Hero Diomedes
The Trojan War, Part 7: The fight reignited
Content warnings: war, violence, gore, wounding, death
Find the last two parts of the story of the Trojan War here:
Part 5
Part 6
The Greek and Trojan armies charged, the chariots and their horses racing ahead, spears at the ready. The men on foot clashed a little after, the crash of swords and shields alike filling the air with their violent ringing.
In the first few minutes of the skirmish, Odysseus watched his friend Leucos die at the spear point of Prince Antiphus, son of King Priam. He strode over to the prince, his armour majestic and his confidence intimidating, who stood tall in a group of cowering Trojan soldiers. Also in this group was Demophoon, Antiphus’ illegitimate half-brother, and Odysseus struck him in the side of the head with his spear in retribution, killing him at once, all the while keeping his eyes locked with Antiphus’.
With such an important strike, the Greek army managed to gain some significant ground, using the Trojans’ grief and fear to drive them back toward their walled city. As they went, the encroaching forces drew their dead from the battlefield and set them aside, clearing their path forward.
Seeing the fall back of his favoured army, a watching Apollo called from his position atop the city walls. He encouraged them, in his booming voice, not to yield to the might of the Greeks; they were, after all, only mortal and their precious prizefighter Achilles was stubbornly refusing to join their ranks, leaving them weak.
Athena, hearing the empowering words of her fellow Olympian echo from such height, kept the Greek soldiers hearty with courage and battle-lust, inspiring them and riling them in equal measure to stop them from losing the precious ground they had gained. Still, even with the support of the gods, both Trojan and Greek armies lost man after man, the bodies falling one after another in their blood frenzy.
Deep into the fray was Diomedes, cutting through soldiers, hacking his eager way to the front lines. Athena saw him, saw his tenacity and ferocity, and found her way to him amid the throng, melting through it with a divine ease. She approached Diomedes and kindled a flame in his helmet and his shield, making him well-visible to all around him. With this new-found attention, Diomedes used the opportunity to follow the swift Athena through the battle to the very front, facing the hordes of Trojan soldiers ahead with relish.
As he slashed through his opposition, Diomedes was spotted by a Trojan chariot bearing the sons of Dares, a priest of Hephaestus within the city, named Phegeus and Idaios. The brothers readied their weapons, primed to strike Diomedes down, but when Phegeus threw his spear, Diomedes managed to dodge the blow. His attention now drawn to the chariot, he threw a spear at Phegeus and struck true, carving a deep hole in his chest and knocking him from the chariot where he fell to the ground, dead.
Idaios leapt from his place in the cart to protect his brother’s body but Hephaestus, well aware that Diomedes could and would kill him, enveloped Idaios in darkness, spiriting him away to his father. Dares had been a faithful priest to Hephaestus and he wished to repay his love and sacrifice by at least saving one of his sons, even if it was too late for the unlucky Phegeus.
The brothers’ chariot was the only thing left, then, and Diomedes took it over, entrusting it to the care of his men to return it to the Greek camp and claim it as their own. The Trojans, not knowing of Idaios’ rescue at the hands of the gods, were devastated by the loss of the brothers, mourning them even as they continued the fight in their honour.
Athena, meanwhile, having guided Diomedes to the front lines, caught a glimpse of her half-brother Ares. He was relishing the opportunity to spill mortal blood with his own weapons, slaughtering any Greeks who dared face him with zeal. She appeared beside him and grabbed his arm, stilling his blade for just a moment. She appealed to whatever rational senses he’d retained in his bloodlust, suggesting that they stop fighting the mortals’ battles for them and prevent their father’s wrath for getting involved when he saw fit to meddle on his own.
Some part of his sister’s words reached Ares, even through his red haze, and he saw them both as they stood on the battlefield, surrounded by the flow of mortals in their quest to take a city Ares had little real personal interest in. He looked into Athena’s eyes and saw the wisdom there, allowing her to lead him off to Scamandros to watch the battle from a little further afar.
Without Ares’ help, the Trojan forces began to fall in earnest. The Greek leaders began to eliminate the Trojan captains en masse; Agamemnon killed Odios, a Halizonian chief, while Menelaus slaughtered Scamandrios, a hunter taught by Artemis herself. Meriones slew Phereclos, a son of the man who had crafted the ships that had carried Paris to Sparta and returned him home with his stolen bride and cargo. Meges took the life of Antenor’s illegitimate son Pedaios, raised amongst his legitimate siblings, while Eurypylos killed Hypsenor, a son of the priest Dolopion who was honoured as near-deific on the battlefield.
