The Iliad

Events leading up to the Trojan war

One strand of the story begins with the goddess Thetis

Thetis: Nereid

THETIS: Daughter of NEREUS and DORIS, and best friend of EURYNOME, was doing well God-wise until an oracle put out a prophecy which upset ZEUS and POSEIDON, who both fancied her at the time. The oracle said that THETIS would bear a son greater than his father.

Thetis was the leader of the 50 Nereids (sea-goddesses)

To avoid the consequences of the prophecy

they made sure she was married off to a mortal, PELEUS, king of Phthia.

Thetis could change shapes, so Peleus had to wrestle her

He succeeded, and the wedding was planned

Poor Thetis. She knew that marriage to a mortal would lead to mortification.

The gods provided a magnificent wedding for Thetis and Peleus

Eris, however, was not invited

Eris is Discord, and may be called strife and quarrel as well. Eris has been said to be the daughter of Nyx, but she has also been called the sister of Ares and the nurse of War, since she helps her brother in arms to accomplish his bloody work.

And enjoying the groans of dying men, she fills their hearts with hatred, so that they may slay each other.

Uninvited, Eris shows up anyway

She tosses a golden apple into the crowd.

The apple came with a note

Discord ensued!

The three most powerful goddesses,Hera,Athene andAphrodite,each claimed that the apple should be her prize.

Zeus was asked to choose

Zeus wisely declined

Who would be naïve enough to judge among three powerful goddesses???

Thetis and Peleus at home

Previously, in Troy…

Troy, a city in Asia, was located just across the Hellespont from Europe

Priam was king, and Hekuba queen

When Hekuba was pregnant with her second son, an oracle predicted that this child would cause the destruction of Troy.

This child was named Paris/Alexandros

The infant was taken to Mt. Ida to die from exposure

Nursed by a bear for 5 days, Paris survived and was raised by shepherds

The young Paris fell in love with the nymph Oenone

Paris was the perfect choice to judge the beauty contest, for Zeus desired to make his daughter Helen famous in both Europe and Asia via an infamous war.

Tyndareus and Leda were king and queen of Sparta

Zeus took on the form of a swan and raped Leda

“Leda and the Swan” has been a subject for many artists

And a famous poem by YeatsLeda And The SwanPoem lyrics of Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats.

A sudden blow: the great wings beating stillAbove the staggering girl, her thighs caressedBy the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.How can those terrified vague fingers pushThe feathered glory from her loosening thighs?And how can body, laid in that white rush,But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?A shudder in the loins engenders thereThe broken wall, the burning roof and towerAnd Agamemnon dead.Being so caught up,So mastered by the brute blood of the air,Did she put on his knowledge with his powerBefore the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Leda gave birth to 2 eggs

One egg contained Helen and Polydeuces (Pollux).

The other egg contained Clytemnestra and Castor.

Castor and Pollux were known as the Dioscuri or Gemini.

Already a beauty, at age 10 Helen was kidnapped by Theseus

Helen was rescued and returned to Sparta by her brothers

In the meantime, Helen’s sister Clytemnestra had married twice

First to Tantalus, son of Thyestes

Second, to Agamemnon, who killed Tantalus

After Helen was returned to Sparta, suitors came from all over

Tyndareus was at a loss because he feared reprisal from the unsuccessful.

It was, of course, the clever Odysseus who came up with a strategy -- a strategy he offered to share in exchange for Tyndareus’s niece, Penelope.

Odysseus’ plan:

All the suitors were required to swear an oath to stand behind whichever suitor Tyndareus selected, and be ready at any time in the future to defend the marriage.

The suitors so swore.

Odysseus courts Penelope

Tyndareus selected Menelaus

Not handsome or glamorous, Menelaus was rich and powerful, largely due to the position of his brother Agamemnon.

Menelaus, Clytemnestra, Helen, Agamemnon

Menelaus and Helen married and had a daughter, Hermione

The plan was for Hermione to marry Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

This marriage would unite Mycenae, ruled by Agamemnon, and Sparta, ruled by Menelaus

However, many plans were delayed or ruined entirely by

The JUDGEMENT OF PARIS

When Zeus named Paris as the arbiter of the apple, each of the three goddesses came to Paris with a bribe

Hera offered him wealth and dominion over Europe and Asia

Athene promised Paris that he would be the bravest of mortals and skilled in every craft

Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world

Paris chose Aphrodite, and in return she helped effect the abduction of Helen

Meanwhile, Paris had gone to Troy to participate in athletic contests.

Paris defeated everyone, including all the princes of Troy

Angered, Prince Deiphobus drew his sword to kill the “commoner”

Trojan princess Cassandra, who had the gift of a seer, revealed that the man hugging the altar of Zeus was their brother and a

prince of Troy

Paris was welcomed back into the family

He soon set sail for Sparta to claim his prize.

Some say Helen went willingly with Paris; others say she went unwillingly.

Paris brought Helen to Troy

Awed by her beauty and her status, the Trojans welcomed her—even Priam

As soon as Helen left Sparta, the Greeks hyped out

Menelaus, who had been amusing himself with a nymph in Crete, came rushing back to Sparta.

Agamemnon was furious at the dishonor done to his family.

Couriers were sent throughout Greece to remind former suitors of their oath.

Menelaus and Odysseus went to Troy to demand, ransom, or steal Helen back

But to no avail

Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, even snuck into Troy to check things out.

But Helen could not be retrieved.Warriors throughout the Hellenistic world were called upon to

wage war

Some, like Odysseus, were reluctant to go

Happily married to Penelope, with an infant son named Telemachos and with a prophecy that he would not return from Troy until 20 years had passed, Odysseus feigned madness to escape the call.

Odysseus went down to the shore and ploughed the beach each day

But Odysseus was needed for his skills as a rhetorician and a strategist

So Palimedes was sent to bring Odysseus in. He did so by throwing the infant Telemachos under the plow. Odysseus’ scheme was to appear mad by plowing the sand on the beach.

Odysseus’ sanity was revealed when he stopped the oxen and rescued his son.

Thetis and Peleus had a son, Achilles

He was raised by Phoinix, and educated by the Centaur Chiron

Only 15, Achilles was the best warrior in all of Greece

Achilles had been trained in the arts of war and medicine by the centaur Chiron

To save her son from death at Troy, Thetis hid him among the women of king Lycomedes

Achilles had an affair with Deidamea, Lycomedes’ daughter, who bore him a son Neoptalmos

The clever Odysseus was sent to uncover Achilles, who was dressed as one of the women of the harem.

Disguised as a merchant, Odysseus included a wonderful sword in his bag of ladies’ goods

When one of the “girls” fondled the sword, Odysseus knew “she” was Achilles.

Achilles, leading the Myrmidons, went willingly to Aulis, where Agamemnon had gathered all of the Greek warriors

It took two years for all the forces to assemble at Aulis

In the meantime, Agamemnon, hunting for food for the troops, accidentally killed a stag sacred to the goddess Artemis

Outraged, Artemis kept the winds from blowing, so the restless troops were stuck in Aulis.

Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief, asked the seer Calchas what was wrong.

Calchas told Agamemnon of Artemis’ anger, and her demand of a human sacrifice—Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia

Iphigenia was sent for

Agamemnon’s ruse was that he had arranged a marriage between Iphigenia and Achilles

Thrilled, Clytemnestra sent her child to Aulis.

When the marriage was discovered to be a hoax, both Clytemnestra and Achilles were royally pissed at Agamemnon.

Iphigenia willingly accepted death

Agamemnon performed the sacrifice

The rites completed, the winds blew and over 1,000 ships sailed for Troy