S6E7 - Troy: The Bitter Rancor of Achilles

The stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features two grown men acting like toddlers, more women being kidnapped, war, death, a divine plague, and a man gets dragged behind a chariot.

If this sounds like too much, maybe skip this one.

out

today is a big day if we are determining big by how long a day is today may be a little longer than other days depending on when our listeners are tuning in okay i was speaking metaphorically the day is big because today is the day that the greeks finally make it to troy false while the exact time frame of the Trojan War cannot be historically confirmed, most experts believe it to have occurred during the 12th or 11th century BCE.

Therefore, today is most certainly not the day the Greeks made it to Troy.

Well, sure, not technically, but today is the day we get to talk about stuff that happens on the battlefield.

We've been leading up to this for weeks, and the Greeks have landed on the shores of Troy.

But not without sacrifice.

If you remember in our last episode, Iphigenia died to bring sailing winds for Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, and the entire Greek army.

So when they arrived on the beaches of Troy, they were ready to fight.

And the battle began immediately.

Hector, the prince of Troy and the leader of the Trojan army, had been waiting for the Greeks.

He and his best warriors attacked the invaders before most of them even got got off the boats.

Arrows ripped through the air, spears flashed, and the mighty Greek army was already back on its heels.

But not for long.

The great warrior Ajax was a formidable foe with his spear, which was so long he kept the Trojans back long enough for more Greeks to reach the shore.

And once Achilles stepped on the beach, everything changed.

Achilles was a warrior like the world had never seen.

He moved from one foe to another, dodging a spear here, ducking under a sword there, and always knowing just when to strike to cause the greatest devastation.

Even the gods were impressed, and they all stopped what they were doing to watch Achilles fight.

As he cut a path through the Trojans, the Greek fighters saw him and rallied, fighting their way onto the beach and pushing the Trojans back.

Not a single warrior could beat Achilles.

Not Aeneas or Memnon or even Hector.

With Achilles on their side, it seemed to the Greeks that this would be a quick and easy war to win.

Hector could see this too, and as a wise leader, he knew what he had to do.

Retreat!

Hector called, and the Trojans sprinted back to the city while archers atop the walls kept any Greeks from entering Troy.

And this...

is where the war ground to a halt, almost immediately after it began.

You see, Troy's architecture was the best in the world.

The city was surrounded by a circle of towering stone walls.

The high walls of Troy were made with mud bricks piled on top of a limestone structure.

The walls were over 16 feet thick and thirty feet tall.

They stretched over 1,000 feet long and surrounded the entire perimeter of Troy.

The Greeks couldn't get inside the city, and as long as the Trojans remained behind those impenetrable walls, they were safe.

And that is how this war that was once a highly anticipated event said to bring about unspeakable glory turned into a bunch of heavily armed soldiers just kind of hanging out at the beach.

The Trojans came out each day to bravely fight to try to rid their land of the Greeks, but when the battle inevitably turned, whenever Achilles got on a roll, the Trojans would retreat retreat back behind their walls.

And this dragged on and on.

According to the Iliad, the Greek soldiers were there for nine more years.

Nine years?

Yeah, that's a lot of time to be away from their homes.

Of course, with nine years going by, lots of stuff happened.

And we're going to do a little highlight reel for you.

First, the Greek leaders approached the Trojan royal family to ask for Helen back.

But Paris wouldn't let her go, so that didn't work.

Then, both sides agreed to a duel.

Menelaus, king of Sparta, would fight Paris, the prince of Troy, to decide the outcome of the war.

It makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

I mean, these were Helen's husbands.

It seems obvious that they should sort of sort it out by themselves.

Both sides felt that a battle to the death would settle the matter for good.

Menelaus was a much stronger warrior than Paris, but Paris showed great courage in agreeing agreeing to fight, even though he was clearly outmatched.

The two met one another on the battlefield as both armies watched.

The men sparred until Menelaus knocked Paris' sword out of his hands.

Paris lay on the ground, prepared to accept his fate.

Menelaus held his sword up to Paris' throat, ready to put an end to the war, and then Paris vanished.

Aphrodite, goddess of love, whisked Paris to safety.

She cheated.

Yes, she did.

And the Greeks were rightfully outraged.

But what could they do but keep fighting the way they always had?

And the Trojans knew that Paris should have died in the duel, but they couldn't just throw him out of the city to die.