All the while, as the Trojans’ leaders fell around him, Diomedes stormed his way through the Trojan forces, though many cowered and hid from him in their confusion and fear. It was through this chaos that Pandaros, the archer who had sparked this renewed fight with just one arrow, spied Diomedes and took aim, shooting him squarely in his right shoulder.
Pandaros was ecstatic that his arrow had found its place so neatly and he called to his comrades that he had shot this best of the Greeks, that with such a wound he was surely close to his mortal end.
Diomedes, though now wounded, was by no means out of the fight. He found his friend and support, Sthenelus, by the horses and sat for a moment, asking him to pull the arrow from his shoulder. Sthenelus did so as swiftly as possible, though the blood poured and soaked his tunic before he could bind the wound.
As Sthenelus worked, Diomedes prayed to Athena, begging that if she had ever loved his father, Tydeus, then she would come to his aid and help him fight still. He prayed that she would help him get into range of the boasting Pandaros, that he might avenge his wounded shoulder and prove his strength and dignity.
Sure enough, Athena heard his calls from where she sat watching with Ares. She blessed him, making him quick and agile and giving him courage. She also bestowed on him the ability to distinguish mortals from gods, allowing him to tell who he was really up against. She told him, as she gave him this power, that he shouldn’t engage with any gods except Aphrodite, whom he could only wound.
Diomedes rejoined the battle, bolstered by his friend’s care and his goddess’ blessing. He took up his sword again, this time with even more fervour than before. He cut his way to where he had seen Pandaros, slaying many on his journey there, including the princes Echemmon and Chromios, claiming their chariot as his own. He also struck down the sons of Phainops, Xanthos and Thoon, and the sons of the seer Eurydamas, Abas and Polyeidos, on his way.
This massacre was seen by Aeneas, a son of Anchises, a member of the Trojan royal family, and Aphrodite. Knowing who the warrior must be seeking, Aeneas went to Pandaros himself to warn him of the impending Diomedes. He suggested shooting Diomedes again, since apparently the ‘fatal wound’ he had last inflicted only appeared to have enlivened him further against their men.
Pandaros, not wholly appreciative of his friend’s snark, posited that perhaps Diomedes was a god, or at least had a god’s blessing, knowing that the arrow he had given him should have finished any normal, mortal man off. He lamented rejecting his father’s suggestion of taking his chariot, since both of his important shots, those at Diomedes and Menelaus, had both only given their target more energy.
Aeneas watched as his friend descended into a self-pitying slump, giving him a moment before coaxing him gently back to his feet. He offered the use of his own chariot, if Pandaros wished to regain his honour, suggesting that they go up against Diomedes with their spears instead as he wanted to. He assured Pandaros that his horses were well up to the challenge, being so fast that they could get into easy range of the Greek hero and away again swiftly should things not go their way. Pandaros was roused by his friend’s suggestion, agreeing at once and pledging to fight Diomedes himself if Aeneas would drive them.
Sthenelus, accompanying Diomedes through his slaughter, spotted Aeneas’ chariot and its bloodthirsty occupants. He hailed his friend and heralded Pandaros’ approach, advising him to board his own chariot and flee as he knew the encroaching pair to be excellent fighters.
Diomedes, turning to see the incoming chariot, scorned Sthenelus and his suggestion, declaring that he was no coward and he would do no such timorous thing as run. Athena had, after all, gifted him with courage and he had no wish to waste such an offering.
He asked a favour of Sthenelus, should he succeed in killing both drivers. He asked that he leave their own chariot to the side where it wouldn’t be taken, then drive Aeneas’ horses back to the Greek camp. Those particular horses, he added, had been given to the old king Tros of Troy in payment for his son, Ganymede, by Zeus himself and were worth far more than either their horses or their chariot.
As they spoke, Aeneas had driven the chariot swiftly in their direction. Soon enough, Aeneas and Pandaros were upon Diomedes and Sthenelus, Pandaros taunting Diomedes that he would finish him off with a spear, as his arrow apparently hadn’t done the trick.
He threw his spear as promised and, though Diomedes blocked the strike nicely, it penetrated the metal, the point extending through the back of the shield. Diomedes, unhurt nonetheless, gave pain to Pandaros’ crowing that he had hit his target and corrected him, throwing back his own spear. Athena, standing ready, guided the spike directly into Pandaros’ face, cutting off his tongue and crushing his face around the shaft, killing him.
Find the eighth part of the story of the Trojan War here:
