In the Iliad what were the differences between the Trojans and the Greeks?

Question

Which side do you think Homer favored?

Also I don't understand this scene ( In Robert Fagles Translation):

Agamemnon offers recompense to Achilles in Book 9

My questions is how ( and why ) does Odysseus modify it? Why does Achilles refuse Agamemnon's offer?

Answer 1

other than location, the Trojans were fighting to defend their home and the Greeks wanted to ransack it and carry off its women and gold.  Simplified version but that's the biggest difference right there.

At first glance Homer seems to favor the Greeks but if you read it all the way through most people find that they are very sympathetic to the Trojans instead.  The Greeks win in the end - though not in the Iliad - but I suspect Homer favors neither.  Or both.  He's telling a story and he goes out of his way to make characters on both sides of the conflict sympathetic.  As a good storyteller he wants you to care about both sides so what happens to both of them matter to you.  

and - ready? - Odysseus modifies what Agamemnon offered to Achilles to win him back by leaving out the last couple of lines in which Agamemnon mentions he's a more powerful man than Achilles.  Wisely,Odysseus leaves this out of the message.  But the real problem with the offer is that Agamemnon isn't offering the gifts out of shame - which is what Achilles wants.  If you pay attention to the gifts you'll see that they're all gifts a greater man would give a lesser man.  Agamemnon seeks to draw Achilles into his service (and his household) as an inferior - a son in law who would be subjected to him, as a suplicant that relies on him for his wealth and power.  Achilles won't accept the bribes on those terms because he doesn't see himself as less than Agamemnon and the gifts Agamemnon offers don't shame him in front of the Greeks.  Achilles doesn't want to be bought off, he wants revenge for his bruised ego.  

did I just do your homework for you?

Answer 2

well obviously the Greeks seeing as they did win but the difference is minor probably kind of like Britain vs France back in 1700's.

Answer 3

The Greeks (Mycenaeans) were, well... Greeks from the land we know now as Greece (prior to Greek colonization elsewhere)!

The Trojans were the people of the city-state of Troy (Troas) in Anatolia (which is now Turkey). The Trojan language is said to be a Luwian language (an Indo-European language related to Hittite), it is hypothesized that they may have been Lydians.