Chapter summary

    Finally, after waiting eight chapters ... the war begins.  At the shores of Troy the Greek make camp and ready them selves for war.  When Agamemnon checks on his soldiers he finds Achilles unready, but when the time came for war he rode out to battle the gods stood above siding with this or that team, disagreeing and arguing about the wars outcome.  Achilles found himself fighting Cycnus "' If you can not bleed, you shall choke to death...'" (P.56)!As he rushed to the aid of Agamemnon he found that he did not need it.  As night fell both sides retreated to their camps.  "All night long funeral fires burned by the sea shore, while the mourning cries of women rose on the air of Troy." (P.57)

Character Catalog

Zeus     "Zeus ... no longer desired the goddess ... his own rule must be ended if a god became grater than  he"(P.4)

Thetis  "... she was as hard to catch as the sun on the dancing water"(P.3/4)

Peleus "... Peleus would not let her go until she had promised to be his bride"(P.4)

Hera   "... stately Hera, queen of queens"(P.8)

Athene   "... gray-eyed Athene ... in her simple dress.  Her head bare of her helmet ... she had laid aside her weapons of war."(P.8)

Aphrodite   " ... smiling Aphrodite ... her voice ... confident and merry ... [her] sea blue eyes laughed ... "(P.10)

Priam   " 'What is the life of one child against the welfair of all"(P.7)

Hecuba   "Queen Hecuba ... awakened ... she had dreamed that the son she had hoped to bare was on child, but a flaming torch."(P.6)

Paris   "... his nature was soft and peaceful and he was ignorant of the world"(P.7)

Discord   "... evil goddess, dark discord ... sat in the empty halls of Olympus, bruting over revenge"(P.4)

Hector   "' Hector...declares that i spend too much time with my lyre and neglect the weapons of war."(P.12/13)    

Odysseus   "He longed to stay with his dear wife Penelope,who has just borne him a son."(P.16)

Palamedes   "... he jumped on penelope, snatched her child, and flung it down on the sand straight under the oxen's feet."(P.18)

Arichils   "... famous for his strength, his speed, and his beauty..."(P.21)

Chiron   "... Chiron, half horse, half man, who [was] ... tutor to manny heroes."(P.21)

Iphigenia    Iphigenia knew nothing of a sacrifice, and only thought that she would be married to Achilles, but no marraige was to come.  Because of this "The poor girl came fill of eagerness and decked out in her best clothes..." (P.29).  She remained calm when she found there would not be a wedding, and instead a death, her death. 

Calchas    Calches was the prophet of King Agmemnon "...who knew the minds of the gods and could fortell the future."  (P.28).  He advised the king to send the troops home and to give up.  Only when Agamemnon refused did he tell the king what must be done to change the wind.  His intentions were true and he wished not the death of Iphegenia but the kind could not be swayed.

Agamemnon   Agamemnon was a king, a king whose pride was more to him that the life of his own daughter.  His pride and green won over his conscience and he killed his daughter, for "...the kings nature could not bear the reproach of failure..."  (P.30).  His fear of failure and need for power let his judgement cloud over.

Helen   "... the dazzling appearance of the loveliest woman in the upon earth."(P.14)

Proteilaus   "With a sudden gesture he raised his spear in the airand shouted to his rowers ... "(P.46)

Laodamia   "... she sat long hours in her chamber weeping or wandering silently the unfinished court yard of her home."(P.44)