 The ancient Greeks lived in a small country with few natural
resources. Most of the land was rocky and ill-suited for
farming; therefore, the Greeks turned to the sea (for no
part of Greece is more than 90 miles from water) and
became fishermen and traders. The sea provided their
means of survival.
Mainly because of the contact the Greeks made with other
cultures, an increasingly civilized society arose (religious
festivals and Olympic Games brought people together and
were of extreme importance).
 The Greeks believed completely in the existence of gods, and
they did not have any officially written dogma.
 Zeus was the King of all the gods. He lived with his wife Hera and
the rest of the gods on Mount Olympus, located in
Northern Greece .
 City-states worshipped particular gods/goddesses/heroes.
 A major belief of the Greeks was that respect for the gods was
essential to success and survival .
 An epic is a long, narrative poem about a national or legendary
hero.
 Ancient Greece produced two epics –Iliad /Odyssey
 Both epics were written by Homer.
 The Iliad (written first) and The Odyssey were written by
Homer sometime between 900 and 700 B.C..
 The material covered in both epics was the Trojan War, which
had occurred several centuries earlier, around 1200 B.C.
 When poems were first composed, they were not written down.
They were passed orally from one generation to the next.
They were memorized by traveling poets (rhapsodes) who
recited them in banquet halls of kings and nobles. Homer
wrote them down for future generations.
 The true cause of the Trojan War was economic. Troy’s
location enabled it to control all trade and shipping through the
Dardanelles, and once Troy was destroyed, the Greeks could
expand their trade routes as much as they pleased.
 According to legend, the war began over one, really goodlooking, mortal girl. What’s her name?
 That itself is an interesting tale to read, but here is a brief
synopsis: A goddess (Eris) was angry with the other gods
because she was not invited a particular wedding, so she
decided to cause some trouble. She threw a golden apple
into the crowd of gods and goddesses and wrote on it:
“To the Fairest.”
After some discussion amongst themselves, it was decided that it
must go to Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite. They then went to
Zeus to determine who amongst the three was indeed the
“fairest”. Being too wise to enter into any such dispute, he
sent them to the Trojan prince Paris (who had been sent to
an island to sheep herd by his father King Priam, who had
heard the prophecy that Paris would end up bringing about
the fall of Troy – how accurate!).
 It was decided that Paris should determine the fairest!
 Well…even goddesses know how to sweeten the deal. Each
goddess offered Paris an “incentive” to choose her as the
fairest.
Hera offered him a kingdom.
Athena offered to help Troy defeat the Greeks in battle (think
about that one!).
Aphrodite (“thinking like a man”) offered to make the most
beautiful mortal woman in the world Paris’s wife.
Well…even though Paris was already married (an unimportant
detail), he went with Aphrodite’s offer (which had very
negative consequences)…and the golden apple was given to
her. In mythology, this incident is known as “The Judgment
of Paris.”
 Aphrodite immediately went to work to keep her end of the
bargain. Unfortunately, the most beautiful mortal woman
in the world was Helen, who was married to King Menelaus.
Aphrodite brought Paris to King Menelaus’s kingdom, and when
Menelaus went away on a trip, Paris wooed Helen, who
actually fell in love with him but was afraid because of her
marriage to King Menelaus. Regardless, it took little
convincing to go to Troy with Paris.
Helen by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
 King Menelaus returned home to find that Paris had
“abducted” his Helen. Menelaus went to his brother,
Agamemnon. It took several years for the outraged
Menelaus to assemble an army, and, when he did, kings
and soldiers from all over Greece, including Achilles and
Odysseus, sailed to Troy to bring back Helen…
and…according to myth,
thus began the TROJAN WAR!!!!
Helen is the inspiration behind the
old and famous saying…
“the face that launched a thousand ships”!
Paris
Helen and Paris
King Menelaus and Agamemnon
 The Trojan War went on for 10 years, and finally, the Trojans
were defeated. Do you know how? (In the end, Paris was
killed and Helen was returned to King Menelaus – who still
wanted her back…for pride’s sake…but he made her life
miserable).
 This story opens in the 10th – and last – year of the Trojan
War. The war is at a stalemate (they can’t get behind
that Trojan wall), and in the Greek camp there is much
dissension amongst the Greeks themselves. The Iliad is
the story of that dissension…and WAR!!!
Achilles
 In The Odyssey, Homer starts by telling about the last days of
the Trojan War in this second epic. The story relates that
the man responsible for the fall of Troy is Odysseus,
who conceived of the plan to use the huge wooden horse
(the Trojan Horse) to get into the gates of Troy.
It worked!!!!! The Greeks defeated the Trojans.
 Because Odysseus was instrumental in Troy’s destruction, he
angered the gods who were sympathetic to Troy, and they vow that
he will have a long and difficult journey home. This journey, which
takes 10 years, is the subject ofThe Odyssey.
Now…let’s get ready to read and discussThe
Odyssey.