The Trojan War

The Bare Minimum• Setting: Greece, 1250 BC

(map on the next page)

• Groups fighting: The Greeks and the Trojans

What Started it…?• Archaeological remains provide evidence that there was a war

but the actual cause unknown

• Scholars believe the war began over control of the trade route between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea between the Trojans and Greeks

• Ancient mythology states that the war began over a single woman, Helen, queen of Sparta

And now… the story

A party…• The gods on Olympus were having a party to celebrate the

wedding of King Peleus to the sea nymph Thetis

• All the gods and goddesses were invited, except Eris Eris is the goddess of discord

It’s not her party, so she’ll revenge if she wants to…• Eris decided to make trouble

• She threw a golden apple to the party

• The golden apple was marked “For the Fairest”

• Of course, all the goddesses wanted to claim it, but the choice was narrowed down to three: Aphrodite Hera Athena

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest?

• Zeus was asked to judge

• Instead, he suggested someone else to judge, assuring them the young man would be an excellent judge of beauty

• A young prince named Paris, son of the King Priam of Troy

• Paris was ordered to leave the city because of a prophecy that someday he would bring misfortune to his country and everyone who lived in it.

Paris’s Choices• The goddesses appeared in the meadow where he was

guarding his sheep.

• Each goddess offered a bribe

• Hera promised to make him the lord of Europe and Asia

• Athena promised to make him a great warrior, who would lead the Trojans against their traditional enemies, the Greeks

• Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife.

And the winner is…• Paris, not being diplomatic or bright, was more interested in

women than ruling a country.

• He chose Aphrodite and gave her the golden apple

• As to be expected, Hera and Athena were furious and swore eternal enmity not only towards the young prince, but to his family and his country

Side Story: The Most Beautiful Woman• Unfortunately, the most beautiful woman, Helen, was already

married.

• When she was young, reports of her beauty circulated, and many young princes from powerful families wanted to marry her

• Helen’s stepfather, worried that when one was selected the rest would unite against him, made the suitors promise that they would uphold the honor of man picked to marry Helen. Each man thinking he would be chosen, immediately agreed, making

a solemn oath to champion the cause of Helen’s husband against all enemies.

• The chosen suitor was Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, King of Sparta

Back to the Real Story…• Aphrodite took Paris of Sparta, where as the son of a king from

another country, was received as an honored guest.

• Under the Greek rules of hospitality, the bonds between a guest and a host were sacred, known as xenia.

• Xenia consists of two basic rules: The respect from host to guest: The host must be hospitable to the

guest and provide him/her with food and drink and a bath, if required. It is not polite to ask questions until the guest has stated his/her needs.

The respect from guest to host: The guest must be courteous to the host and not be a burden.

• Because of xenia, Menelaus left Paris to keep his wife company while he went on a trip to Crete.

Paris, the Man of Romance• From the minute Helen saw Paris, she falls in love with Paris

• Paris suggests after Menelaus leaves that they flee Sparta and go to Troy

• Of course, when Menelaus comes back, he sees that the two have eloped.

• Attacking Troy on his own would be impossible, but he remembered the promise that the suitors made. He called on all the princes to join him to help:

Destroy Troy Kill Paris and his entire family Return Helen

He also asked others who owed him favors and his brother Agamemnon to help

The Response of the Suitors• Odysseus

King of Ithaca Did not want to join the fight Pretended to be insane when Menelaus came to ask for help Reluctantly agreed to join the fight

The Response of the Suitors• Achilles

Son of sea nymph His mother knew if he went to Troy that he would die She persuaded him to go to the court of another king and dress as a

maiden and hide When Menelaus couldn’t find Achilles, he sent Odysseus. Odysseus had been told he might be disguised, so he tricked Achilles

into revealing himself. Disregarding his mother’s wishes, he joined the Greek army

On the Other Side…• The Trojans were led by King Priam (Paris’s father)

• Chief general was Hector Truly noble hero He was destined to die on the battlefield and the city of Troy was

destined to be destroyed His forebodings were reinforced by the prophecy of his sister, Cassandra

Not just for the humans…• Not only was this war a struggle between two powerful nations,

it also was a struggle between the gods of Olympus

• Aphrodite was on the side of Trojans

• Hera and Athena were on the side of the Greeks

The War• The war continued for 10 years with even victories and defeats

for both.

• Neither was able to gain a distinct advantage

• The Trojans were also resupplied easily because they were fighting in Troy

• Greeks had a lack of clean water and famine

Then there was a crisis

First, The Greeks…

• Agamemnon was given a woman, Chryseis, as a prize of war

• Chryseis’s father, a priest of Apollo, came to the Greek tents to beg for his daughter

• Agamemnon would not let her leave

• The priest prayed to Apollo and Apollo shot fiery arrows into the Greek camp which brought pestilence and killed many of the soldiers

So the Trojans..

