The story of Iliad encompassed the battles between the Achaians and the Trojans because of their personal and political reasons such as the revenge of Menelaus, the envisioned ruling of King Agamemnon and the supremacy in Greece. Because of these reasons, the heated war between the two opposing nations continued taking the lives of many warriors for both empire including their heroes such as Patroclos and Hector. This paper presents an argumentative statement depicting Achilles as the person responsible for the death of Patroclos, which actually turned the events of the battle wayward for both empires.
This writer believes that because of the actions and decisions of Achilles, Patroclos was forced to stand up and help their armies in the war against Trojans thus causing his death when faced with Hector and the intervention of Gods. In Book XI of the epic novel, it is showed that the Achaians are already experiencing massive casualty and damages from the battle however, Achilles is still undetermined to join the battle because of his contemption towards their leader.
However though, he still expressed certain emotions of concern towards the army and send Patroclos to Nestor to inquire the identity of the wounded warrior whom the Nestor aided from the battle. After learning the identity of Machaon, Nestor urges Patroclos to convince Achilles to join the battle. He explicitly pointed out that the Achaians are losing and they needed Achilles and that Patroclos is closest to Achilles thus he has better chances of encouraging him. However, Achilles did not join the battle in spite of Patroclos encouragement thus the Achaians continued to lose.
In Book XVI, Patroclos joined the battle concealed as Achilles to lead the Achaian army. He fought courageously and was able to kill many Trojan warriors and heroes including Sarpedon thus enraging Zeus. It is stated in this book that Zeus is fond of Sarpedon considering him as his son thus he was furious with Patroclos for killing him. Because of which, he intervene in the war by sending his son Apollo to aid Hector and Euphorbos in killing Patroclos which they succeeded in doing so. Nevertheless, before Patroclos death, he made a prophecy that Achilles will avenge his fall and kill Hector personally, which Hector answered with disagreement.
From these events, it is conclusively presented that Achilles indeed has contributed in some ways to the fall of Patroclos. Because of his Achilles’ indignation to help their army, Patroclos felt a strong urge to take up Achilles’ role and lead the army causing his downfall which could be avoided if Achilles had just done helped the army in the first place by prevailing his concern to their warriors rather than his and resentment to the Achaian leader.
Bibliography Rouse, W. H. D. (1938). The Iliad, by Homer. Signet Classic. New American Library, a division of Penguin Group. Hudson Street, New York. USA.