Funeral sacrifices and ritual leitmotifs in Iliad 23 3 Once the pyre finally lights, Achilles draws wine from a crater with a cup all night long, pouring it on the ground, wetting the earth, calling on the soul/psychÄ of Patroklos.uneral sacrifices and ritual leitmotifs in Iliad 23 13 tropes used to signify the power of the oath, as when Agamemnon emphasizes the consequences of oath-violation: âIn no way barren is the oath, the blood of lambs, and the right hands in which we trustedâ (4.158â159).