In the 10th chapter of The Trojan War: A New History, by Barry Strauss, Achilles kills Hector, kills an Amazon, is killed and his death is avenged.
The meeting between Achilles and Hector's father is told in Homer's Iliad, which Strauss interprets as a "classic gesture of prostration and self-abasement." Strauss also says that it is with his death that Hector's image is revised from a "Self-absorbed, ... sharp-tongued martinet" to a "selfless martyr for his homeland." After the death of Hector, in the epic cycle, but not Homer, Achilles meets the Amazon Penthesilea. Later Achilles meets his death after he forces his way inside the walls of Troy. His armor is given to Odysseus on the basis of the judgment of some overheard Trojan girls. Ajax goes mad because he doesn't win the armor and kills the valuable cattle whose capture had been so difficult for the Greeks. He then kills himself, which is not a courageous act for the Greeks. A new phase of the war begins and Philoctetes, with the bow of Hercules, is brought in to avenge Achilles by killing Paris. In a marriage ceremony showing Homer's familiarity with non-Greek levirate mores, Helen marries Paris' brother. Odysseus then fetches Achilles' son Neoptolemus and surrenders to him the hard-won armor of his father. Odysseus sneaks into Troy where only Helen recognizes (and aids) him. He steals the palladium of the Trojans, which Strauss says forms a third miraculous object with the bow of Hercules, and the divinely wrought armor of Achilles. Odysseus hopes the theft of the palladium will weaken Troy. However, there is a possibility that he stole a fake palladium.
The Trojan War: A New History, summary pages:
Introduction | 1. War for Helen | 2. The Black Ships Sail | 3. Operation Beachhead | 4. Assault on the Walls | 5. The Dirty War | 6. An Army in Trouble | 7. The Killing Fields | 8. Night Moves | 9. Hector's Charge | 10. Achilles Heel | 11. The Night of the Horse | Conclusion
