The Trojan War A Brief Re-Telling Excerpts from Edith Hamilton’s Mythology; Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1942.

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ERIS, Goddess of Discord The only goddess not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis Designed a golden apple marked For the Fairest Caused a great commotion Think about it girls: a slumber party where you have to pick the prettiest girl there! Denton Lund Copyright 2001

And the winner is… Three goddesses eventually vied for the title: Aphrodite Hera Athena A prince named Paris (Alexander) got to be the judge. Some myths say he had never seen a woman. Claude Lorrain

Pick me! Pick me! Of course, each goddess tried to bribe Paris. Hera promised to make him (use deep voice here) Lord of Europe and Asia. Athena promised that he would lead the Trojans to victory against the Greeks. Aphrodite promised him the fairest woman in all the world. (Because she’s pretty) Which would you choose?

Decisions, decisions Paris chose Aphrodite, and therefore, he “earned” his prize of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world (Yup, another dope who chose the pretty over the practical). Helen was so beautiful that every prince in Greece wanted to marry her.

Details, details One problem was that Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris came to their home pretending to be a guest. When Menelaus was away, Paris “stole” Helen. (Some myths say she went willingly.)

The Wrath of the King Menelaus was enraged when he found Helen gone. He called upon all of Greece, including the great warriors Achilles and Odysseus, to attack Troy. Today we think that the war started because his brother, Agamemnon, wanted better trade routes and mo’ money.

Where have all the heroes gone? Achilles was dipped in the river Styx by his mother to protect him always. She also hid him from the war. She dressed him as a girl and made him hide with maidens. He was eventually persuaded to join the war. His story is told in The Iliad.

Where have all the heroes gone? Odysseus, king of Ithaca, pretended that he had gone mad. He planted salt in his fields instead of seed when the messengers from the Greek army arrived. They, in turn, tricked him into joining the fight.

What about the Trojan Heroes? The King and Queen of Troy, Priam and Hecuba, had many sons (some say 10; some say 100; I say ginormous grocery bill either way), but the bravest and greatest was Hector. Hector had a wife name Adromache and a son named Astyanax (And you thought my name was difficult to pronounce!).

When heroes collide Both sides had great heroes upon which they pinned their hopes of winning. The Greeks were excellent sailors and highly skilled in warfare. Achilles’s team The Trojans had a great wall surrounding their city that made it virtually impregnable. Hector’s team.

Personal Grudges After nine years of fighting, both sides agreed to let Paris and Menelaus fight it out to declare a winner. (Seriously! It took 9 years to figure that out?) Menelaus would have killed Paris easily, but Aphrodite saved him by whisking him away in a cloud of dust. (Paris was no great shakes as a fighter.) The other gods joined in on their respective sides.

Just whose side are you on? Aphrodite Troy Athena Greece Hera Greece Apollo Troy Ares Troy Poseidon Greece Many of the gods/goddesses had mortal children on one side and wanted that side to win.

The Thrill of Victory Achilles withdrew from battle because some of the spoils of war were kept from him. His best friend, Patroclus, put on Achilles’ armor and pretended to be him because Achilles was the biggest threat to the Trojans (because of his supposed immortality from the river Styx bath as a baby). Hector had his greatest day, slaying many men, including Patroclus, who he thought was Achilles, giving the Trojans momentum.

The Agony of Defeat When Achilles learned that Patroclus died by the hand of Hector, he became enraged and rejoined the battle. He and Hector fought a battle by themselves. Achilles killed Hector and refused to give his body back to his family for a proper burial. Achilles’s actions were scorned by everyone, including the gods.

Achilles’s Revenge Not content to have killed Hector, Achilles stripped his body and dragged it behind a chariot for three days. He wanted to then feed it to the dogs, but Priam convinced him to return the corpse to the family for proper burial. The Greeks believed that if a person did not receive a proper burial, he/she would not be allowed to pass into the Land of the Dead and would be forced to wander for 100 years as a “shade.”

The Fall of Troy Paris killed Achilles by shooting an arrow into his heel, his only weak spot (where mom held him). Achilles’s son, Neoptolemus, then killed Paris. The war was again at a stalemate, and the gods and humans alike were tired of the fighting. Odysseus then got an idea to build a great wooden horse to hide soldiers inside.

The Trojan Horse The people of Troy accepted the horse as a sign of surrender. They interpreted many other favorable “signs” as signals that they had won the war. They dragged the horse inside the walls of the city and celebrated all night long. When everyone fell asleep, the soldiers hiding inside crept out and lit the city on fire. The end of Troy was at hand. One guy luckily got away and eventually founded Rome. His name was Aeneas, and his story is told in The Aeneid.

©1997 Gareth Pitchford. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Helen of Sparta was captured by the Trojans. Agamemnon and his army of Greeks went to the city of Troy to rescue Helen.                                                                                                                                                         The Greek army made a large wooden horse and left it outside the city gates. The Trojans took the horse inside their city. They thought it was a present from the gods!                                                                                                                                                                                                                       That night Greek soldiers crept out from inside the horse and opened the city gates! The Greek army poured into the city! ©1997 Gareth Pitchford. All Rights Reserved.

The Gods’ Fury The Greeks celebrated mightily after their victory and forgot to pay homage to the gods who helped them win. This turned the powerful Poseidon against the Greeks. Poseidon caused many storms that killed most of the Greek warriors on their way home. Odysseus, the mastermind, was doomed to wander home for 10 years because death was not his destiny.

Odysseus and Homer Odysseus’s story is told in The Odyssey. The Odyssey is believed to have been created by a blind poet named Homer. Right Homer Wrong Homer