And so, the war continued.

For nine years.

Nine years of Achilles dominating the battlefield.

Nine years of frustration.

Nine years of living in a tent on the beach.

And in those long years, the Greeks obviously needed to gather food and supplies.

So they'd fan out into the Trojan countryside and even into neighboring kingdoms, causing destruction wherever they went.

Because they didn't just take food, they took people too.

One night, the Greeks raided a nearby town and captured two women named Criseus and Briseus.

The soldiers gave the women to the two most important men in camp, King Agamemnon and Achilles.

Raiding villages and kidnapping people is a disgusting but common action of soldiers throughout history.

Agamemnon accepted Crisius, but he wasn't happy that Achilles was so revered among the Greeks that he got a prize as well.

Everyone thinks Achilles is so special because he can fight.

But I am the leader of this entire army.

No one should be considered my equal.

That feeling of disrespect was mutual.

At this point in the war, war, Achilles was fed up with Agamemnon's poor leadership skills.

Plus, Achilles knew he was the powerhouse of the Greek army.

Who cares if Agamemnon is technically in charge?

I'm the only reason we're hanging on in this war.

You can probably tell this is going to be a problem.

But first, the Greeks had another problem.

There are several...

problems with this situation.

Well, yeah, right, but it's a different issue besides the obvious one of stealing humans from their homes in order to become the spoils of war.

The problem for the Greek army here is that Croesius' father was a priest of Apollo, and he was, obviously, not happy that Croesius had been kidnapped and enslaved.

After praying to Apollo, the god of music, prophecy, and medicine, to ask for Croseias' return, he then visited Agamemnon himself.

He dropped to his knees and begged for the Greek king to release his daughter.

But Agamemnon was not moved by the man's courage or love for his daughter.

He dismissed the priest.

And in doing so, he broke the now famous golden rule of Greek mythology.

Take it away, Oracle.

Never insult the gods.

Exactly.

Criseus' father was a priest of Apollo, and so to deny his request was to challenge Apollo's power, and that would not be tolerated.

The next morning, Greek soldiers developed stomach pains and grew grew boils of pus on their faces.

They began to die slow and painful deaths.

As the god of medicine, Apollo has been known to send plague to his enemies.

Achilles knew this wasn't a normal plague.

He had his suspicions about what was happening, so he decided to consult an oracle.

But Patroclus had a better idea.

Call a meeting of all the top warriors, Patroclus said.

Ask the oracle to explain in front of everyone.

That way, everyone will hear at once.

Achilles had learned to take Patroclus' advice on this sort of thing.

While Achilles was adept at fighting, Patroclus' talents seemed to be more in the realm of understanding people.

Patroclus was also very popular among the other Greek soldiers and was known for his kindness, wisdom, and skill at healing.

Achilles called the warriors and the oracle for a meeting that very night.

Sure enough, the oracle laid out the problem in front of everyone.

The great god Apollo is angered that you would take the daughter of his priest.

He has shot plague arrows into your camp for the last nine days.

If you give her back, then he will forgive you.

All the warriors turned to Agamemnon.

We are suffering because of you, Achilles said to Agamemnon.

You have angered Apollo.

You must return Criseus immediately.

Agamemnon was not exactly receptive to Achilles' feedback, and he was sick of Achilles' making demands.

But he knew if his army was going to survive, he had to appease the gods.

Fine, I will give Criseus back, but as a leader of the Greek army and your commander, I get Briseus in return, Agamemnon demanded.

No, Achilles responded.

She belongs to me.

To be clear, they are arguing over which one of them should be in possession of a whole human being.

Yeah, I know.

It's not a good look for either of them.

Give me Perseus.

I am your commander, and this is an order, he demanded.

Achilles had to obey, but he was angry.

Sing, goddess, the wrath of the son of Peleus.

Achilles, that destructive wrath that brought countless pains on the Achaeans.

Say again.

That is the first line of Homer's Iliad, the most famous recounting of the Trojan war.

Instead of anger, Homer uses a word in Greek that typically is only used to describe the rage of a god.

Phew!

So Achilles was like really angry, like angry on the whole other plane of existence, angry.

And this is where the Iliad really starts, with Achilles and Agamemnon's synchronized temper tantrum, collaborative conniption.

Right, exactly.

And Homer was right.

