Books 22-24 bring the Iliad to its thematic climax. After Hector's death, Achilles' desecration of the body, and Patroclus' funeral games, we reach Book 24's extraordinary reconciliation between Priam and Achilles. These final books explore three interconnected themes: reconciliation, humanity in war, and mortality.
Why These Themes Matter
These themes are interconnected and central to understanding the Iliad's ending. Shared mortality enables reconciliation; recognition of humanity makes compassion possible; reconciliation proves that even in war's worst moments, humans can choose mercy over vengeance. Understanding how Homer presents these themes gives you powerful essay material.
Book 24's central achievement is reconciliation between worst enemies. Priam and Achilles are as opposed as two people can be: Achilles killed Hector and has spent eleven days dragging his corpse. Yet they weep together, share a meal, and part with mutual respect.
Great Priam came in unnoticed. He came close and clasped Achilles' knees with his hands, and kissed his terrible, man-slaughtering hands, which had killed many of his sons.
Appeal to shared humanity: "Think of your own father"—connecting through universal experience
Emotional honesty: They weep together openly, not hiding grief
Divine intervention: Zeus commands both to act, but the tears are genuinely human
Xenia (guest-friendship): Sharing a meal creates sacred bond transcending enmity
Contrast With Earlier Failed Reconciliations
Book 24's success is more powerful when contrasted with earlier failures. Book 1's Chryses supplication fails because Agamemnon refuses brutally. Book 9's embassy fails because Achilles won't accept compensation without genuine apology. These failures teach us what reconciliation requires.
Book 1: Failed
Chryses comes properly as suppliant
Agamemnon treats him with contempt
Result: plague, mass death
Book 24: Success
Priam shows extreme vulnerability
Achilles responds with compassion
Result: proper burial, temporary peace
The pattern across the Iliad shows that reconciliation fails when approached with pride, contempt, or insincerity. It succeeds in Book 24 because both Priam and Achilles are genuinely vulnerable and emotionally honest. Priam doesn't hide his desperation—he acknowledges kissing the hands that killed his sons. Achilles doesn't hide his grief—he weeps openly. This honesty creates the space for compassion.
⚠️ Limits of Reconciliation
Even Book 24's reconciliation is temporary—twelve days, then war resumes. Troy will still fall. Priam will be murdered. The truce doesn't prevent inevitable tragedy. Homer is realistic: reconciliation doesn't end war or erase the past, but it creates brief space for human dignity and compassion. That limited victory is still meaningful.
The Role of Divine Intervention
The gods play a crucial role in enabling Book 24's reconciliation, but they don't CREATE the compassion. Zeus commands both Achilles and Priam to act. Hermes guides Priam safely through the Greek camp. But the tears, the recognition of shared humanity, the choice to show mercy—that's all genuinely human.
💡 Gods Set the Stage, Humans Choose
Divine intervention makes the meeting POSSIBLE (Priam would likely be killed without Hermes' protection), but it doesn't make the reconciliation INEVITABLE. Achilles could have taken the ransom coldly, without tears or compassion. Priam could have remained bitter and withdrawn. They CHOOSE to connect emotionally. This shows Homer's sophisticated view: gods shape circumstances, but human choices still matter.
Humanity Threatened by War
Books 22-24 show war threatening to dehumanise people. Achilles' treatment of Hector's body is the clearest example: dragging the corpse for eleven days, threatening to eat him raw (Book 22), refusing burial. Apollo condemns this explicitly.
'Achilles has destroyed pity and there is no shame in him... Like a lion that gives way to its great might and proud spirit and goes among the flocks of men to seize a meal, Achilles has destroyed pity.'
— Apollo's condemnation, Book 24
Dehumanisation in Books 22-24
Treating corpses as objects—dragging Hector daily
Becoming beast-like—"like a lion", "destroyed pity"
Loss of proper rituals—refusing burial rites
Obsessive behaviour—mechanical, unable to rest
Humanity Restored
Book 24 shows humanity restored through specific acts: washing and anointing Hector's body, sharing a meal, mutual recognition of nobility, proper funeral rites. These aren't abstract values—they're concrete choices that prove compassion can survive even after extreme violence.
When they had washed him and anointed him with oil, and put a beautiful cloak and tunic round him, Achilles himself lifted him and placed him on a bed.
— Preparing Hector's body, Book 24
Notice the detail: washing, oil, beautiful clothes. This is CARE. Achilles personally lifts Hector's body—the man he killed, whose corpse he's been dragging. This physical gentleness demonstrates humanity restored. He's treating Hector as a person deserving dignity, not as a trophy or object.
The Sacred Meal
When Achilles and Priam eat together, they create xenia (guest-friendship)—a sacred bond that transcends enmity. You cannot harm someone who has eaten at your table. This meal transforms them from enemies into guests and hosts, proving that civilised values can survive even in war.
✨ "They Had Taken Their Fill of Gazing"
This line captures the moment of mutual recognition. Priam sees Achilles' godlike beauty; Achilles sees Priam's noble dignity. They're LOOKING at each other—really seeing each other—recognising worth despite being enemies. This is what makes reconciliation possible: the ability to see past the role (killer/victim's father) to the person beneath.
Funeral Rites as Human Defiance
Books 23-24 are dominated by funeral rituals: Patroclus' elaborate games and Hector's proper burial. These aren't just plot requirements—they're THEMATIC. Proper burial represents humanity's refusal to let war completely destroy civilised values.
