Eric Jackson

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Greek army, led by Agamemnon, is camped on the shore near the city. The priest of Apollo, Chryses, has asked Agamemnon to allow him to ransom his daughter Chryseis whom Agamemnon has claimed as his slave, and has been rudely rejected. Chryses prays to Apollo to help him, and Apollo sends a plague upon the Greeks. To pacify the god, it is decided at a general assembly that Agamemnon must return his slave girl. Agamemnon agrees, but demands that he be given Achilles' concubine, Briseis, in exchange. Achilles feels dishonoured and withdraws from the war, taking with him Patroclus and their soldiers. Achilles appeals to his mother for revenge, and the goddess Thetis convinces Zeus to side with the Trojans. Zeus and his wife Hera, who supports the Greeks, have an argument, settled by Hera's son, the smithy-god Hephaestus. (outline found in Alberto Manguel's; "Homer's 'The Iliad,' and 'The Odyssey:' A Biography." (2007)).