In lines 351–353, Aias dodges a spear that strikes and kills Schedius. This fortuitous dodging followed by an infortuitous death happens several times in the Iliad and becomes something of a cliché.
The Homeric Greeks believed that one's soul could not enter the afterworld unless the proper burial rites had been carried out — in this case, cremation and burial of the ashes under a barrow. The battle that takes place over the body of Patroklos is due to this belief.
