Summary

The Iliad assumes a series of events preceding the action it describes, especially the abduction of Menelaus' wife, Helen, by Paris, son of Priam, the king of Troy, and then the subsequent organisation of an Achaean expedition against Troy, commanded by Menelaus' brother, Agamemnon. Along with Agamemnon and Menelaus, the Achaean chieftains include Ajax, son of Telamon, Diomedes, Odysseus, the old counsellor Nestor, and the greatest of all the Achaean warriors, Achilles, and his friend and ally, Patroclus. The most important figures on the Trojan side are Priam and the rest of the royal household: Hecabe, Priam's wife; the pair who caused the war, Helen and Paris; Hector, brother of Paris and leader of the Trojan forces; and Andromache, Hector's wife. Among the other notable Trojan heroes is Aeneas, son of the love-goddess Aphrodite, who is herself active on the Trojan side. Other deities likewise support one of the opposing armies. Like Aphrodite, Apollo, god of ritual purity, and Ares, the war-god, assist the Trojans, whereas Athene, the sea-god Poseidon and Zeus' consort, Hera, support the Achaeans. Zeus himself, king of the gods, intervenes on both sides at different times, without such partiality.