1. Background to The Odyssey
The Trojan War
Background to
The Odyssey

8. Causes of the War: The Fairer Sex
The marriage of Peleus and Thetis, mother of Achilles
Eris (goddess of discord) not invited, becomes the wedding crasher
Throws down the Apple of Discord: “For the Fairest”
Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all reach for it

9. Causes of the War: The Weaker Sex
Zeus appoints Pretty Boy Paris, a Trojan prince, as the judge
Enticing party favors are offered:
Hera = greatness, power, wealth
Athena = prowess in war
Aphrodite = the love of the most beautiful woman in the world
and the winner is . . .

10. Aphrodite!

11. Causes of the War: The Weaker Sex
Party favor = Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta
Menelaus’ brother = Agamemnon, King of Mycenae
Hera and Athena vow revenge against Paris and Troy. . .

12. Causes of the War:
Paris visits Menelaus, and is treated to lavish Greek hospitality
Paris then runs off with his host’s wife and other “booty”
Paris marries Helen in 1200 B.C.

13. “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium (Troy)?”
-Christopher Marlowe
Dr. Faustus

14. Preparation for War: Battlefield of the Gods
Achaian (Greek) Side
Athena, goddess of wisdom
Hera, wife of Zeus
Hermes, ambassador to the gods
Poseidon, god of the sea
Trojan Side
Aphrodite, goddess of love
Apollo, god of prophecy, light, poetry
Ares, god of war
Artemis, goddess of the hunt
Zeus, sympathetic to the Trojans

15. Preparation for War: Menelaus Rallies the Troops
Long ago, at Odysseus’ request, Helen’s father Tyndareus had made all her suitors swear to support whomever Helen married
Menelaus calls on Helen’s old boyfriends to defend her honor
However, he encounters some resistance. . .

16. Preparation for War: Menelaus Rallies the Troops
To dodge the draft, Achilles’ mom dresses him up as a girl and hides him with King Lycomedes

17. Preparation for War: Menelaus Rallies the Troops
Odysseus pretends to be insane to dodge the draft:
Plows a field sowing salt
The gig’s up when Palamedes throws Odysseus’ infant son Telemachus in front of the plow
Odysseus later dimes out (exposes!) Achilles

18. Preparation for War: The Greeks

19. Preparation for War: Agamemnon Sets Sail
Artemis, whom Agamemnon had offended by killing a stag, stills the great king’s sails
Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to make nice, causing marital discord with his wife Clytemnestra
First he sails to the wrong place, but that’s another story for another time. . .

20. Preparation for War: The Trojans

21. War: The first Nine Years
Battles in Troy and neighboring regions for nine years
Greeks win lots of spoils, including women

22. The Iliad: Internal Conflict
Homer’s epic begins in the tenth year of the Trojan War
Agamemnon steals Achilles’ war prize, Briseis
Achilles refuses to fight and withdraws his warriors, the Myrmidons

23. The Iliad: Endgame
The gods take sides, intervening for their favorites
Achilles’ pal Patroklos is killed in battle wearing Achilles’ armor
Achilles returns and kills Hector, dragging his body around Troy from a chariot
The Iliad ends with Achilles’ allowing Hector to be buried.

24. Apollo guides Paris’ arrow to Achilles’ heel
The Fall of Troy
Apollo guides Paris’ arrow to Achilles’ heel
Ajax and Odysseus fight over Achilles’ armor
Odysseus wins the armor and Ajax commits suicide

25. The Fall of Troy The frustrated Greeks cannot penetrate Troy
Odysseus cleverly schemes up the wooden horse
Odysseus steals the Palladium, a powerful talisman of Pallas Athena which had ensured Troy’s invincibility
Helen recognizes Odysseus but does not betray him

26. The Fall of Troy
Greeks sail away as a decoy, Trojans take in the horse, Greeks slaughter Trojans

27. The children of Priam and Hector are sacrificed at Achilles’ tomb
The Fall of Troy
Achilles’ son Neoptolemus kills Priam , whose daughter, the seër Cassandra, is raped at Athena’s altar and becomes Agamemnon’s concubine
The children of Priam and Hector are sacrificed at Achilles’ tomb

28. The Fall of Troy
Aeneas, a Trojan prince, escapes (see The Aeneid for the Trojan point of view)
Odysseus convinces Philoctetes to kill Paris with a magic arrow
Trojan women are divided as plunder
Helen’s beauty spares her death

29. The Fallout of the War
The Greeks burn Troy and sail home, meeting various miserable fates themselves
Angered about Iphigenia’s death, Clytemnestra cozies up to Aegisthus, who kills Agamemnon upon his return
Orestes murders his mother and her lover to avenge his father’s death

30. The Fallout of the War
After another ten years Telemachus laments that his father Odysseus has not returned home

31. Legendary city built under Zeus’ protection
Troy: Myth or Reality?
Legendary city built under Zeus’ protection
Huge protective wall built with divine aid of Poseidon
Trojans refused to pay tribute to Poseidon, who withdrew his protection

32. Modern-day Turkey Dardanelles(

33. Troy: Myth or Reality?
Heinrich Schliemann (19th cent.) uncovered nine successive cities on the same site in modern-day Turkey
Schliemann declared the second level Priam’s Troy (aka Ilium), a burnt city
Greeks may have wanted control of the Hellespont Strait (Dardanelles) for access to the Black Sea
The archaeological dig is still active but inconclusive

34. Archaeological Site: Troy II(

35. Works Cited
“Archaeological Plan of Hisarlik.”
“Map of Troy.” org/wiki/Image:Map_of_Lydia_ancient_times. jpg.