The theme of the unburied hero
has been topical in antiquity since the twelfth table of Gilgamesh.
Homer picks it up again after the Iliad in the person of Elpenor (Odyssey X,552ff), Vergil in Aeneis 5,883ff (Palinurus).
In the Gospel of Mark, Joseph of Arimathea (15,43ff) and the women at the grave (16,1ff) strive for the dignified burial of Jesus.
The story of Eutychus in Acts 20:6ff is modelled on the above-mentioned passages from the Odyssey and the Aeneid and extended to include a Christian conclusion.
If one asks where in the Iliad the author Homer becomes tangible, one finds the answer where the gods intervene in the events in a reconciling or punitive way, for example in Iliad 24, 113f = 134f: The gods and Zeus himself (and also Homer) demand from Achill to release the corpse of Hector.
After I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added-
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Kudos!