Chryseis
Chryseis was the priest's daughter whose captivity by Agamemnon and forced return sparked the quarrel with Achilles that drives the entire Iliad.
The Legend of Chryseis
Daughter of the Trojan priest Chryses, Chryseis was captured and given to Agamemnon during the siege of Troy. When her father prayed to Apollo for her return, the god sent a devastating plague upon the Greek camp. Achilles called an assembly; the seer Calchas revealed the cause. Agamemnon, forced to surrender Chryseis, seized Achilles' prize Briseis in compensation. This insult drove Achilles from battle, and Hector pressed the Greeks to their ships. Zeus had promised Thetis that the Greeks would suffer until they honoured her son.
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Chryses
🗡 heroPriesthood, Apollo
Priest of Apollo whose daughter's captivity triggered the plague that opened the Iliad
Chryseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses whose capture by Agamemnon triggered the plague and quarrel that opens the Iliad.
Neoptolemus
🗡 heroSon of Achilles
Neoptolemus was Achilles' fierce son, brought to Troy because a prophecy declared the city could not fall without him.
Aethra
🗡 heroMotherhood, Captivity, Loyalty
Princess of Troezen, mother of Theseus, who became a captive slave in Troy.
Agamemnon
🗡 heroKing of Mycenae
Agamemnon led the Greek coalition against Troy but was murdered upon return by his wife Clytemnestra.
Amyntor
🗡 heroKingship, paternal conflict
King of Eleon or Ormenion whose curse upon his son Phoenix led to one of the Iliad's most poignant speeches
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Iphigenia
🗡 heroPrincess sacrificed for the Trojan War
Iphigenia was Agamemnon's eldest daughter, sacrificed at Aulis to gain winds for Troy — or rescued at the last moment by Artemis and whisked to Tauris.
Briseis
🗡 heroWar prize whose seizure caused Achilles' withdrawal
Briseis was the captive woman taken from Achilles by Agamemnon — the cause of Achilles' wrath that nearly destroyed the Greek army at Troy.
Diomedes
🗡 heroKing of Argos who wounded gods
Diomedes was the only mortal in the Iliad to wound two Olympian gods in a single day.
Paris
🗡 heroPrince who caused the Trojan War
Paris was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War — the most consequential act of desire in Western mythology.
Briseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Captured woman taken from Achilles by Agamemnon, whose seizure caused Achilles to withdraw from the Trojan War.