The Iliad

???Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.??? In the final year of the siege of Troy, Chryses tries to ransom his daughter, Chryseis, who is held a captive by the Achaean leader, Agamemnon. As Agamemnon refuses to release her, Chryses beseeches Apollo, who inflicts plague on the Achaeans. When Achille, the Myrmidons leader, calls upon a council to discover the cause of the plague, Agamemnon is compelled to send her back. What happens as Agamemnon demands for Briseis, Achille???s captive; and enraged, Achilles refuses to the fight the war? With twenty-four thrilling books which celebrate and glorify war, Homer???s The Iliad is an exquisite composition. Considered to be one of the most influential works of the Western Canon, it is among the oldest extant works of Western literature.