TROY
A Greek soap opera
The deep background
 Peleus, a
mortal man, fell in love with
the sea nymph Thetis, a daughter of
Nereus. Peleus was with Meleager
on the boar hunt and Jason on the
Quest for the Golden Fleece. Peleus
had been married, but after
accidentally killing his father-in-law
the marriage ended. Then he met
Thetis.
 Peleus
tried to kidnap Thetis and
she fought him off with a snake.
Eventually he won her love and
Zeus acquiesced to the couple’s
request for his blessing.
 The
wedding was going to be
HUGE!
 All
of the important (and not so
important) gods and goddesses
were invited to attend, with one
notable exception: Eris, goddess
of discord, conflict, and strife.
 What do you think the goddess
of discord, conflict, and strife
would do if she was excluded???
Get REVENGE!
Eris rolled a golden apple into the
middle of the reception. The words,
“To the fairest,” were inscribed on it.
What kind of problem could possibly
arise from a simple golden apple in
the middle of a room of goddesses?
 Three
goddesses claimed the prize as
the fairest, most beautiful, most
wonderful goddess in the room.
 The three self proclaimed finalists
were
Athena-Daddy’s little girl
Hera-Queen of the gods
Aprhodite-Goddess of Love
 The
ladies asked Zeus to choose
the fairest, but he was no fool.
He passed the decision off to
Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy.
 Why
did Zeus choose Paris to
pick the winner?
•
Zeus decided it would be fun to watch
Paris fumble around and make his
decision. He also thought this would get
the ball rolling toward Troy’s demise.

Zeus knew that Troy had been fated to be
destroyed.Years ago the Trojan king
Laomedon hired Apollo and Poseidon to
build walls for Troy, but when the job was
done, he refused to pay for the work.
Whoops!
More backstory…
 When
Paris was born, his mother
had a dream that she’d given birth to
a torch that was going to set the
entire city on fire. His parents tried
to “expose him,” but Paris survived
for five days, so Priam gave in and
took him back.
Of course, the competition wasn’t
fair.
Athena offered him guaranteed victory in
war. The Trojans would have victory over
the Greeks.
Hera offered him power over nations. He
would be Lord over Europe and Asia
which would make him incredibly wealthy.
Aphrodite offered him the most
beautiful woman in the world. He could
have her as his own!

Which would you choose??
And the winner is…
Paris accepted Aphrodite’s offer. The
problem was that the most beautiful
woman was already married! She was the
daughter of a mortal named Leda and
Zeus (in the form of a swan-Helen was
born from an egg!)
 Helen was married to Menelaus, king of
Sparta. Paris had to go a long way to
kidnap his prize.


Read the following poem by William
Butler Yeats. What is its significance to
the story we are reading?
W. B.Yeats
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
To whom is this poem referring?
 What could the title could be?

Leda and the Swan
Peter Paul Rubens (b.1577 d.1640)
 P.S. Paris
already had a beautiful
woman in his life. The nymph
Oenone (pronounced “Oy-nonee”), lived as his wife in his
mountain home. She had special
healing powers.

Read the play “The Judgment of Paris”
The kidnapping of Helen
 Paris
went to visit King Menelaus in
his palace. While there he either
forcibly carried Helen away to Troy
or seduced her and she went
willingly.
Zeus felt very strongly about Hospitality.
Kidnapping or seducing your host’s wife
was certainly against the rules.
 Troy’s fate is sealed…again!

Helen’s backstory…
 When
Helen’s reputed father, King
Tyndareus, began to accept suitors
for Helen’s hand in marriage, he was
overwhelmed. It seemed as though
every young prince in the region
wanted her as his own.
 Tyndareus hesitated to make his
choice for her husband.
The OATH
 To
keep from becoming a target,
Tyndareus made each suitor swear an
oath to champion the cause of Helen’s
husband if any wrong was done to him
through his marriage.
Was
this a good idea?
Why would the suitors
agree to this?
 Tyndareus
chooses Menelaus,
the brother of Agamemnon,
then makes Menelaus King of
Sparta. Tyndareus named
Menelaus his successor and
co-leader.