• Achilles, as requested by Hera, called a conference to find out why Apollo was mad

• Achilles insisted Agamemnon return the girl immediately

• Agamemnon agreed only if he received another prize instead.

• Agamemnon picked a young woman who belonged to Achilles. While Achilles couldn’t do anything, he swore vengeance against the man who wronged him.

Zeus’s involvement• Thetis, even more angry with Achilles, turned to Zeus to ask for

help and make the Greeks lose the war.

• Zeus didn’t like the fight because it was causing trouble on Mt. Olympus Athena and Hera were on one side Aphrodite was on the other Apollo loved Hector While Poseidon was on the side of the Greeks

• Zeus wanted it to end, so he thought of a way to help without irritating Hera

Zeus’s involvement (cont.)• Zeus sent Thetis back to her son, Achilles to tell him to stay in

his tent and not participate in any battles for the time being

• Zeus then sent a dream to Agamemnon that if he attacked the next day his armies would be victorious

• Agamemnon following his prophecy, realized when fighting, he made a mistake. The Trojans wreaked havoc on the Greek army.

• While the fighting occurred, Zeus arranged for Helen to appear on the wall Both sides wondered why they were fighting Paris’s and Menelaus’s

battle and concluded that the two men should fight for her

More God/Goddess Interference• Menelaus and Paris fought, and Menelaus got the better of

Paris, but Aphrodite didn’t want him to be hurt, so she freed him and hid him.

• Menelaus still feeling that he won fairly, asked for Helen back, and the Trojans said they would be delighted to give her back.

• However, Hera and Athena were not happy with this and wanted Troy to be destroyed.

• Athena persuaded a Trojan officer to shoot an arrow at Menelaus The Greeks considered this to be an act of treachery The war continued more fierce and bloody than before

Interference continues• Two different warriors are saved by Aphrodite and Apollo

• Ares stood behind Hector as he was fighting, making the Greeks think the gods had turned away from them. Hera was upset about this and instructed the Greek fighter to wound

Ares who would flee when in pain.

• Hera seduces Zeus to fall asleep to let the Greeks gain an advantage, but when Zeus wakes up, he helps the Trojans

Achilles in Battle• Achilles’ friend took his armor to pretend to be him in the

battle

• Hector attacked “Achilles” and the friend died

• Achilles feeling he had committed hubris, went out to fight His mother got a suit of armor from Hephaestus that no sword could

penetrate

• Achilles and Hector battled, but Achilles won because Hector was wearing Achilles’s armor and knew where the opening was

• Hector asked for a true burial, but instead, he began to dishonor Hector’s body by dragging him behind a chariot

The gods are in it again…• Zeus was displeased because Hector was special

To dishonor his body was to dishonor the gods

• He sent a messenger to Priam, Hector’s father, and let him know that if he went to Achilles with a wagon of gold and jewels in return for his body, he would soften Achilles’s heart

• This worked and Hector received the proper burial

• All of Troy wept for him

• Achilles was killed shortly after he defeated Hector

The war continues…• Finally, Odysseus proposed a ruse that might allow a group of

Greeks to get into Troy and to open the doors to the rest of the army

• He persuaded Agamemnon to pretend to abandon the field of battle

• The Trojans saw the Greeks had left and believed the war was finally over

The Trojan Horse• The Trojans saw a man named Sinon was standing by a large

wooden horse Sinon said the horse had been built as an offering to Athena

• The Trojans believed Sinon and took him and the horse into the city A priest, Laocoon, urged them to destroy the wooden animal Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, agreed

• Athena who was on the side of the Greeks, caused two gigantic snakes to come from her temple and strangle the priest and his two sons To the Trojans, this meant that Athena wanted the horse to be placed

by her temple

Finally, the end• At night, Odysseus and the other Greeks jumped out of the

horse and opened the gates to let the rest of the Greek army in

• The Greeks quickly set fire to the houses and killed all the Trojan leaders.

• Aphrodite saved her son and also Helen

• For the women and children of Troy, they were taken as slaves.

• Of the Greek leaders, only Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Odysseus got back to their homes.

But…• Odysseus is in trouble with the Gods

• He angered them because: Trojans were slaughtered Greeks violated Trojan temples Greeks did not offer a sacrifice to the gods for their victory Odysseus will suffer the most because he created the Trojan Horse

Who is really to blame?•With a person near you, discuss who was more at fault for the war, the gods or the humans?

