Agamemnon takes Achilles' war-prize when he surrenders his own in order to stop the plague afflicting the Greeks; then Achilles withdraws from battle.
The Greeks suffer from an epidemic, which Strauss thinks might be malaria. The prophet Calchas explains that Apollo or the local war-god Iyarru is angry because Agamemnon has not returned war-prize Chryseis to her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo/Iyarru. Agamemnon agrees but only if he takes Achilles' war-prize, Briseis. Agamemnon wants respect from Achilles while Achilles wants a larger part of the booty since it is he who does most of the work. Achilles surrenders Briseis and then cries, as did Mesopotamian and Hittite heroes. Achilles withdraws from the battle, taking his troops with him. The removal of the Myrmidons amounts to about a 5% reduction in the Greek forces and may also have meant the withdrawal of the fastest troops. It would have demoralized the Greeks. Then Agamemnon has a dream that Zeus would give him victory. Again, Bronze Age rulers did believe in their dreams. Agamemnon adresses his troops pretending the dream had told him the opposite. His demoralized troops are not unhappy to leave, but then Odysseus stops the Greek stampede for the ships. He ridicules and then beats one of the Greeks who favored leaving (which Strauss calls a mutiny). Odysseus demands the men stay and fight. When Homer provides the catalog of ships, Strauss says he is merely describing the standard military policy.
The Trojan War: A New History, summary pages:
Introduction | 1. War for Helen | 2. The Black Ships Sail | 3. Operation Beachhead | 4. Assault on the Walls | 5. The Dirty War | 6. An Army in Trouble | 7. The Killing Fields | 8. Night Moves | 9. Hector's Charge | 10. Achilles Heel | 11. The Night of the Horse | Conclusion
