The Iliad Book 1 study questions

1. How do the first few lines of The Iliad preview the conflict, setting, and characters of the poem?
2. What does Chryses want Agamemnon to do?
3. How does Apollo react to Chryses’ prayers for help?
4. What does Agamemnon demand in exchange for returning Chryseis?
5. What favor does Achilles ask of his mother?
6. Why is Zeus reluctant to punish the Achaeans?
7. How do the conflicts between mortals compare and contrast to the conflicts between the gods in Book 1 of The Iliad?
8. What is the conflict between Achilleus and Agamemnon? 
9. In what ways are Achilles’s and Agamemnon’s characterizations of each other in Book 1 of The Iliad justified?
10. Why do the “glittering gifts” Athena foretells for Achilles in Book 1 of The Iliad prove worthless?
11. What is the basis for Agamemnon’s authority? What kind of authority or power does Achilleus have? What comments does the Iliad make on these forms of power?