A Sound of Thunder

By Ray Bradbury

     Hi, I decided I will now talk about one of my favorite short stories!

     

     I really love Ray Bradbury's stories and this one is the one that I read the most. It even has a movie although I like the short story better. Another book of him I read a long while ago was Martian Chronicles but I will do an entry when I read it once again. But to really comprehend how amazing he is you have to read it, if you only read the summary you practically only get 1/8 of his awesomeness.

     You can find this story in the book called, "The Golden Apples of the Sun".

     Now enjoy!

Summary

     Now then this short story begins when Eckels goes to a Time Safari because he wants to hunt a Tyrannosaurus rex -you know, when you have lots of money why use it to help starving kids around the globe when you can hunt dinosaurs. Eckels chats with the man behind the desk about how if Keith hadn't won the election he may had come to escape the dictatorship instead. The man agrees and Eckels asks if they guarantee he comes back safely. The man doesn't ensure it and says he still has time to change his mind. Eckels angrily accuses him of trying to scare him and that he can't make him desist.

     Eckels is then introduced to his safari guide, Travis; his assistant, Lesperance; and fellow hunters, Billings and Kramer. Travis explains the rules -while they travel back in time- which include only shooting what they tell them to, only if they have red paint and to not get off of the floating path the safari made.

     Eckels then asks, "Why?" Travis explains that the government doesn't like them there and they pay a lot of money to have their franchise because they don't know the effect time travelling can have in the future and while they still don't know if its a drastic change or a minor one they are being extremely careful to not modify anything, not even to introduce their own bacteria in the ancient atmosphere. He explains how Lesperance comes back in time and tracks them to know when they're going to die, applies them red paint so they know it will not have anymore offspring.

     Eckels again ask why that's important to which a clearly irritated Travis states an example, "What if you step on a mouse?" He explains how he will therefore kill all future families that mouse and his offspring would have. Eckels its like, "Yeah, but they're only mice". He contiues explaining how because a lack in mice, kills a predator along with all his descendants and destroys the chain food in that area. This food chain then arrives to one of the first human beings who looking for food dies because of the lack of it which would have a meaning equal to killing a whole civilization. A scolded Eckels then shyly asks where's their dinosaur.

     Lesperance tells them it is about to arrive and they should get ready. As they wait the once wriggling jungle silences and then they hear a sound of thunder. The Tyrannosaurus emerges from the jungle and Bradbury details the ferocious creature so powerful, so almighty, so murderous that Eckels is overwhelmed and feels the gun in his hands is no more than a toy against the lizard monster. Eckels babbles horrified and is heard by the evil lizard who approaches the safari as Eckels flees to the time machine. While Travis, Lesperance, Billings and Kramer fight the Tyrannosaurus; Eckels in its shock steps off of the path and walks through the grass. 

     They manage to kill the Tyrannosaurus after blinding it, just as they kill it a giant branch falls over the corpse -the branch that was supposed to kill it. Billings and Kramer puke after the fright and Travis goes to the time machine to get something to clean themselves. There he glares at Eckels who managed to find his way. When they return to the time machine, Travis angrily shouts to Eckels for almost killing them and threatens to leave him here. Lesperance tries to reason with him but Travis points out that they don't know anymore if things are unchanged for he stepped off of the path. To punish him, Travis makes him remove the bullets from the corpse which is brimming with scavengers. A frightened Eckels returns bloodstained up to the elbows and a bunch of bullets in each hand. 

     They activate the time machine to return home. Travis threatens Eckels to kill him himself if the future is destroyed. When they return, the man behind the desk welcomes them. Travis gazes around and admits maybe nothing happened. Yet Eckels feels things aren't the same, he gazes and feels as if his senses shout that something in the particles of air, the city beyond the walls, the people are a completely different world. Then he gazes at the sign in the entrance where now the words are mispelled. Feebly he asks to the man in the desk who won the elections to which he replies as if obvious that Deutscher won, not that weakling Keith.

     Eckels turns pale, sits and searches in the mud in the sole of his boots. There he discovers a very beautiful and very dead butterfly. He asks desperately if maybe they can do something, return it, revive it somehow. Travis shouts furiously and loads his gun. Eckels closes his eyes and then a sound of thunder.

