The greatest warrior of Troy stands before Achilles, flees, and runs three times around the entire city, escaping his enemy. Many read this as cowardice, and that reading has its merits: Hector runs, and runs for his life. Yet Homer inserts a detail along the path of this race, and it is this detail that makes the scene in Book XXII one of the saddest in the poem.
What appears on the surface: a fleeing hero
The context helps reveal the true weight of what we read. Achilles has returned to the war to avenge Patroclus, advancing like a wildfire through a forest. The Trojans flee inside the city walls. Only Hector remains outside. His father begs him to come in, his mother begs him to come in, yet he stands firm. He faces Achilles, or rather, he stays behind to face him, but as his enemy draws near, he turns and runs.
Homer makes no excuses. He writes that Hector is afraid, and Hector himself later admits to his flight: he declares he will run no longer, as he did during those three laps. Anyone who reads this scene as the fall of a coward is, therefore, reading what the text says.
The detail: the springs where clothes were washed
The detail lies in where they run. In Homer's description, the chase passes before the springs where the women of Troy used to wash their clothes in times of peace, before the Greeks arrived. Hector's fear is not concealed, but notice where the poet places it: the most violent scene in the entire poem sweeps across the very place that once symbolized peace, everyday routines, domestic life.
That is what transforms our reading. The chase between two armed warriors, locked in a contest of life and death, passes right where the Trojan women once did their washing, and the city Hector defends suddenly appears as it was before the war. Ordinary life is right there, beside terror, and the reader glimpses it at the very moment it is forever lost. Centuries later, Virgil would touch upon the same theme, and the same resonance reappears at the end of the Aeneid.
Hector knew what awaited him
His flight becomes far more understandable when one remembers what Hector already knows. In Book VI, he tells his wife, Andromache, that Troy will fall, and that his greatest fear is not the city's destruction itself, but the thought of seeing his wife enslaved by the Greeks. He returns to the war with his eyes wide open. In Book XXII, alone beside the wall, he debates with himself and rejects the thought of negotiating: Achilles would show no mercy and would slaughter him unarmed, as one kills a woman. There is the shame of having lost his army, and the resolve to die with glory.
After the three laps, when flight is no longer possible, Hector proposes a pact: let the victor return the loser's body for proper funeral rites. Achilles refuses. Achilles declares that there can be no peace or trust between men and lions (XXII, 261-262). Hector falls and begs that his body not be fed to the dogs, and Achilles denies him again.
Three laps of flight and the dragging of the body: two distinct scenes
There is a common confusion worth clearing up. The three laps belong to Hector's flight, alive, around the city of Troy. The dragging of his body is a different scene that takes place later: Achilles pierces the dead man's feet, binds him to his chariot, and drags him past the city before his parents' eyes, and subsequently around the tomb of Patroclus every morning for twelve days. Conflating the two scenes mistakenly attributes to the corpse the laps that belonged to the living, running man.
A detail of the text for those who want to check it: the poem tells us that the chase circles the city three times, and as they reach the springs for the fourth time, Zeus lifts his golden scales and weighs the destinies of both men. Hector's scale sinks down. The chase ends right at the springs, the very place where that domestic detail had been set.
Why the scene is so heartbreaking
Hector's fear does not diminish him. What the scene accomplishes is showing the true cost of his decision to stay outside the walls: he runs for his life, running past everything he has lost before he actually loses his life, and yet, in the end, he stops and turns to face Achilles. The narrator notes that this was no ordinary contest for a sacrificial beast or an oxhide shield, the usual prizes, but a race for the life of Hector, breaker of horses.
That is why the question in the title cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Hector was afraid, and Homer tells us so. But that fear unfolds across the place where women once washed their clothes, and that is the image that endures.
What Achilles does with the body afterwards, and what finally makes him stop, is the subject of another article: why Achilles weeps before Priam.
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View the recommended readingsFrequently asked questions
Did Hector flee from Achilles out of cowardice?
Homer does not hide that Hector is afraid, and Hector himself later admits that he fled. Yet he had remained outside the walls while all other Trojans retreated inside, despite his parents’ pleas, in order to face Achilles. The scene portrays a fearful man who nevertheless refused to go inside.
How many times did Hector run around Troy?
Three times, during the flight in Book XXII. It is the scene of the three laps: Hector runs around the city, pursued by Achilles, passing the springs where women washed clothes in times of peace.
Are the three laps the same as when Achilles drags Hector’s body?
No. They are two different scenes. The three laps belong to Hector’s flight, alive, around the city of Troy. His corpse is dragged later behind Achilles’ chariot, around the tomb of Patroclus, every morning for twelve days.
Continue: Why Achilles Weeps Before Priam · How the Iliad Ends · The Iliad, by Homer: Summary and Analysis · Why is listening more difficult than speaking?
Source class: Ilíada, de Homero