WEBVTT 00:00:02.740 --> 00:00:09.040 Episode 8 – New armour for Achilles 00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:27.490 [Opening music] 00:00:27.490 --> 00:00:32.250 Patroclus, dressed in Achilles’ armour – 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:35.420 Patroclus, dressed as Achilles – 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.620 rode out against the Trojans then. 00:00:38.620 --> 00:00:44.590 Death rode a chariot that day and the Myrmidons fastened on the Trojans, 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:54.250 as when a little boy hears a strange sound from within a dead, hollow tree and picks up a stick and pushes the stick into the shadows, 00:00:54.250 --> 00:00:58.760 and the wasps who have nested inside come pouring out – 00:00:58.760 --> 00:01:03.110 a seething, black cloud of frenzied rage. 00:01:03.110 --> 00:01:06.100 So the Myrmidons fell upon the Trojans. 00:01:06.100 --> 00:01:08.980 They tumbled to the ground with jolting groans, 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:11.900 splintered teeth, shattered bones. 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:15.480 Like a hawk swooping from the sky into starlings, 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:17.750 Patroclus drove them out of the camp, 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:19.780 across the blasted battlefield, 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:22.490 until he saw the walls of Troy rising before him, 00:01:22.490 --> 00:01:26.070 until he saw Hector, man-killing Hector, prince of Troy, 00:01:26.070 --> 00:01:29.940 fleeing before his charge. 00:01:29.940 --> 00:01:37.800 Patroclus, mother’s son, did you forget? 00:01:37.800 --> 00:01:41.580 Did the blur of battle, the clamour of kills, 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:44.100 befuddle your mind? 00:01:44.100 --> 00:01:47.340 Or did you decide to try the last, 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:50.750 despite Achilles’ warning? 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:54.300 You went too far. 00:01:54.300 --> 00:02:00.540 On the rocky crag on Mount Ida, Zeus woke up. 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:04.560 And he smiled and he stretched and he yawned, 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:10.250 and then he looked down at the battlefield and he saw the Trojans in full retreat. 00:02:10.250 --> 00:02:13.110 He saw Patroclus in Achilles’ armour, 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:15.440 driving the Trojans before him. 00:02:15.440 --> 00:02:16.880 And, behind Patroclus, 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:21.420 the Myrmidons and behind the Myrmidons the whole Greek army, 00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:23.810 pouring across the battlefield. 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:26.460 And among the Greeks he saw his wife, Hera, 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:29.570 and his daughter, Athene, invisible, 00:02:29.570 --> 00:02:32.430 screeching and screaming with delight, 00:02:32.430 --> 00:02:35.350 splattered with blood and gore. 00:02:35.350 --> 00:02:39.420 And Zeus began to tremble with fury. 00:02:39.420 --> 00:02:44.770 He lifted his hands to his mouth and he bellowed, “Hera!” 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.440 And Hera stopped and she turned and she stared. 00:02:47.440 --> 00:02:50.250 And she would have been destroyed. 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:55.220 She would have been annihilated by the fury of Zeus’ gaze, 00:02:55.220 --> 00:03:00.530 had she not still been wearing that belt of love and desire, 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:04.010 which softened Zeus’ heart towards her. 00:03:04.010 --> 00:03:06.210 He said, “Hera! Athene! 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:10.970 Go to Mount Olympus now and send me Apollo!” 00:03:10.970 --> 00:03:13.690 And, scuttling up into the sky, 00:03:13.690 --> 00:03:16.010 shaking, quaking with fear, 00:03:16.010 --> 00:03:18.660 the two goddesses disappeared. 00:03:18.660 --> 00:03:21.620 And it wasn’t long before Apollo, golden Apollo, 00:03:21.620 --> 00:03:23.440 was standing in front of Zeus. 00:03:23.440 --> 00:03:25.000 And Zeus said, “Apollo, 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.140 go to Hector and help him all you can.” 00:03:29.140 --> 00:03:33.220 And Trojan-loving Apollo wasted no time. 00:03:33.220 --> 00:03:34.800 As swift as thought, 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.700 he flew into the city, 00:03:36.700 --> 00:03:38.650 and there on the battlements was Hector. 