     Now that's all. I like another of his short stories about a girl from Earth who lives in Jupiter where only once a lot of years the rains stops and reveals the sun. If anyone knows how its called I would be glad if someone can tell me.

     Well, soon I will comment on Dracula. Almost finish the book.

     Have a nice day!

The Odyssey

By Homer

     Hi, I'm here again and as promised I will now talk about the Odyssey which I like best. For all of you who like greek gods, ciclops, monsters, sirens and lots of adventures I may say this is a book for you. The Odyssey is about the journey of Odysseus who tries to go home to Ithaca after the achaeans have won the Troy War and this is not a safe and short journey home.

     The Troy War lasted 10 years and his return home will take another 10 years. So Odysseus was absent a lot of time and with no news about him in Ithaca almost all long assumed he died in the Trojan War. So every young guy who didn't went to the war thought, "Poor king, he left his only son and wife alone... Nothing to do with me. Let's marry the wife, become king of Ithaca and kill the son so I have all the gold, livestock and properties of Odysseus." And so Penelope was plagued by lots of suitors day and day again who make lots of parties and banquets in her house with her livestock. And for almost all the time Odysseus was gone ate his cows, pigs, sheep and goats and Penelope somehow managed not marrying anyone of them.

Calypso    

Goddess nymph Calypso
wished that Odysseus became
his immortal husband. 

     This story starts when the gods feeling pity of Odysseus, who is forced to stay in an island by the goddess nymph Calypso, sent Hermes to force her to let him leave. She even tell him where to get wood to make a boat for he was able to do one alone and gave him good wind to sail off.
     Poseidon still angry against Odysseus -for reasons later known by the readers- makes a storm while he's sailing and causes a shipwreck. Odysseus manages to survive it with the help of Athena who advise him correctly without him noticing and manages to get to an island escaping the fury of Poseidon.
     Odysseus actually gets to an island of people known for being gifted in the art of rowing and the leader of the island promised to return him home after hearing him out. Odysseus starts telling his story after departing Troy with his fellow companions back home to Ithaca. He narrates the time when they arrive to the island habitated by the Lotus Eaters and how he had to bind some of his people who ate the lotus.
     Finally Odysseus and his crew arrive to an island. He left the ship in another little separate islet and with a small crew went to see if their inhabitants were good and nice people who fear the gods or bad monsters who like to eat people.

Polyphemus, the ciclop

As you can see. A headless man handles the stick.
Probably a snack for the ciclop.

     Odysseus and his crew find a cave/home and decide to stay, Odysseus forces them to stay for they are scared and they were right. It results that the owner was a ciclop named Polyphemus who was a bad monster who liked to eat people... but was good and nice to his rams. Odysseus asks the ciclop the hospitality which beggars seem to deserve only to see the ciclop laugh and ask if their were the only ones left or there were more. Odysseus -suspecting he was not asking innocently- lies saying they were the only survivors of a shipwreck. Therefore the ciclop suddenly grabs and eats one of his companions. Odysseus angrily threats he will be punished by Zeus, the god protector of beggars, but wasn't scared for he was Poseidon's son.
     The problem was they couldn't escape because Polyphemus sealed the entrance with a giant rock every time he was in or outside the cave, he notices he only came out in the morning to let his rams graze outside and returned later and treated the rams good and all while he ate one of Odysseus's fellowmen at the end.
     So Odysseus logically assumes they couldn't just kill the ciclop or they would be trapped inside so he plots a plan. He gives him a beverage so delicious that pleases the ciclop and makes him drowsy, the ciclops says, "Thank you, for that I shall eat you last mmm who?". He tricks him and says his name is Nobody. When the ciclop falls asleep, along with his comrades manages to make a stick with a sharp tip and blind the eye of the ciclop after strucking it with the tip while is red hot with the fire. They hide while the ciclop makes a ruckus calling his ciclop neighbors. They ask him something along the lines of, "Tell us if there's someone who with words or force has hurt you." Polyphemus replies, "Not with words but Nobody has with force hurt me." So the neighbors don't guess that Nobody is a name and replied that if he's sick he should beg to his father to help him and left.
     Angry, Polyphemus tries to find them but being blind doesn't help him so he can't eat them anymore. In the morning he gets out of with his rams, Polyphemus uses his hands to ward off any possible person trying to leave and feels the rams' loin to be sure they're not riding them. Odysseus and his crewmen can't do anything but wait just to see him do the same in the evening. They wait until he sleeps and Odysseus makes another plan. He joins two rams and ties a man to the belly of the animals and does the same with all. Odysseus then hides below the biggest one and with only his hands stays hooked to the ram. The next morning, Polyphemus doesn't imagine the men to actually be hiding below the rams so he lets the rams go were they please. When they get far enough, Odysseus disengages and frees his men from the binding, steal his rams and run to the raft.
     This is were Odysseus's pride ruins everything. He -against everyones will- starts mocking the ciclop, who though is now blind can hear perfectly well from where it's coming. They manage to escape the ciclop and again Odysseus not satisfied with the ciclop not knowing he tricked him reveals himself as Odysseus, son of Laertes, from Ithaca. Polyphemus then begs to Poseidon, his father, to avenge him and not let him get back to Ithaca but if the gods wish he returns then that he only manages to do so after suffering a lot and losing all his men to only find more problems back home.
     And so Poseidon consents because he actually dared to blind his son.

