Deacon Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan sit down to talk about Hector returning to Troy.In this episode we will discuss:What happens in book six?What should be noted in the duel between Glaucus and Diomedes?What may be noted in Helen's lament to Prince Hector?What lesson does Homer provide by Hector returning to Troy?Is Homer presenting Hector as a virtuous character?Book SixHector Returns to TroyAlways be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold your head up high above the others. Never disgrace the generation of your fathers.Hippolochus to Glaucus, his son (6.247)35. What happens in book six of the Iliad?Pressed against an Achaean advance led by Ajax and Diomedes, Hector and Aeneas receive word of an omen from Helenus, son of Priam, the seer (6.88). The Trojan army is to hold the line, while Hector is to return to Troy and direct his mother, the queen of Troy, to arrange a sacrifice to Athena—a sacrifice to entice the goddess of wisdom to pity Troy and hold back Diomedes (6.102). Hector obeys and returns to the palace of Priam—a magnificent structure that houses the fifty sons and twelve daughters of King Priam (6.291). Hector tells Hecuba, his mother and queen of Troy, to perform the sacrifice (6.318). It is notable that she is to lay before Athena the robe she personally prizes the most, which illuminates the personal sacrifice being ask of her (6.323). Hecuba obeys, but Athena refuses to listen to the Trojan prayers (6.366). It is not unremarkable that Homer immediately follows Athena’s rejection with the introduction of Paris into the narrative (6.368). Hector chastises Paris—who has remained in his bedroom since his duel with Menelaus—and exhorts him to return to the war (6.383). Before returning to the war, Hector visits his wife, Andromache, and his son Scamandrius, who the Trojans affectionately call the “Lord of the City” (6.477). Hector then rendezvouses with his brother, Paris, and returns to fight the Achaeans (6.601).36. What should be noted in the duel between Glaucus and Diomedes?After we see Hector begins his return to Troy, we are introduced to the duel between Glaucus, the Trojan, and Diomedes, the Achaean (6.138). Diomedes, whom Homer gives the epithet usually reserved for Menelaus—“the lord of the war cry”—taunts his opponent but notably gives the caveat he will not fight a deathless god in disguise (6.148). He is still obedient to Athena’s command to not fight the gods—save Aphrodite (5.142). At first, Glaucus provides a somewhat nihilistic response, stating, in part, “like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men” (6.171). He then, however, begins his lineage with Sisyphus, “the wiliest man alive,” who is a prominent figure in Greek mythology (6.180). To wit, Sisyphus had a habit of wanting to outsmart the gods, and this resulted in him being damned to Hades to roll a stone up a hill (only to have it roll back down) for all eternity. His son, Glaucus (the great-grandfather of the Glaucus dueling Diomedes) decided to habituate his horses to eating “human flesh to make them fierce in battle.” For this horrific act, the gods ensured Glaucus was tossed from his chariot and devoured by his own horses. His son Bellerophon, who may have been sired by Poseidon instead, is a classic hero in Greek mythology. The narrative of Antea being unable to seduce Bellerophon but then blaming him for lusting after her (6.188) bears many similarities with the Hebrew story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:5-20). Bellerophon carries his own death sentence to Antea’s father, and the...