The Illiad

             The Achaeans have just sacked a Trojan city. They are making their way home with their spoils. The
             leader Agamemnon has claimed the greatest prize for himself: a beautiful woman named Chryseis,
             the daughter of a Trojan priest named Chryses. The champion of the Achaeans, Achilleus, has
             claimed the next best prize: a woman by the name of Briseis. The Achaeans are on their return
             voyage when a Trojan ship carrying Chryses catches up to them. Chryses offers a great ransom
             for his daughter but Agamemnon refuses. Chryses returns home and prays to the god Appollo for
             assistance. Appollo begins to wipe out the Acheans and Agamemnon realizes he must return
             Chryseis to her father. Agamemnon makes it clear that he intends to take the best prize
             available, Briseis. These events occur in the first book and there is a dramatic speech between
             Achilleus and Agamemnon that takes place between lines 120 and 190.
             The argument is about the prizes seized from Troy, the two most beautiful women that they
             captured. Agamemnon is forced to give up his prize to save his men and his ships, and as a result, the
             great warrior Achilleus is forced to give up his prize to Agamemnon. As ruler Agamemnon feels he
             should receive the greatest prize, and as the champion fighter Achilleus feels he should receive the
             greatest prize, or at least, not have to give up his own. During this time the Trojan war is not decided
             in either way, but the fighting on the side of the Achaians is dangerous because it could easily give an
             This conflict between the two men is very important to the reader because it shows us what kinds of
             things are important to the ancient Greeks. We can understand this situation today and we would
             use words like "honor" and "pride", but the ancient Greeks had another term for this: "time". Time
             refers to the honor of the individual and also to the possessions of the individual. The time that a
             ...

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