Aeolus and Circe

Circe with his drugged pets.
Must be catnip for the lions and tigers.

     Odysseus manages to get to the island of some good and nice people who fear the gods, Aeolus there gives him lots of things for no reason and a bag full of winds and sees them off. When they're about to reach Ithaca with the help of one of the winds inside the bag, suddenly one of his crewmen is struck with curiosity -hinted to be caused by Poseidon- and thinking the bag has gold, opens it, causing the winds to escape and return them to the island once again. Odysseus embarassed asks him to help him again but Aeolus suspects a god is angry against him and decides not to help him so to avoid the wrath of the god.
     Resigned, they embark again only to unluckily get to the island were the giant blood-drinking Laestrygonians live. They destroy 11 out of the 12 ship and kill his men. Only Odysseus and his crew survive because they hid the ship in a cove far from the harbor.
     And so after the misfortune they arrive to the island where the witch goddess Circe lives. Odysseus sents some men for reconnaisance and they find a palace where Circe invites them. Only one didn't enter not trusting the goddess and returns to the boat to tell Odysseus what he found. Circe actually turned the men who entered, ate the food and were then touched with a wand into pigs (which I suppose she wanted to eat). Odysseus then goes to rescue them alone because all his men are scared. Athena wanting to help him sends Hermes to tell him what to do to avoid being transformed into a pig and gain her support. He gives him a drug that renders ineffective the drug Circe uses on the food, he then tells him that after that he should take out his sword and pretend his going to attack her, and later when she asks her to sleep with her to make her promise she will not transform him.
     Following his orders, Odysseus gains the love of the goddess who frees his men from the spell and invites all his crew to stay and feast in her house without fear. Odysseus goes for the rest of the crew and they stay in the palace for a year until he decides its time to leave. Circe advise them to go the the land of the dead and make a sacrifice to them to be able to seek the advise of Tiresias, a dead prophet, on how to get back home safely.

Tiresias and the land of dead

Tiresias was a girl for 7 years and in
some versions a very renowned
prostitute.

     They do as she says and there Odysseus meets many dead people who tell lots of cool stories of how mostly Zeus scheme lots of ways to sleep with them and therefore who they gave birth to. He also meets with the ghosts of Achilles and Agamemnon, the latter reveals he was killed by his wife and lover when he returned home, and meets Heracles, who is an Olympian god and enjoys hunting spirits as a sport. Odysseus also meets the spirit of his mother who died in his absence and tells him about the suitors plaguing his house and consuming his wealth. Finally, he meets Tiresias who tells him that Poseidon hates him, shall not die old if he doesn't appease the god when returning home and that he and his crew will only arrive safely if they don't kill and eat the cattle of the sun god, Helios.
     They return to Circe's island where she prepares and advises Odysseus about his journey back home where he first will travel through a siren infested sea and that he should put wax in his men's ears and, if he wants to hear them, be tied to the mast. Next he will have to decide whether to try pass through the goddess Caribdris or pass next to the home of the monster Scilla and provides them with food, drinks, clothes and other things.

The sirens, Caribdris and Scilla, and Helios's cattle

You can see Odysseus was tempted by
knowledge only.

