Reading Notes: The Iliad Part A
I read section A of The Iliad for the first reading assignment this week. The portion of this first half of The Iliad that stood out to me was The Quarrel. I like the smaller scope of this section. Rather than use a large battle with action and fight sequences, this section of the story tells its tale in two simple locations primarily through dialogue. It is a tense and dramatic scene of a subordinate rising up against and abandoning his commander. It sets up the coming battle so well and really makes you hate Agamemnon.
Plot
The Greeks take the city of Chryse and divide the spoils among themselves. Agamemnon was given a girl named Chryseis, the daughter of the priest of Apollo for the city. Because, you know, women are objects that you can just take and give to each other. Anyways, the priest comes to Agamemnon with a bunch of gold to buy his daughter back. Agamemnon, ever the dick that he is, tells the priest to go away and don't come back or else. The priest went back home and prayed to Apollo to help him. Apollo heard him and was offended that his priest would be treated so poorly. He came down from Olympus and fired arrows of death on the Greeks. For nine days, the animals and men died from this "plague". On the tenth day, Achilles called a meeting.
Achilles voices how much this sucks and suggests that surely it would be better to just leave than have everyone die out from Apollo's plague. He asks a prophet why Apollo is pissed. The prophet makes him promise that he won't be hurt because what he has to say will piss off Agamemnon. Then, once promised safety, he tells everyone it's Agamemnon's fault for not giving back the priest's daughter. If they want things to stop, he has to give back the daughter and 100 beasts for nothing in exchange. Agamemnon stands up angrily and shouts that he'll give back the girl but he is not going without some treasure. Achilles tries to reason with him. He tells him he is greedy and to just wait until after they conquer troy and they'll repay him 3 times what he is losing now. Agamemnon says "Nope. I want it now. I'll take it from one of you if I have to. But, yeah let's give back the girl."
Achilles calls Agamemnon out on being a lazy, greedy ass that is taking advantage of the help the other chiefs are giving him. This isn't their war to begin with. Agamemnon tells Achilles to leave and take his men. He tells him he will have Achilles' girl he was given to replace Chryseis. Achilles loses it and draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but, Athena stops him and tells him to wait and Agamemnon will pay 3-4 times for what he has done. Achilles agrees and tells Agamemnon he'll regret dissing Achilles when the Trojans win.
Nestor stands up and tries to calm everyone down and bring peace. He tells Agamemnon not to take Achilles' prize and Achilles to respect Agamemnon. Agamemnon tells him that he's all for peace except that Achilles would use it against him and he needs to learn his place. Achilles flips out at the suggestion that Agamemnon is a better man than him. He tells him he can have the girl but if he takes anything that was already Achilles' then he'll kill him and Achilles leaves to his camp. Agamemnon sent people to pick up the girl and Achilles gives her to them freely. Although, she is taken against her will.
Achilles heads to the shore and weeps for his lost prize. His mother, Thetis, daughter of the sea, comes to him and asks what's wrong. He asks her to ask Zeus to help the Trojans so the Greeks will flee and Agamemnon will look foolish. His mother says she will. Meanwhile, the Apollo priests got his daughter back and the plague ended.
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| Athena repressing the fury of Achilles (Archive.org) |
Characters
Achilles has a very strong personality to fit his mythical super strength. He is all about honor and especially the honor of battle. He is a bit cocky but let's be honest he has the resume to back it up. He is strong willed and seems to have no issue standing for what he believes in. If it weren't for the outbursts and murderous rage, he'd almost be a caricature of a hero do-gooder.
Agamemnon is a grade A ass. The guy is a self-centered and egotistical maniac. He's stubborn, greedy and angry. I guess that's likely to happen when you are referred to as the king of kings.
These two are essentially two sides of the same coin. They're both stubborn, angry men who think very highly of themselves. However, one is slightly more of a good guy.
The other chiefs seem to be almost entirely passive in this situation. They already got some treasure and they don't stand to lose anything. This isn't their war so they aren't too concerned about winning. They just want their men to stop dying at the hand of Apollo.
Ideas
While writing these notes I couldn't get the image of a Breakfast Club style group of kids out of my head. I may use this scene as inspiration for a story that centers around to children bickering over something while their friends watch and just try to deescalate the situation.
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