In the Iliad, Achilles loves Briseis, comparing their relationship with that of man and wife (he refers to her as his wife and bride often) and explicitly to that of Menelaus and Helen, which was, after all, what the war is about.Īchilles is angry at Agamemnon, and seethes with rage in his tent: understandably made furious by the thought of Agamemnon sleeping with Briseis. Despite Agamemnon's grand offers of treasure and women, he did not return to the fray until the death of Patroclus. His absence has disastrous consequences for the Greeks. This prompted a quarrel with Achilles that culminated with Briseis' delivery to Agamemnon and Achilles' protracted withdrawal from battle. When Achilles led the assault on that city during the Trojan War, her family died at his hands she was subsequently given to Achilles as a war prize.Īccording to Book 1 of the Iliad, when Agamemnon was compelled by Apollo to give up his own woman, Chryseis, he demanded Briseis as compensation. In Greek mythology, Briseis, a daughter of Briseus was a princess of Lyrnessus. Her character lies at the center of a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that drives the plot of Homer's Iliad. 490 BC, Louvre (G 152).īrisēís ( Greek: Βρισηΐς also known as Hippodameia Greek: Ἱπποδάμεια) was a mythical queen in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War. Briseis and Phoenix, red-figure kylix, ca.
0 kommentar(er)
