Iliad 18, by Nick Cellino

At the beginning of Book 18, Antilochus is running to inform Achilles of Patroclus' death. Achilles, still sitting next to his ships, already has a bad feeling and knows what Antilochus is going to tell him. When he finally does tell him, "The sound of Achilles' grief stung the air" (Iliad 18.37). Achilles scoops  up ashes and pours them all over himself as part of his grieving process. Soon, his mother Thetis hears him weeping, and she, along with the sea-water nymphs go to him to see what is wrong. Achilles tells his mother that he feels guilty for Patroclus' death, and that he no longer has the will to live. The only thing that he wishes to do with his life from that point on is kill Hector. His mother responds by reminding him of the prophecy, telling him "Hector's death means yours" (Iliad 18.101). Achilles is fully aware of this, and he accepts this as his fate. He will conquer his pride and put aside his quarrel with Agamemnon in order to avenge his fallen companion. Thetis tells him to at least wait until the next day, as Hector still has Achilles' armor that Patroclus was wearing when he was killed, and she will bring him armor crafted by Hephaestus.

Meanwhile, the tug of war over Patroclus' dead body is still going on. The two Ajaxes are leading the Greek effort while Hector is at the front of the Trojan offensive. In order to help the Greeks, Hera decides to send a message to Achilles through the messenger Iris. Her message, that she kept a secret from Zeus, was to tell Achilles that he was to go outside, show himself to the Trojans, and give a war cry, so as to scare them off. Before he does this, Athena gives him her aegis and puts a cloud of fire over his head. When he gives his yell, Athena amplifies it, and it actually turns into three yells. This was enough to send many Trojans staggering away in fear, and it was also enough for the Greeks to bring Patroclus body back to camp in order to have a proper ceremony and burial.

On the Trojan side of things, the skilled orator Polydamas, one of Hector's comrades, urges the Trojans to retreat to back within their city walls, so as not to be caught on the open plain during Achilles' return to battle. Hector calls Polydamas a fool and states his intention to keep the army just as it is and continue his attack. This is the more popular plan among the Trojans, but the poet remarks that "their wits [were] dulled by Pallas Athena," foreshadowing their defeat (Iliad 18.331).

Achilles continues to grieve over his dear friend Patroclus. He was:

...like a bearded lion
Whose cubs some deer hunter has smuggled out
Of the dense woods. When the lion returns,
It tracks the human from valley to valley
Growling low the whole time. Sometimes it finds him. (Iliad 18.339-43)

This foreshadows Achilles pursuit of Hector and paints the picture of a lion who is chasing after the hunter who has killed her cub. This, again, gives Achilles the role of a "protector," similar to other similes that have been used prior to this.

Thetis goes up to Olympus to the home of Hephaestus where she is greeted by his wife, Charis. Charis calls Hephaestus, and he tells the audience the story of why he is indebted to Thetis. As it turns out, after Hephaestus was thrown off Olympus by Hera, Thetis was one of the only people who nursed him back to health and took care of him. After Thetis tells Hephaestus the story of what has happened to Achilles, he immediately gets to work on his armor. The rest of the chapter goes into a vivid description of the shield that Hephaestus crafts for Achilles. It involves multiple scenes, including a view of the night sky with the stars and moon, a city in which a wedding is taking place, a city at war, and many other rural scenes involving farming. It is meant to show the full breadth of human experience in that he captures the different extremes of human experience, such as war and peace, rural and city life, etc. Hephaestus gives the shield and the rest of the armor to Thetis and she takes off immediately, "like a hawk" and without even saying "thank you" (Iliad 18.660).

The shield of Achilles, as interpreted by Angelo Monticelli