Achilles was definitely an angry man, and he did bring a thousand troubles upon the Achaeans.

That's Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus, by the way.

Because from that moment on, Achilles refused to have anything more to do with the Trojan War.

You have given me your last order, Achilles said.

I will no longer fight for such a foolish leader.

And this wasn't just an empty threat.

Achilles meant it.

He was done fighting.

But one good thing did come out of the conversation.

Chrisias was released.

About time.

And the plague stopped.

But without Achilles fighting alongside the Greeks on the battlefield, they lost their fighting spirit.

Okay,

what about a commercial?

This, you think we should take it?

Yeah, let's take a break, regroup, and we'll be back in just a couple of seconds.

Hey there!

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Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find girl tales wherever you get your podcast.

Okay, and now back to more Greeking out.

The Greeks began to lose, big time.

In some versions of the story, Achilles' mother, Thetis, asked Zeus to curse the Greeks with failure for daring to upset her son.

Yeah, it was so bad that one day the Trojans had made it so far through the Greek lines that they were approaching the Greek ships anchored on the ocean.

If Hector and his army managed to burn the ships, the Greeks had no way home.

They begged for Achilles to return to the fight, but he refused.

Let it go, Patroclus said, rolling his eyes.

You win, okay?

You've proven how much they need you.

Now, those are our friends out there.

You can't just let them die.

This did sway the great warrior a bit, but he'd already made a big stink about never fighting for Agamemnon again.

He couldn't just change his mind.

This is when Achilles and Patroclus had a really bad idea.

Okay, it's not necessarily bad.

It could have worked.

You see, Achilles couldn't rejoin the fight because it would mean agreeing to work with Agamemnon again, and he wasn't about to do that.

So he told Patroclus to take his armor and rally the Greek soldiers against the Trojans.

Everyone would think Achilles was back in the fight.

The Greeks would win the day, and Achilles could say he was still mad and never fighting again.

What could possibly go wrong?

You cannot tell from my tone, but that was a sarcastic, rhetorical question.

Yeah, I picked up on that, actually.

Thank you.

Well, at first, it seemed like a brilliant strategy.

Patroclus wasn't an Achilles-level fighter, but he was a warrior in his own own right.

He knew he couldn't keep the ruse going for too long, but maybe just long enough to win the day and save the ships.

Patroclus ran to the battlefield, Achilles' armor gleaming in the sun, and joined his comrades in the fight.

And it worked.

The Greeks were overjoyed when they saw their swift-footed hero sprinting into battle.

In the traditional ancient Greek style, everyone had epitaphs to describe them.

Achilles is swift-footed and lion-hearted, while Hector is man-killing and horse-taming.

Patroclus is referred to as kind-hearted, gentle, and dearest of Achilles.

Achilles!

Achilles!

Achilles!

Achilles!

The Greeks began to chant.

As if by magic, they began to fight harder and better.

Their hope was restored.

With Achilles here, they could not lose.

But the soldiers weren't the only ones fired up.

Dressing like Achilles and being admired like him seemed to have transformed Patroclus.

He fought like the greatest warrior in the world.

And as he did, the Greeks pushed the Trojans back towards their city.

Achilles!

Achilles!

Achilles!

Achilles!

Patroclus knew he should pull back.

He couldn't pretend to be Achilles forever, but they were winning.

He couldn't stop now.

And when Hector saw that Achilles was out fighting again, he headed straight towards him.

It was time to end this war.

Hector wasn't a better fighter than Achilles, but he was far more skilled than Patroclus.

And Hector didn't know that it wasn't the greatest warrior alive on the battlefield that day.

While both armies watched, Hector bravely approached the man dressed in Achilles' armor.

And although Patroclus must have been terrified, he didn't cower or retreat.

He fought till the end.

Unfortunately, the end came quickly, with a spear to Patroclus's heart.

Hector won.

A hush fell over the crowd.

Achilles was supposed to be nearly invincible.

Was the greatest warrior of all time truly defeated?

Did Hector actually just kill Achilles?

Was the war over?

No.

No.

and no.

Right, those were rhetorical questions because, of course, you know the answer.

Hector walked over to his former opponent and slowly removed his helmet, expecting to see the face of the great warrior Achilles.

Instead, he saw a different man whose name he didn't know.

Who is this?

Hector asked.

It's Patroclus!

Greeks shouted.

