Achilles vs Hector !

 1-Acest articol este copiat !

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr -1

“After I have killed you, I will cut out your eyes, ears and tongue, and as you wander the Underworld blind, deaf and dumb, some will ask ‘Who is that man?’, and others will reply ‘He is the fool who thought he had killed Achilles’.”

Achilles prowled the battlefield for Hector but instead found Aeneas, and came close to killing him until Poseidon spirited him away. Achilles was death personified as he stalked through the Trojan lines, slaying Iphition, Hippodamas, and Demoleon, son of Antenor. Polydorus, the youngest son of Priam, had been forbidden from fighting, but managed to escape the palace to the battlefield. He quailed at the sight of the magnificent and gore splattered Achilles, turning to flee only to be speared through the back.

Hector heard the dying screams of Polydorus and threw his spear for Achilles, only for Athena to blow it aside, while Apollo spirited away Hector before Achilles could respond. The Greek harbinger of death speared Dryops through neck, smashed the neck of Demuchus before cutting him to pieces, speared and chopped the brothers Laogonus and Dardanus, split the liver of Young Tros, son of Alistor, drove his spear through the head of Mulius, in one ear and out through the other, split open the head of Echelus, son of Agenor. His bloodlust remained unquenched, and also to fall by his blade were Thersilochus, Mydon, Astypylus, Mnesus, Thrasius, Aenius and Ophelestes, while Priam’s son Lyacon was drowned. As the river ran red, its spirit Scamander called Achilles to stop, but he merely scoffed and hurled more Trojan corpses into the waters. Scamander implored Apollo to get Achilles to stop, so Achilles now attacked the water, which promptly swept him away. Praying that he not suffer such an ignominious end, Hera had Hephaestus release a fire on the riverbank which boiled the water, causing Scamander to release his hold and allow Achilles to escape. Antenor’s son Agenor threw his spear at Achilles, now chasing the routed Trojans, but Apollo spirited him away before he too was slain by Achilles, who was now taunted by the sun god.

Finally Achilles was able to confront Hector as the Trojan army fled back into the city. Hector fled at the sight of him, and three times Achilles chased him around the city wall. Athena appeared to Hector as his brother Deiphobus, saying he would fight with him. Emboldened, Hector turned to face Achilles, only to find that he was now alone. Hector said that whoever wins should allow the body of the other to receive full funeral rights. Achilles responded that wolves do not make deals with sheep. Hector ducked beneath the throw of Achilles’ spear, and though his own throw was true, it could not punch through the solid gold centre of Achilles’ new shield. Unseen to Hector, Athena had returned to Achilles the spear which he had thrown. Hector charged in with his sword, though Achilles knew every crease and fold of his old armour which Hector now wore, having stripped it from the corpse of Patroclus. As Hector neared him he tilted his spear at the spot where the bronze and leather did not overlap at the throat, and impaled the Prince of Troy. As the horrified citizens of Troy looked down, Achilles took Hector’s belt – his gift from Ajax – and used it toe tie his ankles to his chariot, before dragging the corpse around the city.

Achilles built a huge funeral pyre for Patroclus, and outraged the gods and his fellow Greeks when he slit the throats of twelve captured Trojan prisoners. Each day he dragged the corpse of Hector around Troy three times, then returned to hold funeral games for Patroclus. After several days King Priam set off at night with treasure and his servant Idaeus to the Greek camp, though a kind soldier offered the take charge of the chariot and lead it. Arriving at the Myrmidon encampment, the soldier revealed himself as Hermes, and Priam was now free to approach Achilles. He begged at his feet for the return of his son’s body. Achilles was impressed by the king’s courage and readily agreed, revealing that no dog nor bord had touched Hector’s body the whole time, and his corpse was pristine. The two men wept together.

Although the Greeks had the impetus following the death of Hector, the Trojans were boosted by the arrival of the Amazons under Queen Penthesilea, daughter of Ares, younger sister of Hippolyta, who either married Thesesus or was killed by Hercules. Twelve princesses arrived with her, and they began carving through the Greek lines. The women of Troy wanted to join them, but Theono, priestess of Athena, urged them not to. Achilles and Ajax the Mighty were both morning at the grave of Patroclus when the Amazons arrived, but then sprang into the fight. The Amazon advance was halted when Achilles impaled Penthesilea with her own spear, only to then be dumbstruck with sorrow when he removed her helmet to see her beauty. Laughing at Achilles’ sudden sorrow, the Greek joker Thersites then found himself killed by an enraged Achilles. His cousin Diomedes was aghast, but Achilles agreed to sail to Lesbos to be purified.

Further reinforcements arrived with Memnon of Etheopia, son of Eos goddess of dawn, and Tithonus, who had been granted immortality but not eternal youth, so had aged and withered horribly until Eos took pity on him and turned him into a grasshopper. Memnon too wore armour forged by Hephaestus, and killed Nestor’s son Antilcohus. Nestor pleaded with Achilles for vengeance, and he fought the Ethiopian king all day until his youth and vigour prevailed, and he ran Memnon through with his blade. The Trojans were now pushed back to the walls, Achilles again charging amongst them and bringing death. Up on the walls, a still-mourning Paris saw the figure hacking down his fellow Trojans. He was a long was off, but Paris was a fine shot with the bow. He nocked an arrow, took a breath, drew back, prayed to Apollo that his shot would be true, and loosed his arrow into the battle.