Heroes of Olympus

by Philip Freeman

  Greek warrior Diomedes cut through the Trojan lines taking on man after man as the gods watched, invisible on the battlefield. He would have slain Aeneas, but his divine mother, Aphrodite, picked him up before Diomedes could drive home the fatal blow. Then Athena, who favored Diomedes, lifted the mist from his eyes so that he could see the gods on the plain. She whispered to him to stab Aphrodite.

  Diomedes began to stalk Aphrodite through the killing fields. When he was close enough, he stabbed her through the wrist, forcing her to drop Aeneas. Gods cannot die, but they can be wounded. Aphrodite shrieked and fled from the battle. Diomedes mocked her: “What’s the matter, goddess, giving up war so soon? Maybe you should stick to ruining people’s lives with your petty schemes.” Soon after, Diomedes rammed his spear into the gut of the war god Ares. Aphrodite and Ares flew to Olympus to complain to Zeus that Athena let a mortal man attack them. Athena joined them to defend herself, and Zeus sent them all away.

  Back on the battlefield, Diomedes was about to kill Aeneas when he saw Apollo beside the Trojan warrior. Diomedes tried three times to drive Apollo away. On the fourth attempt, Apollo spoke: “Think, Diomedes. You are a man and I am a god. I don’t want to destroy you, but I will. Stop before it’s too late.”

  Diomedes came to his senses and turned his attention to mortal enemies.

  The Trojan prince Hector saw his men falling all around him. When the Greeks were pressing close to the gates of the city, Hector told his captains to hold the line while he told the women to pray and sacrifice to the gods. He ran through the gates of Troy and up to the citadel. He saw his brother lounging on a couch: “Paris, what are you doing here while the enemy is at our very walls? Get up and join the battle, before the city is burned to ashes around you!”

  He then ran to find his wife, Andromache, and tell her to organize the women to beseech the gods. He found her watching the battle, praying that her husband was still alive.

  She held out their son, Astyanax, and begged her husband not to return to battle: “Dear Hector, think of your son and stay with us. I don’t want to be a widow. You know what will happen if the Greeks kill you and take the city. Stay here, please, where it is safe.”

  Hector held her close and said: “My beloved, I must return to the battle. I would die in shame before my men if I stayed here safe while they fought. In my heart I know there will come a day when sacred Troy will fall. My blessed father, Priam, will perish along with my brothers, while my aged mother, Hecuba, will be taken to Greece to spin flax as a slave. None of that compares to the pain I feel when I think of some Greek tearing you away from your home to work his loom. Still, I cannot give up the fight. It may well be my fate to die here, but I will never be called a coward.”

  No sooner had Hector made his way back to the battle than Ajax, son of Telamon, challenged him to combat. The Trojan prince turned to the giant who towered over him. Hector threw his spear first and struck the shield of Ajax, but could not pierce it. The Greek then set his spear flying until it pierced Hector’s shield. Hector turned away just as the mighty shaft cut through his armor. The two warriors then set on each other with swords and fought until night began to fall. Heralds from both sides called on the pair to stop because of darkness. Each hated to back down, but both withdrew to fight another day. After the Greeks dragged themselves back to their camp, they feasted and raised a toast to their many friends who had fallen that day. “Come sunrise,” they boasted, “we will storm the walls and take the city of Troy.”

  It was now that Zeus remembered his promise to Thetis to make the Greeks beg Achilles for help. When Agamemnon and his men were ready to storm the city the next morning, Zeus sent down lightning bolts. The shafts of fire threw men and horses into a panic. No man can fight Zeus. The Greeks fell back while Hector and the Trojans chased them across the plain, killing countless warriors.

  What seemed like certain victory for the Greeks had now turned to defeat. All hope seemed lost as they gazed out at hundreds of Trojan fires spread across the plain like stars in the sky. Hector and his men had not even returned to the city that night. They were ready to strike at dawn.

  Many Greek captains wanted to sail away that very night, but Nestor urged them to beg Achilles to return to the fight. If only Agamemnon would set aside his pride, the Greeks might be able to drive the Trojans back. Agamemnon admitted he had been wrong. He would send heralds to Achilles to apologize and offer splendid gifts to win the young warrior over.

