Achilles, the son of the mortal Peleus, and the goddess Thetis, left his home nine years previous to the opening of the Iliad. For nine years he and the other Greeks have fought to destroy the city of Troy; and for those nine years they have been unsuccessful. Troy, the city fated to fall to the Greeks, has stood unconquerable, unwavering in front of the forces of the Achaeans. Throughout most of the Iliad, Achilles sat out of the last battle for Troy. Some people might call it dishonorable or cowardly. Other people might say that it was his pride that kept him from fighting. Yet still, there is the pressure of being in constant warfare for nine years. His "cowardice", if you will, was a combination of all these tribulations.
             Briseis, a war prize, was awarded to Achilles in the aftermath of one of the many battles between the Greeks and the Trojans. Being a war prize, Briseis became Achilles'; she became his property. So to have Agamemnon, the one who awarded Briseis to Achilles, take her away because his own war prize was taken, was a slap in Achilles' face. His pride and his honor had been slighted. Two virtues that mean nothing to you and I, mean everything to a warrior, had just been taken away. To make thing worse it was taken by someone who in Achilles' eyes was a coward. He was wronged, and to make up for that wrong he decided to sit out the rest of the war.
             At the same time he must have been tired of the constant fighting. Giving it his all for nine years, away from his home, away from his friends and family. All the while, knowing that by choosing the warrior life, he has doomed himself to a shorted life. Emotionally he must have been close to the breaking point. So when Agamemnon dishonored Achilles, it pushed him over the edge. He broke down emotionally, and could not handle the stress of battle. He removed himself from reality until the death of Patroclus w
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