batch.motif.greek-iliad-pope-gutenberg-l23122-l23268
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-iliad-pope-gutenberg-l23122-l23268
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
passage_locator:
label: ARGUMENT. / BOOK XXIV. / ARGUMENT. / THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY OF HECTOR.;
lines 23122-23268
start: '23122'
end: '23268'
translation: The Iliad
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The Trojans receive Hector's body, mourn him with public and household
lamentations, prepare a pyre under an agreed pause from danger, cremate him, gather
his bones into a golden vessel, raise a tomb, and hold a final sepulchral feast.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The people of Troy leave the walls in crowds and collectively groan in grief.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: At the Scaean gates the crowd meets the mourning wain, and the wife and mother
embrace and mourn the slain body.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Priam tells the mourners to let the car proceed first to the palace and then
pour out grief over the dead.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The body is placed on a bed of state in the palace, with singers and mourners
performing laments around it.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The wife laments Hector as dead, says he has gone to dismal realms, and fears
Troy's ruin and the enslavement or death of their son.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The mother laments that Hector, unlike other sons sold by Achilles, went as
a free heroic ghost to the Stygian coast; she also recalls his body being dragged
around a tomb and notes that it appears unmarked and fresh.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Helen laments Hector as kind to her when others blamed or scorned her, and
says she has no friend in Troy now that he is gone.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Priam orders the Trojans to perform the required rites, cut wood for a funeral
pyre, and rely on Achilles' grant of twelve days for the honors to the dead.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The Trojans harness animals, cut forests from Ida, bring the timber to town,
and spend nine days raising the pyre structure.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: On the tenth morning Hector's body is placed on the pile, and the mourners
watch the flames and smoke rise.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: After dawn the crowd quenches the remaining fire with wine, collects the bones
in a golden vase, wraps it in purple and gold cloths, covers the urn with earth,
raises a tomb, returns to Priam's court, and shares a sepulchral feast.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Hector
description: The slain Trojan hero whose body is mourned, cremated, buried, and
honored.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Priam
description: The figure who rises from the chariot, restrains the mourning, directs
the body to the palace, orders the rites, and is associated with the court where
the final feast occurs.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Hector's wife or consort
description: The first named mourner by role, who embraces Hector's body and speaks
a lament for him, herself, Troy, and their son.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Hector's mother
description: A mourning mother who praises Hector as beloved by the immortals, recalls
the treatment of his body, and describes him as a free heroic ghost.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Helen
description: A mourner who calls Hector a dear friend and laments that he had been
kind to her in Troy.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: The Trojan people
description: The collective mourners who leave the walls, follow the chariot, prepare
the pyre, witness the cremation, and attend the final feast.
role_refs:
- role:6
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Achilles
description: A figure mentioned as having bound and sold other sons and as granting
twelve days of honors for the dead.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Hector's son
description: The only son described by Hector's wife as vulnerable to future enslavement
or violent death.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Hector's friends and brothers
description: Those who collect Hector's bones with tears and place them in the golden
vase.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: slain hero and honored dead
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Hector is the corpse brought to Troy, lamented by family and Helen, cremated,
placed in an urn, buried, and honored with a feast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: role:2
label: director of mourning and rites
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Priam checks the grief at the gates, commands that the body proceed to the
palace, and later orders the funeral rites and pyre preparation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: widowed lamenter
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The consort embraces Hector and laments his death, her abandonment, and the
threatened future of Troy and their son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: maternal lamenter
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The mother speaks after the wife, calls Hector dear and heaven-approved,
and mourns him with tears.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: friend-lamenter blamed by others
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Helen describes Hector as a dear friend who was gentle to her when others
blamed her, and she mourns his absence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:6
label: collective mourners
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The Trojan crowd gathers at the gates, weeps at the palace, surrounds the
pyre, and returns in a solemn train.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:10
- id: role:7
label: funerary laborers and attendants
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:9
basis: The Trojans cut and transport timber, raise the pyre, while Hector's friends
and brothers collect and place the bones.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: role:8
label: enemy granting funeral honors
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Achilles is said to grant twelve days for the honors to the dead, while also
remembered as having bound and sold other sons.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: threatened child survivor
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The wife predicts that Hector's son may be carried away as a slave or hurled
from Troy's towers by a Greek avenger.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: mourning wain
literal_form: Wain or chariot bearing the slain Hector to Troy and the palace.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: bed of state
literal_form: The bed on which Hector's body is placed in the palace for lamentation.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: funeral pyre and flames
literal_form: A raised wooden structure on which Hector's body is burned, producing
flames and smoke.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: sym:4
label: Ida's forest timber