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:40.210 He was driving down the Greeks. 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:42.060 He was in the thick of the battle. 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:45.780 Three times the golden-armoured one had clambered up the city walls. 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:48.850 Three times they had driven him down with spears. 00:03:48.850 --> 00:03:50.890 And, suddenly, as Hector was fighting, 00:03:50.890 --> 00:03:52.520 he heard a voice beside himself. 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:53.600 “Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut.” 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:57.020 He turned and there was a warrior he’d never seen before. 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:58.820 And the warrior said, “Hector, 00:03:58.820 --> 00:04:01.800 why do you stay inside the city walls? 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:05.480 Why do you not go out and fight that golden-armoured one? 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:09.770 Who knows, perhaps Apollo would help you?” 00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:13.120 And suddenly the warrior vanished, 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:18.500 and, where he’d been standing there was a golden light hanging on the air. 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:26.440 And Hector was filled with spirit and awe in the knowledge he’d been in the presence of one of the mighty gods. 00:04:26.440 --> 00:04:28.230 He ran down the stone steps. 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:30.430 He leapt into the car of his chariot. 00:04:30.430 --> 00:04:33.220 His charioteer whipped the horses to a gallop. 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:41.570 The great bronze gates of the city were thrown open and Hector rode out of Troy. 00:04:41.570 --> 00:04:43.200 Back in the Greek camp, 00:04:43.200 --> 00:04:47.040 Achilles was waiting for his friend Patroclus to return. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.080 He was pacing back and forth. 00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:51.960 He heard a sound, 00:04:51.960 --> 00:04:56.380 a thousand Trojan voices crying out as one, 00:04:56.380 --> 00:04:58.880 crying out with joy. 00:04:58.880 --> 00:05:02.910 And then a strange thing. 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:07.880 His hand, Achilles’ hand was wet and sticky. 00:05:07.880 --> 00:05:10.780 He lifted it to his face. 00:05:10.780 --> 00:05:16.160 The ring, the golden ring of Aphrodite, 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:23.200 the golden ring carved in the shape of a curling arrow whose sharp point touched its feathered tail, 00:05:23.200 --> 00:05:28.800 the golden ring Patroclus had entrusted to Achilles for safe keeping – 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.570 that ring was bleeding. 00:05:32.570 --> 00:05:37.100 Blood was weeping from it down his finger, 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:38.840 down the back of his hand, 00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:40.490 the back of his arm, 00:05:40.490 --> 00:05:44.570 dropping from his elbow into the mud. 00:05:44.570 --> 00:05:49.100 And he knew, Achilles knew, 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:53.350 what had happened. 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:56.860 King Odysseus made his way from the battlefield, 00:05:56.860 --> 00:06:02.690 knowing he’d have to break the awful news to Achilles of Patroclus’ death. 00:06:02.690 --> 00:06:04.340 He made his way through the camp, 00:06:04.340 --> 00:06:06.640 down to where the breakers suck and drag. 00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:12.820 He opened the door of Achilles’ hut and he saw he was too late. 00:06:12.820 --> 00:06:18.210 Achilles was naked on all fours, convulsing. 00:06:18.210 --> 00:06:21.640 His skin smeared with filth and ash, 00:06:21.640 --> 00:06:24.320 streaked with his own tears. 00:06:24.320 --> 00:06:29.870 In his fists, clumps of his own hair that he had torn from his head. 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:33.910 His eyes, bulging red and bloodshot. 00:06:33.910 --> 00:06:38.680 He was grinding together his teeth with an awful guttural sound. 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:45.820 And then he threw back his head and he loosed such a scream of fury and sorrow Odysseus ran from the hut. 00:06:45.820 --> 00:06:48.340 He could not bear to see such sights. 00:06:48.340 --> 00:06:51.530 He could not bear to hear such sounds. 