BOOK 17 - The Battle for Patroclus' Body
After his death, fierce fighting breaks out over Patroclus' body, as both sides realise the importance of winning it. Menelaus immediately rushes to the corpse and stands over it. He is challenged by Euphorbus, the first Trojan to strike Patroclus and a young man whose first day of battle it is. The youth attacks Menelaus, who has already killed his brother, and is himself brought down, stabbed at the base of the throat by Menelaus' spear. His death is notable for the pathos with which Homer describes it, given that he is such a minor figure in the Trojan ranks and in the poem itself.
Menelaus is now driven back from the body, and Achilles' armour, which Patroclus is wearing, is stripped off by the Trojans and put on by Hector. As he does this, Zeus looks on and pities him his approaching death.
Further fighting occurs over the corpse and the struggle is eventually won by the Achaeans, who manage to get hold of it and convey it back to their ships, with the Trojans in hot pursuit. During all of this, Antilochus is dispatched by Menelaus to tell Achilles the grim news of Patroclus' death.
BOOK 18 - The Divine Armour of Achilles
Achilles receives the news of Patroclus' death and is overcome with grief. His mother, Thetis, hears his cries and, gathering the other Nereids around her, she leads them in lamentation for her lot as mother of a hero who now must die young. Leaving them behind, she goes to him and tries to comfort him. He is full of self- recrimination for the anger that has led to Patroclus' death and is interested only in visiting vengeance upon Hector, despite the fact that this will lead without doubt to his own death. Resigned to his decision, Thetis reminds him that he no longer possesses any armour and promises that she will obtain divine armour for him from Hephaestus himself and that she will deliver it the next morning.
In the meantime, the Trojans make another attempt to capture Patroclus' body and are almost successful, until Hera dispatches Iris to instruct Achilles to appear at the ditch and scare them off. This he does, shouting three times and with his head surrounded by a flame placed there by Athena. The Trojans are terrified and fall back, enabling Patroclus' body to be secured once and for all. Finally, Hera brings the day to an end by sending the sun down.
The Trojans camp again on the plain, after Hector and subsequently the rest of the army have rejected Poulydamas' exhortation to return to the city, given the imminent re-entry of Achilles to the fray. The Achaeans, meanwhile, spend the night mourning the loss of Patroclus.
On Olympus, Thetis comes to the house of Hephaestus and requests that he make armour for Achilles. We are treated to an in-depth description of the scenes depicted on the shield, which are representative of the whole variety of human life. Thus, we find the first (inmost) circle shows the earth, the heavens, and the sea (483-9). The second shows city life, both in times of peace, at a marriage celebration (491- 496) and a law case (497-508), and in times of war, during a siege (509-519), during an ambush of a herd (520-34) and in the ensuing melee (535-540). The third shows rural life, during Spring (541-49), Summer (550-556), Autumn (561-7) and Winter (573-89). The fourth shows a dance (590-606). And the fifth (outmost) circle shows Ocean. Therefore, we see on the shield a microcosm of the world.
BOOK 19 - The Reconciliation
The next morning, Thetis brings the divine armour to Achilles. He calls an assembly, where he tells Agamemnon that he is ending his anger, since it is wrong to continue to be in a stubborn rage forever, and voices his desire to go to war immediately. Agamemnon replies that he is not to blame, but that Zeus and Fate and Erinys blinded him on that day in the assembly. To further exonerate himself he tells a story of Zeus himself being afflicted by this blindness (which he personifies as the goddess Ate). As appeasement, he offers all the gifts that Odysseus related to Achilles, when he came with the embassy. Achilles displays his lack of interest in the gifts and once more expresses his desire to go to war as soon as possible. Now Odysseus voices his opinion, saying that men cannot fight all day on empty stomachs and that, anyway, it would be right for Agamemnon to display the gifts before the whole army.
After that, he should give an oath that he never slept with Briseis and finally entertain Achilles in his hut. To all this Agamemnon agrees, but Achilles is again far from interested. Now Odysseus states more firmly that his suggested course of action is the right and proper one. Therefore, the gifts are paraded and the oath made.
After this, the Myrmidons bring the gifts back to Achilles' hut, where they are stored. When Briseis sees the dead body of Patroclus, she offers a heartfelt and touching lament, which, in turn, leads Achilles to start lamenting, recalling both his father and his son.
The Achaeans now start to arm themselves for war and the book ends with a description of Achilles preparing to re-enter the battle. In a brief moment of surrealism, Hera grants Achilles' horse Xanthus the power of speech and he prophesies Achilles' death, stating that he will be brought down in battle by a god and a man. Achilles angrily responds that he knows he is to die at Troy, but that this will not stop him.
BOOK 20 - Achilles' Return to Battle
The scene switches to Olympus, where Zeus states that the gods may take sides in the conflict. Therefore, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Hermes and Hephaestus join the Achaean side; while Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Leto and the river-god Xanthus join the Trojan side.
While the gods keep away from the human struggle, the Achaeans have the better of the fighting, since Achilles has rejoined the fray. Soon, however, the immortals start urging on their respective sides and even start clashing among themselves. Achilles is eager for single combat with Hector, but instead Apollo fills Aeneas with courage and sets him before him. The gods debate wholesale fighting with each other and settle for simply watching the conflict and helping their favourites if the other side's gods should decide to help theirs.
Achilles and Aeneas confront one another and exchange long speeches before entering upon their single combat. Achilles has the better of the contest and is about to kill Aeneas, when Poseidon takes pity on Aeneas, since Apollo has forced him into combat and is showing no sign of wishing to save him. He descends upon the fighting and transports Aeneas to the edges of the battle, instructing him not to pit himself against Achilles.
Achilles continues his murderous ways, slaughtering countless Trojans, including Polydorus, Priam's youngest and most favoured son. This death inspires Hector to anger and he attacks Achilles. However, Athena blows Hector's spear back to him when he casts it and Apollo transports him away from Achilles in a cloud of dense mist. Achilles then drives on, brutally killing more Trojans.