Module 16 - The Iliad and the Trojan Saga

The stories surrounding the Trojan war were perhaps the most important in the Greek world.

The two great epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, are written in the Greek Ionic dialect, and there is good reason to connect the composition of these poems with that area.

The time of which Homer is writing, the Trojan war, is not the 8th or 7th centuries BC, but the earlier Mycenaean bronze age. We hear in the poem of the heroes coming from Mycenae, Pylos and Thebes, the great Mycenaean cities.

• The kidnapping of Helen didn't actually happen by some accounts.
  • "merely a pretext for war, ordained by Zeus as a necessity in order to reduce the population of the Earth."
• The origins of the Trojan war lie in the famous myth known as The Judgment of Paris

---

Places

Sparta

THIS IS SPARTA. Home of Helen.

Troy

That place where the Trojan war happened.

Troy in the Troad is (possibly) located in northern Asia Minor, near modern Istanbul.

---

People

Achilles

The Illiad revolves around the theme of his anger. The greatest of heroes to sail to Troy. Leader of the Myrmidons.

In the 9th year of the war, Agamemnon quarrels with him, prompting him to withdraw from the fighting. With Zeus' help, he ensures the war turns against the Greeks. He declares that he will only fight once the Trojans attack his own ships.

But as the Trojans start winning, he realizes that having the Greek defences destroyed will leave him and his ships in a very vulnerable position. So he tells his friend Patroclus to fight in his armour, who is subsequently gets killed by Hector (with Apollo's help).

When Patroclus dies, Achilles gets super pissed at Hector. Like very pissed. He's prophesied to die soon after Hector, so he realizes that after he kills Hector, he'll die soon after, causing him to lose his humanity (and do really crazy sh*t).

He kills Trojans and eventually kills Hector. At Patroclus' elaborate funeral, he mistreats Hector's corpse. Eventually Priam comes to beg for his son's corpse back. Achilles, having found the common ground of grief with Priam, obliges.

Agamemnon

Also see Module 15

General of the Greek army, brother of Menelaus.

Ajax the Great, son of Telamon

Ajax the Great is the son of Telamon. He is a strong warrior, known more for his brawn than his brains.

Ajax the Less

Ajax the Less is the son of Oileus. A less distinguished warrior than Ajax. He is best known for dragging Priam’s daughter from the temple of Athena where she had taken refuge during the sack of Troy.

Diomedes

King of Argos and a great warrior of the Greek army. He is also a wise counselor.

Epeus

A Greek that built the Trojan horse with Athena's help. All of the greatest Greek heroes hid inside the horse, and were able to breach the Trojan wall.

Eris

Goddess of strife. She was not invited to the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles, so she throws a golden apple onto the table that that says "For the most beautiful"

A fight for the apple ensues, between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Zeus decides that Paris will decide who the most beautiful is

Hector

Great Trojan warrior, whom Achilles kills near the end of the war. Son of Priam and Hecuba.

With Hector's help, the Trojans manage to breach the Greek defences and are soon in a position to destroy the Greek fleet.

After killing Patroclus, Achilles gets pissed and kills him.

Hecuba

Queen of Troy at the time of the war, wife of Priam.

She dreamt that her son Paris would bring the downfall of Troy, prompting to expose him as a child.

Helen

Also see Module 15

At the time considered the most beautiful woman in Greece. She's the daughter of Zeus and Leda. She's Spartan, one of 4 children, sister to Clytemnestra.

When she grows up, she's courted by a bunch of Greek heroes, including including Odysseus and others. She marries Menelaus.

Has a child with him named Hermione.

One day while Menelaus is away, Paris comes from Sparta and seduces (or kidnaps) Helen. He takes her to Troy.

Leda

Wife of king of Sparta, one of Zeus' mistresses. Mother of Helen (with Zeus).

Menelaus

Also see Module 15

Brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen.

Nestor

King of Pylos. During the time of the Trojan war he is an old man, but he was once a great warrior. He is the wisest Greek leader at Troy.

Odysseus

King of Ithaca, known as a great warrior but most prominently as a very clever and tricky individual. Not wanting to go to war in the first place, he pretended to be mad, but was discovered, when the hero Palamedes took Odysseus’ son Telemachus and put him in the path of his plow; Odysseus did not, of course, run him over, showing that he was sane.

Paris

Aka Alexander. Also see Module 15.

A great beauty but a weakling. Trojan prince, son of Priam and Hecuba that visits Sparta and seduces Helen while Menelaus is away.

Prophesied to bring the downfall of Troy. When asked by Zeus who the most beautiful goddess at a wedding feast was, all 3 goddesses try to bribe him. He chooses Aphrodite's offer of Helen (the most beautiful woman), prompting the Trojan war.

Patroclus

Loyal friend (and possibly lover) to Achilles. As instructed by Achilles, Patroclus goes into battle disguised in Achilles' armour. But he's killed by Hector after attempting to take the city himself.

When young, he had killed a man during a game of dice and Achilles father took him in to be Achilles’ companion.

Peleus

Mortal husband of Thetis, father of Achilles.

Priam

Elderly king of Troy at the time of the Trojan War. Married to Hecuba Father of Paris and Hector.

Priam is said to have had 50 sons and 12 daughters, 19 of which he had with Hecuba.

At Patroclus' funeral, he comes to Achilles to request his son's corpse.

Thetis

Sea nymph, wife of Peleus, mother of Achilles.

When Achilles was a baby, Thetis tried to make him fully immortal by dipping him into the river Styx. But she didn't dip his ankles, which she was holding him by.