literal_form: Forests cut from Ida's crown and brought back to town for the pyre.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: wine poured on fire
literal_form: Wine used to quench the remaining fire of the pyre after cremation.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:6
label: golden vase or urn
literal_form: A golden vase holding Hector's collected bones.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: purple and gold palls
literal_form: Purple cloths of soft texture, inwrought with gold, wrapped around
the golden vase.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:8
label: tomb and sacred earth
literal_form: Earth spread over the urn and a tomb raised as a memorial of the dead.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:9
label: Stygian coast and shades below
literal_form: Poetic underworld destinations named in the laments for Hector.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Troy meets the mourning wain
summary: The city empties into the plain, the crowd meets the wain at the gates,
and Hector's wife and mother cling to and mourn the body until Priam directs the
procession onward.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Palace lament over Hector
summary: The chariot reaches the palace, Hector is placed on a bed of state, and
singers and mourners perform structured laments.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Wife's lament
summary: Hector's wife embraces him and laments his death, her isolation, the danger
to Troy, and the threatened fate of their son.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Mother's lament
summary: Hector's mother praises him, recalls his freedom in death compared with
other captive sons, and comments on the preserved appearance of his body after
its mistreatment.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Helen's lament
summary: Helen mourns Hector as a gentle friend who had treated her kindly when
others blamed her, and she laments her isolation after his death.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:6
label: Preparation of the funeral pyre
summary: Priam commands the rites and the cutting of forests for the pyre; the Trojans
cut wood from Ida and spend nine days building the structure.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:7
label: Cremation, burial, and feast
summary: Hector is borne to the pile and burned; the fire is quenched with wine,
bones are gathered into a golden vase, wrapped, buried under a tomb, and followed
by a final feast at Priam's court.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: collective lamentation for a fallen defender
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The entire city mourns Hector, and individual laments by his wife, mother,
and Helen are framed by collective weeping and formal song.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a descriptive passage-level motif, not tied to a supplied taxonomy
family.
- id: motif:2
label: public cremation and urn burial of an honored hero
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Trojans gather timber, build a pyre, burn Hector's body, quench the fire
with wine, collect the bones in a golden vase, wrap it, bury it, raise a tomb,
and hold a feast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: No broader cross-cultural comparison is asserted from this passage alone.
- id: motif:3
label: dead hero's passage to the underworld
taxonomy_refs:
- afterlife_journey_map
basis: The laments say Hector has gone to dismal realms, to the Stygian coast, and
to the shades below; the close says his shade slept peacefully after the rites.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives brief poetic destinations, not a detailed journey map.
- id: motif:4
label: enemy-granted interval for funeral honors
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Priam tells the Trojans not to fear foes or ambush for twelve days because
Achilles grants these honors to the dead.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The wider exchange or negotiation is not narrated in this extracted passage,
only the granted interval is stated.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 23122-23135
quote_or_summary: The Trojan people leave the walls in grief, meet the mourning
wain at the Scaean gates, and the wife and mother kiss the slain body and tear
their hair.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 23136-23141
quote_or_summary: Priam rises from the chariot, restrains the mourners, and orders
that the car first proceed to the palace before further lamentation over the dead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 23142-23152
quote_or_summary: The chariot reaches the palace; Hector is placed on a bed of state,
and a melancholy choir and mourners sing and weep around him.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 23153-23188
quote_or_summary: Hector's consort embraces his body, laments that he is gone to
dismal realms, and foresees Troy's fall and the possible enslavement or killing
of their son.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 23193-23211
quote_or_summary: Hector's mother laments him as dear and approved by heaven, contrasts
him with sons sold by Achilles, says he went free to the Stygian coast, and describes
his body as fresh despite being dragged around a tomb.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 23212-23235
quote_or_summary: Helen mourns Hector as a dear friend whose gentle words softened
others' blame, and says she has no friend in Troy now that he is gone.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 23236-23243
quote_or_summary: Priam checks the spreading grief and commands the Trojans to perform
the rites, fell forests for a funeral pyre, and trust that Achilles grants twelve
days of honors to the dead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 23246-23252
quote_or_summary: The Trojan train harnesses mules and oxen, goes through the gates,
cuts timber from Ida, brings it to town, and raises the pyre over nine days.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 23253-23257
quote_or_summary: On the tenth morning Hector is carried to the pile and placed
aloft while the mourners watch flames and smoke rise.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 23258-23268
quote_or_summary: At dawn the crowd quenches the remaining fire with wine; friends
and brothers collect the bones in a golden vase, wrap it in purple and gold cloths,
spread earth over the urn, raise a tomb, return to Priam's court, share a sepulchral
feast, and Hector's shade sleeps peacefully.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/iliad-pope.md
rights_note: Public domain source metadata; short summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The ritual sequence and named mourners are explicit in the supplied passage.
Motif taxonomy alignment is limited because most motifs are descriptive funeral
patterns rather than exact matches to the available motif families. No comparison
claims were made because the passage itself does not establish a comparative relationship.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used; figures not named in the passage were kept as role labels rather than supplied with external names.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-iliad-pope-gutenberg__l23122-l23268
passage_sha256=fa5e41421802958a010b615f3d3b30c6b924ca80368b62eab479c7e5d17b6e59