Hektor did nothing wrong

The arrogance of Achilles is often misunderstood in a modern context. While he most certainly was a lofty figure who held himself above all of the other Greek heroes, this attitude was wholly deserved within his nature and this was understood by everyone who knew him. It would have been disgraceful if he didn't act like he did. Besides that, Achilles was a magnetic personality, a gifted singer and musician with his lyre who had the beauty of a Goddess from his mother. He never would hold another man as his equal, but he did form friendships, most notably with Patroclus, who was dear to him like a son.

The defining conflict within Achilles as a character is his struggle between fulfilling his divine nature and his desire to forsake his Godly heritage and live as a mortal man. Because of this, he was fascinated with the life of mortals, living the careless life free of existential contemplation vicariously through Patroclus, who he spoiled and doted on like a loving mother. The only comfort in his life was this dream of whimsical care free mortality, which he kept alive in the life of Patroclus, unable to forsake his true nature as a Demigod.

I don't know if Achilles and Hector would have been friends, but Hector most certainly was the exact vision of the ideal mortal man Achilles was contemplating himself to be when he left the service of Agamemnon. Achilles killing Hector was in many ways the act of him killing that part of himself, the honorable family man he once dreamed of living as.

This is related to the faults I was describing here The patron Gods of Troy were Ares, Aphrodite and Apollo, and it was their divine spirits that were guiding and shaping the actions of the Trojans. Just before the death of Patroclus, the Trojans were on the precipice of victory over the Greek forces, having pushed them to their ships and having wounded most of their Heroes. This taste of victory over his enemies brought Hector to the height of vainglory, inhabited by the cruelty and swagger of Ares. When Patroclus fell in Achilles armor, the Trojans piled and clawed over one another in a greedy frenzy to claim the armor as their war prize, eventually being claimed by Hector who wore it boastfully. He was beginning to go off the rails at the end of the war when the upper hand was his

>While he most certainly was a lofty figure who held himself above all of the other Greek heroes, this attitude was wholly deserved within his nature and this was understood by everyone who knew him. It would have been disgraceful if he didn't act like he did. Besides that, Achilles was a magnetic personality, a gifted singer and musician with his lyre who had the beauty of a Goddess from his mother.

Please, people with divine ancestry were a dime a dozen in the Iliad; Sarpedon is fucking Zeus's son, and he's in it for like 20 lines before getting killed by Patrokles. Sure, Achillesis half-God, but what makes him special is his rage (which is implied to alter fate) and his battle prowess.

It most certainly was not "understood" or accepted by people who knew him, given that the fundamental conflict in the Iliad is the one between Achilles and Agammemnon, and the entire war is simply a backdrop to that.

>He never would hold another man as his equal, but he did form friendships, most notably with Patroclus, who was dear to him like a son.

But Patrokles wasn't his friend. He was his student and butt to fuck, in part precisely because he couldn't and wouldn't hold him as an equal.

>The defining conflict within Achilles as a character is his struggle between fulfilling his divine nature and his desire to forsake his Godly heritage and live as a mortal man.

Da fuck are you on about? The defining struggle within Achilles is whether to accept the social strictures and take commands from a man who is personally his inferior, because it actually works out better for everyone (himself included) to do so, and whether or not he can swallow his pride that far.

It has nothing to do with forsaking his divine heritage, or living like a mortal man. It has everything to do with the leader by social convention vs the leader by ability.

Achilles couldn't have been friends with Hektor because Achillies is fundamentally incapable of making friends.

Ajax and Teucer are the most BAMF characters for the fact that no God helps them but they still go on and face large forces -- often ones which have the Gods on their side -- and win. Ajax for the fact he rekt Hector and countless other Trojans, and was considered the best of the Greeks (in combat) behind Achilles, and Teucer for not having any of the blessings of the Gods or unique superhuman power / size but still managing to fight alongside his much bigger brother and telling Agememnon and Menelaus to go collectively fuck themselves after Ajax's suicide and didn't give a shit if they sent the Achaean army after him.

