The 10th Year of the War (Books 1-2)

Things have been getting very crazy and stressful around here. No one ever seems to get along. For example, Achilles and Agamemnon never seem to see eye to eye. From what I've heard, I don't think they ever will. Agamemnon decided to take Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, who serves as a priest of the god Apollo. This obviously pissed off Chryses that his daughter was taken away from him, and so he chose to ask for help from Apollo. Chryses originally went to Agamemnon first, begging for his daughter back, offering an enormous ransom. But of course Agamemnon refused him. So Apollo stepped in by sending a plague among the Greek camp, causing the death of many soldiers.

Ten days went by, and Achilles finally called an assembly of the Achaean army. Achilles asked the "soothsayer" to discover the cause of the plague. The name of the soothsayer is Calchas. Calchas told Achilles that the plague was created by Apollo, in revenge of Chryses. This made Agamemnon very angry once he heard Chryses was behind the doing of the plague. Agamemnon then confronted Chryses, offering Chryses' daughter's return, only if Achilles gives him Briseis. "And now my prize you threaten in person to strip from me, for whom I labored much, the gift of the sons of the Achaians." Achilles said in anger (book 1, lines 161-162).

Long story short, Agamemnon sent heralds to get Briseis from Achilles' tent. Achilles turned to his mother, Thetis for help. Praying to her and asking that she has Zeus, king of the gods, to punish the Achaeans. Apparently, the rumor around hear is that Zeus owes Thetis a favor. Achilles claimed that his mother said this and that Zeus should help. Well, the rumor must be true because Zeus agreed to help the Trojans. His wife Hera wasn't too thrilled to hear this.

So, as promised, Zeus helped them out by sending a false dream to Agamemnon. I've heard many different stories to how the dream went, Agamemnon only knows the true dream besides Zeus. However, I do hear the best out of all the gossip around here. I have my sources of course. But anyway, it sounds like the dream had someone who looked like Nestor come and persuade him to attack the city's walls. By doing so, he can take Troy. Personally, I would never believe this dream if it were mine. The real Nestor encouraged Agamemnon to arrange his troops by city and clan, allowing them to fight next to people they know and are close to. I'm not quite sure what I'd prefer, but I think fighting with people you know would definitely help.



Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy