'Heaven and Earth'
Of Ichor and War 6: Considering the Metaphysics of Homer's Iliad, Conclusion
Considering a reading of Books 23-24 of The Iliad.
The final two books of the Iliad focus exclusively on funerary rites due the dead—specifically rites due the sons of Zeus.
Book 23 is the funeral and attendant contests for Patroclus, held by his bereaved master Achilles. As with many Aryan folk heroes, down through Norse Erik the Red, Patroclus is sent into exile after killing a member of his own community. He is taken in as a warrior servant “attendant” to the needs of Achilles by the king of the Myrmidons, Peleus. The names of great figures, such as Achilles and Hector, and most of all of Zeus, are often expressed as a patrimony. Hector is usually Priam's son, Achilles most often Peleus's son and Zeus as often as not is Time's son.
Both Hector and Achilles are honored and loved by some gods and hated by others and are thus doomed and in a brutal way immortalized. The construction of the funeral pyre for Patroclus is not just his, but is intended for Achilles as well, for he knows he will die on this far shore.
A pyramidal pyre of logs is made and soaked in wine and dressed with animal fat. The bodies of two hounds, some horses and twelve sons of Trojan lords are butchered to attend Patroclus, marking this burial as congruent with the ancient funerary pits of Sumer and China and of the Norse burial described by an Arab traveler through Russia in the 900s. Earthly servants, both man and beast, are consigned to the grave.
A prayer must be said to the North and West winds to burn the pyre. The bones are then removed from the ashes in the morning after the pyre has consumed the wood, flesh and fat. The bones will be saved in an urn. Later, after Achilles is likewise burned, the ashen mound will serve as a barrow mound, a tomb for these fallen heroes.
At the contests to honor Patroclus, Achilles officiates over:
-chariot racing
-spear casting
-dueling, to first blood
-archery
-weight throwing
-foot racing
-boxing
-wrestling
These events will serve as the core of the sacred contests through to late antiquity, with dueling replaced by running in armor and pankration and archery never retained into classical antiquity. [1]