Heroes 4

Getting Rid of the Suitors

mother and son reunite and Eumaeus and Odysseus dressed as a beggar head to the palace on the way there they meet one of the subordinates of the suitors who kicks Odysseus at the palace he receives another blow, this time by Antinous, a suitor who is at the heart of the plot to kill Telemachus Antinous strikes him with a stool, his cruelty is brought to Penelope's attention Odysseus encounters another beggar who challenges him to a boxing match, and with the help of Athena, he quickly defeats him and possibly the only nice suitor gives him food Odysseus warns the man that he should leave and predicts that Odysseus will soon be home, but the man ignores the warning Penelope then comes out and announces that Odysseus had instructed her to take a husband if he hadn't returned before Telemachus began growing facial hair she then says that any suitor worthy will show her by bringing gifts a clever ploy on her part when she leaves, another brawl almost breaks out, but Telemachus eases the tensions while the suitors sleep, Telemachus and Odysseus remove all the arms Penelope then meets with Odysseus as she heard the beggar knew something of her husband he tells her that her husband is alive and well and that she should expect him withing the month, but Penelope knows she cannot hold the suitors off any longer and decided to marry whomever can shoot an arrow through the hole of twelve axes like her husband could

Heroes in Myth

myriad stores and images, in addition to worship at hero shrines, ensured that a hero would be remembered after his death considerable written and visual evidence about heroes accumulated over time most stories and images describe only a few (sometimes just one) of a hero's adventures rarely does any single account describe a hero from birth to death thus, heroes' biographies must be culled from written and visual sources that often contradict one another classical scholar Fritz Graf offers a useful schema for organizing such sources in his analysis of Medea

Scylla and Charybdis

next they needed to pass by Planctae, then Scylla and Charybdis, the modern-day Rock and a Hard Place Planctae was easy, but he had to weigh losing six men to the beasts around Scylla, or risk being sucked under by Charybdis, so he lost six more men when he passed by Scylla, navigating away from Charybdis "The Wandering Rocks" (Planctae) Scylla, monster with girdle of six dogs' heads Charybdis, a whirlpool

Polyphemos

next, a more aggressive adversary awaits: Polyhemos, the one-eyed giant whose preferred diet is raw human flesh he belongs tot he race of the Cyclopes, who dwell, each apart from the others, in mountain caverns, occupying themselves with the deceptively tranquil life of herding if food is one central concern of the Odyssey, another is hospitality - more specifically, the treatment of strangers, suppliants and beggars by the communities in whose midst they present themselves instead of offering the new arrivals food and shelter, as he should have done, before presuming to enquire about their identity, Polyphemos immediately greets them with he abrupt question, "Strangers, who are you?" Odysseus' reply shrewdly omits his own name - he pretends that his ship has been destroyed Polyphemos' gleeful response is to snatch up some of Odysseus' men, dash out their brains on the floor of his cave, and devour them - he then block the Greeks' exit form the cave with a mighty boulder Odysseus uses several ruses to prepare his escape to begin with, he assures Polyphemos that his name is Outis ("Nobody") then he gets the Cyclops drunk with Maron's sweet wine next he organizaes his men to put out the giant's eye with a heated and sharpened olive-wood stake when Polyphemos' fellow-Cyclopes approach to ask why he is crying out in pain, he replies, "Nobody (Outis) is killing me", at which they let him alone, assuming his illness to be of the mind rather than the body finally--for the cave-mouth is still blocked by the boulder--Odysseus and his men sling themselves beneath the sheep which the Cyclops keeps in his cave when he lets the animals out to pasture, the giant feels the back of each to check for escapers--but does not have the wit to check under their bellies before sailing away, Odysseus cannot resist calling out his real name to Polyphemos--thus giving the giant the opportunity to beg his father Poseidon to load further hardships upon his puny adversary for the rest of his nostros but Odysseus too has his influential backers from this point on, his journey is poised between the aggressive rage of the mighty sea-god and the defensive aid of Athene, who stands beside him now, as she did at Troy