Involving those aided by the Gods looses the true excellence of their characters by how arbitrary they are by their measure of support. Years before the Achaean-Trojan War Heracles was said to have successfully siege Troy with just three ships as apart of his labours and it wasn't even considered to be one of his toughest ones at that -- all simply done in thanks for getting a little more divine-favor points by his connection to Zeus and that labour not being in conflicting interest of the other Gods. All the heros in the Iliad look like bitches compare to him but hypothetically -- according to Homeric metaphysics -- Zeus could just give some random joe the supreme power to fuck up all of Troy and Asia it-self if he really wanted to. How the Gods can really give heros such edge over others with little effort minimizes the effort that would be there without them.

Virtue should be measured by the capabilities and limits of an individual, and following such, Ajax and Teucer are the undeserving heros (at-least for the Achaeans) of the war.

Achilles was very different from other Heroes of divine birth. Achilles was born as the fulfillment of a prophetic vision of a Hero that would usher in the end of an Age that paralleled the prophetic birth of Zeus himself against the Age of his father Cronus. Everything about the nature of Achilles was special.

He was revered above all others by the Greeks. Showing respect towards Achilles was held as a high virtue by the Greek heroes, and only when the most despicable aspects of their nature surfaced would they disrespect him. Even Odysseus, who Achilles wouldn't even speak to directly because of his distaste for him, never held his against him and understood it as a part of his nature. When Thersites, who was a bitter and hideous man that used symbolically to represent the worst aspects of the Greeks, stepped forth to criticize Achilles decision to abandon the Greek war effort, Odysseus was the first to immediately punish his insolence with a harsh beating, defending Achilles even in his most selfish moments.

The only reason Agamemnon quarreled with Achilles was because he had sacrificed his daughter to Hera in order to receive the blessing of Olympus as the leader of the Greek forces, instilling in him an entitlement complex over the spoils of their conquests. Achilles had a similar entitlement complex, as he was prophesied to die in the Torjan War after achieving apotheosis. Both Agamemnon and Achilles sacrificed a great deal more than the other heroes and expected to be honored as such.

The idea of Achilles and Patroclus having a homosexual relationship is also an anachronistic misconception. As I described earlier, Achilles held Patroclus as his dearest friend and cared for him with the same motherly compassion that his mother Thetis treated him with. Patroclus was the catharsis through which Achilles balanced his divine and human natures. They also didn't have a student/teacher relationship. Patroclus was actually older than Achilles, a bearded man with a more masculine appearance where Achilles had a youthful feminine beauty about him. Achilles liked to have Patroclus contemplate upon him while he was playing his lyre or expressing himself in some similar way. Besides that, both of them had genuine passionate romances with women in the Iliad without having their friendship lose any of it's emotional depth.

Achilles desire for a quiet, content mortal life while being urged down the inevitable path of his divine fate forms the basis for his existential struggle in the story. It's woven into the very fabric of the characters and their relation to one another.

I've always found this notion, that the divine power granted to the chosen Heroes of the Gods invalidates their deeds to be a massive misunderstanding rooted in a modern mentality. The divine spirit of the Gods and the spirit of humanity were intertwined in the minds of the ancients, the spirit of their Gods being reflected in the spirit of men and the spirit of a man reflecting the spirit of his God.

For instance, Diomedes was blessed with divine power by Athena to act as her ideal representative of Greek nobility and honor, as Diomedes demonstrated true humility in the face of the absurd hubris's of the other Greek heroes and was loyal to his men even beyond his own self interest. Where you would see Diomedes as a puppet of Athena being played with on the battlefield like he was her action figure, the ancients saw him as a champion of Olympus guided by divine will.

