Glaucus Rebukes Hector over Sarpedon’s Arms (*Iliad* 17)

Glaucus Rebukes Hector over Sarpedon’s Arms (Iliad 17)

Catalogue ID: 04-trojan-cycle/226-glaucus-rebukes-hector-iliad-17

Cycle: Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / fight for Patroclus’s body

Version line: Homeric — Lycian ally shames Hector for abandoning Sarpedon’s gear

Sources: Homer, *Iliad* 17.140–182; cf. Sarpedon’s death 16.419–683

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/04-trojan-cycle/226-glaucus-rebukes-hector-iliad-17.md

Characters

Glaucus — Lycian; rebukes Hector; healed by Apollo
Hecuba — stung into renewed effort
Myrmidons — opponents in the corpse-fight
People of Crisa — heals Glaucus

Places

Plain of Troy — battle over Sarpedon and Patroclus

Themes

Narrative

After Patroclus kills Sarpedon and the fight swirls toward Patroclus’s own fall, Glaucus, wounded and grieving his Lycian king, confronts Hector: Hector has abandoned Sarpedon’s arms to the Achaeans and thinks only of holding the city, while Lycian allies die for Troy. Glaucus threatens to withdraw the Lycians unless Hector recovers Sarpedon’s body and gear. Stung, Hector leads a charge; Apollo heals Glaucus’s wound so he can fight on. The rebuke binds guest-ally honor to Hector’s leadership: Troy’s champion must not let a guest-friend’s corpse be stripped while he postures nearer the ships. Catalogue Glaucus’s speech as the allies’ moral claim inside the battle for the corpses of Books 16–17.