Download Before the Iliad/Prologue In Troy…

Before the Iliad/Prologue
In Troy…
The King of Troy had two sons- Hector and Paris. Hector was a brave warrior and Paris caused a lot of
trouble!
The goddesses were having an argument about who was the most beautiful, and they asked Paris to
settle the dispute. He chose Aphrodite, and as a reward she promised that he would marry the most
beautiful woman in the world. Unfortunately, this woman, Helen, was already married- to the King of
Greece, Menelaus. Paris stole her away from Greece, brought her back to Troy, and started a WAR!!
In Greece…
King Menelaus called all the chieftains of Greece to help in the war against Troy to get Helen back- they
were not excited. Odysseus pretended to be insane so that he didn’t have to go to war (he wanted to
stay with his family), but they found out he was tricking them and made him go. Achilles was the
strongest warrior in Greece and was eager to go into battle. When he was a baby, his mother dipped
Achilles him in the river to make him immortal (he was half-god, half-human), but she missed a spot on
his ankle- uh oh!!
The Quarrel
Two of the Greek warriors, Achilles and Agamemnon, got into an argument. Agamemnon, the Leader of
the Greek army, wanted to take Achilles’ “prize” from battle (the maiden Briseis) because he had to
return the girl that he had stolen (Chryseis) to her father. Achilles grew very angry and said that
Agamemnon was lazy and did nothing in battle. Achilles deserted the Greek army and said that without
him they would “die by the hand of Hector”.
Hector and Andromache
One of the princes of Troy, Hector, is an honorable warrior with Ares the god of war on his side. His wife,
Andromache, was worried that he would die in battle. He pledged to never back down, but fight with
and for his people- if death is his fate, there is no way to escape it. He asked Zeus to bless his son and
make him “an even greater man than his father”.
Agamemnon’s Appeal to Achilles
After the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, Achilles refused to fight with the Greeks against
the Trojans. Without Achilles, the Greeks could not advance in battle. They were almost defeated when
night fell. Hector told his Trojan warriors to eat and rest and they would finish off the Greeks the next
day.
Meanwhile, Agamemnon realized that he had been foolish in angering Achilles. He sent a few of the
Greek Chiefs to ask Achilles to forgive him and come back to fight. But Achilles was still too angry! He
had also spent some time thinking and decided that this was not the path he wanted to take. His mother
had once given him a prophesy- he could go to war with Troy and die young, or return home, have a
family, and live to an old age. At first Achilles wanted the fame and glory of battle, even if it meant that
he would die. Since he was still mad at Agamemnon, he decided he would rather return home and live a
long peaceful life.
The Arming of Patroclus
Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus, was very concerned for the Greeks. He told Achilles that he wanted to
help them fight against the Trojans. Even though Achilles himself did not want to go back into battle, he
agreed to give Patroclus his armor and send his own army, the Myrmidons, to support him. He even
asked for a blessing from the gods to protect Patroclus in battle. But, he warned Patroclus to come back
immediately after driving the Trojans away from the Greek ships, and not continue to fight.
When Patroclus went to fight the Trojans, they thought he was Achilles because he was wearing
Achilles’ armor. He killed Sarpedon, who was the Trojans’ greatest warrior. After this victory, Patroclus
decided to go against Achilles’ order and continue to fight to take the entire city of Troy. This angered
Hector and the god Apollo, who was supporting the Trojans. Apollo knocked off Patroclus’ helmet and
Hector speared him in the side and killed him. His dying words prophesied that Achilles would kill
Hector.
How the Death of Patroclus Roused Achilles
After Patroclus died, the Greeks and the Trojans fought for his body. Achilles’ horses, the immortal
creatures given to him by Zeus, shed tears for Patroclus and would not move from the center of the
battle. No one could lead them away until Zeus himself spoke to them- but though Hector wanted to
take the horses, he couldn’t; Zeus would not allow it. But Hector took the armor that Patroclus had been
wearing- which really belonged to Achilles.
When Achilles hears of this, he wants to take vengeance even if it means his own death. Achilles had to
have new armor made before he could return to battle, but in the meantime, he simply showed himself
and shouted to the Trojans; the sight and sound of him was enough to make them fall back, and the
Greeks retrieved the body of Patroclus.
The Making of the Arms
Achilles’ mother, Thetis, went to Hephaestus (the god of fire) to have new armor made for Achilles.
Hephaestus created “armor of exceeding strength and beauty, such as no man has ever yet worn”.
Thetis brought the armor to Achilles and he prepared for battle.
The Vengeance of Achilles
When Achilles approached the Trojans, the god Apollo sent out a nobleman named Aeneas to fight him.
Both Achilles and Aeneas were the sons of goddesses, so they were pretty evenly matched. Achilles
could have killed Aeneas, but the gods protected him because he was prophesied to be the next ruler of
Troy.
So, Achilles went after the Trojan army. He drove them back into the river, but then all the Trojans went
back into their walled city and were safe from Achilles. All except for Hector… Hector’s parents, King
Priam and Queen Hecuba, begged him to come into the city where he would be safe.
When Achilles approached Hector, at first he lost his nerve and ran away. The gods watched Achilles
chasing Hector and decided to intervene- they wanted Achilles to kill Hector. The goddess Athena took
the form of one of Hector’s brothers and stood beside him to encourage him to fight Achilles so that he
would stop running away. The gods were on Achilles’ side and he killed Hector by piercing a weak spot in
his armor.
Priam’s Appeal to Achilles
King Priam wanted to recover his son Hector’s body. He asked Zeus to allow him to do so and Zeus sent
a chariot with horses that took him to the tent of Achilles where Hector’s body lay. He begged Achilles
to let him take the body home to bury. He offered Achilles a truce between the Greeks and the Trojans
for nine days if he would let him bury his son; Achilles agreed. They had nine days of mourning and then
buried him on the tenth day.
This ends Homer’s epic, The Iliad.
After The Iliad…
The Death of Achilles
After Hector’s burial, the war continued. Paris, Hector’s brother who caused the war in the first place by
capturing Helen, was standing on top of a wall when he spotted Achilles. He had an arrow dipped in
poison and he aimed it directly at Achilles’ heel- the only part of him that was not protected by
immortality. The arrow struck Achilles’ heel and resulted in his death.
The Trojan Horse
The war continued and it looked as if the Greeks were not going to be able to win and bring Helen back
with them to King Menelaus. But, the gods made other plans. The goddess Athena gave Odysseus, one
of the Greek chieftains, an idea. They began to build a large, hollow wooden horse. When it was
finished, they hid inside of it. The Trojans were very confused- where had all the Greeks gone? They
found one Greek soldier left, hiding in the marsh, and he convinced the Trojans that this horse would
bring peace and prosperity wherever it went. The Trojans fell for this story because of their pride- they
were so sure they had won the war, they brought the horse within the walls of their city. While they
slept that night, the Greeks came out of the horse and set fire to their city.
“The Greeks swept through the streets, dealing death and destruction on all sides. They took Troy with
all its rich treasures. And Aphrodite restored to Menelaus his wife, the beautiful Helen.
So ended the great Trojan War that began with an apple of discord and left a great city in fiery ruins.”
Aphrodite returned Helen to her husband Menelaus in Greece.
THE END