The Iliad - Book 7 - Ajax duels with Hector

• Reading time: about 32 minutes

• Hector proposes a duel.

• With the battle indecisive, Hector proposes a duel. At first, Menelaus accepts the challenge but Agamemnon talks him out of it. Nestor rouses the Achaeans, and nine volunteer to duel. They choose by lot, and Ajax is selected. The duel is hard, but again, neither scores a victory. So both sides agree to a truce for the night. The Trojans meet and want Paris to give back Helen, but he refuses but is willing to give back the spoils he took. The Achaeans refuse the offer. Both sides agree to rest and take time out to bury the dead.
• Notice the fatalism of Hector and his belief in his everlasting glory (105)
• Notice that Hector proposes a truce between himself and Ajax:
  • "First they fought with heart-devouring hatred,
  • then they parted, bound by pacts of friendship." (348)
  • But contrast this with how Hector address Ajax in Book 13. 952:
    • "Enough of your blustering threats, you clumsy ox!
    • If you have the daring to stand against my heavy spear
    • its point will rip your soft warm skin to shreds."

Stalemate.

• The center of this book brings a pause to the action. The fighting has gone nowhere. The duel results in a standoff. Bodies lie scattered and need to be collected. And so the Trojans seek a diplomatic solution.
• Paris offers to give back some of the Trojan spoils, but no way will he give up Helen.
• Paris's proposal is rejected out of hand.
• And so the Trojans and the Achaeans spend the day collecting bodies and burning the dead on funeral pyres.
• What effect does this slowing down of the action have? What is the effect on the plot development, on character portrayal, on the movement of the poem in its presentation of its theme? What are some possible reasons for Homer choosing to slow the poem down at this point? [Discuss Il 07-Homer slows the pace]