Book 1

Summary
Invocation of the muse takes place, with the poet asking for help in conveying the story of
Achilles’ rage. It is made clear that Achilles is the greatest hero of the Greeks to fight in the
Trojan War. The story begins nine years following the beginning of the war, as a Trojan-allied
town is sacked by Achaeans. The Achaeans capture a pair of beautiful maidens. Their names are
Chryseis and Briseis. Chryseis is chosen by Agamemnon, the Achaean army’s commander-in-
chief, as his prize. Briseis is claimed by Achilles, a valuable warrior. Chryses, a priest of the god
of Apollo, is Chryseis’s father. He begs Agamemnon to return his daughter to him. He offers a
huge ransom in return. Agamemnon refuses to accede to this plan, and Chryses directs his
prayers for help to Apollo. The Greek camp suffers the death of numerous soldiers when Apollo
sends a plague upon it. After they have suffered for ten days, Achilles orders an assembly of the
Achaean army. He requests that a soothsayer tell him what caused the plague. This soothsayer
is a powerful seer called Calchas. While Calcas is afraid of Agamemnon’s retribution, he reveals
that the plague was intended as a strategic act of vengeance by Chryses and Apollo.
Agamemnon becomes very angry, and he declares that he will give back Chryseis only on the
condition of Briseis being given to him by Achilles as compensation.
Achilles, who is very proud, is infuriated and humiliated by Agamemnon’s demand. An
argument ensures. Achilles threatens Agamemnon, saying that he will withdraw from battle,
bringing the Myrmidons, his people, back to their home of Phthia. Agamemnon says that he can
visit Achilles’ tent and take Briseis. Achilles is ready to draw his sword on the Achaean
commander, but his anger is checked by the appearance of Athena, a goddess. She has been
sent by the queen of the gods, Hera. The guidance provided by Athena, when combined with a
speech by Nestor, a wise advisor, prevents the duel. Agamemnon sends Chryseis back to her
father on a ship. He also sends heralds to arrange for Briseis to be escorted out of Achilles’ tint.
Achilles appeals to his mother, Thetis, the sea-nymph, to request that the king of the gods,
punish the Achaeans. He tells her the story of his conflict with Agamemnon. She says that she
will discuss the matter with Zeus, and that the king of the gods owes her a favor. Thetis says
that she will do this when Zeus comes back from thirteen days of feasting with the Aethiopians.
The ship carrying Chryseis is being navigated by Odysseus, the Achaean commander. After the
ship lands, he brings the maiden back to her father and makes a sacrifice to Apollo. Chryses
feels joyful at the sight of his daughter, and he prays that the Achaean camp is relieved of the
plague. His prayer is acknowledged by Apollo. Odysseus goes back to his comrades.
The beginning of more severe suffering is all that comes after the end of the plague. Achilles
has not participated in battle since he quarreled with Agamemnon. After twelve days pass,
Thetis appeals to Zeus, as she promised to do. Zeus shows reluctance to assist the Trojans. This
is because Hera, his wife, supports the Greeks. However, he does finally agree. Hera is
extremely angry when she finds out that Zeus is assisting the Trojans. However, Hephaestus,
her son, persuades her to refrain from causing conflict among the gods for the sake of the
mortals.
Analysis
Similarly to other ancient epic poems, The Iliad’s subject is presented clearly from the
beginning. The poem’s focus is specified in its opening word: menin, or “rage.” The Iliad
focusses on the rage of Achilles, including how it starts, how it weakens the Achaean army, and
how it is eventually redirected to the Trojans. While the Trojan War overall is an important part
of this work, the larger context of conflict eventually provides background instead of subject
matter. By the beginning of Achilles and Agamemnon’s quarrel, the Trojan War has been in
progress for almost ten years. The absence of Achilles from the battle, by contrast, lasts merely
days, and the epic concludes shortly following his return. The poem does not describe the war’s
origins or its end (which is the context of Achilles’ wrath). Rather, it examines the origins and
the end of the wrath itself, thereby narrowing the poem’s scope and changing it from the larger
conflict between two peoples to a narrower one between individuals.
However, while the poem’s central focus is a mortal’s rage, it is also significantly concerned
with the gods’ motivations and actions. Even prior to Homer describing the conflict between
Achilles and Agamemnon, Homer tells us that Apollo bears responsibility for the conflict. There
are two general ways in which gods participate in mortal affairs in the poem. Firstly, they have a
role as external forces that impact the course of events. An example where we see this is when
Apollo causes a plague to descend on the Achaean army. Secondly, they are representative of
the internal forces that impact individuals. An instance showing this is when the goddess of
wisdom, Athena, stops Achilles from abandoning reason and encourages him to hurt
Agamemnon with insults and words instead of the sword. However, while it’s true that the gods
play a significant part in the partial determination of grave matters of violence and peace, as
well as life and death, they have one other function: comic relief. Their silly squabbles, double-
dealings, and intrigues frequently appear humorous in their pettiness in comparison to the
slaughter and death that is such a pervasive part of the mortal realm. Zeus and Hera’s bickering,
for instance, is a much more light-hearted example of conflict than that of between Achilles and
Agamemnon.
The gods of the Iliad, in fact, seem more prone to the folly usually ascribed to humans than the
humans themselves. We see this in how they appear unable to fight the impulses of shallow
grudges and base appetites. Zeus undertakes to assist the Trojans, but he does so because he
owes a favor to Thetis, not because he feels he has any profound moral reasons. In a similar
way, Zeus’s hesitation in saying that he will do this comes from his worry about annoying his
wife instead of any kind of worthy wish to allow fate to proceed as it wishes. Zeus silences Hera
when she becomes upset through the threat of strangling her. These examples of domestic
strife, hurt feelings, and partisanship are prevalent among the gods we see in The Iliad. The
Iliad portrays the gods and goddesses as being less imperturbable and invincible than people
might think them to be. The audience probably expects these types of relationship
dysfunctionalities and unreasonable sensitivities in human characters, but certainly not in
divine ones.
The conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon displays one of the most significant aspects of
the value system of ancient Greece: the focus on personal honor. Both Achilles and
Agamemnon make their respective individual glories their focus rather than the well-being of
their forces. As the Achaean force’s chief, Agamemnon thinks that he deserves to have the best
possible prize—Briseis—and he is therefore willing to be antagonistic to Achilles, the most
important Achaean warrior, to gain that which he believes should be properly his. Achilles
would prefer to defend the claim he feels he has to Briseis, who he sees as his personal spoil of
war. He believes that she is owed to him. He would like to defuse the situation after that. Each
man thinks about giving one another humiliation rather than carrying out an act of duty or
honor. In doing this, each therefore puts his own personal interest ahead of the interest of his
people. This jeopardizes the war effort.