Download BEFORE THE ODYSSEY

FACT
OR
FICTION?
Trojan War
The Trojan War, took place around 1250 BCE
Greek legend, as created by Homer, attributes the war
to the Trojan prince Paris, who kidnapped Helen, the
beautiful wife of a Greek king.
It may have had its origins in economic rivalry between
Mycenae and Troy.
The Mycenaeans sailed to Troy to rescue her.
Troy controlled the STRAITS, or narrow water passages,
that connect the Mediterranean and Black seas.
For the next 10 years, the two sides battled until the
Greeks finally seized Troy and burned the city to the
ground.
The heroes Odysseus, Achilles, Ajax, Hector and Paris
became legendary
Many believed the Trojan War as purely a legend. In the
1870s, Heinrich Schliemann, excavated the site of
ancient Troy, finding evidence of fire and war dating to
about 1250 BCE
What you need to know
BEFORE
you read or watch
The Odyssey
1
Was it exactly as told in The Iliad?
Troy is across the Aegean Sea from Greece
NO
Troy was also called Ilium, Ilion, and Ilios
It was probably fought over commerce and trade
between Greece and Asia Minor
But Homer’s version (The Iliad) is more exciting!
A well-walled city with broad streets and beautiful palaces
…until the Trojan War
Some of the characters may have been based
on real personalities
The middle 13th century B.C. (1250 B.C.)
or the beginning of the 12th century B.C.
1193 – 1184 B.C.
How did it start?
Eris, Goddess of Discord, was not invited to a wedding
banquet on Mount Olympus.
Into the banquet hall, Eris tossed a
golden apple inscribed “For the Fairest.”
Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite asked Zeus to decide who
deserved the apple.
Zeus would not choose. (He’s no fool!)
The Judgment of Paris
Zeus says Paris is an excellent judge of beauty, and refers
the goddesses to him
Paris was weak and cowardly
Priam had sent him away from Troy because an oracle
prophesied that he would be the ruin of the city
When the goddesses appeared to Paris,
they each offered him a bribe:
Athena would make him a
great warrior
Hera would make him ruler
of Europe and Asia
Aphrodite would give him the
most beautiful woman in the
world
2
Whom did he choose?
Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite
She then took Paris to Helen, the most beautiful woman
in the world…who also happened to already be married
Hera and Athena vowed revenge….
With whom did the gods side?
Greeks
Hera
Poseidon
Hermes
Athena
Did Paris take Helen?
Paris stole Helen away from Sparta against her will
or
She was bewitched by Aphrodite and went “willingly”
or
She just fell in love with Paris
and went of her own free will
The Trojans
Trojans
Artemis
Ares
Apollo
Aphrodite
Zeus tries to remain neutral, but he shows empathy
for Priam and Hector (Trojans).
PARIS
Prince of Troy
Abductor of Helen
HECTOR
Prince of Troy
Troy’s Greatest Hero
3
The Greeks
PRIAM
King of Troy
Father of Hector & Paris
HELEN
Daughter of Zeus & Wife of Menelaus
Her face launches a thousand ships
and begins the Trojan War
The Greeks Respond
Menelaus asks all of Greece to help
Because of a treaty that was created when almost all of
the Greek kings wanted to marry Helen, they all had to
help Menelaus.
Menelaus
King of Sparta
Husband of Helen
The Greeks Respond
Greek armies set off across the sea to lay siege to Troy
and leave it in ashes
And so begins the Trojan War
Helen is often referred to as “The Face that Launched a
Thousand Ships”
Incidentally, Odysseus was the only Greek king who
didn’t want to marry Helen and actually came up with
the idea for the treaty as a way of earning the hand of
Helen’s cousin, Penelope.
4
Agamemnon
King of Mycenae
Menelaus’ Brother
Agamemnon
Leader of all Greek forces during Trojan War
Sacrificed his daughter to Artemis in order to get favorable
winds for the ships to sail to Troy
Offended Achilles by taking his “prize” (a girl named
Briseis) after one battle
Patroclus
Achilles’ Friend
Dies in battle wearing Achilles’ armor
Achilles
Greek’s greatest hero
Kills Hector & is killed by paris
Odysseus
King of Ithaca
Defeats Troy using his brain
5
Odysseus and Achilles Join Late
Odysseus didn’t want to fight for Helen
He thought her a faithless woman
Odysseus and Achilles Join Late
Achilles was kept back by his mother
Thetis was a sea nymph who knew he was fated to die
young
He did not want to leave his home (Ithaca)
The treaty he created so that he could marry
Penelope forces him to leave her and his son
for 20 years
Achilles Pouts
She had dipped him in the river Styx to try
give him immortality (She held him by the
heel)
and
Achilles Returns
Because Agamemnon offended him, Achilles refused to
fight
Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles returns to
battle
Things went badly for the Greeks and they begged
Achilles to return
Thetis, his mother, obtains for him some new armor
made by Hephaestus
He allowed his friend Patroclus to fight in his place
wearing his armor
He kills Hector and
desecrates the body
Patroclus is killed by Hector who thought it was Achilles
Achilles Relents
King Priam sneaks into the Greek camp and begs Achilles
to give him Hector’s body so that his son may have
proper funeral rites
The Death of Achilles
Achilles was unbeatable by mortal men, but Apollo
stepped in
Achilles allows Priam to take the body
Apollo guided Paris’s arrow into the only
weak spot Achilles had: his heel
After Hector’s death, Achilles does not have long to live
Achilles dies from the wound
The remaining Greeks decide his divine armor should go
to the bravest remaining warrior
6
The Battle Rages
Odysseus Wins
Due to the influence of various gods and goddesses,
the war went back and forth for 10 years
Odysseus makes a speech explaining why he deserves
Achilles’ armor and receives it
For details of the war, read the epic poem by Homer
called The Iliad, a word which means “a series of
disastrous events”
He then devises the final plan to end the Trojan War
The Trojan Horse
The Greeks pretend to
retreat, leaving behind
a large wooden horse
as a “spoil” of war
The Trojan Horse
The Trojans, in celebration, drag the horse inside
their city as a war prize
The horse was the
symbol of Troy
The Trojan Horse
Odysseus and
Greek warriors
were hiding inside
the horse
The Greek fleet
sails back to Troy
under the cover of
darkness
The Fall of Troy
They wait until the Trojans are asleep to open the gates
and then the Greeks come out to slaughter them
The Trojan War is ended
The Greeks won. The Trojans lost
Odysseus is the greatest hero remaining alive…but now
he has to get home…
7
The Odyssey Begins…
The story The Odyssey is about Odysseus’ journey home to
Ithaca after the Trojan War
8