let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.

• opposing camps
  • achaean greeks against the city of troy
• actors of the war
  • helen, queen of sparta
  • menelaeus, her husband, king of sparta
  • agamemnon, his brother, king of mycenea
  • greek heroes: achilles, odyseus, ajax, nestor
  • trojan heroes: hector and his brothers, aenas, sarpedon
• story
  • helen is kidnapped by the trojan prince paris
  • menelaeus asks for agamemnon's help to get her back
  • agamemnon gathers the greeks to sack the city of troy
  • the siege lasts ~10 years
  • toward the end of the siege, agamemnon took achilles' slave briseis for himself because achilles had pledged for the release of a young priestess, whom agamemnon had taken as a prize
  • enraged achilles decided to stop fighting all together and to wait for agamemnon to beg for his forgiveness when he realizes he needs the hero's strength to win the war
  • as agamemnon refused to return briseis and the greeks were losing ground in front of the trojans, achilles' companion patroclus asked him permission to wear his armour and lead the greeks into battle disguised as him to scare the trojans
  • in battle patroclus was slain by hector, bringing achilles back to the fight
  • achilles kills hector to avenge patroclus
  • he his later killed by paris, whose arrow was guided by apollo to touch achilles
  • the city is later taken from the inside by the greeks with the idea of odysseus to introduce a giant wooden horse into the city
• duration
  • + 10 years
• dates
  • 13th century b.c.

the epic cycle / the iliad