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Once upon a time, around 1250 BC, towards the end of the Bronze
Agein Greece, three goddesses were having an argument. The
goddesses
Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera were arguing about which one of them
was themost beautiful. They agreed to choose a human man and let
him decide.More or less at random, the goddesses picked Paris, the
youngest son of King Priam of Troy, to be their judge.
Each of the goddesses offered Paris a bribe to get him to vote
for her. Athena offered him wisdom. Hera offered him power. But
Aphrodite offeredhim the most beautiful woman in the world, and
Paris voted for her.So Aphrodite had to come through on her
promise. She sent Paris to go visitthe Greek king of Sparta,
Menelaus (men-uh-LAY-us). Menelaus was marriedto Helen, who was the
most beautiful woman in the world. Menelaus andHelen welcomed Paris
kindly, and gave him dinner and let him stay the nightin their
house. But during the night Paris convinced Helen to run away
withhim (because Aphrodite made her agree). He took her back to
Troy with himand married her, even though she was already married
to Menelaus.
When Helen ran off with Paris, her husband Menelaus, the king of
Sparta, was very upset. He went to visit his older brother,
Agamemnon (ag-a-MEM-non), the king of Mycenae. Menelaus reminded
Agamemnon about theoath that all the suitors swore when they were
fighting over who would marryHelen. Menelaus insisted that his
brother call together all the Greek armiesfrom all the different
cities and go fight the Trojans to get Helen back.
Agamemnon objected that he had only meant that he would defend
Menelausagainst the other suitors, but Menelaus still said he had
to get Helen back or break his oath. So Agamemnon called all the
Greek armies together at a portcalled Aulis (OW-liss). They got
ready to sail to Troy.
But when they were ready to sail, the wind was blowing always in
thewrong direction, toward the land, and the Greeks could not get
to Troy. Theyasked their priest, if he knew what was wrong. The
priest told Agamemnonthat the goddess Artemis was sending the bad
wind. She was angry. To put
Artemis in a better mood, and get the good wind so the Greeks
could sail toTroy and get Helen back, Agamemnon would have to
sacrifice his oldestdaughter, Iphigenia Naturally Agamemnon was
horrified. Kill his daughter? Hetold Menelaus he couldn't do it.
But Menelaus said then he would be breakinghis oath to save Helen.
In the end Agamemnon agreed to kill Iphigenia. Hegot her mother
(his wife) , to bring Iphigenia to Aulis by telling his wife
(kly-tem-NES-tra) that Iphigenia was going to marry the famous
young hero
Achilles. But when Iphigenia got there, he tied her up, put her
on an altar, and
1. What did thegoddesses
disagreeabout?
2. Who wasconsideredthe most
beautiful inthe world?
3. Why were the
Greek armiescalledtogether?
4. Why didAgamemnonsacrifice hisown
daughter?
5. Who broughthis daughter?
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killed her. Then Artemis was happy, the wind changed, and the
Greek shipssailed for Troy.Sing, Goddess, of the anger of
Achilles..."But the story of Homer' s Iliad begins in the middle of
the Trojan War, just atthe end of the Bronze Age in Greece. We
don't know if there ever really was a
Trojan War, but even if there was, this is a story about it, not
a real memory of it.The Greeks believed that the Trojan War lasted
for ten years, and this
story happens in the tenth year of the war, when both sides were
really sick of being at war, and the Greeks were sick of being away
from home.
The Iliad begins with a fight between the leader of the Greeks,
King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and the Greeks' best fighter, King
Achilles (uh-KILL-eez). (The Greeks lived in a lot of little
city-states, and in the Bronze Age eachone had its own king, but
Agamemnon was leading them all during the war).The Greeks had won a
battle and were splitting up the booty (the stuff theyhad
captured). Everybody had a pile of stuff. Achilles had gotten a
woman
among his stuff, to be his slave, whose name was Briseis
(brih-SAY-iss). But Agamemnon decided that HE wanted the pretty
Briseis, and he just took her from Achilles, saying that he was the
head of the army so he would do whathe liked.
Well, Achilles was so angry that Agamemnon took Briseis from
himthat he refused to fight for the Greeks anymore and just sat in
his tent andsulked. Without their best fighter, the Greeks started
losing battles.
Finally Achilles' best friend Patroclos thought of an idea. He
put on Achilles' famous armor and went out to fight. Both the
Greeks and the Trojansthought Achilles had come back to the battle
and the Greeks won a bigvictory, but Patroclos was killed in the
fighting: he might dress like Achilles buthe could not fight like
him.
When Achilles heard that Patroclos was dead, he was ashamed of
how he had been sulking. He agreed to fight again. Now the Greeks
reallystarted to win. So the best Trojan fighter, Prince Hector,
came out from Troyto fight Achilles. They fought for a long time,
but finally Achilles killed Hector.Hector's father, King Priam,
came to Achilles at night to ask for his son's bodyback, and
Achilles gave it to him.
The Iliad ends here, but this is not the end of the story. After
the events of the Iliad and the death of Hector, the Trojan War
still wasn'tover. Neither the Greeks nor the Trojans seemed to be
able to win, until one of the Greek kings, Odysseus of Ithaca, had
an idea.
Build a big wooden horse on wheels," he said, "big enough for
abunch of Greek soldiers to hide inside it." So the Greeks did.
Then the Greeksall pretended to sail home (except the ones hiding
inside the horse!). Theyacted like they had given up and left. But
really they hid just around thecorner.
Soon the Trojans found the horse. "What is it?" they asked each
other.Nobody knew. (The Greek soldiers hiding inside kept very
quiet). Then theyfound a Greek soldier hiding nearby. He said
(though this was part of the trick)
6. What wereAgamemnon and
Achilles fighting
about?
7. What were theresults of Achilles
not fighting?
8. What event marksthe end of Homers
Iliad?
9. What did theTrojans perceive theHorse to be?
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that the other Greeks hated him and they had left him behind. So
the Trojansasked him what the horse was for. He said it was an
offering to Athena.
Well, the Trojans didn't want to upset Athena either, so they
rolled thebig horse into the city of Troy. It was so big it
wouldn't go through the gate,and they had to tear down a piece of
the city wall to get it in. They left it at the
temple of Athena, and then the Trojans had a big party to
celebrate the end of the war. (Still the Greek soldiers inside the
horse kept very quiet).Finally everyone fell asleep, and now the
Greek soldiers came out of
the Trojan horse and killed the guards on the walls. They
signaled to the other Greeks to attack Troy. They could get in now
because the walls were torndown. There was a big battle and the
Greeks won. All the Trojan men werekilled, and all the women and
children were taken back to Greece as slaves.
This story does not actually appear in the Iliad or the Odyssey,
but it istold in Virgil's Aeneid and in other ancient sources.
Follow Up Questions1. What do you think the phrase beware of a
Trojan horse could be used to
symbolize today? Be sure to explain your answer
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2. What lessons do you think Homer was trying to show with the
story of Achillesand Agamemnon? Be sure to explain your answer.
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3. What other wisdom from History was Homer trying to show in
the story of theTrojan War? Be sure to explain how he was showing
this.
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