Lycaon of Troy- Greek FigureMortal

At the Scamander

In Iliad 21, Achilles is slaughtering Trojans in the river Scamander when he catches a young man trying to climb the bank. It is Lycaon, son of Priam by Laothoe. Achilles has met him before. Eleven years earlier, he had surprised Lycaon at night in Priam's orchard, where the boy was cutting wild fig shoots to make chariot rails. Achilles took him alive and shipped him to Lemnos, where Euneus son of Jason bought him. From Lemnos, a family friend ransomed Lycaon to Arisbe, and from there he fled home to Troy. He had been back twelve days.

Now Lycaon stands unarmed in the river mud. He has thrown away his spear and shield in his panic to escape the water. He clasps Achilles by the knees and begs. Homer gives him a speech of desperate logic: he reminds Achilles that he once ate barley at his table as a captive, that he is only Hector's half-brother and not the man who killed Patroclus.

Achilles answers him. Before Patroclus died, he says, he used to prefer taking Trojans alive and selling them. That time is over. No Trojan his hands find will be spared, least of all a son of Priam. And besides, Achilles tells him, look at me: I am tall, I am beautiful, my mother is a goddess, and I too will die. Some morning or evening or afternoon a spear or an arrow will find me. So die.

He strikes Lycaon on the collarbone with his sword. Lycaon falls face-down in the river. Achilles takes him by the foot and throws him into the current, telling the body that the fish will eat him and his mother will never lay him on a bier.