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Background Notes 1
The Iliad
I.
The Birth of Paris-Troy
A. Hecuba, Queen of _____dreamed that her baby boy was born a _______________.
B. King Priam consulted ________ who warned him to kill his son because the dream
meant that the son, Paris, had been preordained to cause the destruction of Troy
C. King Priam gave his son to his ________________ Agelaos to _____________.
D. Instead, Agelaos left him in ___________________ to be killed by wild animals
E. The next day, when Agelaos found Paris being cared for by a family of bears, he
took it as a sign that Paris should not die and secretly __________ as his own son.
F. Paris grew to a strong, healthy, and strikingly handsome young man
II.
The Wedding of King Pelias and Thetis the Sea Nymph-Greece
A. Many mortals and all of gods were invited ____________, the goddess of discord
B. Jealous, hurt and angry, Eris crashed the wedding and threw down a
____________________________ marked “_____________________________”
in front of three of the guests who began to bicker over whom it belonged to.
1. Hera-Wife of Zeus ________________ of all the gods
2. Athena-goddess of_________________________________
3. Aphrodite-goddess ________________________________
C. Zeus, tired of the arguing, but too smart to get involved, declared that Paris, the true
___________of King Priam of ___________, and the most beautiful man alive,
should act as ____________as he was known for his ____________ and fairness of
judgment (also as an excellent judge of cattle)
III.
The Judgment of Paris
A. Zeus sent Hermes, his messenger, with the goddesses to find ________________.
B. Paris was frightened of making such a decision, but Hermes promised that it would
be safe and that they would _____________________________________.
1. Hera promised Paris ________________-lord of all Asia and Greece
2. Athena promised him __________________-the wisest man on earth
Background Notes 2
3. Aphrodite looked into his lonely ________ and promised him the most beautiful
woman in the world-__________, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta (Greece)
C. When Paris chose Aphrodite, Athena and Hera stormed off and vowed revenge
IV.
Paris Returns to Troy
A. Aphrodite told Paris he would have to prove himself _______________ of Helen
1. She was married to _____________ of Sparta and he was jealous and protective
2. Before she married Menelaus, all of her suitors, including King Odysseus of
Ithaca, had vowed to back Helen’s husband and _______________________.
B. Paris begged his adoptive father to allow him to enter a _____________________
be held by King Priam
1. Agelaos was torn, knowing that Paris, the true son of ___________________
and the most able man in Troy, would probably win and be lost to him forever,
but agreed to let him attend.
2. Paris did win, defeating his ___________________, who threatened to kill him
3. To save his life, Agelaos revealed Paris’s ________________________.
C. King Priam and Hecuba welcomed him back into the family in spite of his sister
Cassandra’s warning that Paris was destined to bring on the fall of Troy
D. As a prince, Paris, with the help of Aphrodite, sailed for Sparta, _______________
and claiming to be on a goodwill mission from his father, King Priam of Troy
E. Paris was treated as a _______________________ and spent much time with Helen
and, with the help of Aphrodite and her assurance that their love would be free from
revenge, she fell in love
F. While Menelaus left Sparta for a funeral, Paris sailed away with Helen
G. Hera created a storm to destroy them, but they got through it and returned to Troy,
where Helen was ___________________________.
H. Back in Sparta, Menelaus and his brother, Agamemnon raised an army and sailed
off to reclaim her. Helen became “the face that launched a _____________ ships.”
Background Notes 3
V.
The Birth of Achilles
A. Meanwhile, back in Greece, King Pelias and Thetis (wedding) had lost six sons
1. Thetis was sad over the death of her baby sons and longed to return to the sea
2. When her seventh son, Achilles was born, she ________________________
a. She held him by the heel and dipped him in the River Styx for ____________
b. Later placed him in the fire to make him ___________________
c. His father, King Pelias, a mortal, grabbed Achilles from the fire
B. Thetis was so _____________________she left them both and returned to the sea
C. Distressed at his loss, King Pelias took Achilles to Chiron, a wise Centaur to raise
his son to ______________________________.
