Significant other Achilles | ||
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Played by Rose Byrne, Gloria Milland Movies Troy, The Fury of Achilles, Jason and the Argonauts Similar Achilles, Patroclus, Chryseis, Agamemnon, Hector | ||
Brisēís (/braɪˈsiːɪs/; Greek: Βρισηΐς, [brisɛːís]; also known as Hippodameia Greek: Ἱπποδάμεια, [hippodámeːa]) was a mythical queen in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War. Her character lies at the heart of a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that drives the plot of Homer's Iliad.
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In Greek Mythology, Briseis, a daughter of Briseus, was a princess of Lyrnessus. Briseis was said to have had golden long hair, blue eyes, and fair skin and she was considered to be very beautiful and clever. Her husband was Mynes. When Achilles led the assault on that city during the Trojan War, she was captured and her family (including her father, mother, three brothers, and husband) died at his hands. She was subsequently given to Achilles as a war prize to be his concubine. In the Trojan War, captive women like Briseis were regarded as slaves and could be traded amongst the warriors.
Patroclus comforted Briseis in her fear of being alone among her enemies and her grief over the loss of her country, her family, and her freedom, not letting her weep. He promised to have Achilles make her his wife and that he would give a wedding feast for them on their return to Phthia after the war had ended.
According to Book 1 of the Iliad, when Agamemnon was compelled by Apollo to give up his own woman, Chryseis, he demanded Briseis as compensation. This prompted a quarrel with Achilles that culminated with Briseis' delivery to Agamemnon and Achilles' protracted withdrawal from battle. His absence had disastrous consequences for the Greeks. Despite Agamemnon's grand offers of treasure and women, he did not return to the fray until the death of Patroclus.
In the Iliad, Achilles likens their relationship to that of man and wife (he often refers to her as his bride or wife) and compares it explicitly to the relationship between Menelaus and Helen, which was, after all, what the war is about. If the war was being fought because Helen had been separated from Menelaus, then what should the repercussions be for separating Briseis from him, is the question often agitated in his discourse. Briseis was said to have regarded Achilles as her husband as well.
Achilles is angry at Agamemnon, and seethes with rage in his tent: made furious by the thought of Agamemnon sleeping with Briseis. When Achilles returns to the fighting to avenge Patroclus' death and Agamemnon returns Briseis to him, Agamemnon swears to Achilles that he and Briseis never shared a bed.
Briseis was among those to lament and mourn over the death of Patroclus. She remained with Achilles until his death, which plunged her into great grief. She soon took it upon herself to prepare Achilles for the afterlife. According to some, following his death, Briseis: "... was given to one of Achilles' comrades-at-arms just as his armor had been", after the fall of Troy.
In medieval romances, starting with the Roman de Troie, Briseis becomes Briseida and is the daughter of Calchas. She loves and is loved by Troilus and then Diomedes. She is later confused with Chryseis and it is under variations of that name that the character is developed further, becoming Shakespeare's Cressida.