     Odysseus indeed makes his men tie him to the mast and blocks his crew's ears with wax. The sirens promise him knowledge (I thought they would be more voluptuous) and Odysseus is interested but his men, following his instructions strictly, don't untie him even when he pleas. Odysseus then has to choose whether to pass across Caribdris, who is a goddess at the bottom of the sea sucking and regurgitating the water therefore creating for the majority of the time a whirpool, where he may lose all the boat or pass next to the home of the vicious monster Scilla whom Circe forbids to fight as he will not win and will lose more men of his crew. Without telling his crew, he makes them venture next to Scilla, where she attacks and kidnaps 6 men to his frustration.
     The ship continues its journey until they get stuck, near the island where the sun god Helios has his cattle, due to dead wind. At first, his men follow Odysseus's advice as he tells them Tiresias's warning; but as the food becomes scarce they grow reckless and -like always while Odysseus was sleeping- killed and ate Helios's cattle. The wind revives again and a resigned Odysseus prepares for the worst as he sets sail again with his crew. Meanwhile, an angry Helios goes and complains to Zeus, who deeming fair a punishment so they learn their lesson, creates a storm which destroys and kills all within the boat except Odysseus.
     Poor Odysseus is then washed to the island of Calipso, where he is trapped and loved by the nymph for seven years.

Returning home     

     Odysseus ends his tale and the pleased king fills his boat with more things as if he wants to get broke. Finally, they venture into the sea where the men known for their prowess with the rows manage to get to Ithaca by next morning. They leave all the things the king donated to him in a cavern as he deems it safer and the men leave him.
     Athena then appears disguised in front of Odysseus and lies about her origins, Odysseus likewise invents another identity and a whole family tree and history for himself. Athena pleased with Odysseus, telling him that he may even be able to trick her if not for she is known as a trickster between gods, reveals herself. She suggests him not going in as Odysseus as the suitors will try to kill him.
     Odysseus disguises as a beggar and enters the city where he meets a good shepherd who takes care of his cattle and invites him to his home. Odysseus while feigning being a beggar asks about the situation in his house and manages to make him invite him to the house. There the suitors mock him for being a beggar but doesn't retaliate as he knows he shall later take revenge. Penelope doesn't recognize him (who whould after 20 years without seeing him) but trying to be polite asks Odysseus's nanny and head housekeeper to provide him a bath and clothes. She recognizes a scar in Odysseus's foot and promises not to tell anyone as he insists but provides him with information of who has been loyal to him and who hadn't.
     The suitors pressure Penelope to choose a husband, she decides that tomorrow she shall make a contest to decide it as his son, Telemachus, is old enough to inherit Odysseus's goods. Odysseus and Athena deem necessary the help of the shepherd and his son, so Odysseus reveals himself to them. They are astonished but believe him as Athena, who helped Telemachus in the past assured him of the return of his father. They hide the weapons in a separate chamber pretending they are going to clean them and Odysseus's nanny keeps off the maids.

The contest and death of suitors 

     Penelope brings an unstrung bow, arrows, a string and axes which she aligns in front of the target. She will marry the one who is able to arm the bow, shoot an arrow between the small opening made with the axes and hit the target. Penelope leaves to her chamber and the nanny and the rest lock the doors. The suitors eagerly try to string the bow but find it impossible until nobody is left. Finally the shepherd suggests the beggar tries but the suitors are scared that a beggar manages to marry the queen so they're against it. He manages to convince them that an old man like him only wants to try. He strings the bow easily, shoots through the axes and hits the target to the surprise of all. He then starts shooting the arrows against the suitors and with the help of his son and the shepherd, kills all. He then passes the unloyal maids and forces them to clean the mess he left and then hangs them in the backyard.
     The nanny gets Penelope and announces her that Odysseus has come back. Odysseus unprovided with his beggar disguise presents to Penelope but she doesn't receive him with open arms so he gets angry. Penelope trying to test him tells him that she wants to sleep in different rooms but that he can remove the bed from her chamber. Odysseus angrily protests that's impossible for the base of the bed which he made is fixated to a tree. Penelope then happily welcomes his husband and begs for forgiveness for she was afraid that she was being lied to.
     Odysseus sleeps with her wife and sadly tells her he has to leave again. The parents of the suitors will be angry against him and will attack him to avenge their sons and explains to her that Poseidon is angry against him and the only way to repent is to walk with a row until, someone dumb enough or who doesn't know the sea, asks him what it is.