the Greeks Return Home

nostos = "return journey" Aias son of Oileus, violator of Cassandra, had his ship struck by Zeus' thunderbolt, and was then destroyed by Poseidon's trident many others less culpable than he were also ship-wrecked, misled by a beacon treacherously lit by Nauplios at the southern tip of Euboia (he was avenging the death of his son Palamedes, who had seen through Odysseus' attempt to avoid the call-up, and whose death Odysseus had then contrived even those who were not killed wandered far and wide some never made it back to Greece, instead founding new settlements far from their homeland nor was life uncomplicated for the Greeks who did reach home Menelaos was shipwrecked by a storm which drove him to Egypt his eventual return to Sparta brought him an uneasy life at home with Helen Agamemnon's return to Mycenae was to be even more dramatic but the most famous nostros of all was the of Odysseus his awe-inspring journey back to Ithaca was in some ways comparable with the voyage of the Argo, yet differed from it in crucial respects its focus was not a vessel, but an individual man, and the objective was not a far-off, golden treasure, but simply the prize of going home

Odysseus at the Court of Alcinous

on his way to the palace, Athena disguised as a young girl meets him and offers to guide him to the palace she shrouds him in a mist and she too advised him to plea to Arete to help get home when they arrive, there is a festival for Poseidon, and he throws himself at her feet and the mist disappears when they see him having been cleaned up in the river with the help of Athena, they think he might be a god, but he denies it and tells them about his dire situation they gladly offer him a ship later in the evening the queen recognizes that Odysseus is wearing her daughter's clothing, remember he was naked, so Nausicaa had given him her clothes and used one of the servants when she investigates what was going on, he tells her about his travels from Calypso's island up to his encounter with Nausicaa that morning, but still doesn't reveal his identity King Alcinous is impressed with him and offers Odysseus his daughter's hand in marriage

Real and Imaginary Troy

since Alexander's visit, the fascination exerted by Troy has never been entirely eclipsed, though it has undergone many transformations in modern times, the focus of that fascination has been putative physical remains of the city itself knowledge of the site's location was lost in the Middle Ages, and it was only in the mid-18th century that the matter began to be seriously addressed but it was not until the 19th century that excavations were undertaken, thanks first to Frank Calvert (1828-1908) and then, above all, to Heinrich Schliemann (1822-90)

Penelope by Tatiana Blass (2011)

so finally, Penelope, the long faithful wife is finally reunited with her husband here is a modern representation of Penelope's weaving by Tatiana Blass

Propp and The Morphology of the Folktale (1928)

studies a small number of Russian fairy tales collected by philologist Alexander Afanasyev (1826-1871) he aimed to apply a linguistic analysis to fairy tales he attempted to uncover the "grammar," or hidden rules, that he believed governed how the elements of fairy tales were combined through this analysis, he also hoped to show why fairy tales were similar to one another comparison, rather than linguistic reasoning, has informed how other scholars have used Propp's work to analyze fairy tales, Propp divided them into the "component parts" of characters and actions in this way, Propp determined that there are seven broad types of characters, which he called dramatis personae, in fairy tales Propp then organized the actions of these seven types into thirty-one broad categories, which he called functions Propp also discovered that even though few fairy tales include all thirty-one function (most have far fewer), the sequence in which the functions appear never varies this sequence of events--the plot--is one of the most important principles in Propp's analysis Alan Dundes acknowledges that Propp did not set out to analyze the content or historical dimensions of fairy tales - yet he offers some ideas about how Propp's system might be used to explore a wide range of tales and relate them to their social context

Heroes die prematurely, violently, or mysteriouly.

the Greeks had a term for someone killed prematurely (aorus) and one for someone killed violently (biaiothanatus) the existence of these terms suggests that individuals who suffered such deaths were of special concern because their souls might remain angry after death due to their ill treatment in life often the mysterious disappearance of the hero's body, regardless of the manner of death, was believed to allow the hero to remain sentient after death indeed, heroes escaped the fate of most humans after death, who were unable to see, hear, or observe human activities and spent an eternity wandering in the Underworld it seems that the living hero's fiery temperament and strength, as well as his release from the fate that befalls all souls in Hades, make him able to assist the living after death and therefore worthy of veneration

Odysseus, King of Ithaka: "The Man of Many Ways:

the Odyssey by Homer tells the tale of Odysseus after Troy fell and begins with his 7 years in captivity on Ogygia by Calypso the war lasted 10 years and his journey home also takes 10 years so by the time he returns it has been 20 years since his wife or child saw him Odyssey - adventures of Odysseus after the fall of Troy - adventures, followed by a captivity of seven years on the island of Ogygiawith Calypso, his location at the beginning of Homer's Odyssey - ten years of wandering

