The Trojan War

The Trojan War - Transcript

The Trojan War
Background to The Odyssey

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

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

Aphrodite

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

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

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships And burnt the topless towers of Ilium Christopher Marlowe Dr Faustus

Preparation for War Battlefield of the Gods
Achaian 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

Preparation for War Menelaus Rallies the Troops At Odysseus request Helen s father Tyndareus had made all her suitors swear to support whomever Helen chose Menelaus calls on Helen s old boyfriends to defend her honor He encounters some resistance

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

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 Achilles

Preparation for War The Greeks
The Greeks Achaians Argives Danaans Agamemnon King of Mycenae Commander in chief Achilles central character greatest warrior Patroklos Achilles friend and companion Odysseus shrewdest most subtle and brave

Preparation for War Agamemnon Sets Sail
Artemis whom Agamemnon had offended by killing a stag stills his 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

Preparation for War The Trojans

The Trojans Priam King of Troy married Hecuba 49 children

Hector Trojan prince commander in chief

Paris Trojan prince Forseen to destroy Troy abandoned raised by shepherds

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fall of Troy

Achilles son Neoptolemus kills Priam whose daughter the se r Cassandra is raped at Athena s altar and becomes Agamemnon s concubine The children of Priam and Hector are sacrificed at Achilles tomb

The Fall of Troy Aeneas a Trojan prince escapes The Aeneid Odysseus convinces Philoctetes to kill Paris with a magic arrow Trojan women are divided as plunder Helen s beauty spares her death

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

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

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

Dardanelles

Modern day Turkey

http en wikipedia org wiki Image Map of Lydia ancient times jpg

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

Archaeological Site Troy II

http en wikipedia org wiki Image Plan Troy Hisarlik en svg

Works Cited
Archaeological Plan of Hisarlik http en wikipedia org wiki Image Plan Tr oy Hisarlik en svg Map of Troy http en wikipedia org wiki Image Map of Lydia ancient tim es jpg