Download The Trojan War Test prep

Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
Test prep – The Trojan War and the Fall of Troy
Learning goal – students will gain knowledge
regarding The Trojan War and The Fall of Troy
1, 2, 3, or 4
Question #1
• One of the most renowned cities in history is
ancient Troy, made famous because of the
Trojan War. Homer tells the story of this
famous decade-long conflict in the ________.
a. Iliad
b. Odyssey c. Aeneid
d. Satyrs
Question #2
The Goddess of Discord, ______, is not popular
on Olympus and is frequently not invited to gala
events.
a. Perish b. Eris c. Unfesta
d. Disharmonia
Question #3
All of the Olympians, except this discordant
deity, are invited to a banquet celebrating the
marriage of King Peleus and the sea nymph,
Thetis. To cause friction and dissension, the
dissonant divinity throws a golden apple into the
hall; its inscription reads: “For the _______.”
a. Loveliest b. Prettiest c. Finest d. Fairest
Question #4
All the goddesses in attendance want this
precious prize, and the three final contenders
are Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. ______ is
asked to be the judge, but he prudently declines
and tells the three goddesses to go to Mount
Ida, near the city of Troy, where Prince Paris is
watching his father’s flocks.
a. Apollo
b. Poseidon
c. Ares
d. Zeus
Question #5
Paris is the son of the King of Troy; the prince
has been sent out of the city because a
prophecy predicts he will bring about the
country’s ruin. He is a shepherd, caring for his
father’s sheep and living with a lovely wood
sprite named ________.
a. Genevieve
b. Harmony
c. Oenone
d. Concordia
Question #6
Paris is amazed when the three magnificent
goddesses appear before him and ask for his
judgment. Ironically, he is not asked to judge
their beauty, but rather to “consider the bribes”
each one offers. This is not an easy choice
because the three goddesses offer what men
desire most; Hera promises ________.
a. immortality
b. victory
c. power
d. the most beautiful woman
Question #7-9
7. Athena offers _________.
a. immortality
b. victory
c. power
d. the most beautiful woman
8. Aphrodite offers _________.
a. immortality
b. victory
c. power
d. the most beautiful woman
9. Paris gives the golden apple to _________.
a. Hera
b. Athena
c. Aphrodite
d. none of them
Question #10
The most beautiful woman in the world is Helen, the
daughter of Leda and Zeus. Leda’s husband, King
Tyndareus, must choose among the many suitors who
want to marry Helen, but he is afraid to choose one
because he thinks the others may “unite against him.”
Therefore, he makes all the suitors pledge “a solemn oath
… that they would champion the cause of Helen’s
husband, whoever he might be, if any wrong was done to
him through his marriage.” Tyndareus chooses Menelaus,
Agamemnon’s brother, to be Helen’s husband, and “made
him the King of ________ as well.”
a. Athens
b. Sparta
c. Corinth d. Thebes
Question #11
Paris goes to visit Menelaus and Helen, and
unsuspecting Menelaus warmly welcomes the
young prince. “Menelaus and Helen received
him graciously as their guest. The ties between
guest and host were strong.” This principle is
known as “The Code of _________.”
a. Visitation
b. Strangers
c. Hospitality
d. Good Samaritans
Question #12
Foolishly, Menelaus goes to Crete, leaving Helen
with Paris, and Paris takes the beautiful woman to
Troy. Menelaus calls for the men of Greece to
help him win back his wife, and many are “eager
for the great enterprise” because they want to
_______ Troy.
a. Pillage b. ransack
c. plunder d. all of
these
Question #13-14
13. “Two, however, of the first rank were missing.”
Odysseus is one of the men who does not enlist to
fight for Helen. He does not want to leave his home
and ______ for the “sake of a faithless woman.”
a.Business b. friends c. family d. all of these
14. To get out of the army, Odysseus pretends to be
crazy; while plowing his fields, he sows ________
instead of seed.
a. salt b. seaweed c. grapes d. fish
Question #15
However, the messenger from the king’s army is
clever, and he suspects Odysseus is feigning
lunacy. To test Odysseus’ sanity, the messenger
grabs Odysseus’ ______ and places him directly
in the way of the plow. Odysseus quickly turns
“the plow aside,” proving he has reason and
judgment.
a. dog
b. horse c. grandfather
d. son
Question #16
Thetis, Achilles’ mother, does not want him to go
to Troy and fight because if he does, it has been
prophesized he will __________.
a. die there
b. marry a Trojan
c. forget his mother d. return home injured
Question #17
Odysseus is sent to find Achilles. To hide him, Thetis
dresses her son as a woman and sent him the court
of Lycomedes. Odysseus disguises himself as a
“pedlar” and travels to Lycomedes’ court with goods
to sell. The ladies quickly “flocked around the
trinkets,” but Achilles rejects the ornaments, charms
and knick-knacks and goes straight for the swords
and ________, giving away his concealed identity.
a. pistols b. shields
c. daggers
d. clubs
Question #18-20
18. ________ ships are to carry the Greeks to Troy.
a. 100
b. 500
c. 1,000
d. 5,000
19. The Greek Army meets at the port of _______, “a place of
strong winds and dangerous tides, impossible to sail from as
long as the north wind blew.”
a. Aulis
b. Argos
c. Olympia d. Delphi
20.The men are desperate to sail, but the winds continue to
blow. A soothsayer, Calchas, reveals the problem: a _____ and
her babies have been killed by one of the Greeks, and Artemis,
the protector the young, is outraged.
a. deer
b. hare
c. squirrel
d. pheasant
Question #21-22
21. The only way to appease Artemis and stop the winds is
to have the Greek Army Commander also suffer a loss.
