Characters
- Diomedes — seconds and arms Euryalus
- Epeius — victor; boasts; later builder of the wooden horse (cross-ref. 04/081)
- Euryalus — challenger; son of Mecisteus; knocked out
- Patroclus — the dead honored by the games
- Trojan assembly — sets prizes and hosts the bout
Places
- Argos / Theban saga — Mecisteus’s line and Diomedes’ patronage
- Trojan shore — boxing ground
Themes
Narrative
After the chariot race Achilles sets out a unbroken mule for the boxing victor and a two-handled cup for the loser. Epeius, son of Panopeus—the builder later famed for the wooden horse—stands and boasts that he will smash any challenger’s flesh; he claims skill in boxing though he is weaker in battle. Only Euryalus, son of Mecisteus (of the Adrastus line that once went to Thebes), answers, brought forward by Diomedes, who girds him and gives him the ox-hide thongs.
They raise their fists; Epeius strikes Euryalus on the cheek so that his limbs fail; he is dragged out spitting blood, and his friends take him away. Epeius claims the mule; Euryalus receives the cup. The bout is brief, brutal, and socially marked: the carpenter-athlete’s dominance and Diomedes’ patronage of an Argive guest-friend echo the poem’s wider guest and prize ethics.