While Ajax was a man of the army before he was a Lordly type over them, preferring to stand in the center of the wall of their phalanx, he too was granted divine power. When the Trojans pushed into the Greek encampment and began burning their ships, Poseidon empowered Ajax's spirit, expressed through a powerful breeze from the ocean while Ajax was leaping from ship to ship repelling the Trojan saboteurs. Teucer demonstrated exceptional prowess himself too, described as rapidly killing swaths of 40-50 men at a time with his bow when he emerged from behind Ajax's shield.

>Trojans
>Turkroaches
The roaches came from Siberia and infested Anatolia the middle ages. Never insult the based Trojans like that ever again.

I've read that Trojans and many of the people of Anatolia were Israelites from the Northern Kingdom who settled there after Israel was scattered.

That would explain why so many of the Trojans would try to bribe the Greeks into sparing them

When you look upon a turk, they are obviously not an asian. You possess a racial hatred not even based on inferiority

I've seen this theory extrapolated to the point where the conflict between the Mycenaeans and the Trojans is a continuation of the civil war of Israel between the Northern and Southern Tribes. This civil war was instigated by the Tribe of Dan when the Danites began holding their capital city as the center of Tradition at a shrine to a false idol, drawing the other Israelites to their dominion over Jerusalem and the Tribe of Judah. The Tribe of Dan among all of the 12 Tribes of Israel desired independence and autonomy, mingling with foreign Kingdoms like Tyre.

It's said that the Tribe of Dan left the lands of Israel just before the Northern Kingdom was scattered by the Assyrians, where they migrated into the Aegean region and became the Mycenaean people, forming their own culture. The royalty of Troy was said to be descended from Judah, suggesting that the civil war of Israel over what was to be held as the center of culture in their world shifted to the Greek States and Anatolia.

That's kind of the idea of a tragedy, to watch horrific suffering levied upon a character you've grown to feel sympathy for.

Running aside, I was severely disappointed in the combat between Hector & Achilles. Was way too short for a duel between the greatest fighters for each side. Hector should have lasted longer & given Achilles more of a run for his money. Instead he gets stabbed in the neck after one divine intervention'd spear toss.

Otherwise, yeah Hector was the actual tragic hero of the Iliad. Fuck Achilles, that whiny American Football listening egotistical fuck.

The battle between Achilles and Hector was the battle between a God and a man. There's meaningful symbolic significance in it's brevity, signifying a major turning point in the development of Achilles as a character.

As I've described in my other posts, the principle existential struggle of Achilles is between his divine and human natures. This inner conflict comes to it's final fruition in his slaying of Hector. Hector at this point is wearing the black Myrmidon armor of Achilles that he took from the corpse of Patroclus, symbolically representing the shadow of the mortal man Achilles dreamed of living as before he unleashed his divine fury. Achilles at this point is dressed in the radiant, glowing white God forged armor of Hephaestus, symbolically representing the final actualization of his divinity that was fated from his birth. Achilles in his God forged armor killing Hector in his black Myrmidon armor is the symbolic act of Achilles killing his mortal nature.

I understand your sentiment though, as their clash had so much leading up to it only to end in a brief moment. This is not the final battle of the Trojan war though, and the epic of the Trojan Cycle that follows the Iliad, the Aethiopis brings into play the true rival to Achilles martial prowess, King Memnon of Aethiopia, the Demigod son of Eos the Dawn Goddess, himself also dressed in God forged armor of Hephaestus, his colored a translucent golden red that emulates the color of his mothers wings as she arises as the Dawn over the horizon. This is the battle where we see a true duel between the great warriors of the Trojan War.

His brother was a slut. That's all that it takes.

Diomedes and Aeneas were the only truly virtuous heroes

>Achilles was very different from other Heroes of divine birth

Yes, precisely, which means that his struggle and his narrative role isn't one of a clash between his divine nature and his human nature, since dozens of other people have that and don't have anything remotely resembling the same thing going on.

>He was revered above all others by the Greeks

He was sucked up to because they needed him. That's a serious difference. And even that doesn't smack of real respect, only of desperation and realpolitik. Go look at Nestor's advice for dealing with the boy-king, it's condescending as all hell.

