person
Briseis
also: Βρισηΐς
Achilles' captive woman, seized by Agamemnon's heralds in Book 1 as compensation for Chryseis — the injury to Achilles' honour that drives the poem's whole plot; she mourns Patroclus, who had promised to make her Achilles' wife.
Reading notes
- The Iliad §1.173 Briseis
A captive woman awarded to Achilles as a prize of war; Agamemnon's seizure of her to replace Chryseis is the personal insult that drives Achilles to withdraw from the fighting, and her return in Book 19 helps seal his reconciliation with Agamemnon.