The Iliad and the Trojan War

Miss Michel

English I

The Iliad

The Iliad starts nine years into the Trojan WarThe Trojan War took place in Troy which is in the northwest corner of what we now call the Republic of TurkeyMany things had to happen to get this big war under way

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The Start of it All…

Three generations of misery and bloodshed started because a wedding planner failed to invite an important goddess…

Peleus and Thetis’ Wedding

Peleus was a mortal man.Thetis was a sea nymph and the daughter of Zeus.Peleus had been on many adventures and had already been married, but things went sour when he accidentally killed his father-in-law.He saw Thetis, fell in love with her, and tried to kidnap her.She managed to fight him off with a snake until he eventually won her over.

“It is not without some god’s assistance that you conquer” (Thetis to Peleus in Ovid’s Metamorphosis)

The Big Affair – Peleus and Thetis’ Wedding

With Zeus’ consent, all the famous mortals, gods, and goddess attended

Eris, the goddess of strife was not invited

Eris was insulted and snuck into the wedding reception…

A Golden Apple

Eris tossed a golden apple onto the dance floor.On the apple were the words, “To the fairest.”The golden apple was a serious party killer. Who was the most beautiful?

To the fairest

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Who is the fairest of them all?

The competition was between:Athena – Zeus’ daughter and a real

daddy’s girlHera – Zeus’ wife and Queen of the

GodsAphrodite – The Goddess of LoveThey asked Zeus, as the King of the

Gods, to award the prize, but he was no fool…

The Judgment of Paris

Zeus gave the task to Paris, son of Priam, the King of Troy.

Zeus knew that Troy was fated to be destroyed because of an old run-in with Apollo and Poseidon.

Paris was the “torch to set the whole city on fire.”

www.mythencyclopedia.com

Paris’ Ill-fated ChoiceAthena offered him

victory in warHera offered him

power over nationsAphrodite offered

him the most beautiful woman in the world

What would you choose?

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Helen of Troy

Paris accepted Aphrodite’s offer He then learned that the most beautiful girl in the world was ALREADY MARRIEDShe was Helen, daughter of Leda and ZeusShe was married to Menelaus, king of Sparta

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The Kidnapping of Helen

Paris already had a wife named Oenone who warned him not to go through with the kidnappingHe didn’t listenHe sailed off to Sparta to be guest at the palace of Menelaus

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The Kidnapping of HelenTroy was already doomed before this whole incident

Zeus was the “Protector of Hospitality”

Kidnapping your host’s wife isn’t exactly hospitable

If Troy wasn’t in trouble before, they certainly were now!

In Sparta, Paris either forcefully carried Helen away from Troy or he seduced her and she left with him on her own

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Troy in Trouble

When Menelaus discovered that his wife was kidnapped, he ran to his big brother Agamemnon who agreed to get help wage war to get Helen back

Helen is known as the “face that launched a thousand ships”

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Clever Odysseus!Odysseus tried to get out of joining Agamemnon and Menelaus in their fight for Helen by pretending to be crazy.Thetis (whose wedding started all this) tried to get her son Achilles out of fighting, too.

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The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Agamemnon sent a message to his wife, Clytemnestra, saying that he had arranged for Iphigenia to marry Achilles in Aulis, but when she arrived on her wedding day, her father sacrificed her on the altar like an animal.

Agamemnon finally got his army together, but they couldn’t set sail against strong winds on the Aegean Sea.The prophet Calchas told him that the winds were from Artemis, and to appease Artemis, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia

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Now the War Can Begin!

Images Used:

“Map of Turkey” http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/turkey/map.htm 14 June 2007“Peleus and Thetis” http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/M/Erika.D.Mitchell-Deluca-1/PeleusandThetis.html 14 June 2007“Phoenix Art Museum” (Wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Joachim Wtewael, 1602) http://www.phxart.org/pastexhibitions/copper.asp 14 June 2007“Dead White Males” http://deadwhitemales.net/?p=53 14 June 2007“Fruit in Mythology” http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Fi-Go/Fruit-in-Mythology.html 14 June 2007 “Paris, Greek Mythology Link” http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/000Images/pim/parisjudgement1125.JPG 14 June 2007“Trojan War” http://www.crystalinks.com/trojanwar.html 14 June 2007“Helen information” (Helen of Troy by Evelyn De Morgan) http://www.search.com/reference/Helen 14 June 2007“Helen of Troy” http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Helen.html 14 June 2007“Troy” http://www.waltm.net/troy.htm 14 June 2007“Book 4” http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00018/Cosmic%20Odyssey/synopsis/book4.html 14 June 2007“The Penelope Tradition” http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/Penelope/stamnos.jpg 14 June 2007“Themes from the Iliad and Ovid Metamorphosis” http://users.adelphia.net/~bnbhelm/project2/Achilles%20hiding.jpg 14 June 2007“The Green Flower Gang – The University of Warwick” http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jackcole/ 14 June 2007 “Discovery Channel” (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/08/28/homer_his_zoom0.html?category=human&guid=20060828100030 14 June 2007