Transcript Document

The Trojan War
Not Hollywood’s Version
How it all started…
• Eris: Goddess of Discord
– Threw the Apple of Discord
into a wedding dance (that
she wasn’t invited to) with a
tag that read “For the
Fairest.”
• Aphrodite
• Hera
• Athena
– They all fought over who
was the fairest and asked
Zeus to judge.
Paris’ Involvement
• All 3 goddesses promised
Paris things if he would
choose them…
• Athena
– Promised he would defeat
the Greeks
• Hera
– Promised he would be the
lord of Europe and Asia
• Aphrodite
– Promised him the fairest
mortal to be his bride
Meanwhile, Back in Greece…
• Helen has married Menelaus and they both rule
over Sparta.
– Helen’s father, King Tyndareus, warned all of
punishment to anyone who disrupted the marriage.
• Aphrodite lead Paris to Sparta for a visit.
Menelaus and Helen were very welcoming to him.
Then Menelaus left for a business trip to Crete.
Paris went back to Troy with Helen.
The Meeting of the Greeks
• Kings of Greece…
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Menelaus (married to Helen) (of Sparta)
Agamemnon (married to Clytemnestra) (of Mycenae)
Nestor (of Pylos)
Odysseus (married to Penelope) (of Ithaca)
Achilles (of Phthia)
– Odysseus and Achilles didn’t show up at the meeting.
The Face that Launched 1,000 Ships
• A strong wind held the ships
back because Artemis was
angry. The only way to make it
up to her was by sacrificing
Iphigenia.
– Iphigenia was Agamemnon’s
oldest daughter.
• The oracle claimed that the first
person to arrive on the shores of
Troy would be the first to die in
battle…Protesilaus
Mount Ida
Achilles
Odysseus
Ajax
Agamemnon
Nestor
Menelaus
Taking Sides
• Greeks
– Menelaus,
Agamemnon, Nestor,
Odysseus, Achilles
– Ajax, Diomedes,
Patroculs
– Hera, Athena, Poseidon
• Trojans
– King Priam, Queen
Hecuba, Prince Paris,
Prince Hector, Prince
Aeneas
– Aphrodite, Ares,
Apollo, Artemis
Battles
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Menelaus
Diomedes
Diomedes
Patroclus
VS
VS
VS
VS
Paris (saved by Aphrodite)
Aeneas (saved by Artemis)
Hector (hurt the gods)
Hector
– Patroclus was dressed in Achilles’ armor
• Achilles
VS Hector
– Patroclus was Achilles’ best friend…his
revenge was brutal.
– Achilles VS Paris
Those Sneaky Greeks
• The wooden horse:
– Thought up by Odysseus
– Laocoon, a priest from Troy, warned his
countrymen, “I fear the Greeks, even when they
bring gifts.”
– Inside the horse: Odysseus, Pyrrhus,
Agamemnon, Menelaus
The battle inside Troy
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Odysseus Shot Paris
Achilles’ son killed King Priam
Prince Aeneas escaped
Helen was returned to Menelaus
The Odyssey is a story about a hero . . .
Adventure lurks around every corner during
Odysseus’s journey home.
Scholars credit the blind poet Homer with
authorship of The Odyssey and The Iliad
written about 800 B.C.
Both stories were first told
orally and may not have been
written down until several
generations later.
The role of gods
and goddesses
The Ancient Greeks believed in many
different gods and goddesses. The Greeks
believed that these gods and goddesses
controlled everything in their lives. There
was a god for many aspects of life. It was
important to please the gods; happy gods
helped you, but unhappy gods punished
you.
The Greeks believed that the most
important gods and goddesses lived at
the top of Mount Olympus, the highest
mountain in northern Greece.
The gods were a family and, just like
a human family, they argued as well
as looking after each other.
The trip home from Troy
• Athena felt wronged after the war and
convinced Poseidon to make the Greek’s
trip home difficult.
• Storms blew ships in all different directions
• Odysseus wouldn’t arrive home for another
10 years.
During Odysseus’s journey home, some
gods and goddesses helped him.
Other gods and goddesses
attempted to keep Odysseus
from returning home.
Zeus
Zeus is the
supreme ruler
of Mount
Olympus and of
the gods who
reside there.
Athena
Athena is the goddess of
wisdom, war, the arts,
industry, justice and skill.
She is also Zeus’s
daughter.
She frequently helps
Odysseus, who was wellknown for his clever
mind.
Hermes
the messenger of the gods
In addition to being the
god of invention,
commerce, and cunning,
Hermes is also Zeus’s son.
Hermes helps Odysseus several times in The Odyssey.
Some goddesses both help and hinder Odysseus during
his journey home.
Circe, a goddess and
enchantress will use her
magic to toy with
Odysseus.
The sea goddess Calypso
delays Odysseus’s return
home because of her desire
for companionship.
Poseidon
Poseidon is the god of
the sea, earthquakes,
and horses.
Poseidon is also the
father of the one-eyed
cyclopes.
Odysseus’s excessive pride
angers Poseidon.
Helios/Apollo
As the god of the Sun, Helios
rides a chariot drawn by
horses through the sky,
bringing light to the earth.
Odysseus angers Helios when
his men ignore Helios’s
warnings.
The Illiad
•before The Odyssey
The Trojan War
The Heroic Story of Odysseus
• Odysseus longs to return home after ten years of
fighting in the Trojan War.
• He begins the trip home with 12 ships carrying
720 men.
• The gods and goddesses toy with Odysseus,
creating obstacles which delay his journey home
another ten years.
• Odysseus’s intelligence set him apart from others.
Back in Ithaca
• In Ithaca, all assumed Odysseus dead except
his wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus.
Penelope was receiving suitors at her door,
but she stalled by claiming to be weaving a
burial shroud for Odysseus’ father, Laertes,
which had to be done before she could
marry. She wove during the day and
unwove it at night until the suitors found
her out.
Athena’s forgiveness
• In the end, Athena made it possible for
Calypso to release Odysseus so he could go
home. She also decided to send Telemachus
on a journey of his own to seek news of his
father. Athena went to Telemachus
disguised as an old man and told him to go
to Nestor and Menelaus to find news.
Story within a Story
• The Odyssey has two plots the main plot is
of Odysseus traveling from Calypso’s island
home to Ithaca.
• While Odysseus is traveling to Ithaca, he
stops at many places along the way telling
the story of where he has been as he goes.
Important Literary Terms
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Epic
Epic Hero
Epic Simile
Epithet
Epic
• An epic is a long narrative poem that
tells about the adventures of a hero
who reflects the ideals and values of
a nation or race.
• The epic portrays the past, but it is
an imaginary past.
Epic Hero
• An epic hero is a larger-than-life figure,
usually male, who embodies the ideals of a
nation or race.
• Epic heroes take part in long, dangerous
adventures and accomplish great deeds that
require courage and superhuman strength.
Epic Simile
• A simile is a comparison of two things
using like or as.
• An EPIC SIMILE is a longer, more
detailed simile that can go on for several
lines.
• Example: “And Odysseus let the bright molten tears run
down his cheeks, weeping [like] the way a wife mourns for
her lord on the lost field where he has gone down fighting
the day of wrath that came upon his children . . .”
Epithet
• An epithet is a brief descriptive phrase that
helps to characterize a person or thing.
• Example: “Son of Laertes and the gods of old,
Odysseus, master mariner and soldier. . .”
• Epithets were used to give story telling a
musical effect.
Get ready to enjoy Homer’s The
Odyssey!