In book one of the Iliad, we enter the Trojan War, which is now in its 10th year. And we meet Achilles, the greatest fighter for the Achaeans, and he is enraged. King Agamemnon has brought illness upon the Greek army by keeping Chryseis as a prize. Chryseis is the daughter of a priest of the god Apollo.
Agamemnon refuses to give her back. The priest calls on Apollo for help and Apollo sends a plague. Achilles tells Agamemnon to give up Chryseis. Agamemnon will not accept future compensation.
He's a warrior and he lives moment by moment. He demands immediate restoration of his pride. Agamemnon claims Briseis, who Achilles has taken as a prize.
The goddess Athena intervenes, stopping Achilles from killing Agamemnon at that moment. But Achilles vows Agamemnon will beg for his skills as a warrior one day. And he says, I refuse to fight on the Greek side in the war.
He appeals to his mother, the goddess Thetis, to avenge his pride. Thetis secures the pledge of Zeus that the Achaeans will lose the war until the insult to Achilles'honor has been repaired. As stated in its iconic first line, the Iliad is about the consequences of Achilles'rage.
It's about pride and honor. Honor is a sacred concept in the ancient Greek world. world. Agamemnon's loss of a highly valued prize is a significant loss of honor, and his pride gets in the way of even considering it, even for the promise of valuable future prizes.
He zeroes in on Achilles, who stands up to him, and each man insults the other's honor and pride. When Agamemnon takes Briseis, not only is Achilles dishonored, but also his mother, Thetis, by extension. Agamemnon has not only insulted his greatest warrior, but he has also insulted the gods, bringing to boil all the ingredients that advance the plot. Throughout the epic poem, the gods pull the strings of the human world. The conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon has obvious roots in human nature, but it would not have developed without the plague sent by Apollo.
Hera, the queen of the gods, also contributes by prompting Achilles to seek the cause of the plague. To the ancient Greeks, both internal motivations and and events beyond human control could be explained as the work of the gods. Achilles is only prevented from killing Agamemnon by the goddess Athena, emphasizing the power of his rage as beyond human control.