ACHILLES’ WRATH – THE ABDUCTION OF BRISEIS

Achilles’ “dreadful wrath that caused infinite woes to the Greeks” forms the central theme of the Iliad. It is sparked by a quarrel between the Greek commander-in-chief in the Trojan War, Agamemnon, and his most formidable fighter, Achilles. Agamemnon has been presented by the Greek army with a captive girl, Chryseis, as a prize of honour. After Agamemnon rudely dismisses her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo, who tries to ransom her back, Apollo sends a plague to the Greek camp. Agamemnon is forced to give up Chryseis, seizing instead Achilles’ own prize, Briseis. Furious at this insult, Achilles, stopped by the goddess Athena short of killing Agamemnon, withdraws from battle. He even pleads with his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to ask Zeus to punish the Greeks. Zeus agrees to turn the tide of war against the Greeks until Achilles’ honour is restored, thus setting in motion the dramatic events to follow.