[ achilles dragging the body of hector around the walls of troy, gavin hamilton. ]
— oil on canvas, 1775.
the painting portrays the scene from homer’s iliad, book 22, in which the furious achilles ties the body of the trojan hero hector to his chariot, and drags him around the mighty walls of troy for nine whole days.
having killed patroclus, hector is now aware of his upcoming death at the hands of achilles, who has raked havoc on the trojan battlefield to avenge his beloved. the much awaited duel arrives, and achilles kills hector with the help of the goddess athena. yet still, that did not grant him the satisfaction he hoped to get. so he seeks further humiliation, and ties him to his chariot to parade around with the corpse, defying hector’s last wish for his body to be returned to his family. each morning for nine days at the rise of the sun, he drives his chariot with the body dragging behind it around the walls of troy, while the trojans watch. this act has both enraged and terrified the gods (the earth shook upon hades, the only time the god is shown to feel something) and they demanded it stops.
eventually, king priam, father of hector, does manage to convince achilles to return the body, which appears in the painting unharmed and preserved by aphrodite herself.
the painting shows the trojans lamenting on the right, soldiers and civilians alike. hector’s wife, andromache, appears to have fainted from the sight, surrounding by many others high up on the wall, including the old man priam his father.
the sky looks darkened grey, which might be a reference to the anger of the gods, who were strictly against such acts.