Read “Helen of Sparta” from Trickle Down Olympus
 Now, back
to the apple…
To answer some questions which have been
raised about Helen’s family…
http://mythagora.com/bios/helen.html

Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Leda
... she was raised by Leda and her husband
King Tyndareus of Sparta. Her brothers
Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes
(Polydeuces or Pollux) were also children
of Zeus but she had two half-sisters,
Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and
Timandra, who were the daughters of
Leda and Tyndareus.
Helen’s family…

Zeus came to Leda in the guise of a swan
and seduced her. King Tyndareus knew
that three of his children were of divine
origin but raised them as if they were his
own children. Despite the support of
Tyndareus and her personal relationship
with Zeus, Leda finally killed herself in
desperation after suffering through the
tragic lives of her children.
The following questions refer to the
worksheet Helen of Sparta
1.
Around what emotion is Helen’s
life centered? Explain.
Helen…

2. In some ways Helen is more fortunate
than other women. In other ways she is
less fortunate than other women. List
some of these ways.
Helen…

3. If you had a chance to escape a prison
such as Helen’s, would you take it? Why
or why not?
 This
is the point at which Paris
made his choice. In case you
didn’t notice, Paris is rather
foolish.
He heads to Sparta and kidnaps
Helen from her much older
husband…and creates
circumstances that cause the fate
of Troy.
 Menelaus
had been travelling.
When he got home he found
his wife missing, his guest
gone, and his hospitality
dishonored.
 He
did the only thing that he
could do: he called upon all of
Greece to help him avenge
this insult. The oath was
called in.
The call goes out.
Time had passed, the flame of first
crush had died out, and no one was
particularly enthusiastic about being
called away from their lives to fight.
On the other hand, it was a chance
to fight, be valiant, and enhance the
warrior reputation.

Insert mediterranean map
Troy here
Ithaca
Aulis
Athens
Sparta
Please complete the “Ancient DraftDodging” sheet.
This will give you an idea just how
much some people did not want
to honor the oath.
Answer questions on your own
paper!!!
It’s almost started now!
 Agamemnon, king
of Mycenae
and Argos, was the
Commander-in-Chief of the
Greek forces. Once he
managed to get everyone to
report for duty, his real
problems began.
 The
thousand ship armada
was ready to set sail and lay
siege to Troy.
 Then the winds came.
Iphigenia-a sacrifice
The winds began to blow
across the Aegean sea. This
prevented the ships from
sailing east across the sea to
Troy.
 Agamemnon
consulted the prophet
Calchas who said that these were
winds sent by Artemis who liked Troy
but didn’t like Agamemnon.
 There
was a way for King
Agamemnon to get the winds
to stop, however.
 The
27 groups of Greek
warriors and 1,116 ships sat
idle.
 There was a way for King
Agamemnon to get the winds
to stop, however.
 Because
someone had killed
an animal which was sacred to
Artemis, King Agamemnon
would have to offer his
daughter, Iphigenia, as a
sacrifice to the goddess
Artemis to make amends.
It’s a matter of honor.
“If I must slay
The Joy of my house, my daughter.
A father’s hands
Stained with dark streams flowing
From blood of a girl
Slaughtered before the altar.”
From Mythology by Edith Hamilton

Nevertheless, Agamemnon yielded. His
reputation with the army was at stake.
He also had a great ambition to conquer
Troy and exalt Greece.
“He dared the deed,
Slaying his child to help a war.”
 Agamemnon
sent a message
to his wife, Clymenestra,
saying that he had arranged
for Iphigenia to marry Achilles.
 Iphigenia
and her mother
quickly packed and headed for
Aulis (the port where the
boats were trapped by the
wind,) expecting a wedding to
occur.
Surprise!
 When
they arrived, Agamemnon
killed his daughter on an altar,
just like a sacrificial animal.
 The winds died down, the ships
set sail, and with the commission
of this horrible crime the war
was on!
It didn’t go unpunished.
 Clymenestra,
Iphigenia’s mother,
harbored a grudge against her
husband Agamemnon until his
death…which she caused once
he returned from the Trojan War
with his new girlfriend,
Cassandra.
Just so you know…
 Clymenestra and Aegisthus killed
Agamemnon, but not his son,
Orestes, or his remaining
daughter, Electra. Orestes and
his sister Electra eventually killed
Aegisthus and Clymenestra.
 Then the Furies came and did
their thing.
The ILIAD
…or nine years after the whole
thing started.
One last thing before we begin.
The Greek warriors came from
places such as Mycenae, Sparta,
Pylos, Crete, Thessaly, and a
hundred other locations.
 The
following is a list of
characters you should know
and be able to differentiate.
THE GREEK FORCES
 Agamemnon-King
of Mycenae
and leader of the Greek forces
 Menelaus-Helen’s wimpy husband
 Achilles-a great warrior &the one
with the heel
 Patroclus-Achilles best friend
Phoenix-The man who raised Achilles since
Peleus was too busy being King of Pithia
 Odysseus-King of Ithaca known for being
smart
 Ajax-big dumb guy who tries hard; blood
thirsty warrior
 Diomedes-A real hero (especially when
Achilles is pouting.)
 Nestor-An elderly warrior who tells “Back
when I was a warrior…” stories.