Zeus says: make peace or die

     He leaves early in the morning with Telemachus and the shepherd to Laertes's house, Odysseus's father, who is happy to see him again as he thought he had died. The angry mob arrives and the four men armed with spears and armor confront them. Athena seeing this is getting out of control begs his father for help who with a thunder orders them to stop and make peace. Athena makes the spear in Odysseus's hand land and kill an angry parent who doesn't deem fair what Zeus orders. Resigned, Odysseus makes peace with the parents.



     The book ends and I get the feeling I wanted a more dramatic or heroic ending but I forgive Homer for writing such an amazing book. I wished he would had continued until Odysseus got Poseidon's forgiveness but I guess maybe he did, but the guys lost the writings.

Well, Merry Christmas! 

Curious Facts: The Iliad

I really enjoy greek mythology and taking advantage of the theme of the book I will add some more curious facts.

Can't seem to find an Achilles which
isn't either nude or Brad Pitt.

     1. Achilles may be the first documented transvestite in history. Her mother Tetis knowing he will not live a long life if he participates in the war made him wear women's clothes and hid as one of the daugthers of a king. Yet he doesn't forgets he's actually a man and maybe actually enjoyed it, that would explain him having a kid with one of them even while wearing dresses. Finally Odysseus, still mad for being discovered faking madness and forced to come to the war, decides he will make Achilles come too so he disguises himself as a weapons sellers and logically assumes that the manly guy in a dress looking at the weapons must be the guy. 

     2. It is said that Achilles and Patroclus may been gay but if one reads Plato's Symposium one will understand that greeks thought women were properties like cows while men were equals. Actually Aphrodite was the goddess of love between man and woman and Eros/Cupid was the god of love between men. So next time that someone tells you Cupid may want to shoot you... RUN AWAY! Maybe wear armor or repellent also. Better be safe. Beware going out during Valentine's.

     3. Diomedes and Odysseus are Athena's favourites warriors. Seem to be friends and are always sent in missions regarding infiltration, spying, disguising or as messengers. Also while Diomedes is the young saintly friend, Odysseus is the old devilish friend. When Diomedes screamed asking him to help him rescue the old man Nestor, Odysseus pretended not to hear him and ran back to the boats. If Dante Alighieri is right, even now Diomedes and Odysseus continue being comrades... in Hell in the 8/9 rings for being liars.

     4. Apollo isn't actually the sun god but the best friend of the son god, Helios, and the god of seers. He thought having a kid with Hecuba wasn´t enough so he tried to date her daughter, Cassandra, and tried to seduce her by giving her the ability to see the future but then she said no, thank you. In vengeance, he gave her the ability to only predict tragic things and the curse that no one would ever believe her.

     5. Achilles fell in love with Apollo and Hecuba's son, Troilus, and killed him with a hug. So must be why Apollo is mad at Achilles.

     6. Zeus actually admitted that overpopulation is a problem he wanted to solve making them kill themselves in the War of Troy.

     7. Athena says to Diomedes that he should avoid fighting against gods except Aphrodite. Athena was actually still mad that Aphrodite was considered "the most beautiful" and not her. Hera also but seems to forgive her for lending her the belt that makes her wearer irresistible.

     9. It is said that the second child of the first wife of Zeus was going to govern the world so he ate her while being pregnant of the first one. Later that first child was born from his head and became Zeus's favorite daughter, Athena.

     10. Hera jealous of Zeus for managing being asexual tried to give birth by her own too. The result was Hephaestus who was then or not limp of both legs. Disappointed she threw him from the Olympus and if not limp already maybe then. He was saved by two of the Nereids, one of being Tetis.

Must Know: The Iliad

There are some important events that are not mentioned in the books but if you know them will make you understand things better. Plus they're interesting, so I'm going to put them here:

Seems like weddings back then were more like nude parties.
Only Athena seems to be the only one who didn´t
knew it was a clotheless party.

First Important Event

     The Nereid Tetis was coveted by both Zeus and Poseidon until they get to know a prophecy about her which says that the kid Tetis will give birth shall be more powerful than his father. So, for obvious reasons, they start to fear she marries a god which makes her give birth to a son more powerful than them so Zeus- who incidentally has a record for eating a wife with a similar prophecy- marries her to a human, Peleus.

