Question

from the iliad of homer

translated by richard lattimore
book twenty-two

so along the city the trojans, who had run like fawns, dried
the sweat off from their bodies and drank and slaked their thirst, leaning
along the magnificent battlements. meanwhile the achaians
sloping their shields across their shoulders came close to the rampart.
but his deadly fate held hektor shackled, so that he stood fast
in front of ilion and the skaian gates. now phoibos
apollo spoke aloud to peleion: “why, son of peleus,
do you keep after me in the speed of your feet, being mortal
while i am an immortal god? even yet you have not
seen that i am a god, but strain after me in your fury
now hard fighting with the trojans whom you stampeded means nothing
to you. they are crowded in the city, but you bent away here.
you will never kill me. i am not one who is fated.”

deeply vexed achilleus of the swift feet spoke to him:
“you have balked me, striker from afar, most malignant of all gods,
when you turned me here away from the rampart, else many trojans
would have caught the soil in their teeth before they got back into ilion.
now you have robbed me of great glory, and rescued these people
lightly, since you have no retribution to fear hereafter.
else i would punish you, if only the strength were in me.”

he went and stalked away against the sky with high thoughts

and give my body to be taken home again, so that the trojans
and the wives of the trojans may give me in death my rite of burning.*

what ancient greek belief does this excerpt best illustrate?

the power of fate
the importance of heroic acts
the value of funeral rituals
the influence of gods

Explanation:

The excerpt mentions "give my body to be taken home again, so that the Trojans and the wives of the Trojans may give me in death my rite of burning". This shows the concern for proper funeral rituals, as the character wants their body to be returned for the appropriate death rites (burning). The other options: "the power of fate" focuses on destiny, "the importance of heroic acts" on heroic deeds, and "the influence of gods" on divine intervention, which are not the main focus here. The key is the funeral ritual aspect.

Answer:

the value of funeral rituals