Awakening, Zeus sends Iris to stop Poseidon and orders Apollo to aid the Trojans; Hektor fights Ajax, then leads his army against the ships with fire; Ajax, ranging the decks, repels them.

Poseidon encourages the Achaian lords to keep fighting; Hera plots to make Zeus sleep, aiding Poseidon, who marshals the Achaians; struck down, Hektor revives; the Achaians prevail.

Poseidon aids the Achaians; leaders of both sides battle; at the ships the Ajaxes hold off Hektor, who decides to retreat, but, emboldened by Paris, answers Ajax’s jeers and leads on.

Battle rages at the wall, which gods later will destroy; the Trojans keep attacking, despite an omen; Sarpedon speaks to Glaukos; Ajax and Teukros fight, and Hektor breaks the gate.

Agamemnon rampages and is wounded; Paris and Sokos wound Diomédes, Odysseus, Macháon, and Eurÿpylos; Achilles sends Patróklos to question Nestor, who urges him to enter the battle.

At a night council the Achaians dispatch spies, Diomédes and Odysseus, who capture and kill the Trojan spy Dolon, then slaughter Rhesos and his Thracian troops and report back.

Heeding Nestor’s rebuke, Agamemnon offers gifts to Achilles if he will yield; Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoinix bear the message and plead with him; he relents—he will stay but not fight.

Zeus keeps the gods away; the Achaians flee the Trojans’ attack but defend the wall; Hera and Athena plan to aid them, but Zeus forbids it; at night the Trojans build watchfires.

Hektor challenges the Achaian lords; Agamemnon restrains Meneláos, Ajax is chosen, the fight is halted; Paris will not return Helen; the dead are buried, the Achaians build defenses.

Without any gods the battle continues; Agamemnon kills Adréstos; Diomédes and Glaukos talk and exchange armor; in Troy Hektor encounters Hékabè, Helen, Paris, and Andrómachè.