The Trojan War: A New History

Andromache begs her husband not to go onto the plains, invoking his pity on their infant son. He leaves, and she expects never to see him again. After the encampment on the plain, Hector relaunches his frontal attack on the Greeks. The Greeks push the Trojans back, but many of their heroes are wounded. The Greeks in turn are driven behind their trenches. Consulting a seer, Hector launches a siege of the Greek encampment. In a moment of divine intervention, he hurls a huge stone at the gate, smashing an opening through which the Trojans pour. Poseidon rallies the Greek troops, who fall back and regroup, wounding two of Priam’s sons and killing a third.

Hector pulls back, but disregards the seer Polydamas’s warning against attacking Achilles. Hector is hit in the chest by Ajax; he is saved by his men but loses consciousness. The Greeks force the Trojans back onto the plain, by which time Hector has recovered, thanks to Zeus’s intervention. The Trojans slay the Greeks until they reach the ships. Both sides fight urgently, and despite Ajax’s determination, Hector drives the Greeks back. The Trojans set fire to the ship that first landed at Troy.