Hector and Paris are back in the battle, and immediately Apollo and Athena agree to temporarily halt the war by rousing Hector’s desire to show himself as mighty. Athena awakens in him this lust for glory, and Hector calls both armies to sit while he any Argive challenger willing to fight him duel to the bloody death. Ajax the Great is chosen by lot, and they fight.
But why?
Why does Homer have another pair of heroes fight in no-man’s land—especially when there is no indication the result of their duel will finally end the war? Could their violent mano-a-mano intentionally set the stage for their beautiful reconciliation and trading of arms? Could it be that Apollo and Athena halted the war by means of Hector and Ajax simply so that both armies could go unarmed and gather their dead together? Devin and Colton explore these questions in Episode 9: Iliad, Book 7!
