What It Is
Achilles' Armor is the armor that the gods gave Peleus on the day of his wedding to Thetis, and that Peleus passed on to his son. The poem makes it change bodies: from Achilles to Patroclus, who wears it to deceive the Trojans; from Patroclus, unarmed and dead, to Hector, who puts it on far from the battle; and from Hector back to Achilles, who strips it from him after killing him with new arms, forged by Hephaestus. In each body the armor tells the others the same thing, that Achilles is there, and in none of them does it change the fate of the one who wears it.
Where It Appears
The idea is born in Book XI, when Patroclus comes to the tent of Nestor, who recalls his father's counsel and proposes a way out. If Achilles avoids some prophecy of his mother, says Nestor, let him at least send Patroclus at the head of the Myrmidons:
καί τοι τεύχεα καλὰ δότω πόλεμον δὲ φέρεσθαι, / αἴ κέ σε τῷ εἴσκοντες ἀπόσχωνται πολέμοιο / Τρῶες, ἀναπνεύσωσι δʼ ἀρήϊοι υἷες Ἀχαιῶν / τειρόμενοι· ὀλίγη δέ τʼ ἀνάπνευσις πολέμοιο.(11.798-801), and let him give you his fine armor to carry into war, in hope that the Trojans, taking you for him, will hold off from the battle, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans, worn out, will draw breath; short is the respite in war.
In Book XVI, Patroclus makes his request to Achilles weeping, and the narrator interrupts to say what he does not yet know:
δὸς δέ μοι ὤμοιιν τὰ σὰ τεύχεα θωρηχθῆναι, / αἴ κʼ ἐμὲ σοὶ ἴσκοντες ἀπόσχωνται πολέμοιο / Τρῶες, ἀναπνεύσωσι δʼ Ἀρήϊοι υἷες Ἀχαιῶν(16.40-42), give me your armor to put on my shoulders, in hope that the Trojans, taking me for you, will draw off from the war, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans will get their breath back,
ὣς φάτο λισσόμενος μέγα νήπιος· ἦ γὰρ ἔμελλεν / οἷ αὐτῷ θάνατόν τε κακὸν καὶ κῆρα λιτέσθαι.(16.46-47), so he spoke, pleading, the great fool, for he was about to ask for himself a wretched death and fate.
Achilles yields, because the cry of war has reached the ships, and gives the mission and its limits:
ἤτοι ἔφην γε / οὐ πρὶν μηνιθμὸν καταπαυσέμεν, ἀλλʼ ὁπότʼ ἂν δὴ / νῆας ἐμὰς ἀφίκηται ἀϋτή τε πτόλεμός τε. / τύνη δʼ ὤμοιιν μὲν ἐμὰ κλυτὰ τεύχεα δῦθι, / ἄρχε δὲ Μυρμιδόνεσσι φιλοπτολέμοισι μάχεσθαι,(16.61-65), for I said that I would not put an end to my wrath before the cry and the war reached my ships. You, then, put on my glorious armor on your shoulders and lead the Myrmidons, lovers of war, into battle,
Patroclus puts on everything except the ash spear that only Achilles can wield. The deception works as he foresaw:
ἐλπόμενοι παρὰ ναῦφι ποδώκεα Πηλεΐωνα / μηνιθμὸν μὲν ἀπορρῖψαι, φιλότητα δʼ ἑλέσθαι·(16.281-282), hoping that beside the ships the swift-footed son of Peleus had cast away his wrath and chosen friendship;
But in the fourth charge, Apollo strikes him from behind, and the armor falls piece by piece. The narrator pauses at the helmet, which had never been stained with dust:
πάρος γε μὲν οὐ θέμις ἦεν / ἱππόκομον πήληκα μιαίνεσθαι κονίῃσιν, / ἀλλʼ ἀνδρὸς θείοιο κάρη χαρίεν τε μέτωπον / ῥύετʼ Ἀχιλλῆος· τότε δὲ Ζεὺς Ἕκτορι δῶκεν / ᾗ κεφαλῇ φορέειν, σχεδόθεν δέ οἱ ἦεν ὄλεθρος.(16.796-800), before, it was not allowed for the horsehair-crested helmet to be defiled with dust; it guarded the head and the graceful brow of the godlike man, Achilles. At that moment, however, Zeus gave it to Hector to wear on his head, and ruin was near him.
In Book XVII, Hector sends the spoils to Troy and puts on the immortal armor of Achilles, far from the battle:
ὃ δʼ ἄμβροτα τεύχεα δῦνε / Πηλεΐδεω Ἀχιλῆος ἅ οἱ θεοὶ Οὐρανίωνες / πατρὶ φίλῳ ἔπορον· ὃ δʼ ἄρα ᾧ παιδὶ ὄπασσε / γηράς· ἀλλʼ οὐχ υἱὸς ἐν ἔντεσι πατρὸς ἐγήρα.(17.194-197), and he put on the immortal armor of Achilles, son of Peleus, which the gods of heaven gave to his dear father; and he, growing old, passed it on to his son; but the son did not grow old in his father's armor.
