The Iliad by Homer
1200 B.C
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Homer w
Greatest of the Greek poets
1,000 years B.C.
Epic poems- 1st to make stories a unified whole
Sung for entertainment
Stories taught Greek ideals
Homer wrote The Iliad
Ilium- Greek for Troy
Story of the Trojan
War
10 years
Fought over Helen of
Troy
The Odyssey
Follows the Trojan
War
10 years
Odysseus’s journey to
return to Greece
A metaphor for every
person’s journey
through life.
The Judgment of Paris
Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
(grandson to Zeus and a sea nymph)
• Eris – goddess of discord, not invited
• Eris crashes party - starts trouble
• Golden apple – “To the fairest”
Me!
• Hera, Athena, Aphrodite – claim it
No,
me!
It’s
mine
!
Zeus – asked to judge
No way!
Choose between my
wife, daughter, and
Aphrodite?
Who else can I get?
Paris – Prince of Troy
(a playboy)
• Goddesses bribe Paris
• Athena offers – ambition, fame, success in war
• Hera offers – power, riches, King of Europe
and Asia
• Aphrodite offers – the love of the most
beautiful
woman in the world
Paris chooses Aphrodite There’s just one
little problem…
The most beautiful woman in
the world is Helen…
and she’s married.
Helen – wife to Menelaus, King of Sparta
(a half-mortal daughter of Zeus)
Helen’s father, Tyndareus
Knew many men
would pursue Helen
Was afraid conflicts or
wars would be fought
over her
Convinced suitors to
swear an oath
- to always protect Helen
- to support her husband ,
whomever she chose
Paris visits Helen and Menelaus
• Welcomed as a guest
• Kidnaps Helen
• Menelaus - raises army
from suitors
• Agamemnon- Menelaus’s
brother leads expedition
• Achilles –
greatest Greek
warrior
- son of Peleus and Thetis
- invulnerable, except for heel
Siege of Troy - lasts 10 years
Troy – high and thick walls,
surrounded by plain of Troy
Achilles kills Hector,
Prince of Troy – defiles
Aphrodite- sides with the
body by dragging it behind his
chariot
Trojans
Athena and Hera - side
with the Greeks
Zeus- remains impartial
Paris takes revenge for
brother – shoots Achilles in
heel, killing him
Greeks – create a plan
- Odysseus – known for
strategy
- Athena’s favorite warrior
The Trojan Horse
• Greeks create a large, wooden horse
• Greeks sail away, leave as “gift”
• Warned not to bring horse inside Troy
- Cassandra – priestess
- Laocoon – priest
• Trojans celebrate
End of War
Soldiers slip out of
horse and open gates
Greeks return
Trojans are massacred
Troy is burned
women enslaved
Gods turn against the Greeks
Ajax kills Cassandra in Athena’s temple
Athena is offended
Calls on Poseidon to create storm
Odyssey Begins Here
• Greeks are scattered
around the
Mediterranean
• Odysseus’s 10 year
journey home begins