The Iliad Research Paper

Briseis

The Iliad is a Greek poem consisting of 24 books by Homer. It is based on the tenth and final year of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is fought because Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband, King Menelaus. Helen is taken while Paris is a guest in the home of King Menelaus. This is the greatest insult, to disrespect your host while being a guest in their home.This sets of a 10 year war between King Priam and his sons of Troy and King Menelaus of Sparta. In the tenth year Menelaus’ brother King Agamemnon, leader of the Achaean army, is forced to give back his war prize,Chryseis. The Iliad tells of the dispute between King Agamemnon and Achilles after King Agamemnon is forced to give back Chryseis. This caused Agamemnon to demand

Briseis, was a princess of great beauty, which made her a valuable war prize and with her came status. According to an unsigned online essay, “Briseis, Slave of Achilles,” the author states, “The beauty of Briseis was very important to her, and probably saved her life, but it also made her the slave of Achilles.” In “The Iliad, Odyssey, and Epic Tradition” by an unknown author, the author states, “Briseis is called a geras…a geras is a special prize given to a major figure, apart from the general divisions of the spoils among all the army.” Women were the spoils of war and became the sex slaves of the warriors. In Stephen Mitchell’s translation of The Iliad, he refers to Briseis as “…a beautiful young woman whom the army gave to Achilles as a war prize." Briseis being a war prize gives whoever owns her more status. In “Battle Lines” by Daniel Mendelsohn, he asserts, “…but for the heroes in Homeric epic the spoils they amass- their quality, quantity, and provenance- are the symbols of their status, the markers of who they are in the world.” For this reason alone King Agamemnon decides to take Briseis from Achilles after he is denied his own war prize, Chryseis, He needed to restore his own

The Greek women are always in a vulnerable position during war. They are the spoils of war. They are raped and seized as property by their conquerors. Depending on their beauty and status they either become concubines or the wife of the warriors. Briseis has many similarities to Helen. Helen is taken from her home and her people and becomes Paris’ wife. Briseis is taken from her home and all that she knew and loved is destroyed. According to Casey Due, in Homeric Variations on a Lament by Briseis, she states, “Achilles makes it clear that…Briseis is the equivalent of Helen for him. Even though she is a captive of war, he loves her as a man loves his women.” Briseis and Chryseis roles are also parallel. They are both seen as prizes of war. Chryseis was Agamemnon’s war prize and Briseis was Achilles’. Briseis role as a woman during war is parallel with all of the enslaved women of this time as they have all experience loss of home, loved ones, and many sorrows one form or another. In The Iliad translated by Steve Mitchell, he asserts, “Achilles’ slave girl Briseis mourns for the dead Patrols and we are given a momentary entrance into the lives of the other slave women: ‘Thus she grieved, and the women joined in her wailing for Patroclus, and each one wept for her own private