>The only reason Agamemnon quarreled with Achilles was because he had sacrificed his daughter to Hera in order to receive the blessing of Olympus as the leader of the Greek forces, instilling in him an entitlement complex over the spoils of their conquests.

And yet Agammemnon was in charge from the get-go, and up until the funeral games, Achilles clearly has a huge problem with him exercising his privileges of rank, at least where they inconvenience him personally.

>The idea of Achilles and Patroclus having a homosexual relationship is also an anachronistic misconception

Bullshit, when Thetis tries to comfort Achilles after he dies, she says

>It's a fine thing to sleep with women too.

They were having sex. It is all but explicitly stated.

>As I described earlier, Achilles held Patroclus as his dearest friend and cared for him with the same motherly compassion that his mother Thetis treated him with. Patroclus was the catharsis through which Achilles balanced his divine and human natures.

Except it doesn't have any motherly, nurtuering aspects of it. Yes, Patrokles is older, but everything else is classic erastes/eromenos. Achilles is the more skilled, more wise, more powerful figure, who takes a weaker one under his wing, treats him as an apprentice and uses him as his envoy to people he doesn't really want to talk to, and yes, has sex with him.

Not to mention that if you're going with the "armor as Achilles as avatarhood" then Patrokles himself, right before he dies, "graduates" into an Achilles-figure, wearing his armor, routing the Trojans, and needing the Gods themselves to defend the city because otherwise he'd have taken it. And that's what causes the relationship to tend, the "eromenos" becoming a real man and thus escaping Achilles's tutelage.

user, you're just demonstrating a massive misunderstanding of the Iliad if you actually read it and somehow missed Achilles passionately lamenting his inner anguish rooted in the struggle between his divine and mortal natures. This is something that he expresses often throughout the story. You seem to be missing a great deal here, including the respect the Greeks paid to Achilles not only for proving himself the greatest ong them in all things, but also because of the sacrifice of his own life that he was fated to make at Troy.

You seem to be understanding these characters and their relationships as less complex than they actually are

It isn't bullshit, Achilles and Patroclus have a much deeper symbolic relationship than being sexual partners. This is just an anachronistic interpretation on your part. Achilles loved Patroclus like a mother loves her son. He also had a romantic relationship with Briseis. You're limiting the scope and meaning of the relationships between these characters in the grand scale of the epic with this interpretation of their homosexual relationship as the defining factor above all else.

Achilles weaves the imagery of a mother interacting with her child frequently when speaking with Patroclus, and just in general carries himself like he is his mother.

>Then Patroclus drew near to Achilles with tears welling from his eyes, as from some spring whose crystal stream falls over the ledges of a high precipice. When Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for him and said, "Why, Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like some silly child that comes running to her mother, and begs to be taken up and carried—she catches hold of her mother's dress to stay her though she is in a hurry, and looks tearfully up until her mother carries her—even such tears, Patroclus, are you now shedding.

Here's another translation, just for fun and comparison

>but Patroclus drew nigh to Achilles, shepherd of the host, shedding hot tears, even as a fountain of dark water that down over the face of a beetling cliff poureth its dusky stream; and swift-footed goodly Achilles had pity when he saw him, and spake and addressed him with winged words: "Why, Patroclus, art thou bathed in tears, like a girl, a mere babe, that runneth by her mother's side and biddeth her take her up, and clutcheth at her gown, and hindereth her in her going, and tearfully looketh up at her, till the mother take her up? Even like her, Patroclus, dost thou let fall round tears.

And you, in turn, are demonstrating a massive misunderstanding of the Iliad by not seeing the primary conflict here. It is quite literally in the first line. (Using Samuel Butler's translation)

>Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.

> You seem to be missing a great deal here, including the respect the Greeks paid to Achilles not only for proving himself the greatest ong them in all things, but also because of the sacrifice of his own life that he was fated to make at Troy.

The Achaeans never once mention that they respect Achilles for being fated to die in the war.

