How Briseis is depicted in the film
Troy
A painting of
Briseis being taken to
Agamemnon
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 Briseis was a mythical queen Lyrnessus
 Married to King Mynes of Lyrnessus
 After Achilles killed King Mynes, along with all of
Briseis’ family, he took her as his prize
 She was said to have had long hair, blue eyes and fair skin and was very beautiful and clever
 In the film Troy, she is presented with a large role and featured in a big love story with Achilles, however this is not true within the Iliad. There is a lot of talk about her but she only has one paragraph of speech which is in book 19.

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 Agamemnon to Achilles - “I will come in person to your hut and take away fair-cheeked Briseis, your prize”
 “brought out fair-cheeked Briseis from their hut and gave her up to the two men”
These two quotes show how women in ancient Greece are treated as objects and not people. It is an example of a male dominated world in which women are somewhat insignificant.
 Achilles to Thetis - “He took my prize, made off with her in person and now he has her for himself.”
Here Achilles does not even use her name signifying her little worth to him
 In the Greek translation, Briseis and Chryseis have almost identical names, this indicates how the women are so easily interchangeable.
 Briseis goes ‘unwillingly’ to Agamemnon which shows she has feelings for
Achilles, she is not just an object because she has emotions, however, they are not taken into consideration by the men.

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Painting from a drinking cup of Briseis and
Phoenix, another character from the Iliad
Briseis after she has been captured by Achilles