The Iliad Summary and Context
(1) Agamemnon and Achilles kidnap Chryseis and Briseis.
(2) Chryses, Chryseis’s dad, is a priest of Apollo.
He summons the help of Apollo to get his daughter back.
(3) Apollo sends a plague on the Greek Army.
(4) Calcas, the seer, reveals the cause of the plague.
Agamemnon gives Chryseis back to her father.
Agamemnon steals Briseis from Achilles.
Achilles says he does not want to fight anymore.
(5) Patroclus fights in his place, wearing Achilles’s armor.
(6) Hector kills Patroclus and takes his armor as a prize.
Achilles comes back for revenge and fights Hector.
Hector is wearing Achilles’s armor, so he knows the weak
points.
(7) Achilles kills Hector and
drags Hector’s body around the city of Troy!
A proper burial is the only way to heaven, so….
King Priam and Queen Hecuba beg for their son’s body.
(8) Athena advices Achilles to give the body back to the
Trojans.
Achilles and King Priam eat together, and Achilles relents.
The Trojans are able to give Hector a proper burial.
