If we’re being completely honest here, I had a pretty tough time getting through Book 1. With all of the different characters and the language used in the book, I found myself stumped after nearly every paragraph. Either confused about which person is which, or which person said what. At that point, I decided to read the summary of Book 1, and then go back to the original text and try again. I was amazed at how much smoother the reading was for me. I highly recommend doing that before reading Book 2 if the language in this book seems completely out of your comprehension (like it is for me.)

What surprised me most about Book 1 was the fact that there is a major war taking place simply because Agamemnon is being stubborn and won’t return the “prize” he believes is rightfully his. He would rather let a war ensue, watch hundreds of men die from the plague, than to be defeated. Preserving Agamemnon’s pride seems to be the ultimate goal here, not winning any war. It’s seems truly disappointing that this is the leader of the Achean army. He’s self-serving and reckless, and he clearly isn’t fit to be a leader. I guess I’m also confused as to why he returns Chryseis back to her home and keeps Briseis, were they both his prizes or was only Briseis his prize?