Who are the Achaeans in the Iliad?

In this epic poem, the Achaeans are the people that we
tend to think of as "the Greeks."  These are the people who have come over from what is
now Greece to fight in Asia Minor (what is now Turkey) against the Trojans.  To modern
archaeologists and historians, the term "Achaeans" is connected to a civilization that
is known as the Mycenaean civilization.

As far as
individuals go, the Achaeans were people like Achilles and Agamemnon and
Patroclos.

There are also points in the
Iliad where the Greeks are called by different names.  They are
also known as the Danaans and as the Argives.  These are the same people as the
Achaeans.