achilles fought odysseus in the beginning of troy.
who does achilles fight in the beginning of troy?
odysseus
na
na
in the greek camp, the great general and king agamemnon is conversing with his lieutenants and fellow kings. he asks why they seem so glum and downcast for although their seven-year siege of troy has met little success so far, they should welcome the adversity that the long war represents, since only in difficult times can greatness emerge. nestor, the oldest of the greek commanders, citing examples of how heroism emerges from hardship. in response, ulysses expresses his deep respect for what they have said, but points out that the greek army is facing a crisis not because of the duration of the war, but because of a breakdown in authority within the greek camp. instead of being united, they are divided into factions, achilles, who refuses to fight and instead sits in his tent while his protege patroclus makes fun of the greek commanders. others, like ajax and his foul-mouthed slave, thersites, follow this example, and so the entire army is corrupted. the others agree that this is a great problem, and as they discuss what is to be done, aeneas appears under a flag of truce, bringing a challenge from hector. the trojan prince offers to fight any greek lord in single combat, with the honor of their respective wives as the issue. the greeks agree to find a champion and offer aeneas hospitality. as aeneas is led away, ulysses tells nestor that this challenge is truly directed at achilles, since only achilles could match the great hector in battle. but to have achilles fight hector would be dangerous, because if achilles lost, it would dishearten the entire army. therefore, ulysses suggests, they should have ajax fight hector instead; even if ajax loses, they can still claim that achilles would have won in his place. at the same time, by choosing ajax as their champion, they will infuriate achilles and perhaps goad him into rejoining the war, bringing with him all his soldiers. nestor, impressed with ulysses's intelligence, agrees to the plan.
troilus and cressida