D. Achilles was given courage, the power to run swiftly, and trained in all areas of art
VI.
The Trojan War
A. When Achilles heard of the warriors and princes assembling he set out for ______
B. Chiron gave him a ____________________ that would fight only for him, a shield
C. Patroclus, his cousin, joined him and they ran into Thetis, who warned them
against being the first to set foot in Troy
D. Achilles and his magic spear won many battles and his name became __________.
E. During an attack, he met and fell in love with Briseis, ______________________.
F. He could not marry her, so he took her to be his __________________________.
G. Agamemnon wanted her, so, being the leader, he took her away from Achilles
H. Achilles was so angry that he _________________________________________.
I. The Trojans gained heart from this news and began to win.
VII. Achilles Returns and the Death of Hector
A. Patroclus put on Achilles's armor and scared the Trojans, who ran in fear
B. Patroclus and the Greeks gave chase and Achilles returned to help his cousin
C. Achilles arrived in time __________________________________________.
D. Agamemnon returned Breseis and made up with Achilles, who vowed to avenge
_____________________________________.
E. Hector, a Trojan hero, challenged _____________________ to a single combat.
Background Notes 4
F. Achilles killed Hector and horrified the Trojans by dragging his body in the dirt
G. King Priam had to beg Achilles to do the right thing and return the body to the
Trojans for burial, which he did, calling a twelve-day truce.
VIII. The Trojan Horse
A. After ten long years of bloody battle, even Odysseus began to wonder if it was
worth the effort to rescue one person-even the most beautiful woman in the world
B. The Greeks knew they had to win for her honor and thought of offering the gods a
gift, hoping the pleased gods would give them ____________________________.
C. This gave Odysseus the idea of building a horse as a gift and peace offering to the
Trojans and filling it with soldiers to gain them entrance into the city of Troy.
D. They did that and the Greek fleet left, pretending defeat and hiding nearby to wait.
E. Believing themselves _________________, the Trojans rushed out of the city gates
F. A Trojan priest named Laocoon was suspicious of the horse and urged King Priam
to burn it, "For my part, I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts."
G. As the Trojans prepared to burn the horse, Hera and Athena, still angry for the
judgment of Paris, sent a ___________________ to kill the priest and his sons.
H. This was taken as a sign of victory for the Trojans and the horse was brought in.
I. The Trojans celebrated for hours and while they were sleeping it off the Greeks
crept out of the horse, opened the gates of the city, and Troy was
_______________________________________as in Hecuba's dream, because of
her son Paris.
Background Notes 5
Homeric Greece
During the period around 1400 B. C. , the Mycenae, led by Agamemnon and Menelaus,
dominated the mainland and the island of Crete. This was known as the Homeric Age.
Society: Greece was not Greece. It was divided into city-states. It was a tribal society
controlled by a ruling class. Women enjoyed a status and freedoms not experienced in later
Greek times. There were a few slaves, but nobles and their hired men did most of the work.
Fighting, hunting, grazing and some agriculture were the main sources of work and the
pursuit of pleasure was very important. Xenia-hospitality was very important.
Reciprocity: The basis of the economic system was reciprocity, the exchange of goods.
Negative reciprocity, the taking of goods by force when one had nothing to offer in return,
justified the looting of cities
Deferred reciprocity: Used extensively by travelers (Odysseus), this was the expectation of
food and kind treatment in exchange for some future returned kindness.
Arete: The concept of excellence-the ideal of Greek education and culture. A noble's
personal excellence was indicated by his skill as a soldier in war and an athlete in peace..
The nobles competed among themselves "always to be the best and to be superior to others"
and war provided the opportunity to display arete and gain glory. Arete with ergon (good
hard work) and dike (justice) formed the basis of Greek economic, political, and moral life.
Athena____________________________________________________________________
Calypso____________________________________________________________________
Charybdis__________________________________________________________________
Circe______________________________________________________________________
Cyclops____________________________________________________________________
Helios_____________________________________________________________________
Poseidon___________________________________________________________________
Scylla_____________________________________________________________________
Zeus______________________________________________________________________