Now for the Trojan warriors:
 Priam-King
of Troy and an old man
 Hecuba-Priam’s wife; not a warrior
 Paris-Priam’s son, Helen’s kidnapper
and wimpy boyfriend
Hector-Another of Priam’s sons; a REAL
hero
 Andromache-Hector’s wife
 Aeneas-Like Diomedes; a fighter; he
escapes the city of Troy while carrying his
feeble father Anchises on his back and his
son Ascanius in his arms. He gets his own
story: the Roman writer Virgil’s Aeneid

The Gods took sides too.
 Troy
 Greece
 Apollo
 Poseidon
 Aphrodite
 Hera
 Ares
 Athena
 Artemis
 Zeus
(in
secret)
 and
they
interfered a lot!
Homer’s poem, the Iliad, takes
place during the ninth year of
the Trojan War. It only covers
events that happen over a few
weeks.

Brave Protesilalus was the first to leap to
shore once the first ship reached the
shores of Troy.

The Oracle had foretold that the first to
reach land would be the first to die. He
was killed by a Trojan spear and received
great honors among the Greeks.
 The
story focuses on the
quarrel between Achilles and
Agamemnon, and the resulting
tragedy of Hector.
THE
WAR HAD
WAGED ON
AND ON FOR
NINE LONG
YEARS.
The Chryseis crisis
 The
Greeks had spent some time
sacking neighboring cities, stealing
the women and dividing them
among the soldiers as spoils of
war.
 The Iliad begins with the Greeks
camped on a beach outside of
the Trojan wall.
 An
old man called Chryse, a
priest of Apollo, arrives at the
Greek camp to try to buy his
daughter, Chryseis, back from
Agamemnon.
 Agamemnon
said, “No!”
threatened Chryse, and
made Apollo really mad.
 Apollo sent a plague among
the Greeks.
 The
prophet Calchas was
consulted to find a way to end
the plague.
 He said Agamemnon would have
to give the girl back to appease
Apollo.
Agamemnon
refused. He
and Achilles got into an
argument.
 Agamemnon
finally gives in,
but he demands Achilles’s war
prize, Briseis, as a
replacement.
 Achilles leaves and refuses to
fight any more.
What’s the big deal??
 Achilles
was angry because of
HONOR. All heroes want to
collect as much honor
through fighting well or giving
good advice.
 Prizes
(gold, silver, horses, captive
women, etc.) were the visible
symbols of that honor.
 When Agamemnon took Achilles’
woman, he diminished Achilles’
honor to enhance his own.
 Achilles
was also told by his
mother that he was fated to
live a short life, so he wanted
to accrue as much honor as
possible before his demise.

Read the reader’s theater play, The Tides
of War.
Important
battles
Paris versus Menelaus
The war is raging. Suddenly the
combatants stepped back to expose two
fighters.
 Paris struck first, Menelaus caught the
spear with his shield and hurled his own.
He tore Paris’ tunic-but now he had no
spear.

Paris versus Menelaus
 Menelaus
drew his sword, but it
broke. He jumped on Paris,
grabbed his helm, and started
dragging him away toward the
Greeks.
Paris versus Menelaus
Aphrodite broke the strap of Paris’ helm,
and urged him to run away! She took him
back to Troy.
 Yes, he was saved in war by the goddess
of LOVE. How manly!

Paris versus Menelaus

Menelaus tore through the Trojan ranks
seeking Paris-and if anyone had seen him
they would probably have given him up
because they all hated him!
Paris versus Menelaus
So Agamemnon spoke to both armies,
declaring that Menelaus was the winner
and told the Trojans to give Helen back.
 The Trojans would have agreed, but
ATHENA (for Hera) persuaded Pandarus,
a Trojan, to break the truce and shoot an
arrow at Menelaus. Menelaus was
wounded slightly, and the battle was back
on!

Read the play
“War at Troy”
Diomedes and Aeneas

Diomedes almost slay Aeneas on the field
of battle. Aeneas was the child of
Aphrodite and the Trojan Prince Anchise
(an-Ki-seez) , and when he was wounded
his mother rushed to save him. She
picked up her son and prepared to leave
for Olympus.
Diomedes and Aeneas

Diomedes knew she was a silly coward,
so he jumped at her and stabbed her
hand. She dropped Aeneas on the ground
and took off for Olympus. Zeus thought
this was funny.
Diomedes and Aeneas

Luckily for Aeneas, Apollo was there and
saved him by flying him to Pergamos-the
holy place of Troy-where Artemis healed
him.
A little information about Aeneas…
Due to the help of his mother,
he is the lone Trojan able to escape defeat
at the hands of the Greeks, fleeing with
his father on his back and
his son in his hand. Aeneas eventually winds
up in Italy, where his son founds the city
Alba Longa, the predecessor
of Rome. Between the two cities, however,
Aeneas has a long journey and many
adventures.
Diomedes versus Ares
Diomedes continued to fight until he
came face to face with Hector. Fighting
next to Hector was Ares, the
bloodstained, murderous war god.
 Obviously, Diomedes was concerned
(read “scared”) when he saw Ares.

