More War - The Iliad, Part 2

This entry is less about the war, and more about one of its tangential stories.

You see, the whole reason Achilles runs off to his ships in a tiff is because Agamemnon had to give his war prize, Chryseis, back to her father to appease Apollo. Thus, Agamemnon snags Achilles' prize, Briseis, and the Iliad really gets rolling.

Many centuries down the line, we come to a couple of medieval authors who were particularly interested in Chryseis, whose name they wrote as Criseyde, and even later, Cressida. These two authors are Boccaccio and Chaucer. They both write about the romantic tale between Troilus, the youngest of Priam's sons, and Criseyde, who has taken refuge among the Trojans, being the daughter of a betrayer of the Greeks. Since the enemy of your enemy is your friend, she rubs shoulders with her new siege-mates and a nice tale of courtly love ensues. In the end, however, Criseyde returns to the Greeks, much to Troilus' heartbroken dismay, and Troilus runs off to die in battle.

There are numerous images that recall Homer's poetry in each of these new tellings, but a point that always interested me was the twist on war brides. In the Iliad, Chryseis and Briseis are quite clearly interchangeable. Many have pointed out that even their names are quite similar. In Boccaccio's and Chaucer's works, Troilus becomes the interchangeable one. Criseyde swaps her Trojan lover for a Greek one, even bestowing a token from Troilus to her new lover.

This particular twist is meant to highlight the typically one-way path of lover to beloved in medieval courtship. Yet in both ancient and medieval instances, the beloved, or prize, is treated as an object. When considered in the scope of the Iliad, one does not have to go far before arriving at the treatment of Helen. The idea is for Menelaus to win her back. A question that came up in class was whether the Iliad is about winning Helen, or winning Troy. In terms of objectification, there is little difference. Both are things to be won, and in order for the Greeks to obtain Helen, they must conquer Troy.

Since I turned all scholarly in this entry, let me direct you to this entertaining Helen backstory involving Theseus and his pal stealing other people's brides for themselves.