Odysseus and Penelope

the Phaeacians drop him on shore the next day and sailed back to their home the next morning, he once again encounters Athena disguised but doesn't reveal his identity until she reveals hers he initially sees Eumaeus the swineherd and is eventually recognized by the old man who served the royal family most of his life then Athena travels to Sparta and tells Telemachus to hurry home and meet up with Eumaeus first, because the suitors were planning an ambush for him father and son are reunited and begin to plot their revenge on the suitors that had practically eaten him out of house and home all the while the suitors plot their revenge and try to convince Penelope to choose a new husband she had been for some time able to stall the suitors by claiming she was weaving a garment to mourn the loss of her husband, and once it was done she would choose, but every night she pulled out the rows she had weaved so the garment was never going to be complete one of the women in her house had told the suitors what she was doing, and they lost patience and demanded she choose

the Judgement of Paris

the Trojan War started as a result of the Judgement of Paris refer to the slides on Hera for more detail what was not discussed previously was why Paris was chosen as the judge of the goddesses' beauty in another story, Paris was conducting bull fights and offered a gold crown to any bull who would best his when his bull was bested by another bull, he gave the gold crown away instead of keeping it for his own bull the winning bull ended up being Ares in disguise, and this fairness earned him credibility with the gods to judge fairly later in the beauty contest of the goddesses

the Founding of Troy

the city of Toy (also known as Ilios or Ilion) was not seen by Greeks as a place of intrinsic strangeness and magic the mythical Trojans were grounded in the same genealogical soil, and followed the same religious and social customs, as the inhabitants of the Greek mainland and islands the first founder of a settlement in the Troad was Zeus' son Dardanos - his foundation, "Dardania", lay in the foothills of Mount Ida, where he was said to have come ashore after the Flood, sailing southeastwards on an inflated wineskin from his home on the island of Samothrace his grandson Tros named the region "Troia" as if to consolidate the land's proximity to the gods, Zeus' ever-vigilant eye fell upon one of Tros' sons, Ganymede, whom he took up to Olympos to be his steward/sexual companion it fell to another of Tros' son, Ilos, to found the city which would be known as Ilios/Ilion Ilos obeyed the instruction of an oracle by following a cow to the place where it first lay down to rest, and founded his city at that spot nothing in the tale of Ilos' foundation suggests that the settlement of Ilion/Troy was against the gods' wishes

the Odyssey

the concerning point here is that the narrative chronology of the Odyssey is far more intricate than that of the Iliad when the Odyssey opens, its hero is nearly at the end of his wanderings he is being detained by the enchantress Kalypso on her island when, after several years, the gods persuade her to let him depart, he undertakes the penultimate stage of his voyage, to the land of Phaeacians it is only now--in Books 9 to 12 (out of a total of 24 Books)--that the narrative reverts to the first part of Odysseus' travels, beginning with the sack of Troy once the tale is told, the Phaeacians convey him to his home in Ithaca after leaving Troy, Odysseus and his ships sail northwestwards they put in first at Ismaros in Thrace, home of the Kikonian people Odysseus' behavior here replicates his actions at Troy the city is sacked, many of the male inhabitants are killed, and their wives and goods are shared out among the victors at least Odysseus avoids the costly mistake which Agamemnon made at Troy, for he spares Maron, Apollo's priest, who in gratitude presents him with a wonderfully sweet red wine - this gift will soon save Odysseus' life but on balance the stay at Ismaros heralds the disasters which will beset this nostros Odysseus' imprudent companions linger too long in order to enjoy themselves, so giving the Kikonians time to regroup in the end Odysseus and his men effect their escape, but only after losing many of their number in battle a return to Ithaca from the Aegean entails rounding the southern Peloponnese and then heading north but homecoming is not to be so simple Zeus sends a tempest, then, off Cape Maleia, adverse currents sweep the ships out of the known world after the nine days--a recurring "punctuation mark" in the Odyssey, making the time between major landfalls--they reach the country of the Lotus Eaters on Odysseus' journeyings, one of the most important markers of cultural difference is food to eat "the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus"-- and not, therefore, to follow the normal Greek ways of "bread-eating" men--leads one to forget one's nostros Odysseus has to use force on those of his men who have tasted this exotic food, in order to drag them back into the ships, and towards the future

