A) Iliad 18.22-60: A dark cloud of grief [akhos] fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at full length, and tore his hair with his hands.

The bondswomen whom Achilles and Patroklos had taken captive screamed aloud for grief, beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilokhos bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into his own throat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her… The crystal cave was filled with their multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them in their lament.

"Listen," she cried, "sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may hear the burden of my sorrows.Alas how I am wretched, alas how unluckily I was the best child bearer, since I bore a child that was faultless and strong, outstanding of heroes. And he shot up like a sapling. After nourishing him like plant on the hill of an orchard I sent him forth in the hollow ships to Ilion to fight with the Trojans. But I will not receive him again returning home to the house of Peleus."

B) Iliad 18.79-96: "Mother, Olympian Zeus has indeed granted me the fulfillment of my prayer, but what pleasure can I have in it, seeing that my dear comrade Patroklos has fallen - he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him; yes, and Hektor when he had killed him stripped the wondrous armor, so glorious to behold, which the gods gave to Peleus when they laid you in the couch of a mortal man. Would that you were still dwelling among the immortal sea-nymphs, and that Peleus had taken to himself some mortal bride. For now you shall have infinite grief [penthos] by reason of the death of that son whom you can never welcome home - no, I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hektor fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroklos son of Menoitios." Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand - for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hektor."

C) Iliad 22.156-166: Past these did they rush, the one in front and the other close behind him: good was the man that fled, [158] but better far was he that followed after, and swiftly indeed did they run, for the prize was no mere beast for sacrifice or bullock's hide, as it might be for a common foot-race, but they ran for the life [psukhê] of Hektor. As horses in a chariot race speed round the turning-posts when they are running for some great prize [athlon] - a tripod or woman - at the games in honor of some dead hero, so did these two run full speed three times round the city of Priam. All the gods watched them…

D) Iliad 22.260-272: Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between lions and men, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other through and through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall and glut grim Ares with his life's blood. Put forth all your excellence [aretê]; you have need now to prove yourself indeed a bold warrior and fighter. You have no more chance, and Pallas Athena will forthwith vanquish you by my spear: you shall now pay me in full for the grief you have caused me on account of my comrades whom you have killed in battle."

E) Iliad 22.338ff: Then Hektor said, as the life-breath [psukhê] ebbed out of him, "I pray you by your life and knees, and by your parents, don't let dogs devour me at the ships of the Achaeans, but accept the rich treasure of gold and bronze which my father and mother will offer you, and send my body home, that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire when I am dead."

Achilles glared at him and answered, "don't talk to me neither of knees nor parents; would that I could be as sure of being able to cut your flesh into pieces and eat it raw, for the ill you have done me, as I am that nothing shall save you from the dogs - it shall not be, though they bring ten or twenty-fold ransom and weigh it out for me on the spot, with promise of yet more hereafter. Though Priam son of Dardanos should bid them offer me your weight in gold, even so your mother shall never lay you out and make lament over the son she bore, but dogs and vultures shall eat you utterly up."

Hektor with his dying breath then said, "I know you what you are, and was sure that I should not move you, for your heart is hard as iron; look to it that I bring not heaven's anger upon you on the day when Paris and Phoebus Apollo, valiant though you are, shall slay you at the Scaean gates."

Homer's Poetic Justice: This series of five video dialogues examines the major themes of the Iliad through the lens of a litigation scene depicted on the shield of Achilles. As these dialogues will show, the shield can be seen as a microcosm, exploring in compressed form the big issues of the Iliad. The biggest issue of them all is the one that the dispute on the shield most directly concerns: What is the price of a human life?

"The Shield of Achilles" by W. H. Auden. Note how Auden's poem explores many of the themes we have been discussing. What is the significance in Auden's poem of the natural world and scenes of peace depicted on Achilles' shield in the Iliad?

Another modern poem that resonates with our discussions of Achilles is the following by Patrick Shaw-Stewart, who was killed in action in 1917 in World War I. He wrote the poem on leave from Gallipoli, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Gallipoli is located just across the Dardanelles from Troy. Click here to learn more about the author and the poem.