Motif
battle for possession of a fallen hero’s body
battle_for_possession_of_a_fallen_hero_s_body
A motif of the Heroic Funeral Rites and Memorialization family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
greek
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The Iliad THE SIXTH BATTLE, THE ACTS AND DEATH OF PATROCLUS / BOOK XVII. / ARGUMENT. / THE SEVENTH BATTLE, FOR THE BODY OF PATROCLUS.THE ACTS OF MENELAUS.; lines 16859-17004 confidence: high
The combat is compared to conflicting fires. Darkness covers the fight over Patroclus’ body, though the surrounding field remains in clear sunlight; Nestor’s sons skirmish at a distance without knowing Patroclus’ fate.
Both armies fight around and pull at Patroclus’ corpse, trying to carry it either to the ships or to Troy.
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