THE TROJAN WAR

Feast of the Gods - Hans Rottenhammer (1564-1625)

 JUDGEMENT OF PARIS
✣ Eris, the Goddess of Discord, was
offended at being left out of the
marriage banquet of King Peleus and
Thetis, the sea nymph.
✣ She made an appearance at the
wedding bringing a wedding gift, a
golden apple marked “Kallisti” (For
the Fairest).
✣ Eris then threw the apple (popularly
known as the Apple of Discord) amongst
the assembled gods and goddesses.
 JUDGEMENT OF PARIS
✣ Three of the goddesses, Aphrodite,
Athena, and Hera, immediately
claimed the Golden Apple for
themselves, each believing that they
were the most beautiful of all the
goddesses.
✣ They asked Zeus to pick but he wisely
declines. He told them to visit Prince
Paris (Alexander) instead for he was
an excellent judge of beauty.

Wedding of Peleus and Thetis - Abraham Bloemaert (1564 – 1651)

 PARIS: PRINCE OF TROY
✣ Paris was a mortal prince of Troy, a
son of King Priam, King of Troy and
Hecuba. Though a royal prince, he
was doing shepherd’s work because
King Priam was told that someday the
prince would be the ruin of his
country, so he sent him away.
✣ Paris was also living with a lovely
nymph named Oenone, an oread
nymph daughter of Cebren and the
first wife of Paris. They had a son
named Corythus.

Paris in the Phrygian cap - Antoni Brodowski (1784-1832)

Paris and Oenone - Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy (1611-1668)
 PARIS’ CHOICE
✣ Hera promised to make him Lord
of Europe and Asia.
✣ Athena promised to lead the
Trojans to victory against the
Greeks and lay Greece in ruins.
✣ Aphrodite promised that the
fairest woman in all the world
would be his.

Though not an easy decision, Paris

decided that the goddess who
rightfully owned the Golden Apple
was Aphrodite.
The Judgement of Paris - Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640)
 HELEN OF TROY / SPARTA
Helen was the fairest woman in the
world. She is the daughter of Zeus and
Leda and the sister of Castor, Pollux, and
Clytemnestra. Because of her beauty, she
has gained several suitors, some of which
coming from powerful families.
Tyndareus delayed in making a decision
for it might spark an uprising. While
waiting, Odysseus came up with a
solution to his dilemma.

Helen of Troy - Evelyn de Morgan (1855-1919)

 OATH OF TYNDAREUS
✣ Odysseus said that the king should extract from each suitor an oath so that they
would protect and defend whichever suitor of Helen was chosen. No hero of note
would break such an oath, and even if someone did, then they would have to face
the force of the other suitors who were bound to protect Helen’s husband.
✣ The binding was called “Oath of Tyndareus” which ultimately brought together
the Greek forces to the gates of Troy.
✣ Then, Tyndareus chose Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, and made him
King of Sparta as well.
 THE ABDUCTION OF
HELEN
✣ Paris went to Sparta where they
are warmly received by Menelaus
and Helen. The ties were strong
and each was bound to help and
never to harm the other. But Paris
broke the bond and eloped with
Helen while Menelaus went off to
Crete.
✣ Menelaus then sought the help of
all Greece to help them. All
chieftains responded except two,
Odysseus and Achilles. Both
provided reasons for not joining
The Abduction of Helen by Paris - Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder (1722-1789)
the Greek army.
THE GREATEST WARRIORS OF THE TROJAN
WAR

✣ Achilles: Son of King Peleus and

Thetis, a sea nymph; his mother
wanted to make him immortal and
thus, dipped him in the river Styx
✣ Hector: Prince of Troy; son of Priam;
brother of Paris; husband of
Andromache who bore their son,
Astyanax

Both know of their impending deaths even

before the Trojan War.
 THE ANGER OF ARTEMIS
✣ A thousand ships were made ready. They met at Aulis, a place of strong winds
and dangerous tides, impossible to sail from as long as the north wind blew. It
kept blowing day after day.
✣ At last, the soothsayer Calchas declared that the gods have spoken to him saying
that Artemis was angry for one of her beloved wild creatures, a hare, had been
slain by the Greeks, together with her young.
✣ She said that the only way to calm the wind and ensure safe voyage to Troy was
to appease her by sacrificing a royal maiden, Iphigenia, the daughter of the
Commander-in-Chief, Agamemnon.
✣ The Commander-in-Chief obeyed and as his daughter dies, the north wind ceased
to blow and the Greek ships sailed out to quiet seas.
Greek Ships Trojan War | Greek ships leave the port city of Aulis on their way
 PROTESILAUS
✣ When the Greek army reached the mouth of the Simois, one of the rivers of Troy,
the first man to leap ashore was Protesilaus.