Zeus sees him and speaks to himself:
ἆ δείλʼ οὐδέ τί τοι θάνατος καταθύμιός ἐστιν / ὃς δή τοι σχεδὸν εἶσι· σὺ δʼ ἄμβροτα τεύχεα δύνεις / ἀνδρὸς ἀριστῆος, τόν τε τρομέουσι καὶ ἄλλοι·(17.201-203), ah, wretch, death is not even on your mind, though it is close upon you; you put on the immortal armor of an excellent man, before whom others also tremble;
The allies see Achilles in Hector, and he urges them to defend the women and children. In Book XVIII, Achilles tells his mother that Hector took the armor the gods had given Peleus, and Thetis promises that at sunrise she will bring new armor made by Hephaestus. The description fills the rest of the book, and the shield is the piece the poet details.
In Book XIX, Thetis sets the new armor before her son, and he puts it on, furious against the Trojans. He also takes the ash spear of Pelion, which Chiron gave to Peleus and which no other Achaean can brandish.
τοῦ καὶ ὀδόντων μὲν καναχὴ πέλε, τὼ δέ οἱ ὄσσε / λαμπέσθην ὡς εἴ τε πυρὸς σέλας, ἐν δέ οἱ ἦτορ / δῦνʼ ἄχος ἄτλητον· ὃ δʼ ἄρα Τρωσὶν μενεαίνων / δύσετο δῶρα θεοῦ, τά οἱ Ἥφαιστος κάμε τεύχων(19.365-368), there came from him a grinding of teeth, and his eyes shone like a flash of fire, and into his heart came an unbearable grief; and he, raging against the Trojans, put on the gifts of the god, which Hephaestus had labored to make for him.
In Book XXII, the duel brings the two sets of armor together: Achilles, in the new ones, looks at Hector's body and sees that the armor he wears, the one taken from Patroclus, covers him entirely except for the throat.
λαυκανίην, ἵνα τε ψυχῆς ὤκιστος ὄλεθρος· / τῇ ῥʼ ἐπὶ οἷ μεμαῶτʼ ἔλασʼ ἔγχεϊ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς, / ἀντικρὺ δʼ ἁπαλοῖο διʼ αὐχένος ἤλυθʼ ἀκωκή· / οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἀπʼ ἀσφάραγον μελίη τάμε χαλκοβάρεια, / ὄφρά τί μιν προτιείποι ἀμειβόμενος ἐπέεσσιν.(22.325-329), the throat, where the ruin of life is swiftest; there, as Hector charged at him, godlike Achilles drove his spear, and the point went straight through the tender neck; but the heavy bronze-weighted ash did not cut the windpipe, so that he could still speak to him, answering.
What It Means
Armor gives the wearer the identity of its owner. Patroclus asks for it precisely so that the Trojans will take him for Achilles, and the Trojans, seeing it, suppose that Achilles has let go of his wrath, the opposite of what happened, because the wrath continues and he has only sent another man in his place. Hector's allies make the same mistake in reverse: they see Achilles in him. The poem shows what it costs to take another's place, and the price in both cases is death.
The exchange of armor has another meaning in the poem, and the contrast helps us read this one. In Book VI, Diomedes and Glaucus discover that their grandfathers were guest-friends and exchange armor, gold for bronze, so that everyone will know they are guest-friends by inheritance. In Book VII, after the duel without a winner, Hector and Ajax exchange a sword and a belt so that it will be said they fought and parted in friendship. In both cases the gift makes an adversary a guest before the others. With Achilles' armor the opposite happens: it passes from one body to another as spoils.
Zeus's gift to Hector, the great strength he grants him as compensation for not returning from the battle, admits two readings: the pity of one who is going to die, or part of the plan that leads Hector to Achilles. The text sustains both, and ties the thought to his household, for Andromache will not receive from him the glorious armor of the son of Peleus.
The immortal armor protects no one. Achilles gives it to Patroclus knowing the danger and the limit; Patroclus dies in it, Hector puts it on and dies in it, and Achilles himself, to whom Hephaestus promises new armor while saying at the same time that he cannot hide him from death, accepts the new armor knowing the end will come. What the armor does is give a face: whoever wears it is seen as Achilles, and the whole weight of the poem, the wrath, the fame, the short death, goes along with the bronze. The narrator's phrase, that the son did not grow old in his father's armor, speaks of Achilles and falls upon whoever wears it now.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Death, Honor and reputation, War.
- Characters: Achilles, Patroclus, Hector, Zeus, Apollo, Thetis, Nestor.
- Neighboring symbols: Achilles' Shield, the piece of the new armor that the poet describes, and Hector's Body, what remains of Hector when Achilles strips him.