Why does the Trojan War matter?

We are reading The Odyssey by Homer which takes place after The Trojan War

But who is Homer?

No, not Homer Simpson• Homer was a blind poet.

• He wrote The Illiad and The Odyssey, two epics in 725 B.C.

• First written record of Greece

• It describes the events of the 51 days during the last year of the war when Achilles kills Hector

The Illiad (no, we aren’t reading this too)

The Odyssey (this is the one we are reading)

• Describes the 10-year journey of Odysseus as he tries to go home to Ithaca after the Trojan War

• He and his men face monsters, giants, cannibals, temptations, and death

So, about The Odyssey…

The Setting of the Odyssey• This takes place in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean world.

• Time estimates for this journey are varied

• Most scholars place the story telling to be over 3,000 years old.

• Talk about writing a 3,000-year-best-seller! Phew!

Main Character: Odysseus• Strong and well built

• Handsome and does well with women

• Intelligent

• Manages to get out of bad situations with his cleverness

• Appears superhuman, yet is still flawed

Other Important Characters• His wife, Penelope.

• His son, Telemachus/Telemakhos

• Suitors: This is a term for people who court or try to woo another.

• Eurykleia, Odysseus and Telemakhos’ nurse

• Laertes, Odysseus’ father.

• His Crew

• Many others as he travels; keep track of who is who and who is connected/related to whom. It will save you lots of re-reading!

Other Important Background Info• Akhaians or Danaans = the Greeks.

You will hear Telemakhos call to them or criticize them. It is just another name of the Greeks to distinguish them from the Trojans.

The format of The Odyssey• Epic poem begins in the middle of the action – “in medias res”

In medias res literally means “into the midst of things”

• There are flashbacks to show what Odysseus endured before he finally joins the narrative present

• Begins with an invocation to the muses (Calliope is muse of epic poetry) Invocation means the summoning of a deity or the supernatural.

• Each line is the same poetic meter (dactylic hexameter)

What is an epic?• An epic is long narrative poem written in elevated style which presents the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation. In other words, it is a story-poem about a great hero who

performs daring deeds that require superhuman courage Usually told orally, not written, recited from memory by

minstrels (travelling entertainers) The gods either help or hinder the hero

Language• Dactylic Hexameter = a form of poetic meter or rhyme scheme The meter consists of lines made from six ("hexa") feet. A “dactyl” is a long syllable followed by two short syllables, as

determined by syllable weight. A useful mnemonic for remembering this long-short-short pattern

is to consider the relative lengths of the three bones of a human finger: beginning at the knuckle, it is one long bone followed by two shorter ones (hence the name "dactyl").

Epic Structure Devices• Some things you are familiar with:

similes and metaphors epithets

Adjective, noun, or phrase to characterize a person or thing swift-footed Achilles Grey-eyed Athena

symbols and omens repetition

This is a function of the fact that this was a STORY TOLD ORALLY

Epic Structure Devices (cont.)• Some things you may not be so familiar with:

long speeches and little dialogue catalogues

great listing of people, especially in battle sequence

Digressions Moving away from the topic at hand to discuss something related,

often from the past or tied to the matter at hand in some way, but still off topic. (The phrase, “And I digress” means you’ve gotten away from your point.)

Elements included in epics• people of importance to society

• national hero

• monsters - for the purpose of playing up the good traits of the hero

• fate of a nation (ex. Ithaca)

• setting of worldwide scope (ex. Mediterranean world)

• journeys or quests

• tests for the hero

• divine intervention

Role of the Hero• The hero has outstanding traits of nationality

intelligent and clever courageous strong and well built performs heroic feats wants to defeat evil adventuresome manages to get out of every bad situation using his

cleverness faithful to family, country and gods

Elements that make The Odyssey a “Classic”• Creation of characters with uncomplicated motives

• Actions that are true to Human Nature

• Plots that blend the joys of living with the tragic sense of life.

• Long, musical lines (in the original Greek or in a poetry translation)

Why We Read it?• The Oral Tradition and its devices were used to explain and teach

natural and religious origins, political origins, history of culture, and acceptable behavior for society.

• Understanding how an epic poem is structure and the devices it employs enables full appreciation of its message.

• Epic heroes are both courageous, intelligent leaders and flawed humans; they reflect the culture from which they emerge.

• An odyssey takes one well beyond the familiar geography and explore the boundaries of human psyche and human society both literally and figuratively.

• An individual’s understanding of self, his interaction with others and the world form his identity. 

• Home is a vital link to one's past, present, and future.