Homeric Variations on Lament by Briseis

An examination of the figure of Briseis, the concubine of Achilles in the Iliad , as an example of the traditional artistry enabled by a complex and self-contained oral poetic system. Briseis’ lament for Patroclus in the Iliad 19 hints at her role in the larger epic tradition. Casey Due argues that Briseis’ role in the Iliad is enormously compressed, both in relation to the Iliad and the entire tradition of the epic cycle. Through a close reading of Homeric passages, this work shows how the Iliad refers to expanded and alternative traditions about Briseis even while asserting its own version of her story. It seems likely that there were at least two variations on the story of Briseis, because of the two-fold pattern she fulfils in ancient references. In one variation she is a wife whose husband is killed by Achilles in the sack of his city; in another she is an unmarried girl, the daughter of a king, whose father is killed when Achilles captures her town. Our Iliad alludes to multiple variations on these two basic themes.