Hector, a strong hero destined to lose (his life)!
We will speak of Achilles and his wild, bestial fury later. Let us now turn to the strongest of the Trojans, but above all to a decent man, and for this very reason destined to fall: Hector.
Firstborn son of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba, he embodied everything a father could ask of a son. He was respectful of tradition without being narrow-minded. He had married Andromache while still young, and by giving birth to Astyanax he believed he had secured the royal lineage. This would not be the case.
He excelled in the art of war and soon revealed not only his skills as an unbeatable warrior but also as a strategist on the battlefield. Even Achilles sometimes trembled in his presence.
He was respected and feared by the Greeks, and for his subjects he was an example to follow. He held both family and the gods in high regard; in short, as said, truly a great model to emulate.
He fought and defeated many Greek warriors until he crossed weapons with Patroclus, whom he and everyone else believed to be Achilles. The boy—who was also the companion of the son of Peleus—had taken Achilles’ armor to inspire courage among the Greeks, who had been pushed back almost to their ships.
The situation seemed lost, and the boy thought he could help the Greeks in this way. The duel between the two, Hector and Patroclus, did not last long. The Trojan hero easily overcame the youth and, after giving him the coup de grâce, was about to claim the fallen warrior’s armor as his rightful spoils when, upon removing his helmet, everyone realized the mistaken identity. Immediately a furious clash erupted around the boy’s body. Ajax managed, with great difficulty, to recover Patroclus’ lifeless body, though he was wounded in several places.
At this point Agamemnon returned Briseis to Achilles. His hidden goal was to use Achilles’ predictable and terrible wrath against the Trojans and thus overturn the course of the war.
When Achilles learned of his friend’s death, he withdrew into a silence heavy with ominous forebodings. He had Patroclus’ funeral rites carried out with all honors, sacrificing several Trojan prisoners on the funeral pyre. Then he hurled himself into battle seeking Hector. His fury was indescribable, and Hector his sacrificial lamb. One fought for his life, the other for eternal glory and revenge.
At first Hector confronted him, but then he trembled, stepped back, and fled. But by then the gates of Troy had closed, and his only option was to run around the walls. He circled the city’s ramparts three times, pursued by the man who would kill him. From the walls, his wife, his father, and all the Trojans watched an ending that was sadly inevitable. Achilles was too strong, too bloodthirsty, and without mercy. He struck Hector dead with a spear thrust, unleashing his terrible war cry.
The son of Thetis pierced the tendons of the now-lifeless Hector, tied him to his chariot, and dragged him around the walls for the rest of the day. No one dared a sortie or even risked firing an arrow. They were all struck silent; the event was monumental (we still talk about it today!).
Hector disappeared from the Iliad, but not from the minds of those who for centuries would admire him as an example of a righteous man.
A comparison with Diomedes is necessary. Both, endowed with sound principles, fought in war with superhuman strength but also with religious pietas. Fierce warriors, they perhaps never crossed weapons. Was it simply chance, or did the gods foresee a different destiny for each of them?
Another fate indeed awaited these just men: one hunted without escape by his executioner, the other cast out from his land and forced to wander in search of a new world that was no longer his own.
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