Chryses

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Chryses attempting to ransom his daughter Chryseis from Agamemnon, Apulian red-figure crater by the Athens 1714 Painter, ca. 360 BC–350 BC, Louvre
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Chryses attempting to ransom his daughter Chryseis from Agamemnon, Apulian red-figure crater by the Athens 1714 Painter, ca. 360 BC–350 BC, Louvre

In Greek mythology, Chryses (Eng. /'krai si:z/ Greek: Χρύσης, Khrýsēs) was a priest of Apollo at Chryse, near the city of Troy. He and Briseus (father of Briseis) were said to be sons of a man named Ardys, otherwise unknown.

During the Trojan War (prior to the actions described in Homer's Iliad), Agamemnon took his daughter Chryseis (=Astynome) as a war prize and when Chryses attempted to ransom her, refused to let her free. An oracle of Apollo then sent a plague sweeping through the Greek armies, and Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back in order to end it.