“It has been said that he who landed first would be the first to die.”

✣ Therefore, when he had fallen by a Trojan spear the Greeks paid him honors as
though he were divine and the gods, too, greatly distinguished him. They had
Hermes bring him up from the dead to see once again his deeply mourning wife,
Laodamia. She would not give him up a second time. So, when he went back to
the underworld, she went with him; she killed herself.
Protesilaus leaping first on the river of Simois.
 THE WAVERING VICTORY
✣ For nine years, the victory wavered.
✣ One day, Agamemnon and Achilles had a quarrel which gave the Trojans an
advantage. Chryseis, daughter of Apollo’s priest, was carried off by the Greeks
and given to Agamemnon.
✣ Her father came to beg for her release yet they denied him. The priest then prayed
to Apollo and he answered. He shot fiery arrows down upon the Greek army.
✣ Achilles called an assembly of the chieftains to resolve the pestilence. Calchas
declared that the only way to stop it is to give Chryseis back. All chieftains and
Agamemnon agreed and the pestilence stopped.
✣ In exchange, the maiden Briseis was taken to Achilles as his prize of honor.
✣ Achilles stopped fighting.
GODS AND GODDESSES AGAINST EACH
OTHER

TROJANS GREEKS
Aphrodite Hera
Ares Athena
Apollo Poseidon
Artemis

Menelaus defeats Paris in combat. However, Aphrodite saves Paris’s life, and the
armies agree to a truce. But Hera is bent on war, so she made Athena persuade a Trojan
named Pandarus to break the truce by shooting an arrow which wounded Menelaus.
With this, the war broke out again.
 AJAX AND DIOMEDES
✣ When the battle starts again, the great Greek warriors Ajax and Diomedes fought
gloriously and many Trojans were killed.
✣ Diomedes nearly kills the Trojan Prince Aeneas, the best and bravest next to
Hector and the son of Aphrodite, whom she saves. Diomedes then leaped and
wounded Aphrodite’s hand. Apollo, enveloped him in a cloud and carried him to
Pergamos, the holy place of Troy where Artemis healed his wound.
✣ With the help of Hera and Athena, Diomedes even wounds Ares himself.
✣ Trojans fell back to the city.
Ajax and Diomedes
 THE BATTLE CONTINUES
✣ The Greeks hold their own until Zeus remembers his promise to Thetis and comes
down to the battlefield. The Trojans drive the Greeks back toward their ships.
✣ Nestor, the oldest among the chieftains and therefore the wisest even wiser than
Odysseus, spoke boldly that if only Agamemnon did not anger Achilles, they
wouldn’t have lost.
✣ That night, Agamemnon agrees to return Briseis, but when Odysseus goes to ask
Achilles to accept the apology, he receives a flat refusal.
✣ The next day the Greeks lose again without Achilles and are driven even closer to
their ships. But then Hera decides to seduce Zeus and give the Greeks an
advantage. While the two divinities are indisposed, the great Greek warrior Ajax
nearly kills Hector.
 THE BATTLE CONTINUES
✣ Discovering the deception, Zeus angrily commands Poseidon to abandon the
Greeks, and the Trojans press forward. As the Greeks near defeat, Achilles’s best
friend, Patroclus, can restrain himself no longer.
✣ He convinces Achilles to lend him his armor, thinking that even if Achilles refuses
to fight, he himself can help the Greeks by pretending to be Achilles and thus
frightening the Trojans.
✣ Leading Achilles’ men, the Myrmidons, into battle, Patroclus fights valiantly but
is killed by Hector’s spear. Achilles grieves terribly and decides to return to battle
to avenge this death.
✣ Thetis, seeing she can no longer hold her son back, gives him armor made by
Hephaestus himself.
 ACHILLES VS. HECTOR
✣ The Trojans soon retreat inside their impenetrable walls through the huge Scaean
gates. Only Hector remains outside, clad in Achilles’ own armor taken from