00:06:51.530 --> 00:06:54.400 Thetis heard the scream. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:56.100 She came at once. 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:58.960 She stood over her son. 00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:04.320 “Mother, my best friend, Patroclus, 00:07:04.320 --> 00:07:06.050 has been taken from me. 00:07:06.050 --> 00:07:10.630 Hector killed him and he stripped my burnished armour from his back! 00:07:10.630 --> 00:07:13.440 Before I die, I’ll see that Hector crawling, 00:07:13.440 --> 00:07:15.540 coughing up his own bubbling blood! 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:18.750 I will fight him naked if need be!” 00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:20.410 “My son,” she said, 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:21.690 “I will win you armour. 00:07:21.690 --> 00:07:24.540 Promise me you’ll not go into battle until I return.” 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:26.860 And she was gone into the heavens. 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:30.340 She rose up and up through the clouds, high and high, 00:07:30.340 --> 00:07:33.360 until she came to the slopes of Mount Olympus. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:38.810 And she made her way across the mountain until she came to the palace of Hephaestus, 00:07:38.810 --> 00:07:41.750 the crippled god of metalwork. 00:07:41.750 --> 00:07:44.720 And she made her way into his workshop. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:48.870 And there he was, fashioning a golden tripod. 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:52.370 And when he saw Thetis, he got up to his feet, 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:55.520 and he pulled the nose of the bellows out of the embers, 00:07:55.520 --> 00:07:58.130 and he washed his hands on a dripping sponge. 00:07:58.130 --> 00:07:58.580 He said, 00:07:58.580 --> 00:08:01.370 “Thetis, Thetis, what brings you here?” 00:08:01.370 --> 00:08:02.490 And Thetis said, 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:10.470 “Patroclus, Patroclus has been killed and my son Achilles’ armour has been torn from his back. 00:08:10.470 --> 00:08:14.410 Man-slaying Hector has stolen Achilles’ armour. 00:08:14.410 --> 00:08:17.960 And now my son has nothing to wear. 00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:20.960 Hephaestus, I beg you please, 00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:24.090 make him a new suit of armour.” 00:08:24.090 --> 00:08:25.440 And Hephaestus said, 00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:30.850 “I wish I could make him a suit of armour that would protect him from his fate, 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:36.060 but I can make him a suit of armour that will fill his heart with joy, 00:08:36.060 --> 00:08:41.260 and will fill the eyes of all men and women with wonder.” 00:08:41.260 --> 00:08:48.180 And Hephaestus put gold and silver and tin and bronze into melting vats, 00:08:48.180 --> 00:08:51.640 and he began to shape a suit of armour. 00:08:51.640 --> 00:08:54.480 And such a suit of armour it was: 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:58.610 beautiful greaves of pliant tin; 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:03.680 a breastplate of bronze that shone like the sun itself; 00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:08.970 a golden helmet with golden plume and golden tassels. 00:09:08.970 --> 00:09:15.210 And then he fashioned a shield, a magnificent shield. 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:20.410 And on that shield he wrought the earth and the sky, 00:09:20.410 --> 00:09:24.100 with all the stars, all the constellations. 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:27.740 And the earth as two countries: 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.490 one at peace, 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:39.240 with a wedding dance and purple clusters of grapes and a trickling stream and grazing cattle; 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.530 and the other country at war, 00:09:42.530 --> 00:09:49.000 with a city under siege and all the terrible tumult of the battlefield. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.900 And, when the precious pieces were ready, 00:09:51.900 --> 00:09:59.610 Hephaestus gave them to Thetis and she seized them in her hands and she thanked him with all of her heart. 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:07.480 And then she descended down and down from the heavens to the earth. 00:10:07.480 --> 00:11:02.670 [Closing music]