The Trojan War: A New History

Achilles drags the body of Hector around Patroclus’s tomb three times and slaughters twelve noble Trojan youths before the body. After nine days, Zeus insists Hector’s corpse be returned to Troy. Risking death, Priam ventures to the Greek camp and begs Achilles for his son’s corpse. The Greeks grant an eleven-day truce to allow for Hector’s funeral to take place.

The Aethiopis tells the story of a female warrior, Penthesilea, descended from Ares, who aids the Trojans before being slain by Achilles. She is so beautiful that Achilles falls in love after removing the dead woman’s helmet. Thersites taunts him, and pays with his life. Achilles travels to Lemnos to purify himself for this deed before returning to fight.

Memnon of Aethiopia appears in the Odyssey, killing Nestor’s son, Antilochus, before being slain by Achilles. Achilles was en route to forcing his way into Troy when he was struck by Paris, probably by a poison-tipped arrow, though this is not specified. According to the Epic Cycle, Achilles’s heel was the only place where he was vulnerable. In the Aethiopis, Achilles falls at Troy’s Scaean Gate.