The Death and Burial of Hector (selections from Iliad 22 and 24

• Hector, in Iliad 6, refuses wine from his mother to avoid weakening himself, showing his commitment to battle despite his exhaustion (6.256–65).
• Hector experiences military success until Achilles returns to fight, leading Hector to face him in hopes of divine favor (22.129–30).
• Hector initially shows bravery but panics upon seeing Achilles in new armor, leading to a dramatic chase around the city (Passage 2).
• The gods debate Hector’s fate, with Zeus eventually allowing Athena to assist Achilles, sealing Hector’s doom (Passage 2).
• Hector, tricked by Athena and realizing his imminent death, fights bravely but is ultimately killed by Achilles (Passage 2).
• Following Hector’s death, Achilles and his comrades desecrate Hector’s body, causing immense grief among the Trojans, including Hecuba and Andromache (Passage 3).
• Priam, aided by Hermes, retrieves Hector’s body for a proper burial, which is marked by mourning and lamentation from the Trojans (Passage 4).

1. The Death of Turnus in Vergil’s Aeneid
   • Vergil’s epic concludes with Turnus’s death, paralleling Hector’s role in the Iliad, while Aeneas mirrors the victorious Achilles (12.18–63).
   • Latinus and Amata’s pleas to Turnus echo the futile appeals made to Hector in Iliad 22 (12.18–63).
   • Aeneas, like Achilles, wears divine armor, and Turnus’s sword breaks upon it, leading to a dramatic chase for Turnus’s life (12.764–65).
   • Juno intervenes by summoning Juturna to assist Turnus, paralleling Apollo’s role in the Iliad, while Venus aids Aeneas similarly to Athena’s assistance to Achilles (154–60, 244–65; 411–24).
   • Jupiter weighs the fates of Aeneas and Turnus, mirroring the Iliad’s portrayal of divine judgment in battle (725–27; cf. Iliad 22.208–13).
   • Turnus, initially confident, realizes his doom as he sees no escape, reflecting Hector’s realization of his fate (914–18).
   • Turnus’s death is depicted with dramatic finality, echoing Hector’s end, but Aeneas does not gloat, unlike Achilles (931–38; 952).

1. The Death and Burial of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
   • Mark’s Passion narrative and Hector’s death both involve a refusal of wine; Hector rejects it to remain clear-headed, and Jesus refuses wine mixed with myrrh (Mark 15:22–23; Iliad 6.256–65).
   • In Mark, Jesus endures mockery from passersby and religious leaders, similar to how Hector and Achilles taunted each other before their duel (Mark 15:29–32; Iliad 22.158–61).
   • Jesus’s cry of abandonment on the cross reflects Hector’s lament over divine desertion; both express a sense of being forsaken by their gods (Mark 15:33–34; Iliad 22.295–303).
   • As Jesus is given sour wine, the bystanders mistake his cry for a call for Elijah, paralleling Hector’s futile call for Deïphobus, who does not come to his aid (Mark 15:35–36; Iliad 22.295–303).
   • Jesus’s death is marked by the tearing of the temple veil, akin to Hector’s soul departing and Priam’s grief as if Troy was burning (Mark 15:37–38; Iliad 24.551).
   • The centurion’s statement about Jesus being God’s Son parallels Achilles’s gloating over Hector’s body, both involving a form of triumphal acknowledgment (Mark 15:39; Iliad 22.373–75).
   • The burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea parallels Priam’s dangerous night journey to retrieve Hector’s body, both involving respectful retrieval and preparation for burial (Mark 15:42–46; Iliad 24.727–29).