Agamemnon must sacrifice his oldest daughter, Iphigenia,
and he agrees for the sake of his _________.
a. army
b. reputation c. ambition
d. all of
these
22. When Agamemnon sends for daughter, he lies to his
wife and tells her that Iphegenia will be __________.
a. getting married b. going to school c. traveling with
them d. none of these
Question #48-50
48. The lamentation and funeral for Hector continue for
______ days.
a. three
b. nine
c. fourteen
d. twenty
49. Even ______ cries and mourns Hector’s death, saying,
“I always had comfort from you through the gentleness
of your spirit and your gentle words.” Among the
Trojans, she views Hector as her only friend.
a. Hera
b. Helen
c. Athena
d. Aphrodite
50. Homer’s epic ends with Hector’s funeral, whose
epithet is “The tamer of _______.”
a. Greeks
b. horses
c. Hades
d. hatred
And the winner is…
Claude Lorrain
The Wrath of the King
• Menelaus was enraged
when he found Helen
gone. He called upon all
of Greece, including the
great warriors Achilles
and Odysseus, to attack
Troy.
• Today we think that the
war started because his
brother, Agamemnon,
wanted better trade
routes and mo’ money.
Where have all the heroes gone?
Odysseus, king of Ithaca,
pretended that he had
gone mad. He planted
salt in his fields instead
of seed when the
messengers from the
Greek army arrived.
They, in turn, tricked
him into joining the
fight.
What about the Trojan Heroes?
• The King and Queen of
Troy, Priam and Hecuba,
had many sons (some
say 10; some say 100; I
say ginormous grocery
bill either way), but the
bravest and greatest was
Hector. Hector had a wife
name Adromache and a
son named Astyanax
(And you thought my
name was difficult to
pronounce!).
When heroes collide
• Both sides had great heroes upon which
they pinned their hopes of winning.
• The Greeks were excellent sailors and
highly skilled in warfare. Achilles’s team
• The Trojans had a great wall surrounding
their city that made it virtually
impregnable. Hector’s team.
Personal Grudges
• After nine years of fighting, both sides
agreed to let Paris and Menelaus fight it
out to declare a winner. (Seriously! It took
9 years to figure that out?)
• Menelaus would have killed Paris easily,
but Aphrodite saved him by whisking him
away in a cloud of dust. (Paris was no
great shakes as a fighter.)
• The other gods joined in on their
respective sides.
Just whose side are you on?
• Aphrodite
Troy
• Athena
Greece
• Hera
Greece
• Apollo
Troy
• Ares
Troy
• Poseidon
Greece
Many of the gods/goddesses had mortal children
on one side and wanted that side to win.
The Thrill of Victory
• Achilles withdrew from battle because some
of the spoils of war were kept from him.
• His best friend, Patroclus, put on Achilles’
armor and pretended to be him because
Achilles was the biggest threat to the Trojans
(because of his supposed immortality from the
river Styx bath as a baby).
• Hector had his greatest day, slaying many
men, including Patroclus, who he thought was
Achilles, giving the Trojans momentum.
The Agony of Defeat
• When Achilles learned that Patroclus died
by the hand of Hector, he became enraged
and rejoined the battle.
• He and Hector fought a battle by
themselves.
• Achilles killed Hector and refused to give
his body back to his family for a proper
burial. Achilles’s actions were scorned by
everyone, including the gods.
Achilles’s Revenge
• Not content to have killed Hector, Achilles
stripped his body and dragged it behind a
chariot for three days.
• He wanted to then feed it to the dogs, but Priam
convinced him to return the corpse to the family
for proper burial.
• The Greeks believed that if a person did not
receive a proper burial, he/she would not be
allowed to pass into the Land of the Dead and
would be forced to wander for 100 years as a
“shade.”
The Fall of Troy
• Paris killed Achilles by
shooting an arrow into his
heel, his only weak spot
(where mom held him).
• Achilles’s son,
Neoptolemus, then killed
Paris.
• The war was again at a
stalemate, and the gods
and humans alike were
tired of the fighting.
• Odysseus then got an
idea to build a great
wooden horse to hide
soldiers inside.
The Trojan Horse
• The people of Troy accepted
the horse as a sign of
surrender. They interpreted
many other favorable “signs”
as signals that they had won
the war.
• They dragged the horse
inside the walls of the city
and celebrated all night long.
• When everyone fell asleep,
the soldiers hiding inside
crept out and lit the city on
fire.
• The end of Troy was at hand.
One guy luckily got away and eventually founded Rome. His name was Aeneas,
and his story is told in The Aeneid.
The Gods’ Fury
• The Greeks celebrated
mightily after their victory
and forgot to pay homage to
the gods who helped them
win.
• This turned the powerful
Poseidon against the
Greeks.
• Poseidon caused many
storms that killed most of
the Greek warriors on their
way home.
• Odysseus, the mastermind,
was doomed to wander
home for 10 years because
death was not his destiny.
Odysseus and Homer
• Odysseus’s story is told in The Odyssey.
• The Odyssey is believed to have been
created by a blind poet named Homer.
Right
Homer
Wrong
Homer