Diomedes and Ares
When Hera saw Ares, she got really mad.
She flew to Olympus to get Zeus’
permission to drive Ares from the
battlefield. Zeus said, “Go!”
 Hera flew down to Diomedes and
encouraged him to smite the terrible god
but have no fear.

Diomedes and Ares
Diomedes flew at Ares and hurled his
spear at him. Athena drove the spear into
Ares’ body.
 The war-god let loose a stentorian cry, as
loud as a thousand warriors in battle, and
shook the entire battlefield.

Diomedes versus Ares

Ares was a bully; he was also a wimp. He
ran home to tell daddy about what
Athena did to him, and Zeus replied that
he was as intolerable as his mother and
that he needed to stop whining.

With Ares gone, the Trojan army had lost
some of its momentum. It was forced to
fall back.

Hector’s brother told him to go to the
city, tell his mother to offer the most
beautiful robe she owned to Athena, and
pray to Athena for mercy.

Hecuba placed the beautiful robe upon
Athena’s lap and prayed to her : “Lady
Athena, spare the city and the wives of
the Trojans and the little children.”

Athena ignored the plea.
As Hector heads back to the war he sees
his wife, Andromache, and son, Astyanax.
 His wife pleads with him not to go. “My
dear lord, you who are father and mother
and brother unto me as well as husband,
stay here with us. Do not make me a
widow and your child an orphan.”

He gently refused her
request because of
HONOR.
Explain this statement.

That day Zeus ordered all the other
Olympians to remain behind. He had
promised Thetis to avenge Achilles’
wrongs, and he planned to deliver. On
this day Hector was unstoppable.
Agamemnon and the other Greek leaders
despaired. They even considered giving up
and sailing home.
 Nestor told Agamemnon that the blame
lay at his feet. Then he told him to make
nice with Achilles.

Agamemnon confessed he had been a fool
and promised to send Briseis back in
addition to great gifts.
WOULD IT BE ENOUGH??

No, it would not.

Achilles said that not all the treasures of
Egypt could buy him.

He also said he was sailing home and
advised them to do the same.

The Greek warriors continued to fight,
however, and rejected the suggestion they
should give up.

They were driven back to the beach
where their ships were drawn up on the
shore.

Hera decided times were desperate.
 She
seduced Zeus by making
herself irresistible. She used
her feminine wiles to make
him forget Troy. She
borrowed Aphrodite’s girdle
of enchantments, worked her
womanly magic, and…
 …used
magic to knock him
out, like an Olympian roofie.

When Zeus woke up he was REALLY
mad. He saw the Trojans in flight, and
Hector gasping on the plain from his
wounds. He turned on Hera. She did
what she does best: She blamed
everything on Poseidon. (She did say that
everything he did , he did on her orders.)
 Apollo
healed Hector and gave him
extra power. The Greeks fled like
sheep driven by mountain lions.
 Patroclus saw the rout with horror,
took Achilles’ armor, and led the
Myrmidons into battle.
 This was great until…
Achilles versus Hector
…Patroclus met Hector on the
battlefield.
 Hector killed Patroclus, took the armor,
and symbolically stole Achilles’ strength.


Achilles learned of his friend’s death while
with his mother. His mother went to
Hephaestus to get special armor for her
son to return to battle.
Achilles versus Hector
Achilles (with Athena) and Hector met
for battle. Apollo left hector to his fate.
Achilles chased Hector around the Trojan
wall 3 times. Athena appeared in disguise
as Hector’s brother.
 Hector stopped.

Achilles versus Hector
Achilles threw a spear and missed.
Athena brought it back.
 Hector struck Achilles’ magical shield.
 Achilles killed Hector, stripped his bloody
armor off, pierced his feet, tied him to the
back of his chariot, and dragged his
corpse around and around the walls of
Troy.

 Eventually Achilles
calmed down.
He realized what a terrible thing
he had done, and he returned the
body to King Priam.
 Then
he allowed a recess for the
funeral.
Priam’s words to his people after his
meeting with Achilles

‘Gather wood now, men of Troy, and bring
it to the city, and have no fear of some
crafty ambush by the Greeks. Achilles
promised me, before I left the black ships,
that he would restrain their army till the
twelfth dawn comes.’
Read the play
“The Rage of Achilles”
As Achilles and Hector met on the
battlefield, they had a few moments
of conversation.
As Hector lay dying he prayed that
Achilles would give his body back to
his parents.
Achilles responds, “ No prayers from
you to me, you dog.”
Then Achilles said, “I would that I
could make myself devour raw
your flesh for the evil you have
brought upon me.”
The beginning of the end of the
Trojan War
 Once Hector was dead, Troy’s
future was set. Achilles was killed
shortly after the conclusion of
the Iliad. Ironically Achilles was
killed by Paris (the wimpy guy)
with an arrow (considered a
cowardly weapon).
Hector’s funeral rites
Hector was burned on a pyre. The
flames were quenched with wine.
The bones were gathered into a
golden urn, which was shrouded
in purple cloth. The urn was set
in a hollow grave and great
stones were piled upon it.
The Death of Achilles

