Download Trojan War Background Information

English I
Name ____________________________
Period ____
Date ______________________
THE ODYSSEY
BACKGROUND INFORMATION NOTES
WHAT IS MYTHOLOGY?
Stories created to explain ________________________ and __________________.
Told by ____________ ______ _______________ and handed down from ______________________________
______ ______________________________.
It is important to study mythology because of many ___________________________ to mythology in
_______________________________ _________ _______________.
WHAT IS AN EPIC?
A ____________, ___________________________ ____________ that tells the adventures of
__________________-____________-____________ __________________.
Rooted in a specific _____________________ _________ ______________.
Characteristics of an epic:
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WHO IS HOMER?
No one knows who he was for sure, but it is commonly believed that he was a _______________
________________________ (singers of tales)
Homer gathered the __________________ _________ tales into two epics:
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The __________________: the story of the ten year Trojan War (a _________ epic)

The _____________________: the story of a Greek soldier Odysseus, attempting to return home from the
Trojan War (a _____________________ epic)
English I
Name ____________________________
Period ____
Date ______________________
THE TROJAN WAR
The Trojan War was a decade long battle between the Greeks and the Trojans. In the notes below, people who
fought on the Greek side of the war are italicized and people who fought on the Trojan side of the war are bolded.
How the Trojan War Started
Thetis (a sea nymph, immortal) and Peleus (mortal) were getting married. All gods and goddesses were
invited except one: Eris (the goddess of discord); She was upset and wanted revenge. She threw a Golden Apple into
the celebration that read: “To the Fairest” – this caused a big fight. Hera (Queen of the Gods), Athena (Goddess of
Wisdom), and Aphrodite (Goddess of Love), all claimed to be the fairest.
Zeus was asked to judge who is the fairest, and is conflicted because one is his daughter, one is his sister,
and the other is his lover; He decided to ask an impartial person to judge. Paris, a young sheepherder is chosen to
judge; He didn’t know that an oracle predicted that he would destroy Troy. The three goddesses each offered Paris a
reward if he chose her: Hera offered him power and wealth; Athena offered him great victories and wisdom; and,
Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world.
Paris gave the Golden Apple to Aphrodite and therefore got the love of the most beautiful mortal woman.
The most beautiful mortal woman in Greece was Helen of Troy. Helen had hundreds of boyfriends/suitors who
asked for her hand in marriage. She couldn’t decide who to marry, so her father was going to choose for her. All her
boyfriends made a pledge to defend whomever is chosen called the Solemn Oath of Suitors.
Her father chose Menelaus, King of Sparta, over everyone else, and Helen married him although she never
loved him. When Paris visited Sparta Helen fell in love with him and left willingly to return to Troy. Because of the
Solemn Oath of Suitors, all boyfriends pledged to get her back for Menelaus. Helen is said to be “The face that
launched a thousand ships.” And thus began the Trojan War…
Key Events in the Trojan War
Odysseus pretended to be insane so he didn’t have to go to war; he plowed the beach, so others put his
infant son in his path as a test; Odysseus swerved, proving that he was sane.
Agamemnon, Greek Commander-in-Chief, brother of Menelaus, vowed to fight for Helen. When Achilles
was born, the Oracle said he would die in a war, so his mother made him “immortal” by dunking him in the River
Styx, but she missed part of his heel.
The Trojan War waged on for years before reaching a stalemate.
Achilles had a fight with Agamemnon and quit fighting; they realized, as prophesied, that they couldn’t win
the war without Achilles. Patroclus, Achilles’s best friend, begged Achilles to come back to the war; Achilles said no,
so Patroclus asked to wear Achilles’s armor. Patroclus is killed by Hector, Paris’s oldest brother and the most famous
Trojan warrior, who believed he had killed Achilles.
Achilles was so upset that he returned to the war and killed Hector.
Paris was ready to avenge the death of his brother; he shot an arrow guided by Apollo and hit the one weak
spot on Achilles’s heel - Achilles died.
Odysseus came up with the Trojan Horse plan; The Greeks pretended they surrendered and offered a giant
horse secretly filled with soldiers as a peace offering to the Trojans. The Trojans accepted and then rejoiced, partied,
and passed out. In the early morning hours, the Greeks descended from the belly of the wooden horse and opened
the gates to Troy to allow the rest of the Greek soldiers in to destroy Troy.
After ten years of fighting, the Greeks set sail for home - this is where The Odyssey begins – with Odysseus’s
journey home!
English I
Name ____________________________
Period ____
Date ______________________
Directions: Detach this page from your notes. Using your notes, answer the following questions IN YOUR OWN
WORDS in order to demonstrate your understanding of the events leading up to the Odyssey.
1.
What action started the chain of events resulting in the Trojan War?
2.
Why is Helen said to be “The face that launched a thousand ships”?
3.
Who is Agamemnon?
4.
Which soldiers were members of the Greek army?
5.
Which soldiers were members of the Trojan army?
6.
Why was Achilles’s heel vulnerable?
7.
Describe Odysseus’s strategy with the wooden horse.