Second Important Event

     Helen was the daughter of Zeus with a human and is considered the most beautiful woman ever existed in that period of time so obviously had lots of suitors, so many that his unknowingly non-biological father didn't know what to do. Odysseus, who was also a suitor, seeing that he had almost no probability of marrying Helen opts to help her father in exchange of his help to marry his niece, Penelope. He makes the suitors vow they will let Helen choose her own husband and that if anyone was to try to steal Helen from his husband all the suitors will come to his help. Helen chooses Menelaus, the king of Sparta.

Third Important Event

Everytime I think of Eris I remember
the one that appeared on Billy and Mandy.

     In the wedding of Peleus and Tetis, all the gods were invited except one: The Goddess of Discord, Eris. It is hinted that Zeus actually wanted her to get mad and didn´t invited her on purpose so that she in revenge left a golden apple adressed to "the most beautiful". Three proud godesses stood up trying to acknowledge the apple. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite couldn't stop fighting for it so Zeus made a shepherd make the choice. This shepherd was Paris Priamida, who was in the care of other people after being prophetized that he would destroy Troy (later on his parents will take him home again just to see it come true). 

     The goddesses trying to win him over promised him different things. Hera promised him the greatest empire, Athena lots of victorys and prowess in battles, and last Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman. Paris was actually known for being a flirt so maybe it isn't so strange that he favoured Aphrodite.

     He went as a guest to Sparta and while Menelaus wasn't there made Helen fall in love with him with the help of Aphrodite and- thinking that was not good enough- stole lots of gold, jewerly, etc of his house. Thus coming back to Troy with the news of a likely iminent war with the achaeans.

Last Names

Another thing to know that will help understand greeks is that their last name seems to be the name of their fathers.

     Some examples: 

          Achilles, son of Peleus ---> Pelion Achilles

          Odysseus, son of Laertes ---> Odysseus Laertiada

          Diomedes, son of Tideus ---> Diomedes Tidida

          Menelaus, son of Atreus ---> Atrida Menelaus

          Agamemnon, son of Atreus ---> Atrida Agamemnon

          Zeus, son of Cronos ---> Zeus Cronion

Sometimes the last name was first and sometimes last, I think it got something to do with how it sounded best. Hope that the last names are the same ones in english.

Hope its useful. Happy reading.

The Iliad

by Homer

I will sumarize the book so if you don't want spoilers maybe its better not to read it but if you're like some of my friends who:

• Are lazy.
• Couldn't read past page one.
• Fell asleep while trying to read it.
• Didn't understand a thing Homer was saying.
• Has illiterate syndrome which in my dictionary means incapable to read anything that isn't facebook or alike.

     ...Then I welcome you to read it! With a half smile, maybe a complete one if you tried. I actually didn't felt it was hard but after Pride and Prejudice and Crime and Punishment -which are not from the same author although I admit the style of the titles are kind of similar- nothing felt hard anymore. I had friends saying, "I tried to read it once, couldn't read past page one though." So I guess this is dedicated to my friends who might want to know what they couldn't read.

WARNING: If you're using it to avoid reading a book you should have read for school be advised this is only a summary so I maliciously avoided lots of details -you know, is nice being evil and so-, also I actually read the book in spanish so maybe some names are in spanish.

Summary

     The Iliad is the story of the war of Troy in a specific time of it. It starts when the achaeans are plagued by Apollo for not returning Criseida to his father Crises. Criseida was the women Atrida Agamemnon, the leader of the achaeans, had as a spoil after destroying one of the cites near Troy because as they say in the story: men were to be slaugthered and women enslaved whenever a city was conquered. Pressured by Apollo and his own people, Agamemnon had to return Criseida to his father and also offer sacrifices to the god but he felt ashamed to be the only one losing his spoil as he was the leader so he took Briseida, Achilles's spoil, because he was the one who protected the seer who said that they should return Criseida.

     Achilles's was angered by Agamemnon because he felt unnapreciated after being the best warrior among them and vowed that he shall not help the achaeans even if the trojans came by the boats and set fire to them making them lose the war.

     Because Achilles wants to see Agamemnon regret his actions he asks her goddess mother, the Nereid Tetis, to help him make this come true. Tetis then goes to Zeus and begs him to favour his son to which he complies by favouring the trojans and mostly the mighty son of king Priam, Hector.