Aiolos

the episode of the Kikonians illustrates the contrast between the wariness of Odysseus and the imprudence of his men the same contrast recurs to even more destructive effect in the next stage of the journey, the visit to the floating isle of Aiolos, god of the winds the island is a kind of ordered paradise, where the moral rules are idiosyncratic - Aiolos' six sons are married to his six daughters corresponding to this geometrically perfect domestic equilibrium is its meteorological equivalent - Aiolos has power over all the winds from every direction having entertained Odysseus hospitably, Aiolos gives him a bag containing all the winds, to enable him to control his own passage home but Odysseus cannot restrain their curiosity - believing the bag to contain treasure, they open it the winds burst out and blow the ships back to Aiolos' kingdom - but this time the Greeks receive a sour welcome Aiolos infers that the gods must be against Odysseus, and brusquely sends him on his way

Prop's Seven Types of Characters

the hero the false hero the princess/the prize the villain the dispatcher the donor the helper

Odysseus' Return

the hero's arrival in Ithaca, secret and anonymous, prefigures his overall strategy for recovering his name and family he proceeds with stealth, telling a whole series of false tales about his identity, warily attempting to discover who has been loyal and who not in time he reveals himself to his son Telemachos and to the faithful goatherd Eumaios, but for the moment the only other individual in the know is Athene, his constant ally, cajoling, mocking, warning as for Penelope, her loyalty seems rock-solid, but her position is in fact delicate she is beset by suitors, who act on the assumption that Odysseus is dead were he in fact to be dead, the suitors' cause would be legitimate - but the manner of their suit would still be disgraceful, for they have installed themselves in Odysseus' palace and are eating and carousing there with no respect for their absent host --- once more, the consumption of food is a significant marker of moral difference by presenting himself as a beggar, Odysseus gains admission to the household, and is even able to converse at length with Penelope, to whom, however, he does not disclose himself but he does assure her that Odysseus is nearby while Penelope asserts that she does not believe this, there follows a remarkable decision on her part she announces a contest: whoever strings Odysseus' formidable bow, and with it shoots an arrow through twelve axeheads in a line, shall have her hand in (re-)marriage her motivation is unclear only the unknown beggar has the strength and skill to win the contest not only that, but he reveals his identity and takes bloody revenge on the suitors the suitors have father and brothers: potential avengers a battle ensues between those on Odysseus' side and those would avenge the dead suitors the ending is arbitrary - Zeus' warning thunderbolt draws a line under the action - the absence of narrative closure leaves the way open for accounts of the sequel

Nausikaa

the island of Scheria, home of the Phaeacians, poses the greatest threat to Odysseus' return to Ithaca, be cause it most closely approximates to a place where Odysseus might settle down the first Phaeacian whom he encounters--naked and caked with sea salt as he is--has the freshness, energy, and exuberant beauty of the goddess Artemis herself - it is Nausikaa, the daughter of Alkinoos and Arete, the king and queen of the Phaeacians not only is she lovely, but also thoughtful beyond her years - a younger version of Penelope Scheria has much to offer Odysseus - lavish hospitality - an audience avid to hear him sing of his adventures - the opportunity to show his athletic prowess in competition with the pick of the Phaeacians there is even a bard, the blind Demodokos, whose lay about the Trojan Horse shows that Odysseus has become part of a myth in his own lifetime yet Phaeacia is not Ithaca its people's characteristic occupation is seafaring (almost all the personal names, including Nausikaa's, relate to the sea or ships), yet this restless mobility cannot quite rival the poorer but more stable ruggedness of Odysseus' homeland in the end of Phaeacians accept Odysseus' desire to leave, and convey him Ithaca, suffering one last stroke of Poseidon's wrath for their pains, as the god turns their ship to stone (so that their mobility is for once replaced by stability) on its return

Priam's Troy

the kingdom was now taken over by Laomedon's son Priam, during whose reign the gods' involvement in Troy's fate reached its shattering climax one day, Priam's queen Hekabe dreamed she would give birth to a fire-brand which would ignite the city at the time Hekabe was pregnant, the ominous dream prompted her and Priam to send the newborn baby boy to be exposed to die on nearby Mount Ida but in the mythology of Greece stories abound of exposed children who return to fulfill their fateful destinies this is exactly what happened to baby Paris having been suckled by a she-bear and raised by the servant charged with killing him, Paris grew to adulthood as a herdsman on the mountain slopes then one day he entered and won an athletic competition in Troy because he was apparently an intrusive, unknown outsider, his victory aroused the wrath of the defeated competitors, including another of Priam's sons, Deiphobos, who tried to kill him but the logic of the myth dictated that Paris' identity should be revealed just in time - and he was joyfully welcomed back into the family

