Iliad

HELP PLS! Question about Priam and Achilles' meeting!!

Can you guys describe the scene when Achilles and Priam meet in the Iliad? What do you guys think are the steps that allow Achilles to give up his anger? I know for one that Achilles somehow see his father through hector

Asked by
Last updated by Aslan
Answers 1
Add Yours

As Priam enters, Achilles and his men, Automedon and Alcimus, look at the old man with surprise and wonder; Achilles was not expecting Priam himself to arrive. The aged king takes the suppliant position before Achilles, asking him to remember his own father. Of Priam's fifty sons, many have been lost in battle‹many of them slain by Achilles. The best of them was Hector, and Achilles has killed him. He asks Achilles to take pity on him, because the old man must kneel and put his lips to the hands of the man who has killed his children. Achilles thinks of his own father, and the grief his father will feel when Achilles does not return home. He understands now the suffering that he has caused, and he weeps, now for his father, now for Patroclus. He asks Priam to stay with him so that they can share their sorrows, which Priam initially refuses. Achilles grows angry, and Priam, frightened, agrees to do as he asks. Achilles has Hector's body prepared and wrapped, and Priam's gifts are moved into Achilles' possession. The two men eat together, and then they look on each other with awe and respect. Finally, the exhausted old king asks if Achilles can provide a bed for him to sleep in. He has not eaten or slept since the death of Hector. Achilles provides a bed, and he asks how long Priam needs to mourn his son. Priam asks for eleven days of peace to mourn and bury Hector; on the twelfth day, they will return to the fighting. Achilles promises that the Achaeans will not attack for eleven days. Priam and his herald sleep in beds on the porch of Achilles' dwelling, but in the middle of the night Hermes wakes the old man, warning him of the danger of the other Achaean chieftains finding him. Fearful, Priam returns to Troy with Hector's body. You can check more out at the GradeSaver link below:

Source(s)

http://www.gradesaver.com/iliad/study-guide/summary-books-21-24