Skip to content
Storgy

The Annotated Edition

ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH BOOK. by Homer

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

Read aloud in ~1 minOpen reading mode →

This is the closing argument (summary) of Book 24 of Homer's *Iliad*, the final book of the epic.

Poet
Homer
Meter
free verse
Themes
death, mortality, sorrow
Listen to recitation1:39
Save branded MP3 (Storgy Student)
The PoemFull text

ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH BOOK.

Homer

Priam, by command of Jupiter, and under conduct of Mercury, seeks Achilles in his tent, who admonished previously by Thetis, consents to accept ransom for the body of Hector. Hector is mourned, and the manner of his funeral, circumstantially described, concludes the poem.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

This is the closing argument (summary) of Book 24 of Homer's *Iliad*, the final book of the epic. Jupiter sends the sorrowful king Priam to Achilles' tent, with guidance from the god Mercury. There, Achilles agrees to return Hector's body in exchange for ransom. The book — and the entire poem — concludes with Hector's funeral, wrapping up the lengthy tale of war with a poignant moment of shared human grief.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Priam, by command of Jupiter, and under conduct of Mercury, seeks / Achilles in his tent…

    Editor's note

    Jupiter (Zeus) steps in, instructing that Hector's body be returned. He sends Mercury (Hermes) as a divine guide to help the elderly Trojan king navigate the Greek camp safely at night. The fact that a god must *command* this shows just how extraordinary this act of mercy is—without divine intervention, Priam entering the enemy camp would amount to suicide.

  2. …who admonished previously by Thetis, consents to / accept ransom for the body of Hector.

    Editor's note

    Achilles doesn't come to terms with his emotions on his own. His mother, the sea-goddess Thetis, must visit him first to help him prepare. This is significant: it highlights that Achilles is still deeply affected by grief and anger over Patroclus. His eventual compassion for Priam represents a true, hard-earned transformation, rather than just a simple change of heart. Accepting ransom instead of keeping or desecrating the body was what society expected — yet Achilles had been rejecting that expectation for days.

  3. Hector is mourned, and the manner of his funeral, circumstantially described, concludes the poem.

    Editor's note

    The *Iliad* wraps up not with a triumphant Greek celebration but with a poignant Trojan funeral. Homer concludes by focusing on the sorrow of the enemy, a deeply humanizing choice. The phrase 'circumstantially described' indicates that the ritual is presented in thorough detail — from gathering wood to the burning, collecting bones, and forming the burial mound. The epic's final line names Hector, not Achilles, as the last image, reinforcing the poem's message that war devastates both sides.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone is solemn and reflective—there's no sense of triumph, just exhaustion and grief. The argument feels like a quiet sigh after a decade of conflict. The language is also careful and ceremonial, appropriate for a book focused on the rituals people use to cope with loss: ransom, supplication, lamentation, and burial.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

Mercury as escort
Mercury (Hermes) is the god who leads souls to the underworld and navigates the spaces between worlds. His role as Priam's guide through the Greek camp reflects this duty — Priam is entering a hostile realm, a place of death, to bring back his deceased son. The god's presence indicates that this journey is sacred, not just a matter of diplomacy.
The ransom
The treasure that Priam brings isn't merely a payment; it represents a formal acknowledgment of Hector's value. In the context of Homeric culture, accepting ransom helps to reestablish the social and moral order that Achilles' anger disrupted. This act allows two enemies to momentarily see each other as human.
Hector's funeral pyre
Fire in the *Iliad* symbolizes both destruction and honor. The funeral pyre serves as a proper and dignified farewell for a warrior—it frees the soul and signifies the community's acknowledgment of the deceased's worth. Hector receiving this honor, even as an enemy, underscores the poem's ultimate message about universal human dignity.
Jupiter's command
The king of the gods stepping in to get Achilles to return the body shows just how far Achilles has strayed from acceptable behavior. This divine command serves to restore cosmic order rather than merely advancing the plot.

§06Form & structure

Form & structure

Meter
free verse

§07Historical context

Historical context

The *Iliad* is among the oldest surviving pieces of Western literature, created in the oral tradition of ancient Greece and attributed to Homer, likely composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. The story takes place over a few weeks toward the end of the ten-year Trojan War, centering on the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles. Book 24 marks the emotional climax of the poem: Achilles has killed Hector to avenge his friend Patroclus but has been desecrating Hector's body out of grief and rage. The book features a poignant moment where Priam kneels before Achilles, pleading for the return of his son’s body — a scene that ancient critics regarded as one of the most powerful in all of Greek literature. Instead of concluding with the fall of Troy, the *Iliad* closes here, at a funeral, intentionally opting for sorrow over spectacle.

§08FAQ

Questions readers ask

Homer intentionally chose to conclude with grief instead of victory. The fall of Troy occurs *after* the timeline of the poem. By ending with Hector's funeral, Homer emphasizes the human cost of war — what is lost — rather than who emerged victorious. This decision also lends the poem a moral symmetry: it starts with death and rage and ends with mourning and ritual.

Read next

Poems in the same key

Similar poems

Dulce et Decorum Est — Wilfred OwenElegy Written in a Country Churchyard — Thomas GrayADONAIS. — Percy Bysshe ShelleyLycidas — John Milton

More by Homer

Browse all Homer poems →

Themes in this poem

Poems about deathPoems about mortalityPoems about sorrowPoems about war