  Odysseus and others found Achilles playing the lyre, singing songs of glorious heroes of old. He greeted them warmly and listened to their words carefully. Then he addressed Odysseus: “Son of Laertes, let me say this plainly and quickly. Will Agamemnon’s generous offer win me over? Not for all the world. I have my honor. I’m going to sail away tomorrow at daybreak. All of you should as well, for the Trojans are going to crush you.”

  Aged Phoenix, who had once been the tutor of Achilles, told a story of another man who had been unforgiving. This was Meleager, king of Calydon, who had sailed with Jason on the Argo. When he returned from that voyage, he married a beautiful woman named Cleopatra. He ruled his land with wisdom, but one day he slew his uncle after the man tried to take the hide of the Calydonian boar from him. Meleager’s own mother cursed him for killing her favorite brother.

  Meleager was so angry at his mother that he refused to fight when his uncle’s tribe attacked his city. His family and friends begged him, but he would not hear their words. When this uncle’s tribe were about to take the palace, his wife, Cleopatra, urged him to rejoin the fight. She asked if he wanted to see her killed or taken into slavery. Meleager then led his warriors to victory, for he realized that anger and pride would cost him that which he held most dear.

  Achilles listened to the story, but he did not understand the meaning. If the Greeks were going to face the Trojans, they would have to do it without him.

  The Greek warriors hardly slept as fear walked among them that night. When dawn came, Zeus sent the goddess Strife down to the Greek camp to stir up their courage. Strife was delighted with how events had unfolded since she had rolled the apple into the wedding celebration of Peleus and Thetis. Now she stood on the hull of Odysseus’s ship and let out a cry, great and terrible. It put the lust for battle into the hearts of the Greek invaders. Moments before, the fight had seemed hopeless Now they yearned to meet the Trojan force—just as Zeus had intended.

  The Greek captains led their men against the army of Hector with promises of victory. But soon, even though the Trojans took their share of casualties, the best of the Greeks began to fall. A Trojan spearman slashed Agamemnon on the arm down to the bone, forcing him to withdraw from battle. Next, mighty Diomedes was struck in the foot with an arrow, making him retreat behind the lines. Odysseus was surrounded by Trojans eager to claim the glory of slaying the son of Laertes. He fought off many, but one cut through his armor. The king of Ithaca then also withdrew, leaving few Greek officers to encourage the men.

  Achilles sent his dearest friend, Patroclus, to Nestor to ask the old man for news of the battle. Nestor told Patroclus that the Greeks were losing and could not keep the Trojans from the ships much longer. If they set the Greek ships ablaze, he warned, they were doomed. He begged Patroclus to join the fight. The sight of Achilles’s friend might be enough to drive the Trojans back.

  As Patroclus ran to Achilles to ask his friend if he might fight, Hector smashed through the rampart guarding the Greek ships. He ordered the Trojans to make for the ships, torches in hand. The Greeks fought to hold the enemy back, but yard by yard the Trojans came closer.

  Nothing could keep the Trojans away as they broke over the walls of the Greek camp. Finally they reached the closest of the Greek ships and threw their torches inside the hull. The flames lit up the sky. The Greeks held the enemy back from the rest of the fleet, but they all knew they would not live to see another day.

  Zeus had forbidden the other gods to get involved in the war. Those who favore
d Agamemnon’s men, such as his wife Hera, could not stand to see their side losing so badly. Hera knew she could not challenge Zeus directly, so she tried a more subtle approach.

  She went to her chamber and bathed in the most enticing perfumes known to the gods. She next applied a magical elixir she had gotten from Aphrodite. Then she went to the god Sleep, and promised him one of the beautiful Graces as his wife if he would put her husband to sleep at just the right moment. At last she strolled past the mountain meadow where Zeus was sitting.

  Zeus saw her and decided the mortals could wait: “Hera, why hurry away? Never have I seen a goddess or mortal woman who has made my heart pound so. Europa, Semele, Leto—they were all nothing compared to you.”

  Crafty Hera had Zeus spread a thick mist around them, to cover them from the sight of gods and men. Then Sleep poured his potion on Zeus so that he fell into a deep slumber.

  Hera flew down the slopes of Olympus and stirred the Greeks to hold back the Trojans. Back and forth the tide of battle shifted as one moment the Greeks pushed the Trojans from the ships, then the next they were driven back to the sea.

