The Iliad

The Iliad  – The story begins nine years into the war. A plague strikes the Greek (Achaean) camp because their leader, Agamemnon, has dishonored a priest of Apollo by refusing to return his captured daughter, Chryseis. Forced to return her, Agamemnon demands Briseis, a woman held by Achilles, as compensation. Deeply insulted, Achilles withdraws from the war and asks his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to convince Zeus to aid the Trojans so the Greeks will realize they cannot win without him.