The Shield of Achilles

Abstract

As described in Chapter 4, Achilles, succumbing to the pleas of the Achaeans, facing defeat in his absence, sent his friend Patroclus to fight in his stead, wearing Achilles' own panoply, to deceive the Trojans and make them think that Achilles himself had returned to battle. However, Patroclus was killed by Hector, and Achilles lost, besides his friend, his panoply as well. So he was unarmed, when, enraged, he truly wanted to return to war. Thetis, his mother, visited Hephaestus and asked him to fashion a panoply for her son. The visit of Thetis to Hephaestus has already been accounted for in Chapter 12, when referring to that miraculous forge. In the following paintings, one can find a few tokens of the inspiration caused to artists of all times by this event (Figures 16.1, 16.2, 16.3)