>You seem to be understanding these characters and their relationships as less complex than they actually are

Considerably more, actually, since my understanding is rooted in the conflict between Achilles and Agammemnon over contemporary social issues, instead of some god-child whining over his fate.

> Achilles loved Patroclus like a mother loves her son.

No he doesn't. He loves him like an Erastes to an Eromenos.

I mean, look at that passage you just quoted, twice. Achilles notes the looking for a mother figure, but he doesn't provide that nurturing.

At least my translation of book 16's start goes

1/2

>Have you anything to say to the Myrmidons or to myself? or have you had news from Phthia which you alone know? They tell me Menoetius son of Actor is still alive, as also Peleus son of Aeacus, among the Myrmidons- men whose loss we two should bitterly deplore; or are you grieving about the Argives and the way in which they are being killed at the ships, through their own high-handed doings? Do not hide anything from me but tell me that both of us may know about it.

I.E. "snap out of it, be a man for once, and tell me what's happening." As the Erastes is supposed to do, he guides Patrokles into proper behavior, not providing comfort for his feels.

Also, I would hardly consider a war-captive a romantic relationship. Achilles's rage over her is primarily about how he's being cuckolded, and because Agammemnon took what was his.

You're actively looking to make this characters mkre simplistic than they actually are, while viewing the entire story through an inappropriate modernist lens. Each character has their own internal conflict while also being engaged in the outer conflicts of the story. Achilles is most certainly suffering from an existential crisis while he is also conflicting with Agamemnon. You're missing a great deal of the emotional interplay of these characters in your interpretation, which seems to just be a surface level understanding of the exterior conflicts in the story with no grasp on the emotional and psychological subtleties of them

Achilles only speaks from his true heart and never misrepresents himself. The sight of Patroclus weeping immediately made him feel pity, like he wanted to take him up into his gown and comfort him. He uses this kind of language and imagery with Patroclus often.

The relationship between Achilles and Briseis is also one of a genuine romance, beginning with Briseis deeply resenting and fearing Achilles, but slowly learning more about him as he reveals to her his true feelings and the inner despair he feels about his inevitable fate at the end of the Trojan war, eventually winning her over.

You seem to be missing just how sensitive and emotional Achilles is as a man. He's very much in touch with his inner femininity.

>be Diomedes
>have a lot of fun and adventures in your youth, life is great
>join the Trojan War to prove himself, quickly becoming the strongest fighter besides Achilles
>be so good, that the gods themself get worried, with Ares coming down to kill him
>defeat the fucking god of war in battle
>somehow survive the whole war and the wrath of the gods, mostly by being strong and modest, not falling for hubris
>after the war, gets bored, decided to recreate the "Seven Against Theben" epic of the previous generation, but this time succeeding and taking down the city
>be ruler of one of the most powerful city states now, but still kinda boring, so sail around the Mediterranean founding a shitload of colonies and towns
>die peacefully in sleep, with some myths going so far that he became an immortal because the gods were so impressed
>nowadays mostly forgotten, just one of many lesser known greek heroes or mostly associated with the Epigones, with had become a by-word for a lame sequel

Such is life as a greek hero.

That's one of his defining aspects as a character, that he doesn't receive the respect or admiration that the other Greek heroes do, but is content with it. He doesn't pursue glory. He is often the subject of insults by the other Greeks, like Agamemnon goading him with comparisons to his father, claiming that he is inferior as a warrior. Diomedes is the only Greek hero to disregard all personal insults levied towards him, the only hero to be truly selfless and put the unity and interests of the Greek forces as a whole above his own interests. Though I suppose it's the massive egos and hubris's that make the other Greek heroes more memorable than Diomedes

>You're actively looking to make this characters mkre simplistic than they actually are

You keep saying that while simultaneously missing exactly what is going on with my interpretation. Yes, Achilles is suffering an existential crisis, becuase of his relationship with Agammemnon, not because of "I'm half god"

> while viewing the entire story through an inappropriate modernist lens.

