Editing Briseis

{{short description|Greek mythological character}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Wall painting - Briseis taken away from Achilles - Pompeii (VI 8 5) - Napoli MAN 9105 - 03 (Briseis cropped).jpg|thumb|280px|Briseis, from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]] in [[Pompeii]], fresco, 1st century AD, now in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]]]]
[[Image:Briseis Phoinix Louvre G152.jpg|thumb|right|Briseis and [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoenix]], red-figure [[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]], {{circa}} 490 BC, [[Louvre]] (G 152)<ref>Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/F6D1F0A6-1AA1-440E-AAF5-8B8BC8835178 203900].</ref>]]

'''Briseis''' ({{IPAc-en|b|r|aɪ|ˈ|s|iː|ɪ|s|}}; {{langx|grc|Βρισηίς|Brīsēís|daughter of Briseus}}, {{IPA|grc|briːsɛːís|pron}}), also known as '''Hippodameia''' ({{lang|grc|Ἱπποδάμεια}}, {{IPA|el|hippodámeːa|}}),<ref>From the A [[scholium]] at ''Iliad'' 1.392 we learn that "[Homer] forms the names [of Briseïs and Chryseis] [[patronym]]ically. For as other ancient [poets] relate, Chryseis was called Astynome, and Briseis was called Hippodameia." [[Dictys Cretensis]] calls Briseis by the latter name in his account of the Trojan War. See Dué 2002: ''Homeric Variations on a Lament by Briseis'' 56-58.</ref> is a significant character in the ''[[Iliad]]''. Her role as a status symbol is at the heart of the dispute between [[Achilles]] and [[Agamemnon]] that initiates the plot of [[Homer]]'s epic. She was married to [[Mynes (mythology)|Mynes]], a son of the King of [[Lyrnessus]], until the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] sacked her city and she was given to Achilles shortly before the events of the poem. Being forced to give Briseis to Agamemnon, Achilles refused to reenter the battle.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Roman|first=Luke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC|title=Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology|last2=Roman|first2=Monica|date=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2639-5|pages=105|language=en}}</ref>

== Description ==
Briseis receives the same minimal physical description as most other minor characters in the ''Iliad''. She is described with the standard metrical epithets that the poet uses to describe a great beauty, though her appearance is left entirely up to the audience's imagination. Her beauty is compared to that of the goddesses.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Homer |title=Iliad |page=497 (Robert Fagles translation) |chapter=19 |quote="And so Briseis returned, like golden Aphrodite...with both hands clawing deep at her breasts, her soft throat and lovely face, she sobbed, a woman like a goddess in her grief"}}</ref>

Briseis was imagined about two millennia later by the Byzantine poet [[John Tzetzes]] as: 
{|
|
:"tall and white, her hair was black and curly;
:she had beautiful breasts and cheeks and nose; she was, also, well-behaved;
:her smile was bright, her eyebrows big"<ref>[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Antehomerica'' 356-358</ref>
|}
Meanwhile, in the account of [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]] (probably the 5th century AD), Briseis was illustrated as "... beautiful. She was small and blond, with soft yellow hair. Her eyebrows were joined above her lovely eyes. Her body was well-proportioned. She was charming, friendly, modest, ingenuous, and pious."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 13]</ref>

== Mythology ==
According to her mythology, Briseis was the daughter of [[Briseus]] and an unnamed mother. She had three full brothers who died in the sacking of Lyrnessus.<ref>[[Homer]], ''Iliad'' 19.291-95</ref>

In the ''Iliad'', [[Achilles]] led the assault on Lyrnessus during the [[Trojan War]], and slew several of the men in her family.<ref>See, e.g., Homer, ''Iliad'' 2.688–94</ref> She was subsequently given to Achilles as a war prize. In the Mycenaean Greek society described in the ''Iliad'', captive women like Briseis were slaves and could be traded amongst the warriors. John Tzetzes suggests that it was [[Palamedes (mythology)|Palamedes]] that abducted Briseis, and from the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]' collected spoils Achilles was given Briseis. 

