Battle at the camp of the Greeks
The east had barely lit up with the first light of the coming morning, when Zeus sent the goddess of enmity Iris a> to the camp of the Greeks. The goddess stood up on a huge ship Odyssey, shouted loudly and terribly and breathed in an uncontrollable thirst to fight for all the warriors. The king Agamemnon, dressed in magnificent armor and shaking with a huge spear, loudly excited the heroes to battle. On foot, the heroes of the Greeks rushed into battle. The Trojans bravely fought them, and Hector surpassed them all with his exploits. Like furious wolves, warriors rushed across the battlefield. The goddess rejoiced at the bloody battle. The gods, on the other hand, retired from the battle to the bright Olympus to their halls, complaining that Zeus was helping the Trojans. Zeus joyfully looked at the battle. Especially in this battle, King Agamemnon raged. He slew many heroes with a heavy spear. He also killed two sons Priam, Isa and Antifa. Together they fought with enemies, standing in one chariot. Until recently, Agamemnon saw them in the camp of the Greeks, where he brought them Achilles, capturing both brothers on the slopes of Ida. The Trojans did not give help to the Priamids, both of them died. He also killed two sons of Antimakh Agamemnon. In vain they prayed for the mercy of the king of Mycenae. Agamemnon took revenge on their father because he, bribed by Paris, advised to put to death Menelaus who came to Troy as an ambassador. After killing them, Agamemnon rushed to where the battle was in full swing. Just as the fire devours the forest and the trees crushed by the firestorm fall, so the son of Atreyo crushed the heroes of the Trojans one by one. With thunder, chariots rushed across the battlefield, from which Agamemnon knocked down the heroes standing on them, and these heroes lay dead in the dust. The Trojans faltered and fled, but they stopped at the Skeian Gate.
The thunderer Zeus saw this flight of the Trojans and ordered the goddess Iris to rush to Hector and announce to him that he would join the battle when he saw that Agamemnon was wounded, which would give Zeus great strength to Hector, and he would push the Greeks back to their very ships. Iris quickly fulfilled the command of Zeus. Hector jumped off the chariot and inspired the Trojans. Meanwhile, Agamemnon continued to slay the Trojan heroes one after another. He killed Iphidamant, the son of Antenor. The eldest son of Antenor, Koont, wanted to avenge the death of his brother. He struck Agamemnon with a spear in the arm near the elbow, while the king of Mycenae cut off his head with a blow of the sword, and the eldest son of Antenor fell dead on the corpse of his brother. But Agamemnon could no longer fight, his wound hurt terribly, and he left the battlefield.
Seeing that Agamemnon left in his chariot, Hector began to encourage the soldiers with a loud voice and rushed into battle himself. He slew many heroes. Death threatened the Greeks. But Diomedes called on Odysseus to help, and both heroes powerfully repelled the onslaught of the Trojans. Diomedes, seeing Hector approaching, threw a spear at him and hit him on the helmet. God did not allow Apollo to pierce the helmet with a spear, God saved Hector from the inevitable death, but Hector fell to the ground from a strong blow and lost consciousness. While Diomedes was walking through the ranks of the soldiers to pick up the spear, Hector recovered and, jumping on the chariot, escaped death. Diomedes flared up with terrible anger, again he failed to defeat Hector. Diomedes waved his spear and struck one of the Trojan heroes to death. Diomedes bent down to remove the armor from the dead; Paris saw this and wounded Diomedes with an arrow. Paris rejoiced. Diomedes, when Odysseus covered him with a shield, pulled out an arrow from the wound, but he could no longer fight and left the battlefield. At this time, the Trojans surrounded Odysseus, like dogs of a lion emerging from the forest. There is a lion and menacingly clicks his teeth. So Odysseus stood and fought back with a spear from the Trojans advancing on him. Many Trojan heroes died here at the spear of Odysseus. He struck down Kharop, brother of the king Sok. Revenging for the death of his brother, he hit Odysseus's shield with a spear Sok, broke through the shield and wounded Odysseus in the side. But even wounded, Odysseus put Juice to flight, and killed the fleeing one with a stake in the back. Having killed Sok, Odysseus tore the spear out of his wound, hot blood gushed out of it. Seeing that Odysseus was wounded, the Trojans rushed at him. Loudly began to call for help the king of Ithaca. Ajax Telamonides hastened to help him and covered Odysseus with his shield, huge as a tower. Menelaus led Odysseus out of the thick of the battle to the chariot. Odysseus also left the battle. Ajax rushed into battle and smashed the Trojans with his spear. At this time, Paris wounded the arrowhero Makhaon in the right shoulder. At the request of Idomeneo took Nestor the wounded man to the camp of the Greeks. Hector's charioteer Kebrion saw how Ajax was pushing the Trojan army, and told Hector about it. Hector rushed to the rescue. Zeus sent fear to Ajax. Throwing his huge shield behind his back, he began to slowly retreat. He retreated like a lion driven from the flock by dogs and brave shepherds.