     The war ensues until the achaeans are fighting near the boats, trying with all there might to prevent Hector setting fire to them, just as Achilles wanted. Agamemnon regrets his choice and begs Achilles to return to battle offering him all kind of presents to which he angrily declines.

     The gods favouring the achaeans start plotting against Zeus who prevents them leaving the Olympus and so lots of battles and plotting occur between them such as Hera seducing Zeus into sleeping with her and Poseidon disguised as an old man running around the troops inciting them to keep fighting, and Athena helping Diomedes fight against Ares and other crazy but cool things.

     Achilles suddenly feeling compassion for his dead comrades accepts letting Patroclus use his armor and lead the myrmidons to scare away the trojans from the boats but only if he doesn't go near the walls of Troy to which he disobeys and dies -as everyone who more less knows the story- by the hands of Hector who then steals and wears the armor. The achaeans manage to recover the body.

     Achilles is then notified and gets a newfound anger against Hector. He makes peace with Agamemnon and accepts Briseida again with the sole purpose to avenge his best friend by bringing the corpse of his killer before he buries him. Meanwhile Tetis promises to bring his son a new armor made by the god of blacksmith, Hephaestus, knowing that Hector had stole the one he had. The next day she comes back with an impressive armor to which Achilles comes back to battle to kill the trojans.

     Curious fact: Agamemnon vows he didn't lay in the same bed with Briseida and says that if he's lying the gods should punish him. Later on in the Odyssey, it is gossiped and then confirmed by his ghost that when returning home to Mycenae her wife, Clitemnenstra, plotted his death with his lover, Egisto, while he tried to put on a shirt without the holes for the head and arms. Agamemnon regretted being incapable to help his concubine, Cassandra the seeress of Troy, when her wife murdered her.

     The trojans escaped to the walls of Troy when they saw Achilles in a killing spree aproaching them. Only Hector stood outside the walls even when his parents begged him to escape. When confronted by Achilles, Hector struck by fear starts running around the wall fast enough so he isn't killed by the spear of Achilles but slow enough that he can't escape. He continues running with the help of Apollo until Zeus forbids him doing so and Athena disguised as his brother, Deiphobus, tricks Hector into fighting against Achilles. He realizes when the spear comes back to Achilles's hand after missing and seeing his brother disappear that the gods had tricked and forsaken him. He fights back but is finally killed by Achilles. While dying he tells him that one of his brothers shall avenge him which only anger Achilles even more.

     Curious fact: Achilles is killed by Paris but her mother and a horse- yes, a talking horse!- told him he was going to be killed by the protector god of Troy. So it is assumed that the arrow Paris shot was directed by Apollo to the heel.

     After poking Hector's corpse with the help of the achaeans, Achilles ties him to the chariot and drags his body around the walls of Troy before returning to the boats leaving the trojans crying for they know the best warrior and hope of Troy has died.

Priam begs Achilles.
Makes muscular and nude good in all situations. 

     Meanwhile, Patroclus is burned and his remains put in an urn. Achilles starts the funeral games for his friend using his own goods as the throphies. After that he refuses to eat and drink and full of anger drags Hector's corpse around the mound where Patroclus's remains are in his constant fits of anger. Zeus feeling compassion for Hector who was devoted to the gods sends Tetis to stop his son and convince him to return the body when Priam comes, and sends Iris, a god messenger, to notify him of the plans of Zeus to recover the corpse of his son with a cart full of present to exchange with his only company being of a man older than him.
     Hermes, sent by Zeus, guides Priam disguised as an achaean boy to the camp and lets Priam pass by sentinels unseen. Hermes then reveals himself and reassures him of entering Achilles's tent. Achilles feels compassion for Priam who is an old man just as his father. While both admitting they know they shall die in this war and both feel powerless about that, they manage to find compassion for each other even when being enemies and start to eat and drink again. Achilles returns Hector's body to Priam and ask for the days they need to make his funeral to which he replies twelve. Finally warned by Hermes, Priam and his companion return to Troy. The book ends when they bury the remains and erect a mound to glorify Hector.


Hope you liked it. Soon I will do one for the Odyssey which I actually like better than the Iliad. Well maybe because I like much better shameless cunning bastard Odysseus than always-angry non-present Achilles. And I actually thought the Iliad was going to end when the achaeans conquer Troy so when I saw The End I actually flipped past the page because I thought I would find more and only found blank pages. I was somewhat disappointed.