Hector is replaced by Prince Memnon of
Ethiopia, a great warrior, and the Trojans
have the upper hand for a time. Achilles
soon kills Memnon as well, driving the
Trojans back to the Scaean gates (the
main city gate-pronounced “skee-an”). At
the wall Paris kills Achilles with Apollo’s
help: Paris shoots an arrow and Apollo
guides it to Achilles’ heel.
Ajax carried Achilles’ body from
the battlefield.
Ajax and Odysseus are now the
two greatest living Greek
warriors.
It is said that after his pyre,
Achilles’ ashes were placed in
the same burial jar as
Patroclus’ ashes.
Dividing the spoils of war…
Now we have a new spoil of
war: Achilles’ fabulous,
Hephaestus-forged armor.
Two men really wanted it. Ajax
and Odysseus were the
heroes “in competition” for
the prize.
A little more background about Ajax

He commands his army wielding a huge
shield made of seven cow-hides with a
layer of bronze. Ajax is not wounded in
any of the battles described in the Iliad,
and he is the only principal character on
either side who does not receive
substantial assistance from any of the
gods who take part in the battles.
When Odysseus is chosen, Ajax
plots revenge, but Athena makes
him go crazy. Ajax massacres
some cattle, then comes to his
senses and, mortified, kills
himself.
Because of his suicide, his
body was buried in shame
instead of burned on a pyre of
honor.
Ajax said this about his choice of ending his
life:
“..I stand here alone, hateful to men and to
gods. In such a state only a coward clings
to life. A man, if he cannot live nobly, can
die nobly.”
Then he drew his sword and killed himself.
The Greeks consulted Calchas. He told
them he had nothing to tell them. He
suggested they kidnap the Trojan prophet
Helenus and ask him.
The prophet Calchas then tells
the Greeks that they must
capture the Trojan prophet
Helenus.
Odysseus captured Helenus and
was told that the Trojans would
not fall until someone used the
bow and arrows of Hercules to
fight in the war.
That man was Prince Philoctetes.
Read the play
“ The Marooned Prince”
Should orders always be followed?
Pyrrhus’s struggle over his actions is a great
example of inner conflict. What are the
conflicts he is experiencing?
Soon after Achilles’ death Paris
received a fatal wound from
an arrow shot by the rival
archer Philoctetes.
Another prophesy…
The Greeks learned that Troy would not
fall while the Palladium remained
within Troy's walls. The task of stealing
this sacred statue fell upon the
shoulders of Odysseus and Diomedes.
They made their way into Troy by a
secret passage and carried it off.
The Trojan Horse
 With
Patroclus, Hector, Achilles,
Paris, and Ajax all dead, both sides
were running out of heroes.
 It
was time to end the war, and
Odysseus had a plan.
 During
the night, Odysseus had
the Greeks build a giant, hollow,
wooden horse.
 A select group of soldiers hid
inside the horse.
 The rest of the Greek army got
on their ships and sailed away…
 …and
hid behind a nearby
island out of sight.
 The
horse was left outside the
gates of Troy. The trap was
set.
 The
next morning the Trojans
woke to find a big horse and
an empty battlefield. Then a
“deserter” from the Greek
army showed up and told the
Trojans a story about omens
and gifts and running away.
 The Trojans
were a little skeptical.
Laocoon even said the horse might
be filled with Greek soldiers waiting
to be brought into the city.
 Athena (who hated Troy) made a sea
serpent pop up and eat him and his
sons in front of everyone. The
Trojans saw that as a sign that the
horse was ok.
Cassandra, Priam’s daughter, also
warned of the possible doom the
horse could bring. Cassandra
had the true gift of future sight.
Unfortunately she was cursed to
always know the truth, and
cursed to never have anyone
listen to her.
Cassandra foresaw the destruction
of Troy by the Greeks; when the
Trojans found the big wooden
horse outside the gates of their
city Cassandra told them that
Greeks will destroy them if they
bring the horse in the city.
The famous phrase “Beware of
Danaos (Greeks) bearing gifts”
belongs to her. No one in Troy
believed her, and the horse was
admitted in the city, with the
known results for Troy.
Cassandra’s story
She was loved by Apollo, and he
promised her whatever she desired if
she would gratify his passion. As
soon as she got her gift, she backed
out of the deal.
Once a god gives a gift it cannot be
taken back.
Because of this betrayal, a curse was
born.
They dragged the horse inside
the Trojan walls and went to
celebrate and sleep.
Later that night, three things
happened to change Troy
forever.
Victory as easy as 1-2-3!
 1.
The Greek army sailed their ships
back to the beach and marched to
the walls of Troy.
 2. Odysseus and his guys came out
of the horse and opened the city’s
gates.
 3. They killed the men, enslaved the
women, and burned the city to the
ground.
Cursed as easy as 1-2-3!
 King
Priam took refuge at an altar,
which should have protected him but
didn’t. (It’s like killing someone at
church.) He was decapitated as he
clung to the altar.
 Hector’s baby son, Astyanax, was
thrown from the city walls.
 Most of the Greeks forgot to make
offerings to the gods for the victory.
Big Mistake!!
Read the play
“The Fall of Troy”
THE ODYSSEY
The long road home.
Not giving thanks to the gods had bad
results for many warriors heading home
from Troy.
 Menelaus was blown all over the ocean
and ended up in Egypt. He had to wrestle
Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, to find
out how to get home to Sparta.


