InGreek mythology,Chryseis (/kraɪˈsiːɪs/,Ancient Greek:Χρυσηΐς,romanized: Khrusēís,pronounced[kʰryːsɛːís]) is aTrojan woman, the daughter ofChryses. Chryseis, her apparent name in theIliad, means simply "Chryses' daughter"; later writers give her real name asAstynome (Ἀστυνόμη).[1] The 12th-century poetTzetzes describes her to be "very young and thin, with milky skin; had blond hair and small breasts; nineteen years old and still a virgin".[2]
As the "golden one" she is also the title-giving character of the Baroque alchemical epicChryseidos Libri IIII (1631).
Chryseis was sent by her father for protection, or, according to others, to attend the celebration of a festival of Artemis inHypoplacian Thebe or inLyrnessus where she was taken as prisoner by theAchaeans. According to some, she was the wife ofEetion, king of Lyrnessus (usually described as the ruler of nearbyCilician Thebe), who was killed by the son ofPeleus during his campaigns against the allies ofTroy.[3] However, according to the Byzantine poet John Tzetzes, he suggests that it wasPalamedes that abducted Chryseis as well asBriseis.
In the first book of theIliad, during the distribution of the booty, she was given toAgamemnon as a sex slave by unanimous decision, in view of his kingly office. He bragged that he preferred her as a bed-mate to his wifeClytemnestra, because of her figure, her grace, and her skill at domestic tasks. Her father, the priest ofApollo, came to the Achaeans' beachhead bearing the god's sacred symbols and offered theMycenaean king and his army gifts of gold and silver.[4] Although the other warriors were eager to accept the ransom, Agamemnon rejected it. He treated the old man without the proper respect due to a priest, taunting him crassly with the image of the girl forever sharing his bed in distant Achaea, and sending him away rudely with threats of violence. Chryses, afraid, went apart and prayed on the beach for revenge. Apollo heard his prayer and, by means of his silver arrows, sent a plague sweeping through the Greek armies, so that Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back in order to save his men from the disease. He sentOdysseus to return the maiden to Chryses. Agamemnon compensated himself for this loss by takingBriseis from Achilles. The offended Achilles refused to take further part in theTrojan War.[5][6]
After the attack onRhesus and hisThracian armies, Chryses came to the Greeks to thank them for returning his daughter, Chryseis. Because of this kindness, and because he knew that his daughter had been properly treated, he brought her back for Agamemnon to have.[7] A later Greek legend, preserved inHyginus'Fabulae, states that she had a son named after her father by Agamemnon. In the city of Thebes inAsia Minor, Chryseis gave birth toChryses and declared him to be a son of Apollo. This took place when she was released shortly as a prisoner and allowed to return to her hometown.
A few years later, when the children of Agamemnon,Orestes andIphigenia took refuge in the Island of Sminthos, now the home of Chryseis and her family, she proposed surrendering the fugitives to KingThoas. Her son Chryses, learning they were his half-siblings, helped them to kill theTaurian king.
In medieval literature, Chryseis is developed into the characterCressida.