The Trojan War (Summarized from Bullfinch’s Mythology)
The Birth of Paris
When Queen Hecuba of Troy gives birth to her son Paris, a prophecy predicts that he will bring about the ruin of Troy. To save his city, King Priam abandons his infant son on Mount Ida,
but shepherds find the boy and raise him. Ignorant of his royal birth, Paris marries the nymph Oenone and lives as a shepherd.
The Mischief of Eris
The gods hold a feast to celebrate the wedding of King Peleus and the nymph Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, receives no invitation. Offended, she seeks revenge, so she rolls a
golden apple inscribed with the words “FOR THE FAIREST” into the banquet hall. Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite argue over which of them deserves the apple. The goddesses select Paris
to judge among them. All three goddesses try to bribe him: Hera offers him power; Athena, success at arms; Aphrodite, the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris gives the golden apple
to Aphrodite, and in return she informs him of his true parentage and helps him seduce and abduct Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus and the most beautiful woman in the
world.
The Greeks Set Sail
The kings of Greece rally around Menelaus and assemble a formidable army, led by Menelaus’s brother Agamemnon, to take Helen back. The goddess Artemis becalms the Greek ships
at Aulis, so Agamemnon is forced to appease the goddess by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia. The sacrifice enrages Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra.
The Siege of Troy
The Greeks besiege Troy for nine years. The gods take sides in the conflict: Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, and Apollo back the Trojans; Hera, Athena, and Poseidon aid the Greeks. Zeus
remains neutral. The Trojan Hector, a son of Priam, and the Greeks Odysseus and Achilles emerge as the mightiest warriors. Achilles is the son of Peleus and Thetis, and his mother
dipped him in the river Styx when he was an infant. The treatment rendered his body invincible everywhere except the heel Thetis held when she dipped the baby boy in the river.
The Pride of Achilles
Agamemnon incurs Apollo’s wrath by taking Chryseis, the daughter of a priest of Apollo, as a war prisoner. Apollo’s fiery arrows devastate the Greek army. The soothsayer Calchas tries
to persuade Agamemnon to appease Apollo by surrendering the girl. Agamemnon agrees to this plan but then demands that Achilles replace her with one of his own female prisoners.
Enraged by this insult, Achilles refuses to fight, and his mother Thetis persuades Zeus to enter the war on the Trojan side. With Achilles removed from the battlefield, the Greeks endure
heavy losses and seem near defeat. The Trojans burn the Greek ships and camps. To give the Greeks a morale boost, Achilles’ closest confidant, Patroclus, dresses himself in Achilles’
armor and enters the fray, striking fear in the Trojans’ hearts. Hector kills Patrols in combat, enraging Achilles, who rejoins the battle to avenge his friend. Aided by Athena, Achilles slays
Hector. The tide turns in the Greeks’ favor until Paris kills Achilles by striking his vulnerable heel with a poisoned arrow. The mighty Greek warrior Ajax recovers Achilles’ armor but
commits suicide out of shame when the armor is awarded to Odysseus. Philoctites, a Greek archer in possession of the arrows of Heracles, assassinate Paris.
The Trojan Horse
Odysseus and Diomedes sneak into Troy and steal the Palladium, a sacred image of Athena that magically protects Troy. Then, Odysseus conceives a scheme to win the war for the
Greeks: to build a giant, hollow wooden horse and conceal Greek warriors within it. The Greek army then pretends to abandon their siege and sail homeward. They leave a Greek soldier
named Sinon at the gates of Troy to tell the Trojans that the Greeks have presented them the giant horse as an offering to Athena and a symbol of the Trojan victory. The Trojans wheel
the horse into the city. By night, while Troy sleeps, the Greek warriors break out of the horse and open the city gates to their waiting army. The cunning Greeks finally burn Troy to the
ground. All the warriors of Troy perish except Aeneas, who flees with his father, Anchises, and young son, Ascanius. The conquering Greeks set sail for home, Helen reclaimed.
The Aftermath of the Trojan War
The Oresteia
Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, holds a grudge against her husband for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia at the start of the Trojan War. While Agamemnon is away fighting in Troy,
Clytemnestra takes Aegisthus as her lover. When Agamemnon returns from Troy to Mycenae, carrying Pram’s daughter Cassandra as his captive, Clytemnestra and Aegis thus kill both
of them. Agamemnon’s son Orestes returns from exile and conspires with his sister Electra to kill their mother and her lover to avenge their father. The three immortal Furies haunt
Orestes for his matricide, but Apollo eventually forgives him.
