THE TROJAN WAR, PART TWO:

UNWILLING HEROES

While nearly all Greek leaders rallied behind Menelaus and

agreed to help him fight Paris and the Trojans, some

leaders were not so enthusiastic.

Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, ruled Ithaca in Greece.

He did not want to join Menelaus and Agamemnon because he

had heard a prophecy that he would be gone for twenty

years if he went to Troy.

An envoy places Ulysses’ baby in front of the plow to test his sanity.

An envoy places Ulysses’ baby in front of the plow to test his sanity.

Ulysses decided to act insane in the hopes that the envoy sent to summon him would give up and leave him in Ithaca. The envoy found Ulysses planting salt into the ground instead of seeds, something that only a mentally unstable person would do.

The envoy tested Ulysses’ sanity by placing his baby son, Telemachus, in front of the plow. If he were, in fact, insane, then he would keep driving the plow and run over his son. If, however, he was healthy, he would stop plowing in order to save his son.

Ulysses swerved the plow, proving his sanity. He then was compelled to join the fight against Troy.

Ulysses was known for being very clever. As such, one of

his first tasks was to locate Achilles, commander of the

Myrmidons.

Achilles also was avoiding the war because his mother,

Thetis, did not want him harmed. There had been a

prophecy when he was born that he would either:

•live a long, happy, forgettable life and be forgotten

shortly after his death

•die young in battle, but live on forever through stories

of his bravery

Ulysses tricks Achilles into revealing himself.Painting: “Achilles discovered by Ulysses,” Jan de Bray, 17th century

Achilles’ mother, Thetis, sent him to Skyros to

live in disguise as a woman in the king’s court.

Ulysses went to Skyros with gifts for the king’s

daughters. The gifts included jewelry and other

trinkets, as well as some weapons. Achilles,

forgetting his disguise as a woman, picked up

weapons over the more “feminine” gifts.

Supposedly this was enough to give him away as

not actually being female, and thus he, too, was

coerced to join the fight.

Ulysses tricks Achilles into revealing himself.Painting: “Achilles discovered by Ulysses,” Jan de Bray, 17th century

With all of the best Greek leaders ready to fight, Agamemnon and Menelaus were ready to set sail to Troy with approximately 1,000 ships.

However, the winds were unrelenting at the behest of an angry goddess who was not ready to let the Greeks set sail…