Arcadian Days: Gods, Women, and Men from Greek Myths by John Spurling

Author:John Spurling
Format: epub

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Achilles had now made a broad swathe of corpses through the Trojan army, driving its centre in confusion into the left wing and much of the right wing into flight. They were making for the River Skamander, where they hoped to find safety. But Achilles went after them, killing many on the bank, but taking twelve prisoners, whom he sent back guarded by Myrmidons to the Greek camp. The river at this point flowed through a narrow cleft between rocks, below a broad pool. Large numbers of terrified Trojans and their allies from Paionia in Thrace took refuge in this pool, only to find that it was no refuge, for Achilles waded in after them and continued to hack them down with his sword. The water turned red and the corpses floated down and blocked the cleft, so that the pool quickly grew deeper and began to overflow its bank.

This is the natural explanation of what happened next, especially if we recall that Achilles as a child had suffered from hydrophobia, ever since his mother had plunged him head-first into the River Styx. Homer tells us that Skamander, the river god, angry at having his pure and gentle stream polluted and blocked with corpses,

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