Patroclus’s corpse. Hector and Achilles, the two greatest warriors of the Trojan
War, finally face one another. When Hector sees that Athena stands by Achilles’
side while Apollo has left his own, he runs away from Achilles. They circle
around and around the city of Troy until Athena disguises herself as Hector’s
brother and makes him stop.
✣ Achilles catches up with Hector, who realizes the deception. They fight, and
Achilles, aided by Athena, kills Hector with his spear. Achilles is still so filled
with rage over Patroclus’ death that he drags Hector’s body over the ground,
mutilating it. He takes it back to the Greek camp and leaves it beside Patroclus’
funeral pyre for dogs to devour. Such disrespect for a great warrior greatly
displeases the gods, who convince Priam to visit Achilles and retrieve Hector’s
body. Priam speaks to Achilles, who sees the error of his ways.
Achilles dragging Hector’s body.
King Priam begging Achilles to return Hector’s body.
THE FALL OF TROY
 THE DEATH OF ACHILLES
✣ Hector is replaced by Prince Memnon of Ethiopia, a great warrior, and the Trojans
have the upper hand for a time. But Achilles soon kills Memnon as well, driving
the Trojans back to the Scaean gates.
✣ There, however, Paris kills Achilles with Apollo’s help: Paris shoots an arrow
and the god guides it to Achilles’ heel, his one vulnerable spot. (Thetis tried to
make the infant Achilles invulnerable by dunking his body in the mystical River
Styx but forgot to submerge the heel by which she held him.)
✣ The Greeks decide Achilles’ divine armor should be given to either Odysseus or
Ajax, the two greatest Greek warriors remaining.
✣ When Odysseus is chosen, Ajax plots revenge, but Athena makes him go crazy.
Ajax massacres some cattle, then comes to his senses and, mortified, kills himself.
The Death of Achilles
 THE DOWNFALL OF PARIS
✣ The prophet Calchas then tells the Greeks that they must capture the Trojan
prophet Helenus in order to win. They do so, and Helenus tells them that Troy
can only be defeated by the bow and arrows of Hercules.
✣ Hercules gave these weapons to Philoctetes, who set out for Troy with the Greeks,
who abandoned him along the way. Odysseus and a few others set out to
apologize and get him back.
✣ Philoctetes returns and promptly kills Paris. The Greeks learn that the Trojans
have a sacred image of Athena, the Palladium, that protects them. Odysseus and
Diomedes sneak behind enemy lines and steal it.
The Downfall of Paris, Prince of Troy.
 BREAKING DOWN TROJAN DEFENSE
✣ Yet Troy still has the protection of its gigantic walls, which prevent the Greeks
from entering. Finally, Odysseus comes up with a plan to build a giant wooden
horse and roll it up to the gates, pretending they have surrendered and gone
home. One man, Sinon, stays behind, acting as if he is a traitor to the Greeks.
✣ He says that although the Greeks retreated, they left the horse as an offering to
Athena. He says the Greeks assumed the Trojans would not take it inside the city
because of its size, which would thus offend Athena and bring misfortune on the
city. Trojans, feeling like they are getting the last laugh, triumphantly bring the
horse into the city.
 THE TROJAN HORSE
✣ The horse is hollow, however, and Greek chieftains are hiding inside. At night,
they creep out and open the city gates. The Greek army, hiding nearby, sweeps
into the city and massacres the Trojans. Achilles’ son kills Priam. Of the major
Trojans, only Aeneas escapes, his father on his shoulders and his son holding his
hand. All the men are killed, the women and children separated and enslaved.
✣ In the war’s final act, the Greeks take Hector’s infant son, Astyanax, from his
mother, Andromache, and throw him off the high Trojan walls. With this death,
the legacy of Hector and Troy itself are finished.
The Trojan Horse