The Trojan priest of Apollo who pleaded for his daughter’s return was Chryses. In Book 1 of Homer’s Iliad, Chryses comes to the Achaean camp carrying Apollo’s sacred emblems and offers ransom for his daughter, Chryseis, whom Agamemnon has taken as a war prize.
Agamemnon refuses the ransom and insults the priest. Chryses then prays to Apollo, who sends a plague through the Greek army. The prophet Calchas identifies the cause: Agamemnon must return Chryseis to her father. Agamemnon finally agrees, but takes Achilles’ captive, Briseis, as compensation, provoking the quarrel at the heart of the Iliad.
Chryses is often confused with Laocoon, another Trojan priest who appears in later Trojan War traditions. Tiresias and Calchas are seers rather than the priest who petitions Agamemnon. Chryses’ role is important because his rejected appeal triggers Apollo’s plague and helps set the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles in motion.