Why Burial Matters
Religious necessity: Souls can't rest without proper cremation
Respect for enemies: You honour brave warriors even if they fought against you
Family duty: Priam MUST bury his son—this transcends politics
Civilised vs savage: Leaving bodies for dogs is barbaric; burial proves we're civilised
Memory and kleos: Funeral creates lasting memory of the individual
The Iliad's final line—"Such was the funeral they held for Hector, tamer of horses"—deliberately ends with a TROJAN hero properly honoured. Homer could have ended with Achilles triumphant or Greek victory foreshadowed. Instead, he ends with an enemy given full funeral honours, proving that humanity can persist even between warring sides.
Mortality: The Central Theme
Every theme in the Iliad exists because humans die. If characters were immortal like gods, honour, glory, courage, and compassion would all mean differently—or not at all. Mortality is what makes human choices meaningful.
Gods vs Mortals
"The gods themselves are sorrowless"—they don't suffer or die. This fundamental divide makes mortal suffering more profound. Humans must make every choice knowing they'll die, whilst gods play with human lives without facing real consequences. Mortality is what makes human courage and compassion MEANINGFUL.
Achilles' Philosophy: The Two Jars
Book 24 contains the Iliad's clearest statement about mortality. Achilles explains why mortals suffer and gods don't—there's no justice, only random distribution of good and evil. The only response is endurance.
'This is the way the gods have spun the thread for miserable mortals, that they should live in pain; yet the gods themselves are sorrowless. There are two jars standing on the floor of Zeus's palace, full of the gifts he gives, one of evils, the other of blessings. When Zeus the Thunderer mixes the two and gives them to a man, that man meets now with evil, now with good.'
— Achilles to Priam, Book 24
What This Means
All mortals suffer: Best case is MIXED good and evil—pure happiness doesn't exist
No moral justice: Zeus distributes randomly, not based on virtue
Gods don't suffer: Immortality means they're exempt from mortal pain
Only response is endurance: "Bear up"—you can't change fate, only how you bear it
'Bear up, and do not mourn unceasingly in your heart. You will gain nothing by grieving for your son. You will not bring him back to life. Sooner you will suffer some other evil.'
— Achilles continues, Book 24
Mortality in Books 22-24
Book 22: Hector's Death
Terrified before facing Achilles
Mortality makes his courage meaningful
Death destroys families—Andromache's lament
Book 24: Shared Mortality
Priam and Achilles both vulnerable
Shared suffering creates solidarity
Proper burial honours human dignity
Book 22 shows mortality as terrifying—Hector runs from Achilles three times before standing to fight. His courage isn't easy or natural; it's achieved DESPITE fear. If Hector were immortal, his stand would be meaningless. Mortality is what makes his choice to fight heroic rather than inevitable.
Book 24 transforms how we see mortality. Instead of just causing fear and grief, shared mortality becomes the BASIS for compassion. When Achilles tells Priam about the two jars and says "bear up", he's acknowledging their common condition: both are mortal, both will lose what they love, both face inevitable death. This shared vulnerability is what allows them to weep together and show mercy.
💡 Mortality Creates Compassion
When Achilles and Priam weep together, they're united by mortality. Both love people who have died or will die. Both face their own deaths. Achilles will die young at Troy; Priam will see his city fall and be murdered. Their shared vulnerability—"we're all going to die"—is what makes compassion possible between worst enemies. Recognition of shared mortality transcends the particular enmity between them.
Mortality vs Kleos
The heroic code's answer to mortality is kleos—undying glory, fame that lives forever even though you die young. In Book 9, Achilles reveals his choice: stay and die young with glory, or go home and live long without it. After Patroclus' death, he chooses glory.
But Book 24 questions whether kleos is enough. Achilles has achieved his glory—he killed Hector, the greatest Trojan warrior. Yet he's empty, unable to sleep or rest, obsessively desecrating Hector's body. The glory didn't heal his grief or bring Patroclus back. It's only when he shows COMPASSION to Priam—an act that has nothing to do with glory—that he finds some peace.
⚠️ Homer's Subtle Critique
Homer seems to suggest that the heroic code's answer to mortality (achieve kleos, be remembered) is incomplete. What actually matters in Book 24 isn't Achilles' glory but his capacity for compassion. The tears shared with Priam, the proper burial given to an enemy, the recognition of shared humanity—these don't make Achilles immortal or give him kleos, but they make his mortal life more MEANINGFUL. This is a radical suggestion in a war epic.
Essay Question: Reconciliation
Sample Question
"How successfully does Homer present reconciliation in Book 24?"
Key Points to Make
Success through vulnerability: Priam kisses "man-slaughtering hands"—extreme humility enables reconciliation
Shared humanity: "Think of your own father"—appeal to universal experience, not just compensation
Emotional honesty: They weep together—genuine grief, not hidden or denied
Xenia creates bond: Shared meal transcends enmity through sacred guest-friendship
Limits acknowledged: Temporary (twelve days), fragile (both still capable of violence), doesn't prevent Troy's fall
Contrast with Book 1: Chryses' supplication failed; Priam's succeeds—shows what reconciliation requires
Essay Question: Humanity in War
Sample Question
"Does Homer present war as dehumanising in Books 22-24?"
Balanced Argument
Yes, war dehumanises:
Achilles drags Hector for eleven days—treating body as object
Apollo says Achilles "destroyed pity", became "like a lion"
Obsessive behaviour, loss of self-control
BUT humanity persists:
Book 24: body washed, anointed—restored to dignity
HUMANITY persists through recognising enemy's mortality
RECONCILIATION possible because both understand mortality and suffering
Awareness of MORTALITY makes preserving HUMANITY matter more
These themes work together in Book 24's climax: Hector's death (mortality) leads to Achilles' desecration (loss of humanity), which the gods condemn (calling for human values), leading to Priam's supplication (vulnerability), creating reconciliation through shared recognition of mortality and grief.