He slowly retreated, now and then he stopped and, hiding behind a shield, held back the Trojans who were pressing him. The hero Eurypil saw the retreating Ajax and hurried to his aid. But Paris also wounded him with an arrow, and Eurypylus had to leave the battlefield. The Greeks rushed to the aid of Ajax, and with their help, the son of Telamon.
In the camp, from the stern of the ship, Achilles watched the battle. Seeing that Nestor had brought a wounded hero, Achilles called his friend Patroclus, asked him to go to Nestor and find out if Machaon was wounded. A friend of Achilles quickly went to Nestor's tent. Indeed, there Patroclus saw the wounded Machaon, for whom they were preparing a drink. Seeing Patroclus, the king of Pylos invited him to sit with them, but he refused, as he was in a hurry to return to his friend. Nestor told Patroclus how the Trojans were pressing the Greeks, which of the heroes was wounded, and asked to help the Greeks. He advised Patroclus to beg Achilles to allow him, armed with the armor of Achilles, to lead the Myrmidons into battle; maybe the Trojans, mistaking Patroclus for Achilles, will stop the fight, and then the Greeks will have a rest from painful battles. Patroclus agreed and went back to Achilles with the firm intention of begging his friend to let him join the battle. On the way, Patroclus met the wounded Eurypylus with an arrow in his thigh. The hero suffered greatly from pain, and blood flowed from his wound. Patroclus took pity on the hero. He helped Eurypylus to reach his ship, cut an arrow from the wound and sprinkled the wound with healing herbs. Eurypylus also told Patroclus how the Trojans were oppressing the Greeks.
The battle continued. The wall and the moat could no longer serve as protection for the Greeks. But the Trojans could not immediately cross the ditch and take possession of the wall behind which the Greeks took refuge. Hector wanted to move in a chariot across the ditch, but his horses did not go through the ditch and rushed to the side. Then, on the advice of the hero Polydamant, the Trojans divided into five large detachments and, led by their leaders, went on the attack. The leaders of the Trojans fought on foot, leaving their chariots at the moat. Only one hero Asia did not leave the chariot. He wanted, pursuing the fleeing Greeks, to break behind them with his detachment into the camp and attack directly on the ships of the Greeks. But near the walls, two heroes repulsed the onslaught of Asiya, the Lapiths Polypet and Leonteyo. Like two mighty oaks, they stood against the wall in front of the gate. Lapiths bravely fought, repulsing the attackers, and from the walls a hail of large stones and whole clouds of arrows flew at the enemies. The Lapiths repelled Assiya, killing many of the Trojan heroes. But a new detachment was already approaching the gates, led by Hector and Polydamant. Then Zeus sent a great sign. An eagle suddenly appeared over the detachment of Trojans. He held a snake in his claws. Wriggling, stung the snake in the chest of an eagle. The eagle screamed loudly, dropped the snake among the detachment of Trojans, and quickly disappeared from sight. Seeing this sign, Polydamant began to advise Hector to stop the fight, not to try to take possession of the camp of the Greeks. But Hector did not listen to Polydamant and moved with his detachment to the wall.
A terrible storm was raised by the Thunderer Zeus. Clouds of dust rushed to the ships of the Greeks. Despite the storm, the Greeks bravely defended the wall. The Trojans tore off her battlements and loosened the logs on which the towers were fastened in order to bring them down. The Greeks met the advancing with stones, arrows and spears. Both Ajax inspired the Greeks to defend themselves staunchly. Covering himself with a shield, with two spears in his hands, the mighty Sarpedon approached the gate, calling the Lycian hero Glavka. Defended the gate Menesfeyo. He sent the Ajaxes to call for help. Telamonides Ajax, his brother Tevkr and Pandion came to help Menestheus. With a mighty blow of a huge stone, Ajax overthrew the hero Epikl who climbed onto the wall. Teucer wounded Glaucus with an arrow. But Sarpedon did not retreat. He even managed to destroy part of the wall, but his Ajax and Tevkr repulsed him. Sarpedon inspired his Lycians to a new attack. Once again they rushed to the wall, but the Greeks did not let them take possession of it. The Lycians could not take possession of the wall, but the Greeks could not drive them away either. Neither the Lycians nor the Greeks could gain the upper hand in the battle. The mighty Hector was the first to break into the camp of the Greeks. He grabbed a huge stone, whichwhich two men could hardly have lifted only with levers, and burst into their gates. Neither the gate nor the huge bolt could withstand the force of the blow, the gate rattled and split into pieces. Hector rushed through them into the camp, his eyes burned with the fire of anger. The Trojans broke in after him. The wall was taken by storm. The Greeks took to flight and ran to their ships. Confusion rose in the camp.