Proteus knew all things—past, present,
and future—but disliked divulging what he
knew. Those who wished to consult him
had first to surprise and bind him during
his noonday slumber. Even when caught
he would try to escape by assuming all
sorts of shapes.

Agamemnon was able to get right home,
but then he was killed.

Read “The Death of Agamemnon”
TANTALUS:
Tantalus' family was an ill-fated one. His
daughter, Niobe, lost all her children and
was turned to stone. His son, Pelops, was
murdered, cooked, and restored to life.
His grandsons, Atreus and Thyestes,
struggled for power, and Atreus
committed a variation of Tantalus'
cannabilistic trick with Thyestes' children.
His great-grandson, Agamemnon, was
murdered by another great-grandson,
Aegisthus, who was in turn killed by a
great-great-grandson, Orestes.
The most famous homecoming was the
voyage of Odysseus. His story is the
ultimate adventure filled with sex,
violence, deceit, and monsters.
We also are presented with an interesting
question: Which is more monstrous, the
creatures Odysseus meets, or the human
suitors who want his wife, Penelope?

We are also presented with another
theme frequently visible in art, literature,
movies, and life: the double standard.
When the Odyssey opens, our hero has
already been away for over ten years.
 The war has finally ended and some of
the warriors have already returned home,
but not Odysseus.


Poor, wealthy, beautiful, desirable Penelope
continues to await the return of her
husband. Unfortunately for her, not
everyone thinks he’s coming home.

Now they have moved into her home.
They are rudely using her servants, eating
her food, drinking her wine, spending her
money, and expecting her to choose one
of them to marry.

She managed to keep them at bay with
her tapestry trick for two years before a
slave-girl was enticed to give up her
secret.
Why didn’t Penelope say, “GET
OUT!”
First, it adds to the suspense of the poem.
 Second, if she didn’t give the suitors what
they want, they could have gone to her
father or nearest male relative and have
him arrange her new marriage. At least
this way she maintains some control.

Where was the son of Odysseus?

Telemachus was now twenty years old.
He knew his father was respected, but
hadn’t had the benefit of his training and
guidance. He lacked confidence.

There were at least seventy suitors.
Odysseus’ adventures

The land of the Cicones was Odysseus’
first stop on the way home. They went to
start a quick war and get some new stuff.
This didn’t go as planned, and they barely
escaped with their lives.
Odysseus’ adventures

The Land of the Lotus Eaters was the
next stop.
Remember this????
Odysseus’ adventures
The Cyclops Polyphemus was the next
encounter.
 What role did hospitality play in this
disaster?
 Who was Polyphemus’s famous father?
 Read “In the Cave of the Cyclops”

Odysseus’ adventures
Next the adventurers come to the
Aeolian Islands, home of King Aeolus, lord
of the winds.
 AIOLOS (or Aeolus) was the king of the
winds who kept the stormy Anemoi
Thuellai and Aellai locked away inside the
hollow heart of the floating island of
Aiolia. At the command of the gods he
released these to wreck devastating
storms.

Odysseus’ adventures

Aeolus gives Odysseus a gift of wind to
help him sail home. His crew believes it is
secret treasure.
Odysseus’ adventures
They open the bag, release the winds, and
end up back with Aeolus who is too angry
to help a second time.
The fierce storm blows them to the land
of the Laestrygons, cannibals who destroy
every ship in the fleet except one.
Odysseus’ adventures
Circe’s island was next. Odysseus’ men
were turned into pigs by their hostess,
but Hermes gave Odysseus a magic herb
(moly) which kept him human.
 Odysseus angrily confronted Circe, which
turned her on, so she fell instantly in love
with him.
 He and his men lived with her for a year.
(double standard rears its ugly head)
 Read “Circe the Witch”

Odysseus’ adventures
What he learns from Tiresias in the
Underworld:
 Poseidon is punishing the crew because of
Polyphemus
 Odysseus’s fate is told: He will return
home, reclaim his wife, then make a trip
to appease Poseidon
 Do not eat the cattle on Thrinacia-if the
cattle are eaten, he will face suffering and
lose all of his crew.

