David Crigler’s Reviews > The Iliad > Status Update

As heavy fighting resumes, the goddess Athena fills Diomedes with raging courage and power. She forbids him from fighting any god except for Aphrodite if he encounters her. Pandarus shoots Diomedes in the shoulder. He kills Pandarus with a spear and shatters Aeneas’ hip with a boulder. When Aphrodite rescues her son Aeneas, Diomedes slashes her wrist. She drops Aeneas and flees back to Mount Olympus.

Zeus teases Hera and Athena, noting that Menelaus won the duel, but Aphrodite saved Paris. Athena takes the form of a Trojan soldier and finds the archer Pandarus. Pandarus shoots an arrow at Menelaus for fame and glory. Agamemnon walks through the Greek camp to rally his commanders. He scolds or tests others like Odysseus and Diomedes, reminding them of the brave deeds of their fathers to spur them into action.

This whole book literally settles the dispute over Helen lol.

Zeus sending a deceptive dream to Agamemnon promising victory. Agamemnon tests his army's morale by telling them to go home, but panics when they actually rush to the ships. Odysseus and Nestor rally the men, Thersites is beaten for insubordination, and the massive "Catalog of Ships" details the Greek and Trojan forces.

King Agamemnon refuses to ransom a captive woman named Chryseis to her father, a priest of Apollo. A furious Apollo sends a deadly plague upon the Greek army. When Agamemnon is forced to give her back, he takes Achilles’ captive woman, Briseis, instead, sparking a massive rage that causes Achilles to quit the war.