Download Characters from The Trojan War with definitions

Characters from The Iliad (The Trojan War)
1. The Goddess Eris/Discordia—Goddess of Quarreling who throws the golden apple
marked “For the Fairest” into the wedding of King Peleus and the sea nymph,Thetis.
2. King Peleus—Groom at the wedding where the golden apple was thrown. Achilles’
father.
3. The nymph Thetis—Bride at the wedding where the golden apple was thrown.
Achilles’ mother who dips him into the River Styx to make him invincible and tries to
keep him from fighting in the Trojan War.
4. Aprhodite—Goddess of love and beauty. She wins the “Judgment of Paris” as most
beautiful when he accepts her bribe of the most beautiful woman for his own. She
sides with the Trojans.
5. Hera—Queen of the gods. She loses the “Judgment of Paris” when he rejects her
bribe of being made Lord of Europe and Asia. She sides with the Greeks.
6. Pallas Athena—Goddess of wisdom, civilization, and strategic war. She loses the
“Judgment of Paris” when he rejects her bribe of becoming a Trojan warrior who will
defeat the Greeks. She betrays Hector by posing as his brother Deiphobus, then
abandoning him during his battle against Achilles.. She sides with the Greeks.
7. Zeus—King of the gods. This god favored the Trojans, but tried to stay neutral to not
upset Hera.
8. Paris—A prince of Troy who was predicted to bring about the downfall of Troy. He
is raised as a shepherd until three goddesses visit him and ask him to judge who is the
most beautiful. He chooses Aphrodite after she promises him the most beautiful
woman for his own. He causes the Trojan War when he steals Helen and brings her
back to Troy. He kills Achilles by shooting an arrow in Achilles’ ankle.
9. King Priam—King of Troy, father of Paris and Hector.
10. Helen of Troy—Daughter of Zeus and Leda who was the most beautiful woman in
the world. She leaves her husband, Menelaus, to accompany Prince Paris to Troy,
causing the Trojan War.
11. Menelaus—King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, who marries Helen and fights
the Trojan War to get her back.
12. Agamemnon—Commander of the Greek army during the Trojan War. He sacrifices
his daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis and calm the winds. He is killed by his
wife Clytemnestra for having done so.
13. Odysseus—Cleverest and trickiest of the Greek Chieftains. His invention, the Trojan
Horse, finally gets the Greeks into the city of Troy and wins the war.
14. Achilles—The best fighter among the Greeks. He was invincible except for his
ankles because his mother dipped him in the River Styx.
15. Artemis—Goddess who was on the side of the Trojans.
16. Iphigenia—The oldest daughter of Agamemnon who was sacrificed to Artemis to
calm the wind.
17. Hermes—Disguises himself as a Greek youth and safely guides King Priam to
Achilles’ tent so that he can claim Hector’s body.
18. Queen Hecuba—Queen of Troy; mother of Hector and Paris.
19. Hector—The prince of Troy who is its greatest hero. He fights Achilles in single
combat and loses.
20. Andromache—Wife of Hector who survives the fall of Troy.
21. Chryseis—Daughter of Apollo’s priest who Agamemnon must give back.
22. Briseis—Achilles’ prize who Agamemnon takes away causing Achilles to stop
fighting for the Greeks.
23. Ares—A bully and crybaby god who favors the Trojans.
24. Ajax—A Greek hero who goes crazy and thinks the flock of sheep he is slaughtering
is an army. He kills himself in shame.
25. Diomedes—A Greek hero who wounds both Aeneas and the god Ares in battle.
26. Aeneas—Trojan hero whose mother is Aphrodite. He survives the fall of Troy and
goes on to found Rome.
27. Nestor—The oldest and wisest of the Greek chieftains. He advises Agamemnon to
make peace with Achilles.
28. Patroclus—Achilles’ closest friend who dons Achilles’ armor and fights in his place.
He is killed by Hector in battle.
29. Iris—Rainbow goddess and messenger of Hera.
30. the Myrmidons—Achilles’ army
31. Acheans/Greeks—The armies that come to retrieve Helen from Paris. When they
were courting Helen they swore to help her husband if she were ever stolen.
32. Trojans—People of the walled city of Troy, Ilium, who are attacked by the Greeks.
33. Hephaestus—God of metalworking who made Achilles’ invincible armor.
34. Prince Memnon—The Ethiopian Prince who with his army fights on the side of the Trojans.
35. Prophet Calchas—The Greek prophet who says Iphigenia must be sacrificed to
Artemis to stop the wind storm allowing the Greeks to leave for Troy.
36. Prophet Helenus—Trojan prophet who reveals that Troy cannot be defeated until it is
attacked by Hercules bow and arrows.
37. Philoctetes—Greek soldier who is bitten by a snake on the way to Troy and
abandoned on an island. He is rescued when the Greeks find out that they need the
bow and arrows of Hercules that he has with him.
38. Oenone—The beautiful nymph that Paris lives with on Mount Ida until he abandons
her for Helen. She refuses to heal him later when he is injured because of this
betrayal.
39. Sinon—The Greek soldier that is left behind to mislead the Trojans about the Trojan Horse.
40. Laocoön—The Trojan soothsayer who warns the Trojans not to accept the Trojan
Horse from the Greeks, but is pulled into the sea by a giant sea serpent sent by
Poseidon.
41. Cassandra—The daughter of Priam that has received the gift of prophecy from
Apollo, but also the curse that she will never be believed.
42. Clytemnestra—The wife of Agamemnon who kills him upon his return from the
Trojan War. He had told her that her daughter was to be married to Achilles, but
instead he sacrificed her to Artemis.
43. Orestes—The son of Agamemnon who must kill his mother to avenge his father’s
death. He is tortured by the furies/ Erinyes (the goddesses of vengeance) until finally,
the gods transform the Erinyes into the consoling Eumenides to comfort him.
44. Electra—Youngest daughter of Agamemnon who waits for Orestes to rescue her from
her uncle and Clyemnestra.
45. Poseidon—Sea god who fought on the side of the Greeks. He sends a sea serpent to
silence Laocoon by dragging him into the sea.
46. Apollo—God of archery and truth who fights beside Hector. He is on the side of the
Trojans like his twin sister. He guides Paris’ arrow to kill Achilles.