The Iliad, Book 1

Summary:  

In case you were not already aware of the story of the Iliad, the opening "invocation to the Muse" really puts it out there:  

Sing, Goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus—
that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans
to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls
deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies
carrion food for dogs and birds—

all in fulfilment of the will of Zeus.

So we pretty much know what's going to happen. But the first book sets up the conflict between Achilles (commander of the Myrmidons) and Agamemnon (the King of Mycenae and the head of the Achaean army.  The Achaeans have ransacked a Trojan village and the soldiers have been given spoils of war, including beautiful women.  Two women, Briseis and Chryseis, were given to Achilles and Agamemnon respectively.  Chryseis's father, Chryses, begs for her return but is denied.  Being a priest, he prays to Apollo for assistance, and the Sun God willingly obliges, sending a plague to the Achaean army.

After nine days of this, Hera inspires Achilles to request a conference to figure out what is causing the plague and how to stop it.  At this meeting, Calchas (a powerful soothsayer) reveals the cause of the curse.  Agamemnon is furious, but he agrees to return Chryseis on one condition: that he get to take Briseis from Achilles.

Achilles is incensed and insulted by this demand.  I get the feeling we are supposed to be siding with Achilles here, whose honor has been wounded.  But honestly, I can't side with either of them when they are trading women like livestock.  The two exchange threats and Achilles makes a move as if to kill Agamemnon, but he is stopped by Athena.  Hera has sent Athena to stop him, as she likes both Achilles and Agamemnon and does not want them to die.

Athena's intervention momentarily calms things, and we hear from Nestor, an elderly and wise advisor to the army.  First, he puts the two combatants in their place with this:

You are both younger men than I.

And I’ve been colleague of better men than you,                                                          
men who never showed me any disrespect,
men whose like I have not seen again,
and never will...

Then he offers this wise advice:

Agamemnon, you’re an excellent man,
but do not take Briseis from Achilles.
Let that pass. Achaea’s sons gave her to him first.
And you, Peleus’ son, don’t seek to fight the king,
not as your enemy. The sceptre-bearing king,
whose powerful authority comes from Zeus,
never shares honours equally. Achilles,                                                                         
you may be stronger, since your mother was divine,                                                      
but he’s more powerful, for he rules more men.
But you, son of Atreus, check your anger.
Set aside, I urge you, your rage against Achilles,
who provides, in the middle of war’s evils,
a powerful defence for all Achaeans.

Nestor succeeds in preventing the fight.  But he does not succeed in getting Agamemnon to forget about taking Briseis.  Agamemnon takes Chryseis back to her father and the plague ends.  He sends his heralds to get Briseis, and she goes "against her will."  The implication here is that she wanted to stay with Achilles, which is (I suppose) a point in his favor, but it's all pretty grim.  When the heralds leave, Achilles is crying.  Not because of any feeling for Briseis, of course, but because his pride is so wounded.

Sitting at the shore, he cries out to his mother, Thetis.  This is the afore-mentioned "divine mother" from Nestor's speech.  Thetis is a sea nymph, and she lives with her father, the old man of the sea, at the bottom of the ocean.  She comes to console her son, mourning that a) he is to die young and b) that his short life is so filled with pain.  She agrees to go request Zeus's help in getting revenge on Agamemnon by giving the Trojans an edge against the Achaeans.  Apparently she has some pull with the chief God, as she once saved his life during an attempted uprising by the other gods.  She does so, and Zeus somewhat reluctantly agrees.  Apparently he anticipates being hassled by Hera, who already suspects him of favoring the Trojans.  

And he's right!  As soon as Zeus goes in for a feast, Hera begins pestering him about Thetis and her request, which she correctly surmises will hurt the Achaeans.  Things are about to get super ugly between Zeus and Hera, but Hera's son, Hephaestus, intervenes and smooths things over.  The gods go on to enjoy a delightful feast, which ends with Zeus and Hera in bed together.  So all is well-ish with the gods.  In the meanwhile, Achilles has refused to fight with Agamemnon and the Achaeans, "[b]ut he pined away at heart, remaining idle by his ships, yearning for the hue and cry and clash of battle."

Notes on reading:

After reading only a few verses of the book, I decided to keep a little "character log" in which I jot down a character's name, affiliations and some notes.  It has already been helpful to me in keeping track of people, especially given the unfamiliar names.

Apart from keeping the names straight, I'm surprised by how easy it is to follow the story thus far.  I thought the language would be confusing, but it's really not too bad.

I will also note that I specifically chose a version that uses the Greek names of the gods, as opposed to the Roman names.  Perhaps it does not make a difference, but it just feels wrong to be reading the Iliad and seeing Athena referred to as "Minerva" in the text.  I'm clearly not a classical scholar, but the translation I am reading, which can be found here, seems great.

So that's book one!  Sorry if my analysis is a bit juvenile.  This is my first foray into the classics.

-Lily