In tracing the legacy of Achilles in connection with the Trojan war, this book follows the lines of Homer's Iliad. The author gives a graphic picture of the stirring events in the ten years' siege main-tained by the Greeks, under the leadership of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, in their finally suc-cessful effort to redress the injury done to Menelaus, king of Sparta, whose wife, Helen, was carried off by Paris. The striking points in this thrilling narrative are the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles; the exploits of Hector, noblest character of them all; the human impersonations of the gods, who take part in the strife some on one side, some on the other; the death of Patroclus; the final reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon and the former's tremendous exploits; the death of Hector, and the touching interview with the aged Priam, who seeks to recover his body.

Carl Friedrich Becker was a German educator and historian. His most noted work was World History for Children and Teachers of Children which was widely used and much edited and revised by other noted historians after Becker's death.