Odysseus returns to Circe’s Island for
one more night after his journey to the
Underworld. She tells him of the
obstacles he will face and how not to fall
victim to them.
Odysseus’s adventures
The Sirens sing a seductive song which
leads sailors to their deaths.
Odysseus (of course) wants to hear the
song.
Odysseus’s adventures
Scylla and Charybdis
Odysseus’ adventures
Thrinacia
Odysseus wants to avoid the island, but
Eurylochus persuades the crew that this
would be a great place to rest. A storm
raged, and they are stuck here for a
month. They ran out of provisions and
did what they were told what not to do.
Zeus makes a storm and destroys the
ship.
Odysseus’s adventures
Ogygia, the Island of Calypso
 The gods (except Poseidon) meet to
decide Odysseus’ fate. Hermes is sent to
Calypso to tell her she must let Odysseus
go.
 She argues about the double standard, but
obeys the order.
 Calypso helps him build a boat to sail
away.

Odysseus’ adventures
Odysseus sailed away from Calypso’s island on
a raft. As soon as Poseidon realized he was in
the water, a huge, deadly storm arose. The
raft was smashed to bits, but the goddess Ino
sweeps down and gives him
her veil, protecting him from harm in the
water.
After two days of swimming, Odysseus
landed on an island called Phaeacia. The
king of the island is Alcinous.
Odysseus’ adventures

Odysseus lay naked on the beach. He
was rescued by Nausicaa, the princess of
the nearby kingdom.

Odysseus told the Phaiacian king the
story of his adventures.
Odysseus’ adventures
Before he meets Nausicaa, Odysseus meets
another young girl-actually Athena in
disguise. She leads him to the palace and
shrouds him in a protective mist. She
advises him to speak to the queen rather
than the king.
The Phaeacians were somewhat
xenophobic. (fear or hatred of foreigners)

The veil lifts, and Odysseus supplicates
himself to the queen. At first they are
afraid Odysseus is a god, but he puts their
fears to rest.
The king sent him home in a Phaeacian ship,
constructed with superior knowledge, for
the vessel had neither steersmen nor
steering-oars. The magical ship knew what
the crew was thinking and proposed to
do. They reached Ithaca and left Odysseus
on the shore.
Telemachus’s story

Read “Searching for Odysseus” to learn
what has been going on in Ithaca since
Telemachus has gotten older.
Back in Ithaca

Athena casts a protective mist about him
that keeps him from recognizing his
homeland. Finally the goddess reveals
herself and dispells the mist. In joy
Odysseus kisses the ground.
Back in Ithaca

Athena transforms him into an old man as
a disguise. Clad in a filthy tunic, he goes
off to find his faithful swineherd, as
instructed by the goddess.
Review of Odysseus’ journey:
The Island of the Cicones: After leaving
Troy, they stop to raid this island for
supplies. The Cicones attack on
horseback, and Odysseus lost 72 of his
men.
 The Island of the Lotus Eaters: Odysseus
sends his men out to search for food, and
has to recover them when they eat the
Lotus Flower.

Review of Odysseus’s journey
.The Island of the Cyclopes: Odysseus and his men,
lured by cheese and wine, find a Cyclops' cave. The
cyclops, Polyphemus, traps them inside the cave.
Odysseus and his men blind the cyclops, and then
sneak out under his heard of sheep.
The Island of Aeolus: Aeolus, the god of the winds,
gives Odysseus all of the bad winds, so he can
safely sail home. Odysseus' men go against his
orders and open the bag, and all of the winds
escape.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
The Island of the Laestrygonians: The
Laestrygonians, a race of cannibals, eat the
Greeks. Only Odysseus and the men on
his flag ship survive.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
Circe's Island: Circe turns Odysseus' men to swine,
but Odysseus is protected from her magic with
the help of Hermes, who gave him a magical herb
called Moly. Odysseus ends up staying there for
what seems like a short time, but ended up being
about a year. Before Odysseus departs, Circe
finally tells him that he needs to find the blind
prophet Teiresias in the Underworld.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
Review of Odysseus’s journey
The Underworld:
Odysseus consults the
prophet Teiresias to ask
how he can get home,
and finds his mother
there, who has
committed suicide. He
also sees Achilles. He
receives a few
prophesies.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
The Island of the Sirens: Odysseus and his men
pass here, an island with women singing their
luring songs, trying to reel in sailors. So they do
not hear, Odysseus fills his men’s ears with
beeswax, and he has them tie him to the mast.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
Scylla and Charybdis: Odysseus chooses to
sail for Scylla, a six-headed sea serpent,
rather than Charybdis, a giant whirlpool.
He did this because he knew that if he
went to Charybdis, the whole ship would
be destroyed. However, if he went
towards Scylla, six men would die. A
sacrifice the brave Odysseus decided to
make.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
The Island of Helios: Odysseus falls asleep praying to
Athena. While sleeping, his men once again go against
his orders and eat Helios' cattle. This outrages the god,
and he threatens never to rise again. As a punishment,
Zeus throws a bolt of lightning at the ship, and turns it
to splinters. Only Odysseus survives.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
Ogygia (Calypso's Island): Odysseus finds this island after
drifting in the sea. It is a island of women, with a
nymph named Calypso, with whom Odysseus has a
seven-year affair. After the seven years, Hermes
convinces Calypso (on Zeus’s orders,) to let Odysseus
build a new ship so he could sail home.
Review of Odysseus’s journey
The Island of the Phaecians: The
Phaecians accept Odysseus, and
he explains his ten-year journey
to them during a feast. They
happily give him a ride home on
one of their magical ships.
Return to Ithaca