AiG's Appropriation of the Myth

the most well-known appropriation of the myth was by Alexander the Great standing as it did between the "West" from which Alexander came and the "East" which he proposed to subjugate, the city of Ilion--reputedly built on the site of ruined Troy--whose very blood Alexander claimed ran in his own veins, through the ancestral line of his mother Olympias in theory, this might have led Alexander to raze Troy once more - but his vision was more ambitious just as his vast military project aimed at uniting West and East in one empire, so his attitude towards Troy embraced the Trojans as well as their erstwhile adversaries thus, not content with being Achilles, Alexander also ceremonially appeased the memory of Priam, by sacrificing at the very altar of Zeus on which Priam was said to have been butchered by Achilles' son--and Alexander alleged ancestor--Neoptolemos

the Endgame

the mythological stage is now set for the endgame just as prophecies and other interactions with the sacred proliferate at the start of the campaign, so do they also at its climax the Greek seer Kalchas foresees some of the many conditions which are necessary for Troy's capture, but he also realizes that, since his own insight, like that of any mortal, is incomplete, it has to be supplemented by the predictive powers of the Trojan seer Helenos the Greeks thus seize Helenos and force him to tell what he knows a complex set of preconditions for the fall of Troy emerges, including the following: - the bow of Herakles, now in the possession of Philoktetes, must be brought to Troy, with or without the acquiescence/presence of Philoktetes himself - Achilles' son Neoptolemos ("New War") must also be brought to Troy - the Palladion, a talismanic image, must be stolen from the Trojans, because otherwise the city will be impregnable the achieving of all these objectives is ascribed by most myth-tellers to Odysseus, since, with the passing of Achilles, sheer force defers in importance to the mixture of guile and persuasion which the trickster hero embodies

Circe

the next encounter is that with the giant Laistrygonians - all the ships are lost except that of Odysseus himself he and his crew sail on, to an island every bit as extraordinary as that of Aiolos on it there dwells the goddess Circe, whose name means "Hawk", and indeed, although she is human in form, her home is a place of metamorphosis when some of Odysseus' men go to investigate the sign of smoke rising in the middle of a forest, they find a secluded house around which can be seen tame lions and wolves meekly moving about these were formerly humans, but were transformed by Circe's magic, which she now uses to change Odysseus' men to swine just one escapes to tell the tale - Odysseus sets out to free the rest on his way he meets Hermes, in the likeness of a young man as an antidote to Circe's powers the god gives Odysseus a marvellous plant, moly, black-rooted, with flowers of milky white since antiquity, countless scholars have tried to identify it, perhaps forgetting that it is a ,agic plant, and hence, like the ambrosia and nectar consumed by divinities, not a part of the everyday experience of mere mortals when Odysseus reaches Circe's house, she welcomes him with a potion, strikes him with a wand, and orders him to the sty to join his "men" but thanks to moly, Odysseus to make love with her, which he does, but only after (again on Hermes' instructions) making her swear an oath that she intends him no harm recognizing that she has met her match, Circe transforms Odysseus' men back to human fom, and her island too undergoes a kind of symbolic metamorphosis, becoming a paradise in which the Greeks feast without care for a whole year yet their nostros has not quite been forgotten, at last they sail onward once more, aiming for an ultimate destination, less perfect but more real