  Achilles had agreed to let Patroclus join the fight and even gave him his own armor to wear. He warned his dear friend only to drive the Trojans back from the ships, not to take the battle to the city. Patroclus put on the shining armor and led many hundreds of fresh troops into the fight.

  The appearance of Patroclus and his men brought hope to the Greeks and terror to their enemies. The Trojans thought that Achilles was rejoining the fight. With a tremendous roar, the Greeks pushed the Trojans over the ramparts and back onto the plain. The men began to believe they might take Troy itself that day. Patroclus forgot the warning of Achilles and ordered the men to follow him to the walls of the city.

  The Greeks would have taken Troy then if Zeus had not awoken and sent Apollo to stand before the ramparts of the city. The young god came up behind Patroclus and slammed him between the shoulders. A Trojan warrior then struck him with a spear but did not bring him down. Immediately Hector was there with his own bronze-tipped spear. Patroclus fell into the dust, his soul flying down to the house of Hades, leaving life behind.

  Hector stripped the armor off the dead soldier and would have taken his corpse back to Troy, but Menelaus drove Hector away. He put the body into a chariot to return it to the Greek camp for proper funeral rites. Hector gloried in the fact that he had killed Patroclus, one of the greatest of the Greek warriors and the friend of Achilles.

  The wail that went up from the Greek lines told Achilles that his friend was dead. He sat in the dust tearing his hair. His cry was so loud that Thetis heard it in the depths of the sea and came to comfort her son. She told him that as horrible as things seemed, he had gotten what he wanted. Agamemnon had suffered and the Greeks realized they could not win the war without him.

  That meant little to Achilles now. Phoenix had been right. His own pride had cost him that which he loved the most. At last he agreed to set aside his anger and rejoin the fight, with his sole purpose to destroy Hector. Nothing mattered now but revenge.

  Thetis flew to the home of the divine smith Hephaestus to ask the god to make new armor for her son. Hephaestus created a set of armor like no man had ever seen. The enormous shield was embossed with figures telling stories of two noble cities, one at war, one at peace. All the world was there, encircled by the mighty river of Ocean. He also forged a breastplate, a sturdy helmet, and greaves to cover the warrior’s legs. Thetis winged back to Troy to present the gifts to her son, who armed himself for battle.

  Zeus knew his promise to Thetis had been kept. The Greeks honored Achilles as he marched onto the battlefield. The first enemy he met was Aeneas, son of the goddess Aphrodite. Achilles would have killed him, but the gods saved Aeneas. Achilles then slaughtered other Trojans like sheep.

  The Scamander River became so clogged with his victims that the god of the river rose up and ordered Achilles to stop. When he refused, the river leaped out of its banks and pursued him across the plain like a tidal wave. Hephaestus used fire to force the river back.

  At last Achilles reached the walls of Troy and called Hector forth. Hector donned his armor to face the greatest warrior of the age. The two fought like lions. Hector knew he could not match the rage of Achilles. He fled and ran three times around the walls of Troy while Achilles chased him. Then the goddess Athena appeared to Hector in the form of his brother Deiphobus and told him they would fight together. Hector turned to make his stand, but Deiphobus vanished. Hector was doomed. He fought bravely, but Achilles triumphed. As Hector breathed his last, Achilles promised the fallen soldier that the dogs and birds would soon feast on his corpse. When the soul of the Trojan had departed, Achilles dragged his body back to the Greek camp while Hector’s family on the walls looked on in horror.

  The funeral rites for Patroclus were splendid. All the while the corpse of Hector lay unburied. Zeus favored Achilles, but he could not allow him to dishonor the dead. He sent Thetis to demand he accept a ransom for the body of his enemy. Achilles agreed, but only if a Trojan warrior was brave enough to cross the lines and claim him.

  Later that night, King Priam had a vision telling him to go to Achilles. Guided by Hermes, Priam drove a cart across the plain, alone in the darkness. He fell down on his knees before Achilles, kissed the very hands that had killed his son, and asked him for Hector’s body.

  Achilles thought of his own aged father, Peleus, across the sea. He thought of all the young men who had died on the battlefield in hope of eternal glory. And at last he thought of his friend Patroclus. Tears poured down the faces of both men as they realized the true cost of war.

