The Odyssey and The Tales of Troy - Part 5 - Achilles Fights Hector
August 14, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe goddess Thetis, mother of Achilles, descended to Olympus and entered the bronze house of Hephaestus, the lame smith of the gods. There, attended by golden handmaidens that were not living but made with wondrous skill, she begged him to forge new armor for her son. Achilles had lost his previous set when Hector stripped it from the body of Patroclus, the friend whose death had finally driven Achilles back toward battle. Hephaestus set his twenty bellows blowing into the crucibles, and he made first a shield of five folds, so strong no spear could pierce it. Upon that shield he hammered images: the sun and moon and stars, two cities—one at peace with feasts and judgments, one besieged with warriors marching from its gate—a plow field with ploughmen and cups of wine, a reaping field with boys gathering corn, a vineyard with youths gathering grapes while a boy played the viol, cattle with herdsmen and lions seizing a bull, a dancing place with youths and maidens, and around the rim the ocean whose stream goes round the world. Not long was he making shield and corslet and helmet and greaves. Thetis took them and flew down like a hawk to the feet of her son.
Achilles returns to battle
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What you'll learn
- 1 The Odyssey and The Tales of Troy - Part 5 - Achilles Fights Hector
- 2 (00:01) **Episode Opening & Recap** - Host introduces part five of the series and recaps events from part four
- 3 (04:44) **Thetis Visits Hephaestus** - Achilles' goddess mother goes to the god of metalworking to commission new armor
- 4 (07:10) **Forging the Divine Armor** - Hephaestus creates a magnificent shield and full suit of armor for Achilles
- 5 (11:35) **Achilles Receives and Dons the Armor** - Thetis brings the completed armor to her son
- 6 (13:13) **The Prophecy of Xanthos** - Achilles' immortal horse speaks to warn him of his coming death
- 7 (14:30) **Achilles Returns to Battle** - The Trojans flee in terror as Achilles enters the fray
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Coming up, Achilles prepares to return to the battlefield, armed with an extraordinary new suit of armour forged by the god Hephaistos himself. As he charges back into the war, the Trojans are thrown into fear and the long-awaited confrontation between Achilles and Hector draws ever closer. We’ll also hear Helen’s memories of Hector and Troy, before the story builds towards one of the most famous and dramatic encounters of the entire Trojan War.
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Previously, the war at Troy reached a desperate turning point. With Achilles still refusing to fight, Agamemnon led the Greeks into battle, but he was badly wounded, and soon Diomedes, Odysseus and other great warriors were forced from the fighting as Hector drove the Trojans ever closer to the Greek ships. The Trojans smashed through the Greeks’ defences, and with Hector calling for fire, it seemed the ships—and the Greeks’ last hope of ever returning home—might be destroyed. Unable to watch any longer, Patroklos begged Achilles to let him enter the battle wearing his famous armour, hoping the Trojans would believe Achilles himself had returned. Achilles agreed, but warned his beloved friend to drive the Trojans from the ships and then come straight back.
Wearing Achilles’ armour and leading the Myrmidons, Patroklos transformed the battle, forcing the terrified Trojans back across the plain and defeating the powerful warrior Sarpedon. But carried away by his success, he ignored Achilles’ warning and pursued the enemy all the way to the gates of Troy. There, with the god Apollo intervening against him, Patroklos was left vulnerable, and Hector struck the fatal blow. Hector took Achilles’ armour for himself, while the Greeks fought desperately to prevent the Trojans from carrying away Patroklos’s body. When Achilles learned that his dearest friend was dead, his anger gave way to overwhelming grief—and he vowed to return to battle and take vengeance upon Hector, even though his goddess mother warned him that doing so would bring his own death ever closer.
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