Background to The Odyssey Trojan War

The First Nine Years The war between Greece and Troy over the kidnapping of Helen waged for 10 years. Since she was the cause of the war, she was given the epithet, “the face that launched a thousand ships.” Epithet - a brief descriptive phrase used to characterize a particular person or thing. For the first 9 years, the Greeks and Trojans fought, but the Greeks could not penetrate the high walls that surrounded the city.

The Final Year The final year of the war is told in Homer’s The Iliad. After the death of Hector, Troy’s strongest hero, at his own hands, Achilles knew that his death was near as it was foretold. Achilles was soon killed by an arrow in the heel shot by Paris, the man who stole Helen. With both sides losing their greatest heroes, Odysseus, the most clever of all the Greeks, came up with an ingenious plan to end the war.

The Trojan Horse Odysseus crafted the idea to stash his army in the body of a wooden horse and leave the horse as a gift for the Trojans. The rest of the Greek army would appear to have left. The Greeks built the horse and moved their ships out of sight. The Trojans took in the Greek gift and celebrated their victory. That night, the Greeks struck and sacked Troy.

Legacy of War Odysseus earned the epithet, “the shrewdest of all the Greeks” because of his clever plan that won the war. However, he is the one that suffers the most in his terrible journey home. (Details to follow ) Menelaus got Helen back, but their marriage was not a pleasant one due to her infidelity. Finally, Greeks, for the rest of time, would have to live with the phrase, “never trust a Greek bearing gifts.”