Starting in the middle of the Trojan War, The Illiad begins at the city of Chryse, where Agamemmon leads the Achaean forces in sacking the city for being aligned to Troy. Here, he captures the maidens Chryseis and Briseis, taking Chryseis for himself while giving Briseis to Achilles. After Apollo sending down a plague upon the Archaean forces, Agamemmon returns Chryseis, and in turn demands Briseis from Achilles. This begins one of the central points of The Illiad, when Achilles refuses to fight for the Greeks after being slighted in Agamemmon in this way. Although Chryse is only a fictional city, it is described as being near Troy, and is central to the plot of the epic poem.