5 Minute Summary Chapter 23 - Rich Brooks

Book 23 of the Illiad is primarily concerned with the lavish funeral games that Achilles holds in Patroclus' honor. It begins however, with the aftermath in the Greek camp after Achilles slays Hector. Before allowing his Myrmidons to undress and eat after a long day of battle, Achilles makes sure that they all mourn for Patroclus. Standing over his friend's body, Achilles reminds Patroclus that he has fulfilled his promise and brought Hector's dead body along with twelve Trojan princes to be retribution for Patroclus' death. Achilles and his Myrmidons proceed to slaughter an exorbitant number of animals for the funeral feast. When Achilles reluctantly follows several Greek leaders to Agamemnon's tent, he continues to break social norms in lieu of his unbearable grief. Agamemnon and the others implore Achilles to wash the blood and gore of battle off, but Achilles insists that he will not wash himself until Patroclus is burned. Everyone then agrees that Patroclus' body should be burned first thing next morning.

That night Achilles tries to mourn Patroclus straight through the night, but eventually sleep overcomes him. Patroclus' spirit visits Achilles in his dreams and begs Achiles to burn his body quickly so he can finally enter Hades. Patroclus also foreshadows Achilles' death and insists that he and Achilles be buried together in a golden coffer that Thetis gave Achilles. When Achilles wakes up and tries to embrace Patroclus' ghost, Patroclus vanishes like smoke.

The next morning, wood is gathered for the funeral pyre, and the Myrmidons, fully armed, make a grand entrance past Patroclus' corpse to mourn him one more time. Achilles stops over his friend's body and cuts a long lock of hair that he had been growing since childhood and had intended to offer to the river Spercheius when he returned for the war and throws it on Patroclus' pyre. He then enfolds Patroclus' entire body with fat, and surrounds the pyre with animal carcasses and the twelve Trojans he captured. Hector he does not throw on the pyre, however. Achilles insists that he wants the dogs to eat him, but Aphrodite and Apollo take measures to prevent the dogs from eating the corpse or the sun from rotting it. The ceremony is initially stalled due to a lack of wind, so Achilles says a prayer to the winds, and the winds respond by igniting the pyre.

The next morning Achilles has Patroclus' bones retrieved from the fire, and a small burial mound built for him.
The rest of the chapter consists of the funeral games which Achilles offers grand prizes for. The details of these games are probably not very important, so I will try to keep it to the basics. The most important event, the chariot race, was won by Diomedes with help from Athena. Antilochus stole second from Menelaus with dirty driving tactics rather than speed, and Eumelus, sabotaged by Athena, came in last. I think that what is important to note is Achilles' people skills throughout the chapter and his ability to diffuse many tense situations. He wants to give Eumelus a prize due to his bad fortune in the race, but rather than strip Antilochus' prize from him and hand it to Eumelus, Achilles gives Eumelus an entirely different reward. Achilles also played a part in breaking up an argument between Oilean Ajax and Idomeneus, and out of respect for Nestor, awarded him a fifth place in the chariot race even though he didn't compete. The rest of the day consisted of boxing, wrestling, melees, hurling weights, and archery. The final event was javelin, where Achilles made a very strategic decision, stating:

"Son of Atreus (Agamemnon), we recognize your power
And know you are the best at throwing spears.
Take the prize and return to your hollow ships." (466: 916-918)

By automatically awarding first place to Agamemnon, Achilles made it appear to be a harmless gesture to further bury the hatchet between the two but in fact extended his own dominance over Agamemnon through the gift dueling in the process.

  A depiction of the chariot race held in Patroclus'  honor