The Song of Achilles A Novel by Madeline Miller (z-lib.org).epub

made the winds blow again, so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy. Her story
is told in Euripides’ tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis.

LYCOMEDES. The king of Scyros and the father of Deidameia. He unknowingly
sheltered Achilles disguised as a girl in his court.

MENELAUS. The brother of Agamemnon and, after his marriage to Helen, the
king of Sparta. When Helen was kidnapped by Paris, he invoked the oath sworn
by all of her suitors and, with his brother, led an army to retrieve her. In Book 3
of the Iliad he dueled with Paris for possession of Helen, and was winning
before the goddess Aphrodite intervened on Paris’ behalf. After the war, he and
Helen returned to Sparta.

NESTOR. The aged king of Pylos and the former companion of Heracles. He was
too old to fight in the Trojan War but served as an important counselor to
Agamemnon.

ODYSSEUS. The wily prince of Ithaca, beloved by the goddess Athena. He
proposed the famous oath requiring all of Helen’s suitors to swear a vow to
uphold her marriage. As his reward, he claimed her clever cousin Penelope as
his wife. During the Trojan War, he was one of Agamemnon’s chief advisers,
and later devised the trick of the Trojan horse. His voyage home, which lasted
ten years, is the subject of Homer’s Odyssey, which includes the famous tales of
his encounters with the Cyclops, the witch Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, and the
Sirens. Eventually Odysseus returned to Ithaca, where he was welcomed by his
wife, Penelope, and grown son, Telemachus.

PARIS. The son of Priam who became the judge of the famous “beauty contest”
between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, with the golden apple as a prize. Each
goddess tried to bribe him: Hera with power, Athena with wisdom, and
Aphrodite with the most beautiful woman in the world. He awarded the prize to
Aphrodite, and she in turn helped him spirit Helen away from her husband,
Menelaus, thus starting the Trojan War. Paris was known for his skill with a bow
and, with Apollo’s help, killed the mighty Achilles.

PATROCLUS. The son of King Menoitius. Exiled from his home for accidentally
killing another boy, Patroclus found shelter in Peleus’ court, where he was
fostered with Achilles. He is a secondary character in the Iliad, but his fateful

decision to try to save the Greeks by dressing in Achilles’ armor sets in motion
the final act of the story. When Patroclus is killed by Hector, Achilles is
devastated and takes brutal vengeance upon the Trojans.

PELEUS. The king of Phthia and the father of Achilles by the sea-nymph Thetis.
The story of Peleus overpowering the shape-changing Thetis in a wrestling
match was a popular one in antiquity.

PHOINIX. A longtime friend and counselor of Peleus, who went with Achilles to
Troy as his adviser. In Book 9 of the Iliad, Phoinix spoke of having cared for
Achilles when he was a baby, and vainly tried to persuade him to yield and help
the Greeks.

POLYXENA. The Trojan princess whom Pyrrhus sacrificed at his father’s tomb,
before leaving Troy for the voyage home.

PRIAM. The elderly king of Troy, who was renowned for his piety and his many
children. In Book 24 of the Iliad, he bravely made his way into Achilles’ tent to
beg for his son Hector’s body. During the sack of Troy, he was killed by
Achilles’ son, Pyrrhus.

PYRRHUS. Formally named Neoptolemus but called “Pyrrhus” for his fiery hair,
he was the son of Achilles and the princess Deidameia. He joined the war after
his father’s death, participating in the trick of the Trojan horse and brutally
murdering the old king of Troy, Priam. In Book 2 of the Aeneid, Vergil tells the
story of Pyrrhus’ role in the sack of Troy.

Acknowledgments



Writing this novel was a ten-year-long journey, and I was fortunate enough to
meet many more kindly deities than angry Cyclopes along the way. It would be
impossible to thank everyone who offered me encouragement over the years—it
would take a second book—but there are some divinities that need worshipping.

In particular, I want to thank my early readers, who gave me such loving and
thoughtful responses: Carolyn Bell, Sarah Furlow, and Michael Bourret. I also
want to thank my amazing godmother, Barbara Thornbrough, who has cheered
me on the whole way, as well as the Drake family for their kind encouragement
and for being expert consultants on wide-ranging matters. My heartfelt
appreciation goes also to my teachers, especially Diane Dubois, Susan Melvoin,
Kristin Jaffe, Judith Williams, and Jim Miller; and to my passionate and
fabulous students, Shakespeareans and Latin scholars alike, for teaching me
much more than I ever taught them.

I have been fortunate enough to have not one but three amazing mentors in
Classics, teaching, and life: David Rich, Joseph Pucci, and Michael C. J.
Putnam. I am grateful beyond measure to their kindness and erudition. Thanks
also to the entire Brown University Classics Department. It goes without saying
that all errors and distortions in this work are my own entirely, and not theirs.

Special thanks to Walter Kasinskas, and to the beautiful and talented Nora
Pines, who has always believed I would be a writer despite reading a number of
my early short stories.

Thanks and thanks and ever thanks to the inimitable, irrepressible, and
outstanding Jonah Ramu Cohen, a fierce fiery warrior who fought for this book
every step of the way. I am so grateful for your friendship.

A Mount Olympus of gratitude to the astounding Julie Barer, best of all
Agents, who swept me off my feet and into a miracle, along with all the rest of
her amazing team.

And of course thanks to my dynamic, fabulous editor, Lee Boudreaux, and the
whole group at Ecco, including Abigail Holstein, Michael McKenzie, Heather
Drucker, Rachel Bressler, and everyone who took such excellent care of me and
this work. I would also like to thank the fantastic people at Bloomsbury UK—
the outstanding Alexandra Pringle, Katie Bond, David Mann, and everyone else

on their team for all their incredible work on my book’s behalf.
Finally, I want to thank my family, including my brother Bud, who has put up

with my stories of Achilles for his entire life, and my wonderful stepfather,
Gordon. Most of all, I thank my amazing mother, who has loved and supported
me in all my endeavors, and who inspired me to love reading as much as she
does. I am so blessed to be your daughter.

Last, but never least, thanks to Nathaniel, my Athena-in-shining-armor, whose
love, editing, and patience brought me home.

About the Author



MADELINE MILLER grew up in Philadelphia, has bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in Latin and Ancient Greek from Brown University, and has been
teaching both languages for the past nine years. She has also studied at the Yale
School of Drama, specializing in adapting classical tales for a modern audience.
She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Song of Achilles is her first novel.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite
HarperCollins authors.

Credits



Cover design by Allison Saltzman
Cover photograph: Bronze helmet, Greek, Corinthian, early 7th century B.C.,

courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery/Art Resource, NY

Copyright



THE SONG OF ACHILLES. Copyright © 2012 by Madeline Miller. All rights reserved
under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of
the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right
to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be
reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored
in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form
or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter

invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-06-206061-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-06-212612-2 (international edition)

Epub Edition © MARCH 2012 ISBN: 9780062060631

12 13 14 15 16 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher



Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (P.O. Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks

Canada

HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

http://www.harpercollins.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1

Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com