Homer’s Iliad

Homer’s Iliad

With the assistance of Agamemnon and Achilleus, the Achaians were able to gain the victory over the Thebe. After the war ended, in order to honor Agamemnon and Achilleus, the Achaians equally distributed their prize, in addition, Chryseis for Agamemnon and Briseus’s daughter for Achilleus. However the father of Chryseis, who happened to be the priest of Apollo, came in to ransom back his daughter. But Agamemnon refused to give her back and drove him away. The priest was horrified and angry, consequently, he prayed to Apollo for the revenge of the Achaians. Apollo heard him. Thereupon the god of sun let go his arrow which brought the chaos to the Achaians. Nine days of fire and plague was the sequence of Apollo’s arrow. To rescue the situation, Achilleus called in the bird interpreter, Kalchas, to inquire about the origin of the devastation. After knowing why Apollo became so rage with the Achaians, Achilleus then demanded Agememnon to let Chryseis go. Consequently, Agamemnon was unpleased because he felt as if Achilleus had ordered him to give his prize back. Nonetheless, without any other choice, Agamemnon sent the priest’s daughter back. Yet Agamemnon decided to take away Achilleus’s prize as his replacement. Achilleus felt irritated and considered Agamemnon’s action as a big disgrace of his pride. In short, Agamemnon felt it’s unfair that he had to return his prize and became the victim of the unjustifiable prize distribution. While on the other hand, Achilleus felt that he had been dishonored after Agamemnon had taken away his prize. In my opinion, there is one thing very similar in both cases. That is, even though both Achilleus and Agamemnon was a great warrior but, at that very moment, they have no other option but accept the condition. In Agamemnon’s case, I think that he knowing that the survival of the Achaians have to come first. Likewise, Achilleus was warned by the goddess, Athena, to suppress his anger.