He says while his entire thesis is based on a notion of Achilles's divinity causing him his problems, when half the damn cast are equally divine, almost like it wasn't a big deal for an archaic Greek to hold god's blood.

>Each character has their own internal conflict while also being engaged in the outer conflicts of the story.

Yes, now go re-read the final book/chapter, about how Achilles gives Hektor's body back, and realize how that's the result of him dealing with his inner struggle.

>Achilles only speaks from his true heart and never misrepresents himself.

Funny then, how he talks loads and loads about how Agammemnon fails to treat him properly, and how he deprived him of his "wife", while on an adventure to recover that of his brother, and doesn't talk about how he's sad he's going to die before the walls of Troy.

In fact, come to think of it, how do you reconcile your inane "interpretation" with giving the body back? If you're right, Priam says just about the worst thing possible, because Achilles has already accepted that his father will grieve for a son and won't have a body to bury. He's burned that bridge a long time ago. Why give in to Priam's request at that point?

>he sight of Patroclus weeping immediately made him feel pity, like he wanted to take him up into his gown and comfort him.

It doesn't even say that in your own quotes. He compares Patrokles to a child running to his mother. He doesn't actually feel pity, he doesn't reassure him, he tells him to snap out of it.

>He uses this kind of language and imagery with Patroclus often.

To reassert Patrokles as the Eromenos, child-like despite his actual age.
>The relationship between Achilles and Briseis is also one of a genuine romance, beginning with Briseis deeply resenting and fearing Achilles

Da fuck are you on about? The closest you get to that is Patrokles comforting her because she's been taken from her home and she thinks Troy is doomed. She never resents Achilles.

>You seem to be missing just how sensitive and emotional Achilles is as a man. He's very much in touch with his inner femininity.

Because he isn't. The number one adjective used to describe Achilles's state is μῆνιν, his godlike wrath that alters fate and destiny. It's the first word of the Iliad, it's what Homer invokes the Muse to sing about, and it comes up both when he fights and when he talks to his fellow Achaen chiefs.

You're the one who is overly modernizing things. This is Archaic Geek literature, and Achilles is the Hero par excellence of the Iliad. He's got larger than life emotions, and barely registers on the sort of level that normal, everyday people do. He's a man of extreme, almost elemental motivations. He's sensitive, but sensitive in the sense that he knows what's going on around him and will perceive any slight, hold onto that grudge almost forever.

t.bh everyone in Iliad look like murdering psychopats.

Nah, you've got relatively normal people. Ajax (both of them, really) and Teucer are both pretty decent, Nestor is a good guy beneath that boring old braggart, and guys on the Trojan side are pretty relateable, like Sarpedon and even Hektor.

look if this guy was bored by his own life so much why shouldn't we be too?

Achilles quarrel with Agamemnon is only one aspect of his character drama, part of a complex interplay between many characters, it does not in and of itself encompass the entirety of Achilles character. You seem to be under the impression that it is one or the other.

Throughout the Iliad, Achilles boasts to other Demigods about the superiority of his divine lineage. His divinity is understood as superior to others.

>Lie as thou art! Hard is it to strive with the children of the mighty son of Cronos, albeit for one begotten of a River. Thou verily declarest that thy birth is from the wide-flowing River, whereas I avow me to be of the lineage of great Zeus. The father that begat me is one that is lord among the many Myrmidons, even Peleus, son of Aeacus; and Aeacus was begotten of Zeus. Wherefore as Zeus is mightier than rivers that murmur seaward, so mightier too is the seed of Zeus than the seed of a river. For lo, hard beside thee is a great River, if so be he can avail thee aught; but it may not be that one should fight with Zeus the son of Cronos. With him doth not even king Achelous vie, nor the great might of deep-flowing Ocean, from whom all rivers flow and every sea, and all the springs and deep wells; howbeit even he hath fear of the lightning of great Zeus, and his dread thunder, whenso it crasheth from heaven

In regards to Hectors body and his reconciliation with Priam, it is the resolution of the character arc I've been describing, the divine nature of Achilles killing his mortal nature sealing his own fate. Achilles often demonstrates extreme ruthlessness followed by immense pity and dejection. Everything he feels, he feels deeply and fully. He most certainly feels pity for a weeping Patroclus, even if this pity does not sway him.

