Book XVI of the Iliad is where Patroclus
- comes out to fight in Achilles’s armor,
- kills Zeus’s son Sarpedon,
- pushes on to the walls of Troy,
- is killed by Hector.
In 2019, I gave a fair summary of the book, saying the story was that of Icarus. This time, I shall look at some other details:
- Achilles continues his struggle for equality.
- His mother sent him off with a chest of warm clothes.
- Boys have always taunted wasps.
- As if he were a boy, Hera tells Zeus, “What if everybody else did the same thing?” when he considers saving his son.
- Automedon’s response to a problem is not autonomic, but autonomous.
- Glaucus has a personal relationship with God.
- It is Zeus’s mind that takes our own off things we mean to do.