Download Outline of notes on the Trojan War

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The Trojan War happened in 1300 BC and 1200 BC in Asia Minor
The Iliad describes an episode late in this war, and the Odyssey describes the journey home of
one of the Greek leaders
How did it start?
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Zeus- King of the gods became king by overthrowing his father
The legend said that one of Zeus’ sons would overthrow him
Thetis was a sea-nymph who Zeus had relations with
Zeus ordered Thetis to marry Peleus (an old king who is human)
To Peleus and Thetis a son was born, named Achilles. It was prophesied that he would die
young at Troy
Thetis freaked out that he would die and tried to protect him
o She bathed him in a river that made him invincible to all warriors
o However, she held him by his heel
Peleus and Thetis got married and invited all the gods except Eris
Eris gets mad and puts a golden apple on the table
o It says to the “fairest one”
o Athena (goddess of war and wisdom), Aphrodite (goddess of love) and Hera
(goddess of marriage) all think that the apple was for them
o They get into a fight and Zeus breaks it up by saying it will be settled by the
judgment of Paris
 Paris, a prince of Troy, that is being raised as a shepherd
 Legend says he will be the fall of Troy
 The goddesses bribed him, so they could get the apple
o Paris went with Aphrodite bribe: he will fall in love with the most beautiful woman
Paris and Helen
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Paris does fall in love with the most beautiful girl, Helen
She is from Sparta (Troy and Sparta are enemies)
Helen and Paris elope and go to Troy
o This starts the war because
 Helen is married to king Menelaus (she has been married since she was 16)
 Menelaus is brothers with Agamemnon who wants to take down Troy and
become known as the best king
Odysseus
 He is the ruler of Ithica
 He was once a suitor of Helen
 He was called upon to help Menelaus to retrieve Helen back
 Married to Penelope and has a son Telemachus
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War:
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He did not want to go to war so he pretended that he was crazy
o Salted his fields
o Agamemnon had Palamedes put Odysseus’ son in front of the plow
 Showed he was not crazy
 Went to Troy
He had to recruit Achilles
o Achilles’ mom disguised him as a girl
o Odysseus has a battle horn blast
 Achilles grabs a weapon
 This shows that he is not a girl, but Achilles
o Achilles goes off to war
A thousand ships sail to Troy
When they are almost there, the wind stops
o Agamemnon is being punished for killing a sacred deer
o There are two myths of what happened next:
 1. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to please the gods
 2. He sacrificed a deer to the gods
o Agamemnon also brings his late father’s and grandfather’s bones with him to win the
war
An oracle (a priest like person acting as a medium between the humans and gods) had
prophesied that the first Greek to walk on the land after stepping off a ship in the Trojan War
would be the first to die
o Somebody had to try it!
 Protesilaus, leader of the Phylaceans, did this
 His wife followed him to his death (suicide)
 Brother took his place
 Importance of war
 Family matters (don’t want a bad name)
The Greeks overwhelmed Troy for nine years.
o There were occasional skirmishes, both with Troy and her allies. At one point, Greek
forces sacked a nearby town and Agamemnon took the daughter of Apollo’s priest as a
slave (Chryses)
o When Chryses tried to buy her back, he was laughed at, so he prayed to Apollo to punish
the Greeks, and the army was struck by a plague
o An oracle told Agamemnon he must give up Chryseis.
o Agamemnon gets made at Achilles
 Takes Briseis from Achilles
 Achilles refuses to fight
 Achilles has his mom talk to Zeus and has the Greeks start doing poorly until
Agamemnon apologizes to Achilles
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Hector (leader of the Trojans)
o Hector starts killing Achilles’ friends
o Achilles seeks revenge and kills Hector
 Drags the body around Troy for three days
 Refuses to let the Trojans bury it
Death of Achilles:
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Achilles dies by Paris
o He is either killed by an arrow to the heel or a knife to the heel
o He was not thought of as being killed in battle- his soul lives on
Armor: Odysseus got his Armor (Ajax, another warrior wanted it)
o They fought about it
 Ajax went mad (suicide)
o Paris dies with the help of Odysseus
The Trojan Horse:
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The final plan: build a Trojan horse and put Greek warriors in it
o Odysseus came up with it
o The Trojan horse was sacred to the Trojans
 They thought it was a peace offering
 They accepted it and went on with their business celebrating
 The Greeks came out of the horse and killed every man, and boy in Troy
 Enslaved every girl
 Took all the wealth
 The Greeks won
The last part….
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Odysseus never forgave Palamedes
Odysseus accused him of being a traitor and forged false evidence and found a fake witness to
testify against him.
Palamedes was stoned to death.