Death of Hector.
When Achilles’ companion Pa-troclus entered battle in his friend’s stead, he was killed by Hector. Roused to vengeance, Achilles drove the Trojans back into their city, and Hector faced him alone at the Scaean Gate. Athena protected Hector briefly, but then withdrew. The Trojan hero’s courage gave way and he ran from Achilles, who chased him three times around the walls of Troy and finally drove a spear into his throat. Dying, Hector begged his conqueror to return his body to his father, Priam, but Achilles refused. Achilles tied a thong through Hector’s feet and defiled the body by dragging it behind his chariot around the city walls. Priam brokenheartedly sued for the return of his son’s corpse, but only Achilles’ mother, Thetis, was finally able to persuade him to allow the Trojans to bury their hero. Homer’s Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector.
      
       Classical Sources. Homer, Iliad 22—24. Apollodorus, Biblioteca E.7. Hyginus, Fabulae 106.
      
       Sec also Cassandra.