Read the play Return to Ithaca
Odysseus in disguise
When Odysseus finally landed in Ithaca, a
young man met him and told the
harrowing tale of the suitors. This man
was really Athena in disguise, and she
promised to help him get the suitors out
of his house.
Odysseus in disguise
Athena disguised Odysseus as an old beggar
and instructed him to seek out his faithful
swineherd.
(Remember, there are very few servants
who remain faithful to Odysseus and his
family.)
Odysseus in disguise
Athena arranges for Telemachus to visit
Eumaeus (the swineherd) at this time.
Telemachus has just returned from HIS
adventures and wants to see a friendly
face.
Surprise awaits him: he is introduced to his
father.
Odysseus in disguise
Telemachus does not believe the beggar is
his father, so Athena allows the disguise to
slip for a moment.
Telemachus is still hesitant to believe what
he sees.
Odysseus in disguise
The next day Odysseus the beggar heads
toward his home. No one is able to
discern his true identity.
No one, that is, except one very old dog.
Argus, Odysseus’ dog from long ago, is
resting on a pile of dung. He is sick,
covered in ticks, and forgotten.
Odysseus in disguise
Argus sees his master, wags his tail, and dies.
Because of his disguise Odysseus is
unable to acknowledge his faithful dog
directly.
Odysseus in disguise
Odysseus arrives and the suitors sit around
and make fun of him.
Penelope shows up and shows the beggar
hospitality.
The beggar tells her he has seen her
husband recently.
Odysseus in disguise
Eurycleia, the other loyal servant,
recognizes Odysseus as she washes his
feet. He has a distinctive scar on his leg.
He gets her to promise not to say
anything about his presence in the house.
The TEST
Penelope issued a challenge to the suitors
the next day: string Odysseus’ bow, shoot
an arrow through 12 rings (ax handles) in
a row, and she would take the man who
succeeds as her husband.
The TEST
Telemachus set up the rings and
encouraged the suitors to take the
challenge.
They all tried, but none could string the
bow.
The TEST
Odysseus, the beggar, asked for a chance.
The suitors complained and jeered.
Telemachus insisted he be given a chance.
The TEST
Odysseus succeeded.
Penelope decides to hold a contest:
whoever can string Odysseus’s gigantic
bow and shoot an arrow through twelve
rings can marry her. All the suitors try and
fail, but then the beggar stands up and
asks for a try.
The suitors scoff, but the beggar quickly
and easily strings the massive bow and
shoots an arrow straight through the axe
handles. He then turns and begins
shooting the suitors. Taken off guard, they
reach for their weapons, but Telemachus
has hidden them.
They try to run away, but Telemachus and
Eumaeus have locked all the doors. Soon
all the suitors have been killed—only a
bard is spared, because Odysseus
remembers how much the gods favor
song and poetry.
Odysseus finally reveals himself to
Penelope, and after twenty years of
separation, they live happily ever after.
Cleaning up the loose ends…

Laertes and Odysseus have lunch
together. Dolius, the father of Melanthius
and Melantho, joins them. While they eat,
the goddess Rumor flies through the city
spreading the news of the massacre at the
palace.

The parents of the suitors hold an
assembly at which they assess how to
respond. Halitherses, the elder prophet,
argues that the suitors merely got what
they deserved for their wickedness, but
Eupithes, Antinous’s father, encourages the
parents to seek revenge on Odysseus.

Their small army tracks Odysseus to
Laertes’house, but Athena, disguised again
as Mentor, decides to put a stop to the
violence. Antinous’s father is the only one
killed, felled by one of Laertes’ spears.
Athena makes the Ithacans forget the
massacre of their children and recognize
Odysseus as king. Peace is thus restored.

"Proteus." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.,
2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/480043/Proteus>.