Book Ten

     This book is centered around Odysseus and Diomedes’ nighttime adventure to spy on the Trojans.Book Ten of the Iliad beings with Agamemnon and Menelaos both being unable to sleep in the middle of the night. They decide to go make sure the sentries are awake and to hold a councel as well. Agamemnon and Menelaos gather Nestor, Odysseus, Diomedes and several more important men together in “an open space not littered with dead bodies” close to the ships. The council quickly decides that a spy should be sent to the Trojan camp, and Odysseus and Diomedes agree to go. As they are leaving the Greek camp, Athena sends a heron flying by them and the two men take this as a sign from her and pray for her protection. On their way to the Trojan camp, Odysseus and Diomedes run across Dolon, a Trojan who was sent by Hector to spy on the Greeks with the promise that his reward would be the cart and horses of Achilles. Odysseus and Diomedes capture Dolon and make him give them information about the locations of the Trojans and their allies before killing him. They put his personal effects in a tamarisk tree and thank Athena for their luck. Using the information given to them by Dolon, Odysseus and Diomedes raid the camp of the Thracians, allies of Troy. Diomedes kills twelve Thracians, including their king, and Odysseus steals the king’s cart and white horses. Athena appears to Diomedes while he is deciding whether or not to continue killing Thracians and tells him to leave their camp. Seeing what has happened, Apollo awakens a cousin of the murdered king who sees the grizzly scene and lets out cries which rouse many of the Thracian soldiers for their sleep. As Odysseus and Diomedes ride back to the Greek camp, they stop by the tamarisk tree to collect Dolon’s gear. When they arrive at the Greek camp, they tell the council what happened during their excursion, hang Dolon’s equipment on a ship, wash themselves in the sea, take a warm bath, rub down with oils, and make a sacrifice of wine to Athena.

Best Lines:
“…or the wintry blizzard, sifting on gray fields – or the wide jaws or drear and bitter war…”
“…pitiable sounds came form the bodies cleft by the sword’s edge…”
“Plunging death is coming at my hands! You cannot get away!”
--Rachel Davies

Book 11

     At dawn, the Greeks and Trojans prepare for battle. Agamemnon dresses himself with his elaborate armor. The Trojans gather around Hector. Discord, sent by Zeus, speaks to the Greeks, filling them with courage.
     Once the war brakes out, the Greeks are clearly dominating. The Trojans’ weakness is seen when Agamemnon refuses Pisander’s and Hippolochus’ requests to take them for ransom rather than kill them. Agamemnon instead slaughters them both. The strength of the Greek army is apparent when Homer continually refers to them as “lions” or “wild boars” and the Trojans as “hounds”.
     Zeus, favoring the Trojans by the request of Thetis, Achilles’ mother, sends Iris to inform Hector not to fight until Agamemnon is wounded and is forced to retreat back to his ship. Hector obeys Zeus’ order and waits to attack the Greeks. After many failed attempts on the Greek king’s life, Coon, the eldest son of Antenor, spears Agamemnon in his arm. The king continues to fight until the blood from the wound dries and the pain sets in. Agamemnon then flees by chariot toward the Greek ships.
     Seeing Agamemnon retreat, Hector immediately joins the battle. The Greeks would have followed their king in retreat, but Odysseus and Diomedes agree to stay and fight. Shortly after, Paris shoots Diomedes in the foot. Although wounded by the prince, Diomedes insults Paris’ weakness as a warrior:

“Archer, who without your bow are
Nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in single
combat fighting in full armor, your bow and your arrows would serve
You in little stead. Vain is your boast in that you have scratched the
Sole of my foot.”

      Odysseus runs to help Diomedes, but is wounded in the process. They both jump onto their chariots and head for the Greek ships. Machaon, the Greek doctor is also injured and rushes back to camp with Nestor. Zeus makes Ajax, the great Greek warrior, fearful of the Trojan’s strength and also begins to retreat. Eurypylus follows Ajax, trying to help shield off the Trojan arrows, but is pierced in the leg on his way.
     Meanwhile, back at camp, Achilles watches the battle from his ship. It becomes clear that Achilles is not fighting, because of his pride. He wants to be needed by the Greeks and says that he “shall now have the [Greeks] praying at his knees” for him to the battle. He is anxious to learn the status of the war. Achilles wonders how the Greeks are doing and who is with Nestor that had been injured. The obsessive anxiousness and worry makes it apparent that the warrior, inspite of his pride, will eventually fight for the Greeks.
     Achilles calls his friend Patroclus to find out more about the day’s events from Nestor. Homer foreshadows Patroclus’ fate, commenting that this is “the beginning of the ill that presently befell him.” Patroclus runs to Nestor’s tent, who reports that Machaon, the doctor, has been wounded. He proceeds to relate the day events to another battle between the Epeians and the Pylians. Nestor tells Petroclus that he must try to convince Achilles to fight and that if the great warrior refuses, Patroclus should wear his armor and fight in Achilles’ place. With that said, Patroclus races back to the ship, stopping along the way to nurse Eurypylus’ wound, who fears that without Achilles the Greeks are doomed.
--Laura Donnelly