Priam's Diary: Death of Hector

My son, Hector, has fallen. I knew this day would come. Like many sons before him, so his shade has gone to join theirs. Achilles you beast! You villain! To kill a man over honor, land, women, to please the gods; these are times that men must fight and die with honor. You have killed my son and robbed him of his honor and his resting place. Until he has burnt on the funeral pyre, has been given a proper burial, and his remains are placed in the earth his spirit will find no rest. Achilles defiled my son by stabbing him even after he was dead and then dragged his mortal remains behind his chariot to harm him even further by desecrating his body.

Tomorrow I will go and meet with Achilles to barter for my son’s remains. I will offer him many great gifts and pray that he takes pity on an old man who only wishes to honor his son one last time. Agamemnon is also old like me. Perhaps Achilles will pity me as he would for his own father.

Andromache is beside herself with grief. What am I to tell her? How can I comfort her when I cannot comfort myself? Hector has left his wife a widow and his son an orphan. I should have known better than to let him outside the walls of Troy after Patroclus was killed. Of course Achilles would come for Hector seeking revenge for his fallen companion. I know that Hector fought so that the women of Troy would not be taken by the Greeks to be enslaved, but now his wife has no husband and Astyanax has no father. All of this may have been avoided if Paris had not taken that woman. Helen and her possessive beauty have killed my son. I must rest now for tomorrow I may meet my end at the end of Achilles spear. Zeus, be merciful and allow an old man to put his child to rest.