HOMER: The Iliad [Book XXIII]

In Book XXIII of Homer’s Iliad, Achilles returns to the Greek camp with Hector’s body and places it unceremoniously in the dust next to the bier of Patroclus. Then the Greeks make preparations for Patroclus’ funeral. They construct a funeral pyre on which they lay Patroclus and then Achilles sacrifices several animals and the twelve Trojans whom he took hostage during the slaughter at the river Scamander. “Patroclus, even in the house of Hades; I am now doing all that I have promised you. Twelve brave sons of noble Trojans shall the flames consume along with yourself, but dogs, not fire, shall devour the flesh of Hector son of Priam.”