More than 3,000 years ago, the Achaeans, as the ancient Greeks called themselves, sailed east to Troy (also known as Ilion) and then spent 10 long years in a bloody war against the Trojans.
Ancient poets and bards wrote many verses and tales about these heroes and their adventures, but the most famous was the one we call the Iliad.
Like many good war stories, the Iliad does not describe everything that happened. In fact, it says very little about the conflict itself. The backdrop for the entire epic is just a few months in the last year of fighting. Thus, the Iliad really is a poem about a young man, a general, the quarrel between the two, and the reasons the Greeks nearly lost.
For anyone wishing to understand the Iliad and why it begins as it does, it is necessary to first meet five of the main characters in the tale. Achilles, the most important of the five, is a man in his late teens who is acknowledged by all as the best warrior in the Greek army. Agamemnon is the leader of the Greek army and a man who is very proud to be king. To bring his army to Troy, he had to sacrifice much to the gods, including his own daughter. Briseis is a young woman, whom the Greeks captured and gave to Achilles as a reward for his valor, while Chryseis is the young woman who was given to Agamemnon as a prize because he was the king. The fifth person is Chryses, a priest of the god Apollo and the father of Chryseis.
Sing, oh goddess, the anger of Achilles…
この記事は Dig Into History Magazine for Kids and Teens の October 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Dig Into History Magazine for Kids and Teens の October 2017 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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