The%20Trojan%20War%20and%20The%20Iliad

1
The Trojan War andThe Iliad
2

• The gods Apollo and Poseidon built the city of
  Troy.
• Priam, the King of Troy had a son named Paris.
• A prophet foretold that Paris would destroy the
  city.

3

• Paris was taken out to be killed, but was rescued
  by shepherds and grew up away from the city. As a
  young man he returned to Troy to compete in the
  athletic games, was recognized, and returned to
  the royal family.

4

• Meanwhile, Thetis (a sea goddess), and a mortal
  decided to marry. All the gods were invited to
  the celebration, except, Eris, the goddess of
  strife. She came anyway and brought a golden
  apple, upon which was written "For the Fairest."

5

• Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all fought for the
  apple, and came to Zeus for judgment. He refused
  to judge a beauty contest between his wife and
  two of his daughters, and the task of choosing
  fell to Paris. They each bribed him Hera offered
  power, Athena offered military glory and wisdom,
  and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful
  woman in the world. In the end, he gave the apple
  to Aphrodite.

6

• Helen, whose beauty was famous throughout the
  world, was that woman. The Greek leaders made a
  promise that they would collectively avenge any
  insult to her. When the leaders made such an
  oath, Helen then married Menelaus, King of
  Sparta. Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus was the
  most powerful leader in Greece.

7

• Paris made a journey to Sparta as a Trojan
  ambassador at a time when Menelaus was away.
  Aphrodite made Helen fall in love with Paris and
  they left Sparta together, returning to Troy
  where they were protected by Priam (the King) and
  Hector (oldest son and best warrior). The Greeks
  assembled an army to invade Troy.
• Christopher Marlow called Helen The face that
  launched a thousand ships.

8

• Achilles, the son of Thetis and the Greeks best
  warrior, although half god, was mortal. To
  protect him from death his mother bathed him in
  the waters of the river Styx holding him by the
  heel, which made him invulnerable. A prophet with
  the Greek army, told Agamemnon and the other
  leaders that they could not conquer Troy without
  him.

9

• The Greek army landed on the beaches before Troy.
  The Greeks sent an embassy to Troy, seeking to
  recover Helen and the treasure. When the Trojans
  denied them, the Greek army settled down into a
  siege which lasted many years.

10
(No Transcript)
11

• In the tenth year of the war, Agamemnon insulted
  Apollo by taking a slave-hostage girl, the
  daughter of a prophet of Apollo. In revenge,
  Apollo sent nine days of plague down upon the
  Greek army. Achilles called an assembly to
  determine what the Greeks should do. In that
  assembly, he and Agamemnon quarreled bitterly,
  Agamemnon confiscated Achilles slave girl , and
  Achilles, in a rage, withdrew himself and his
  forces from battle.

12

• In Achilles absence, the Trojans enjoyed great
  success against the Greeks, breaking through
  their defensive ramparts on the beach and setting
  the ships on fire.

13

• While Hector was enjoying his successes against
  the Greeks, Achilles' friend Patroclus begged to
  be allowed to return to the fight. Achilles gave
  him permission, advising him not to attack the
  city of Troy itself. He also gave Patroclus his
  own suit of armor, so that the Trojans might
  think that Achilles had returned to the war.
  Patroclus resumed the fight, enjoyed some
  dazzling success, but he was finally killed by
  Hector.

14

• In his grief over the death of Patroclus,
  Achilles decided to return to the battle. Since
  he had no armor, Thetis asked Hephaestus, the
  crippled god of the forge, to prepare some divine
  armor for her son. Hephaestus did so, and
  Achilles returned to the war.

15

• After slaughtering many Trojans, Achilles finally
  cornered Hector alone outside the walls of Troy.
  Hector chose to stand and fight rather than to
  retreat into the city, and he was killed by
  Achilles, who then mutilated the corpse, tied it
  to his chariot, and dragged it three times around
  the city walls.

16

• Achilles' career as the greatest warrior came to
  an end when Paris, with the help of Apollo,
  killed him with an arrow which pierced him in the
  heel, the one vulnerable spot. .

17

• Finally the Greeks, under the plan of Odysseus,
  devised the strategy of filling a giant wooden
  horse with armed soldiers. They built it and
  left it in front of the city. The Greek army then
  withdrew as if abandoning the war. Although
  warned not to accept gifts from the Greeks, The
  Trojans tore down a part of the wall, dragged the
  horse inside, and celebrated their apparent
  victory.

18

• When the Trojans had fallen asleep, the Greek
  soldiers hidden in the horse came out, and gave
  the signal to the main army which had been
  hiding. The city was totally destroyed. The women
  were taken prisoner, and Helen was returned to
  Menelaus.

19

• The gods regarded the sacking of Troy and
  especially the treatment of the temples as a
  sacrilege, and they punished many of the Greek
  leaders.

20

• Odysseus (called by the Romans Ulysses) wandered
  over the sea for many years before reaching home.
  He started with a number of ships, but in a
  series of misfortunes, lasting ten years because
  of the anger of Poseidon, the god of the sea, he
  lost all his men before returning to Ithaca alone.