Question

Excerpt from Homer’s The Iliad

What message is Homer trying to get across by telling the story of the return of Hector's body from Achilles to Priam?

Why do people think that Homer would have included such a tale as part of an epic that tells the story of Greek victory?

Answer 1

Answer:

At the Achaean camp, Achilles and the Myrmidons continue their mourning for Patroclus. Achilles finally begins to accept food, but he still refuses to wash until he has buried Patroclus. That night, his dead companion appears to him in a dream, begging Achilles to hold his funeral soon so that his soul can enter the land of the dead. The next day, after an elaborate ceremony in which he sacrifices the Achaeans’ twelve Trojan captives, Achilles prays for assistance from the winds and lights Patroclus’s funeral pyre.