Chronicling the deeds of great heroes from the past who helped form a society, the Iliad is an epic poem. As such the epic stands as a bridge between history and literature. As was the tradition in epic poetry, the Iliad opens in medias res, meaning “in the middle of things,” although the action is always preceded by the poet’s invocation to the muse (the goddess) of poetry. In this invocation, Homer states his theme—the wrath, or the anger, of Achilles and its effects—and requests the aid of the muse so that he can properly recount the story. The reader is then carried to the point where the trouble originally arose, which is where the story of the Iliad actually begins: in the middle of war.
During one of the Achaian (Greek) army’s many raids on the cities located near Troy, the Achaians captured two beautiful enemy maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. The troops awarded these girls to Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the army, and to Achilles, the Achaians’ greatest warrior.
Chryses, the father of Chryseis, pleads for her return but Agamemnon denies the plea. Consequently, Chryses prays to Apollo who brings a plague on the Achaian camp. On the tenth day of the plague, Achilles can wait no longer for King Agamemnon to act to end the plague. Usurping Agamemnon’s authority, Achilles calls an assembly of the army, and he suggests that a soothsayer be called upon to determine the cause of Apollo’s anger. Kalchas, an Achaian soothsayer, volunteers to explain the cause of the pestilence, but only if he is guaranteed personal protection. Achilles agrees to this condition.
When the soothsayer reveals that the plague is the result of Agamemnon’s refusal to return Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon is furious that he has been publicly named as being responsible for the plague. He insists that if he is forced to surrender Chryseis, his rightful war prize, then he must be repaid with Achilles’ war prize, Briseis.
However, Achilles is stunned by the public disgrace of having Agamemnon demand Briseis, and he refuses to accept the indignity that he feels Agamemnon has made him undergo in full view of all the soldiers. Thus, he announces that he is withdrawing all of his troops from battle. He will not fight, and, furthermore, he and his men will return to their own country as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, Agamemnon decides to appease Apollo; he will return Chryseis, his war prize. He sends her safely aboard a ship heading home, and then he sends his heralds to collect Briseis (Achilles’ war prize) for him. Surprisingly, Achilles surrenders the girl without any difficulty.
Achilles, in despair, prays to his mother, Thetis, the sea-goddess asking her to use her influence with Zeus to ensure that the Trojan armies defeat his fellow Achaian soldiers. Achilles hopes that this result will cause disgrace for Agamemnon and so repay the wrong that the King did to Achilles.
Thetis visits Zeus on Olympos, and the king of the gods agrees to aid the Trojans, although he expresses a fear that his wife, Hera, will be annoyed because she is jealous of Thetis and hates the Trojans and hence cannot bear to see them win the war. Readers discover that Hera does indeed hate the Trojans, but she fears Zeus’ wrath even more, and so she quiets her protests. The first book ends with a banquet of the gods in Zeus’ palace.
