The Iliad

• Achilles

  Known as being the Greeks' greatest warrior. He is also known for his all-consuming rage following a slight by the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon. After his best friend, Patroclus is killed, Achilles' rage merges with grief, and he slaughters Hector, Prince of Troy.
• Agamemnon

  Legendary king of Mycenae and leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War of the Illiad. Agamemnon is a great warrior but also a selfish ruler who famously upset his invincible champion Achilles, a feud that prolonged the war and suffering of his men.
• Menelaos

  King of Sparta. The abduction of his wife, Helen, led to the Trojan War. During the war, Menelaus served under his elder brother Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the Greek forces.
• Chryseis

  Daughter of the priest, Chryses. Taken by Agamemnon as a war prize during the Trojan War and he tried to ransom her. But Agamemnon refused to let her go, after which a plague was sent through the Greek armies by an oracle of Apollo.
• Briseis

  Her role as a status symbol is at the heart of the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon which initiates the plot of Homer's epic. She was married to Mynes, a son of the King of Lyrnessus until the Achaeans sacked her city and was given to Achilles as a war prize.
• Thetis

  A sea goddess, the mother of Achilles; demonstrates her love and support of Achilles by coming to his aid several times.

  Thetis "protects" Achilles by providing him with the means to reenter the battle from which he will not return. The shield, the supreme implement of "safety," becomes the instrument of his fatality.
• Priam

  King of Troy, father of Hector and Paris.

  While Priam mourns for Hector, Achilles mourns for what his father will endure when he, Achilles, is dead. By their mourning together, Achilles' wrath becomes anguish, and Priam's anguish becomes forgiveness. Together, the two men form a special kinship through suffering.
• Hecuba

  Queen of Troy, mother of Hector and Paris.

  Taking Hector's advice, she chooses a gown taken from Alexander's treasure to give as an offering to the goddess and leads the Trojan women to the temple of Athena to pray for help.
• Hector

  Mightiest warrior in the Trojan army. Although he meets his match in Achilles, he wreaks havoc on the Achaean army during Achilles' period of absence. He leads the assault of the Achaean ship, and he kills Patroclus.

  The famous scene is when he has to say goodbye to his wife and young son, his son starts crying when he sees him in his armor.
• Paris

  Paris is responsible for starting the Trojan War because he kidnaps Helen, the wife of King Menelaos, and the Greeks go to Troy to get her back.

  In the end, he shoots an arrow into Achilles' heel, which is his weak spot.
• Helen

  Wife of Menelaus, kidnapped by Paris.

  She was the cause of the Trojan War.
• Andromache

  Wife of Hector.

  Important scene: Hector says goodbye to her and their son before he goes off to battle. Andromache stands up for herself and asks Hector to not go off to die in battle, and instead to think of her and their son’s future.
• Myrmidons

  A troop of fierce warriors who fought under the leadership of the hero Achilles. (Greek side)
• Patroclus

  Achilles' closest companion. He fought for the Greeks alongside Achilles until Achilles refused to fight. He then took Achilles' armor and went into battle, ultimately being killed by Hector.
• Odysseus

  One of the greatest of the Greek heroes who fought during the Trojan War. Known for his cunning intellect, Odysseus crafted the plan of the Trojan horse, that destroyed the city of Troy and ended the Trojan war.
• Sarpedon

  Sarpedon fought on the side of the Trojans but was slain by the Greek warrior Patroclus. Zeus considers saving his son Sarpedon, but Hera persuades him that the other gods would either look down upon him for it or try to save their own mortal offspring in turn.
• Hephaestus

  The god of the forge, smiths, and craftsmen, impacted the events of the story. He calmed his mother, the goddess Hera, in the beginning of the story so the gods could get along better. Later he forged a new set of armor for the Achaean hero Achilles to repay Thetis, Achilles' mother, for having helped him.
• Iris

  Goddess of the rainbow; is sent by the god Apollo to deliver a message to the Trojan prince Hector, urging him to return to the battlefield, which leads him to die in the end.
• Provide the name of Hector's father and mother

  King Priam and Queen Hecuba
• Who were the three men sent to an embassy in an attempt to persuade Achilles to return to battle?

  Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix
• Who were the people responsible for killing Patroclus?

  Hector and Apollo, also partly Zeus since he controls the fate of most of the characters
• What's the name of Achilles' best friend who was killed while wearing Achilles' armor?

  Patroclus
• Paris gave Aphrodite the golden apple.
• Who killed Achilles?

  Paris shot a poisoned arrow at Achilles' heel
• Achilles was angry at Agamemnon because Agamemnon took Achilles' war prize, Briseis.
• The Iliad is an epic.
• Who is Thetis?


  Achilles' mother
• Who is Patroclus?

  Achilles' best friend, who died later in the book.
• Who made the shield of Achilles?

  Hephaestus
• What happens in the last book of the Iliad?


  Achilles returns the body of Hector to King Priam and lets him bury Hector to have a proper funeral.