According to Book 1 of the ''Iliad'', when Agamemnon was compelled by [[Apollo]] to give up his own slave, [[Chryseis]], he demanded Briseis as compensation. This prompted a quarrel with Achilles that culminated with Briseis' delivery to Agamemnon and Achilles's 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]].

Achilles was angry at Agamemnon, and seethed with rage in his tent that Agamemnon dared to insult him by stripping him of the prize that had been awarded to him. When Achilles returned to the fighting to avenge Patroclus's death and Agamemnon returned Briseis to him, Agamemnon swore to Achilles that he had never had sex with Briseis.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 19.261–63</ref>

[[File:Oltos ARV 54 4 Achilles and Briseis (03).jpg|thumb|right|Briseis smelling a flower, red-figure pottery,  ca. 520–510 BC, British Museum]]

When [[Odysseus]], [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]], and [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoenix]] visit Achilles to negotiate her return in book 9, Achilles refers to Briseis as his wife or his bride. He professes to have loved her as much as any man loves his wife, at one point using [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] to complain about the injustice of his "wife" being taken from him.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 9.406–20</ref> This romanticized, domestic view of their relationship contrasts with book 19, in which Briseis herself speaks. As she laments Patroclus's death, she wonders what will happen to her without his intercession on her behalf, saying that Patroclus promised her he would get Achilles to make her his legal wife instead of his slave.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 19.348–54. "Again and again you vowed you'd make me godlike Achilles's lawful, wedded wife, you would sail me west in your warships, home to Phthia, and there with the Myrmidons hold my marriage feast." (Robert Fagles translation)</ref> 

In book 19 of the ''Iliad'', Achilles makes a rousing speech to the Achaean soldiers. He publicly declares that he will ignore his anger with Agamemnon and return to battle. During his speech, Achilles says he wishes Briseis were dead, lamenting that she ever came between Agamemnon and himself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Homer |title=Iliad |page=490 (Robert Fagles translation) |chapter=19 |quote="Agamemnon—was it better for both of us, after all, for you and me to rage at each other&nbsp;... all for a young girl? If only Artemis had cut her down at the ships—with one quick shaft—that day I destroyed Lyrnessus, chose her as my prize."}}</ref> This contrasts his own statements in book 9.

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.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} According to Robert Bell, following his death, Briseis "was given to one of Achilles's comrades-at-arms just as his armor had been", after the fall of Troy.<ref>Bell, Robert (1991). ''Women of Classical Mythology'' p.244</ref> According to [[John Malalas|Malalas]], she died from illness.<ref>Malalas, Chronography 5.105</ref>

In medieval [[Romance (heroic literature)|romances]], starting with the ''[[Roman de Troie]]'', Briseis becomes '''Briseida'''<ref>''Brizeida'' in the letter of [[Azalais d'Altier]].</ref> 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 [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s Criseyde, then [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s [[Cressida]].

==Portrayals in literature and art==
[[File:Abduction of Briseis (BSB Pap. graec. mon. 128).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Worn papyrus fragment. Two men and a woman are drawn in reddish ink.|''Abduction of Briseis,'' 4th century]]
* ''[[Iliad]]'', a Greek epic poem attributed to [[Homer]]
* ''[[Heroides]]'', a work by the Roman poet [[Ovid]], made up of letters from mythological heroines to their heroes.
* ''Abduction of Briseis'', a [[papyrus]] drawing, possibly of Ancient Egyptian origin, depicting Briseis being abducted by [[Agamemnon]]'s heralds, [[Talthybius]] and [[Eurybates]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Dares Phrygius]], ''from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of [[Dictys Cretensis|Dictys of Crete]] and Dares the Phrygian'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931–). Indiana University Press. 1966. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html Online version at theio.com]
* [[Homer]], [[Iliad|''The Iliad'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Briseis}}
{{Characters in the Iliad}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Greek mythological slaves]]