: The Price of His Absence

While Achilles stayed away from the battlefield, Patroclus went into battle wearing his armor. In Book 16, Patroclus loses his life to Hector. This death, which occurred in the space left by Achilles' withdrawal, soon returns to him as a heavy price.

For Achilles, who hears the news, the weight of the consequences his withdrawal has brought comes with it. In the next scene, he begins preparing to return to the battlefield.

Donning New Armor, Redirecting His Rage

In Book 18, Achilles hears of Patroclus' death and resolves to return to battle. He equips himself with new armor and prepares for his confrontation with Hector. The rage that was once directed at Agamemnon when he first withdrew is now aimed at Hector instead.

Bringing Hector Down

In Book 22, Achilles pursues Hector and kills him. It is the moment when the price for Patroclus' death is turned back on Hector, and when the target of Achilles' rage is brought to a close in this duel. With Troy's guardian fallen, the course of the war changes dramatically. How Hector was entangled with Achilles can be followed from Hector's point of view in the myth of Hector.

Priam's Plea: Returning the Body

In Book 24, Hector's father Priam goes to Achilles in person and begs him to return his son's body. Achilles accepts this plea and gives the body back. With the choice Priam makes before the man who cost him his son, and Achilles' response in accepting it, the Iliad closes its story with this scene.

Achilles' Death Is Not in the Iliad

Nowhere in the Iliad's table of contents, nor in the ending of Book 24, does Achilles' own death appear. The story that his heel was his only weakness is likewise absent from the work. It is worth knowing first that the Iliad is a work that covers only up to Hector's funeral.

The Death Told in Later Tradition

According to the later tradition handed down by Apollodorus, Alexandros (Paris) and Apollo killed Achilles in front of the Scaean Gates. The weakness of the heel and the story of the river Styx do not appear in this passage of Apollodorus. His relationship with Patroclus, who lost his life to Achilles, can be explored further in the story of Patroclus, and his relationship with Agamemnon, the other party in this quarrel, in the myth of Agamemnon.

The full scope of the work containing all these events can be followed in the Iliad plot summary.