Knowing Our Enemy
2020
ITALY – It has been a year since our loss to the Achaeans, the war which slew many and killed our Prince Hector.
In the beginning of the war, we were winning. The Achaeans sailed to our lands but our mighty Prince Hector pushed the Achaean army back toward the beaches and assaulted the Achaean ships. However, when the Achaean forces were on the verge of absolute destruction, Patroclus, Achilles’ childhood companion, led the Myrmidons into battle, wearing Achilles’ armour. Patroclus succeeded in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but was slain by Hector before he could lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.
Now we can either thank or blame Prince Hector. He had slain a fierce warrior, but this resulted in Achilles joining the battle, to avenge the death of his friend. Achilles killed many men in his rage but always sought out Prince Hector.
After this, the war raged on for ten years, eventually leading to Achilles slaying Prince Hector and marking the defeat of us Trojans.
We have Achilles to blame for whatever we have been through.
Achilles cheated in the war. When Achilles was born, his mother, Thetis, feared for the day he would die and dipped him into River Styx to try to make him invulnerable. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him; his left heel.
Picture of Achilles being dipped into River Styx
An unfair advantage was given to the Achaeans. Us Trojans fought fairly and fought justly. We did not go into a river to become invulnerable and try to change our mortality. We also did not disguise ourselves as girls so that we would not need to take part in the war.
Achilles was hidden in the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. It is a laughable fact that, here, he was disguised as a girl and lived among Lycomedes’ daughters, under the name “Pyrrha”. It was only when it was prophesied that the Achaeans would not win the war without Achilles that Odysseus came to look for him.
Odysseus went to Skyros under the guise of a peddler selling women’s clothes and jewellery, but he had placed a shield and spear among his goods. When Achilles instantly took up the spear, Odysseus saw through his disguise and convinced him to join the Achaean campaign.
Cowardly, I would say.
It was cowardly that he hid in Skyros in an attempt to avoid the war. It was cowardly that he tried to avoid the war again, with his refusal to fight alongside the Achaeans. Until his friend’s death.
Achilles’ strength was only fueled by his rage. He killed many men but he was also blinded by his anger. He was foolish enough to have engaged in battle with the river god Scamander, who had become angry that Achilles was choking his waters with all the men he had killed. The god tried to drown Achilles but was stopped.
Achilles’ rage was taken note of and the gods were sent to restrain him so that he would not go on to sack Troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction. This seemed to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles could have defied fate itself.
Now how could Prince Hector be killed by a coward such as Achilles?
Well, he was tricked by Athena, who in the form of Hector’s favorite and dearest brother, Deiphobus, persuaded Prince Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face. After Prince Hector realised the trick, he knew the battle was inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charged at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but missed.
Accepting his fate, Hector begged Achilles, not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles told Hector it is hopeless to expect that of him.
Many witnesses at the scene swore that they heard him say that “[his] rage, [his] fury would drive [him] now to hack your flesh away and eat [Hector] raw – such agonies [Hector] have caused [him]”.
After saying this, they said that Achilles then killed Hector and dragged his corpse by its heels behind his chariot.
Picture of Hector dragging Achilles by his heel
This was a vile act. The disrespect given to the body of a prince, a prince who fought bravely for us, and accepted his fate as a true warrior is disgusting.
He did not beg for Achilles not to kill him, but to treat his body with respect and this is what he got?
Prince Hector did not die a coward nor did he die a fool. He was tricked and tried to get out of it, but his fate was to die. Achilles did not even treat his body with respect after that. Pathetic.
Achilles only cared about himself and did not think about the pain he had brought upon Prince Hector. Our prince would have treated Achilles’ body with respect had he been able to slay him.
Eventually, Achilles had to be stopped. This came when Paris shot an arrow straight into his vulnerable spot, his heel. The arrow caused Achilles to bleed and he died.
It is unclear what happened next to his body, but I hope it was dragged around like a ragdoll, given no respect like how Achilles gave Prince Hector no respect.
“I was glad when Paris killed him,” Helen said.
Helen had eloped with Paris to Troy, which enraged her husband, Menelaus was enraged. This was one of the events that sparked the Trojan war.
When Paris died, Helen married his brother, but betrayed him when Menelaus and his forces were winning against the Trojans.
A group of us had recently been in contact with her, and she had said she was proud of what Paris did, but she was also fine with the fact that the Trojans lost. She offered to help us as she felt sympathetic.
She really said she felt sympathetic.
I do not fall for such conniving schemes.
“Achilles was a brave warrior, but I think he should have made a truce instead of continuing the war when he had the chance.”
We should be grateful for Aeneas. He is the only one helping us get to another place to settle safely. Thank good fate, forget the gods.
Aeneas believed Achilles could have ended the war earlier if he had not been in such a rage. Achilles was offered a bride as a truce to end the war but he did not marry her, which led to the war going on for ten years.
We will follow Aeneas to where he leads us. But do not get too comfortable my fellow Trojans, for there we will start making our plans. We will forge new weapons, armour.
We will get back Troy.
References:
Jordison, Sam. “Achilles Is Brutal, Vain, Pitiless – and a True Hero.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/feb/16/achilles-homer-iliad-brutal-vain-pitiless-hero.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Achilles.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 7 July 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Achilles-Greek-mythology.
Judson, Anna P. “My Museum Favourite: The Siege of Troy.” Res Gerendae, 1 Sept. 2015, resgerendae.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/my-museum-favourite-the-siege-of-troy/.