>Ajax (both of them, really)
>normal
What?

>after the sack of Troy, Diomedes came to Libya, where he was put in prison by King Lycus (who planned on sacrificing him to Ares).
>It is said that it was the king's daughter, who loosing Diomedes from his bonds, saved him. Diomedes is said to have thanklessly sailed away, and the girl killed herself with a halter
My sides.

The Iliad is a tragedy. The name Achilles has the etymological connotation of meaning the lamentation of man. Achilles both inflicts great suffering and experiences deep inner suffering himself, coming to lament his rage and pity those whom he brought so much pain to. His mortal nature and his potential to live a long peaceful life with the woman he loves is offered up as a sacrifice so he can fulfill his destiny as an instrument of divine wrath. The Iliad is a story of emotional pain and human suffering, which Achilles made to bear the weight of.

In any case, your interpretation of Achilles and Patroclus relationship is very limited and disregards the complexities that are integral to the symbolic and thematic aspect of the story, namely Patroclus reflecting the human nature of Achilles

>Achilles quarrel with Agamemnon is only one aspect of his character drama, part of a complex interplay between many characters, it does not in and of itself encompass the entirety of Achilles character. You seem to be under the impression that it is one or the other.

It is quite explicitly stated to be the central conflict of the Iliad. The motivations that underlie it are indeed Achilles's primary ones.

>Throughout the Iliad, Achilles boasts to other Demigods about the superiority of his divine lineage. His divinity is understood as superior to others.

Except it isn't. It quite literally and explicitly isn't in many cases. Again, look at Sarpedon. You don't get much better than direct male line descent from Zeus. That would way "outrank" Achilles's own lineage of being descended from a relatively minor sea-god. He's not in the same league, he's not even a match for Patrokles.

>In regards to Hectors body and his reconciliation with Priam, it is the resolution of the character arc I've been describing, the divine nature of Achilles killing his mortal nature sealing his own fate.

But that's simply wrong. If Achilles is divine, and he's burned away his mortal concerns in his apotheosis, why is an explicitly mortal plea going to work? And one that is quite possibly the most offensive thing Priam can say, albeit unintentionally?

>He most certainly feels pity for a weeping Patroclus, even if this pity does not sway him.

No, he doesn't. He notices Patrokles's pitiable state, but does not himself feel pity for him, which is why he tells him to snap out of it.

Not normal, but ultimately decent folks.

You're still caught up in a surface level understanding of the character conflicts in the Iliad, disregarding the emotional complexities that are developed. The quarrel with Agamemon is only the intial, base conflict of the story that becomes an expansive stage of human drama beyond this initial quarrel.

You also don't understand the significance of Achilles divinity. Thetis was prophecied to bear a child who's fate paralleled the prophetic birth of Zeus that drove Cronus to consume his children. Achilles was born to end an Age. As far as Sarpedon, Zeus actively allowed his death to demonstrate his impartialness, and rained blood upon the battlefield to lament the killing of his son

Achilles also didn't burn away his mortal concerns by slaying Hector, he only sealed the fate of his own death. At that moment more than ever he pitied mortality.

>but Patroclus drew nigh to Achilles, shepherd of the host, shedding hot tears, even as a fountain of dark water that down over the face of a beetling cliff poureth its dusky stream; and swift-footed goodly Achilles had pity when he saw him,

>and swift-footed goodly Achilles had pity when he saw him

being a bloodthirsty pervert was acceptable in their society, as long as you only raped and killed the enemy

There wasn't a single Greek hero who didn't suffer immense consequences for such actions

Hector, Breaker of Horses.

A Hero for Civilization.

Will live forever.

Bump