Briseis
Briseis was the captive woman taken from Achilles by Agamemnon — the cause of Achilles' wrath that nearly destroyed the Greek army at Troy.
The Legend of Briseis
A Trojan noblewoman captured during the war, Briseis was awarded to Achilles as a prize of honour. When Agamemnon lost his own captive Chryseis — forced to return her after Apollo sent a plague — he seized Briseis to assert dominance. Achilles, enraged, withdrew from battle, and the Trojans under Hector drove the Greeks back to their ships. Only after Patroclus died wearing Achilles' armour did the hero return. Briseis's fate illustrates how mortal women bore the brunt of conflicts fought by heroes and decided by Zeus.
Parents
Briseus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Briseis has almost no voice in the Iliad — she weeps silently when led away. Modern retellings like Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls give her a perspective.
Explore Further
Briseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Captured woman taken from Achilles by Agamemnon, whose seizure caused Achilles to withdraw from the Trojan War.
Chryseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses whose capture by Agamemnon triggered the plague and quarrel that opens the Iliad.
Chryseis
🗡 heroCaptive who caused the quarrel of the Iliad
Chryseis was the priest's daughter whose captivity by Agamemnon and forced return sparked the quarrel with Achilles that drives the entire Iliad.
Hecuba
🗡 heroQueen of Troy
Hecuba was the queen of Troy who watched her husband, sons, and city destroyed — embodying the total devastation that war inflicts on women.
Chryses
🗡 heroPriesthood, Apollo
Priest of Apollo whose daughter's captivity triggered the plague that opened the Iliad
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts
Omphale
🗡 heroNone recorded
Lydian queen who owned Heracles as a slave and made him wear women's clothing
Andromache
🗡 heroWife of Hector
Andromache was Hector's devoted wife whose farewell with him on Troy's walls is the most tender scene in the Iliad — and whose fate after Troy's fall was the cruelest.
Aethra
🗡 heroMotherhood, Captivity, Loyalty
Princess of Troezen, mother of Theseus, who became a captive slave in Troy.
Menelaus
🗡 heroKing of Sparta, husband of Helen
Menelaus was the king of Sparta whose stolen wife Helen was the cause of the Trojan War — yet he survived the war, the return, and old age, a rare happy ending among Greek heroes.
Hecuba
🗡 herovengeance
Queen of Troy who survived the fall, witnessed the sacrifice of Polyxena, and took savage revenge on the man who murdered her son Polydorus.
Penthesilea
🗡 heroAmazon queen who fought at Troy
Penthesilea was the Amazon queen who came to fight for Troy after Hector's death — killed by Achilles, who wept when he saw her beauty.