The Odyssey
On the island of Ithaca, Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, awaits his return from the Trojan War. She is beset by many suitors but fends them off by explaining that she cannot remarry until she
finishes weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes. To stall for time, Penelope secretly undoes each day’s weaving each night. Her son, Telemachus, sets off to search for his
father, who is on the way home from Troy.
Although aided by Athena, Odysseus and his crew endure many perils at sea, including a confrontation with the giant Cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus escapes Polyphemus by getting him
drunk and then blinding him. When the Cyclops asks Odysseus’s name, Odysseus responds, “Nobody,” cunningly avoiding blame for the monster’s blinding. As he sails away, however,
Odysseus reveals his name to the Cyclops and incurs the wrath of Polyphemus’s father, Poseidon, who hinders Odysseus for the rest of his journey.
The nymph Calypso imprisons Odysseus for seven years. Odysseus then has to pass through waters menaced by the irresistibly seductive Sirens. His men are turned to swine under the
spell of the goddess Circe. Odysseus resists Circe’s magic but stays on her island as her lover for a year before she gives him directions to Ithaca.
At last, when Odysseus lands on Ithaca, he disguises himself as a begger and engages with the suitors in a contest for Penelope’s hand. In the contest, only the man able to bend the bow
of Odysseus wins the right to marry Penelope. Odysseus wins the contest, reveals his true identity, and, with Telemachus’s help, slaughters the suitors to reclaim his wife and home.
The Aeneid
The Trojan warrior Hector visits Aeneas, another great Trojan warrior and a son of Aphrodite, in a dream and tells Aeneas that he must found a new city for the household gods of Troy.
Aeneas escapes as Troy burns and sets off with a band of his countrymen.
After years of wandering, terrorized by the goddess Hera, they land at Carthage on the north coast of Africa. The queen and founder of Carthage, Dido, is struck by the arrow of Eros and
falls in love with Aeneas. He stays with her for the winter, but when Hermes delivers a message from Zeus reminding Aeneas of his duty to found a new city in Italy, Aeneas abandons
Dido, who, grief-stricken, commits suicide.
In Italy, Aeneas wages war against the local chieftain Turnus for the hand of Lavinia, princess of Latium. With the help of local allies, the Trojans defeat Turnus and assume authority over
Latium, establishing a royal line from which Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, descend.
Directions: After reading about the Trojan War in Bullfinch’s Mythology, and the above summary, complete the charts below by filling the sections
with names, events and short descriptions (i.e. Paris-prince of Troy, stole Helen or Agamemnon demands Briseis and angers Achilles).
CHARACTERS
EVENTS
Directions: Answer the following questions thoroughly and completely—you may work in partners.
Chapter 27: The Trojan War
1) Who was not invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis?
2) What did she do in revenge?
3) How did Venus (Aphrodite) get judged “the fairest?”
4) What oath was made on behalf of Helen?
5) How did Ulysses try to get out of going to the Trojan War?
6) How did Achilles try to get out of the war?
7) List some of the famous Grecian warriors.
8) List some of the famous Trojan warriors.
9) What did Agamemnon have to do in order to get the wind to flow on the ocean?
10) What sides did the gods take in the war?
11) Who was Patroclus and what happened to him?
12) Who sought revenge for Patroclus’ death?
13) How did Athena trick Hector as he was battling Achilles?
14) Why didn’t Hector’s body get beaten up while Achilles dragged it around the city walls?
Chapter 28: The Fall of Troy – Return of the Greeks – Agamemnon, Orestes, and Electra
1) The story of the Iliad ends with what?
2) How did Achilles die?
3) Which hero was judged the most deserving of Achilles’ armor?
4) Who was Philoctetes?
5) How could Troy “be taken?”
6) What was the significance of the statue called the “Palladium?”
7) Describe the deception surrounding the Trojan horse.
8) What happened to Meneleus and Helen after the fall of Troy?
9) What happened to Agamemnon after the fall of Troy?
10) Who was Orestes? Briefly summarize his story.
11) Where exactly is Troy located?