Chryseis
|
|
In Greek mythology, Chryseis (Greek: Χρύσηίς, Khrysēís) was a Trojan woman, the daughter of Chryses.
In the first book of the Iliad, Agamemnon takes her as a war prize and refuses to allow her father, a priest of Apollo, to ransom her. An oracle of Apollo then sends a plague sweeping through the Greek armies and Agamemnon is forced to give Chryseis back in order to end it. Agamemnon compensates himself for this loss by taking Briseis from Achilles, an act that offends Achilles, who refuses to take further part in the Trojan War.
A later Greek legend, preserved in Hyginus' Fabulae, states that she had a son by Agamemnon.