  Achilles carried the body of Hector to Priam’s cart and laid him gently inside. He then sent Priam back to Troy, granting him ten days of peace to mourn and bury his son. The women of the city wailed songs of sorrow. Hector was the best among them, both as warrior and as a man. The Trojans built a great funeral pyre and burned his body. When the flames died away, they gathered his white bones, wrapped them in purple cloth, and laid them in a grave within a golden chest.

  Hector was dead, but the walls of Troy still stood, and new allies arrived to join the army of King Priam. Penthesileia, ruler of the Amazons and a daughter of the war god Ares, rode onto the plain with her warrior women and killed many of the best Greek fighters. Achilles mortally wounded the queen and then fell in love with her as she lay dying. Achilles also slew Memnon, king of the Ethiopians, who had brought his army all the way from the headwaters of the Nile.

  It seemed as if nothing could strike down Achilles. But Apollo knew where he was weak and guided an arrow of Paris to his heel. The greatest of the Greek warriors bled to death beneath the walls of Troy. The Trojans would have seized his divine armor, but Ajax and Odysseus drove them back and carried the corpse to their camp by the shore. All the Greeks mourned Achilles and burned his body on a funeral pyre, afterward mixing his ashes with those of his friend Patroclus.

  The Greeks then held a contest to see who would receive Achilles’s glorious armor. Ajax argued that he had killed more Trojans than anyone save Achilles and therefore deserved the prize. Odysseus won the armor with his smooth tongue, claiming that his brains had helped the Greeks more than anyone’s brawn. Ajax became crazed with jealousy. That night he attacked his old friends, slaughtering Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Odysseus. When dawn came, he returned to his senses and discovered he had in fact killed only a herd of sheep. Ashamed, he went to a cave and killed himself with his own sword.

  The Greeks were no closer to taking the city of Troy than they had been ten years earlier. They asked the seer Calchas what they must do to win the war. He said they needed the weapons Hercules had left with Philoctetes—the very man they had abandoned on the island of Lemnos. A group sailed to bring Philoctetes to the Greek camp in spite of his still-stinking wound. Once on the beach at Troy, the injured man was healed. He then used his weapons to kill Paris.

  Two brothers of Par
is, the seer, Helenus, and the warrior, Deiphobus, quarreled over who would be the third husband of the most beautiful woman in the world. Deiphobus won, and Helenus left the town in bitter disappointment to live alone on the slopes of Mount Ida. The Greeks knew Helenus was a powerful prophet, so they sent Odysseus to kidnap him and bring him to the Greek camp. He revealed that for the Greeks to take the city, they would first need to transport the bones of Agamemnon’s grandfather, Pelops, to their camp from Greece. Second, they would need to bring Achilles’s son Neoptolemus to join them. Finally they would need to steal the Palladium, the wooden statue of Athena, from her temple in the city. “These three things are necessary,” said Helenus, “but they are not enough. You will still have to discover for yourselves what no man or god knows—how to breach the walls of Troy.”

  The Greeks collected the bones of Pelops and found young Neoptolemus eager to join them. Stealing Athena’s statue from her temple in the center of Troy was a problem. Odysseus and Diomedes disguised themselves as beggars and snuck into the city. Some say that Helen recognized them and helped them, but others claim they stole the statue on their own. Now they had everything they needed to take the city of Troy—if only they could find a way to get their army through its walls.

  How the idea of the wooden horse occurred to Odysseus no one ever knew. When the Greeks heard it, they knew it would work. It was daring and insane, but it was also simple and cunning. Odysseus instructed a craftsman named Epeius to build a wooden horse big enough to hold fifty men. It had to look solid from the outside but needed a secret door that could be opened by those hiding inside.

  When the horse was complete, Odysseus, Menelaus, and four dozen other Greeks sealed themselves in the creature’s belly. The rest of the Greeks burned their tents and sailed away to anchor on the far side of the island of Tenedos and await the signal.

  When dawn rose the next morning, the Trojans could see the smoldering ruins of the Greek camp and a giant wooden horse in the distance. They rode out to the shore and wondered why their enemies should have built such a thing. Suddenly a man named Sinon came running to them from the bushes and threw himself at the feet of Priam. He said the wooden horse was left behind as a peace offering to Athena. The Greeks had realized that they could never take the city and only wanted to sail home in peace with the blessing of the goddess.