Patroclus has been killed!

And true sadness swept through the crowd.

Every Greek knew and liked Patroclus.

Hector let out a frustrated growl.

Take him back to Achilles, he told the Greek soldiers.

We are done for today.

Burial rites were very important during this time period.

Without a proper burial, the ancient Greeks believed your soul would not be at peace.

Giving Patroclus back to Achilles was a sign of great respect.

It was indeed.

Hector was an honorable man.

Back at camp, Achilles didn't know what had happened.

He thought Patroclus was inspiring the troops and would be back at any moment.

He spent his time planning his life back in Phyllia, where he would live a long life in obscurity.

So when the Greek soldiers told him that Patroclus had been killed by Hector, he was devastated.

Patroclus had been his dearest companion, the only one who'd seen him as a complete person instead of just a hero.

I should have been there with him, he cried.

If I had joined the battle like he asked me to, he would still be alive.

As the shock wore off, Achilles' thoughts turned to revenge.

Dr.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross suggests there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

This list of stages can help humans understand their reactions to loss.

Yeah, and it sounds like Achilles was somewhere around the anger-depression nexus.

And maybe that's why he made the fateful decision to rejoin the battle.

The question of whether Achilles would live a long life and be forgotten, or live a short, violent life and achieve eternal glory had finally been settled.

Back in the city of Troy, Hector knew Achilles' fury would fall on him.

The The next morning, the Trojan prince said goodbye to his wife and their little son before courageously walking onto the battlefield.

King Priam, Queen Hecuba, and the rest of the Trojan royalty looked down from the city's walls, hoping that Hector would pull off a miracle and kill the great Achilles.

A silence fell over the crowd as the two men began to fight.

Hector was one of the greatest opponents Achilles had ever faced, but he was still no match for the great Achilles.

The battle was short.

Achilles was nearly invincible, and nothing in the mortal world could match his pain and rage.

Before long, Hector, the prince of Troy, was no more.

Cheers erupted among the Greeks while the Trojans began to sob for their dead prince.

But the drama wasn't over yet.

Instead of leaving the body behind for the family, as was customary, Achilles tied Hector's body to the back of a chariot and circled the walls of Troy so his whole family could see.

This was a cruel act of disrespect.

Yeah, it was so out of bounds that it offended Zeus himself.

Up until this point, Zeus had tried to stay out of the war, but this act of indecency forced him to send a thick fog over the battlefield.

It was impossible to keep fighting or for Achilles to keep riding his chariot.

Achilles returned to the Greek camp with the body of Hector.

That night, under the cover of the fog, King Priam approached Achilles unarmed and asked for the body of his son.

It might have been the shattered expression on the old king's face that swayed Achilles' rage, or the fact that Achilles understood old Priam's sadness, but either way, Achilles agreed, and Hector's body was returned to his family.

The Greeks laid Patroclus to rest in a big ceremony.

And though Hector, the prince of Troy, was dead, the Greek army was still not in a better position to win the war than they were when they first got there nine years ago.

And weirdly, this is basically where the Iliad ends.

No victory on either side, just sadness and death.

The Greeks mourning Patroclus and the Trojans mourning their princely hero Hector.

But that's not where our story ends, of course.

The Greeks had fought and won and lost and watched their comrades die and still they couldn't take the famous city.

But one Greek soldier had been working on a plan.

It was Odysseus.

Okay, you kind of stole my thunder on that one, but yes, while the others had been battling and bickering, Odysseus was busy.

He hadn't been sunning himself on the sandy beach or anything.

His mind had been hard at work.

He was cooking up a plan to get inside the city and finally end this war so he could get back to his wife and son.

The Trojan horse.

Yes.

And the Trojan horse.

Nay.

Nay.

Yeah,

what was that?

I thought the horse sound would add some intrigue.

Maybe give you some of your thunder back.

You know, like your cliffhanger strategy.

Okay, thank you for that.

But speaking of cliffhangers, we're gonna stop here for now.

Greaking Out.

Thanks for listening.

Tune in next time for the conclusion of the Trojan War.

Then we have two more bonus episodes this season as we once again travel across the world.

Listen and you'll see it

out.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Kenny Curtis and Jillian Hughes and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Allison Shaw provided editorial assistance, doctor Lillian Doherty is our subject matter expert, and Emily Everhart is our producer.