![Picture](/uploads/1/2/3/3/12339597/760295770.jpg?397)
Achilles Dragging Hector's Body Before the Walls of Troy
For years after he joined the Greek army Achilles captured 23 towns in Trojan territory. In one of those captured towns he took for himself a wife named Briseis. The Greek king Agamemnon was forced by a prophecy from Apollo to give up his captured wife, and took Briseis in compensation. After Agamemnon took Briseis, Achilles withdrew from the army and refused to fight another battle for the Greeks. The Greeks tried to bribe Achilles with riches but still he did not go fight. He did allow his friend Patroclus to go instead. The next day Patroclus was killed by Hector, leader of the Trojan army and Paris’ brother, who mistook him for Achilles. After hearing this news Achilles got new armor made by Hephaestus and then raced to Troy and confronted Hector. Achilles then killed Hector in a duel and desecrated his body. Achilles took Hector’s body, tied it to the back of his chariot, and dragged him in front of the walls of Troy. Later, Priam, king of Troy and father of Hector and Paris, snuck into the Greek camp and begged Achilles to give him back his body so the Trojans could give him a proper funeral. "'Honor the gods, Achilles; pity him. Think of your father; I'm more pitiful; I've suffered what no other mortal has, I've kissed the hand of one who killed my children.' (Homer, Iliad, Priam in shock after Hector's death at Achilles' hands) Achilles finally relented and allowed Priam to take Hector’s body back to the Trojans for a proper burial. After this emotional encounter, Achilles fought well, killing thousands of Trojans. He even killed the Amazon warrior Penthesilia, one of the Trojans' allies. Eventually, Paris, with aid from Apollo, shot an arrow through Achilles' weak spot, his heel.