Helios and Kalypso

the next episode places a conclusive seal upon the individuality of nostos Odysseus' ship puts in to Thrinakia, an island belonging to the Sun god Odysseus' men are starving, but Circe has warned that on no account should Helios' sacred cattle be eaten when his crew disobediently slaughter and cook some of the beasts, the transgressive nature of their act manifests itself hideously, since the meat bellows as if the animals were still alive little wonder that, as soon as the vessel puts to sea, Zeus' thunderbolt smashes it to oblivion Odysseus alone survives, riding on the keel and the mast lashed together until, after the customary, symbolic interval of nine days, he comes ashore on Kalypso's island if Circe ("Hawk") had threatened to metamorphose Odysseus, Kalypso ("Concealer") proposes to excise him altogether from the narrative of his return, by detaining him for ever by her side she even offers to make him immortal and ageless, but what a goddess can never provide is the solid reality of a mortal's home and family not that, at first, Odysseus declines the sexual delight that Kalypso can offer him - but in time his memories of Ithaca intensify on his own he cannot break free, but at Athene's prompting--this is the moment at which the Odyssey's intricate narrative begins--Zeus sends Hermes to persuade Kalypso to let her lover go Practically as well as intellectually "crafty," Odysseus constructs a raft, and sets out however, there is one last deferral of the nostos Poseidon, his thirst for vengeance unslaked, smashes the raft in a vicious storm alone, and half-dead with exhaustion, Odysseus manages to swim to a new shore

Laokoon

the priest of Apollo, Laocoon also warned against the horse and threw a spear into the side of the horse two serpents then came out of the sea and strangled Laocoon and his sons the Trojans took this as a sign he was wrong his famous line "Do not trust the Horse, oh Trojans whatever it is I fear the Greeks even those bearing gifts" is the source of "Beware Greeks bearing gifts

Troy in the Iliad

the prime site for this Troy of the imagination is the Iliad, though many other texts and images make their contribution the principal spatial division in the Iliad's narrative is that between, on one side, the Trojan city, and, on the other side, the Greek encampment beside their beached ships within these two polarized areas there are further subdivisions inside Troy, two places have special significance the focus of divine power is the temple of Athene on the city's height - this is the place where the Trojans express their most ardent prayers for protection, ultimately to no avail as for the power of humans, this centers on Priam's palace, where he swells with his extended family inside the Greek camp, the single most important location is Achilles' tent, to which he withdraws in anger after the slight by Agamemnon, and to which Priam at last makes his way in order to ransom Hektor's corpse also significant is the shore-line Achilles' marginalization for much of the Iliad is expressed by the way in which he repeatedly communes with his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, by the edge of the water subsequently, the shore will be where the disgraced Aias, himself marginalized, will commit suicide in self-imposed isolation from the rest of the army the prime site of battle is the plain - dusty, blood-spattered, visible alike from the Greek camp and the walls of the city the best vantage-point is from the top of the city's principal entrance, the mighty Skaian Gates this is the location for a remarkable episode early in the Iliad when the Trojan elders, overlooking the battlefield and chattering among themselves "like cicadas", notice that Helen too is making her way to the Skaian Gates, where she will converse with Priam as the two of them gaze over the assembled Greek forces the Skaian Gates witness the downfall of even the greatest of the invaders - it is there that Achilles is slain, shot in the heel by the joint agency of Paris and Apollo but at last the battle shifts from the plain, the walls and the Gates, to the interior of the city itself, as the stratagem of the Horse achieves what brute foce could not now it is the Greeks who are masters of the walls in the ultimate gesture of contemptuous power, they extinguish the last fragile hope fir the city's future, namely the infant prince Astyanax, chilf Hektor and Andromache, either by dashing his little body against an altar or by hurling him from the very ramparts of Troy

to the Fall of Troy

the series of episodes between the death of Hektor and the capture of Troy, we rely principally on non-epic sources several of these episodes center on Achilles his combat with the Amazon warrior Penthesileia, with whom he fell in love even as she kay dying from his spear-thrust, and the duel in which he slew Memnon, child of the Dawn and leader of the Ethiopians, are the gates of Troy in his infancy his divine mother Thetis had sought to make him invulnerable by passing him through purging fire and smearing him with ambrosia, the gods' magical food ("ambrosia" means "immortal"), or else, in a version surviving only from late antiquity, by dipping him in the waters of the river Styx only his ankle, by which she held him, remained unprotected, and it was into this spot that Apollo guided the lethal arrow shot by Paris Achilles' death precipitated another feud among the Greek leaders - the issue this time was, which surviving hero was the bravest, and hence most worthy to inherit Achilles' arms? various myth-tellers give different accounts of how the choice was said to have been made, including by consultation of Trojan prisoners to discover who had done them most harm, or by a vote taken among the Greeks but the outcome is always the same: there is a two-man contest between Aias and Odysseus, which Odysseus wins the tragic sequel is explored by Sophokles in his drama Aias in a fit of rage at what he sees as this slur on his honor, Aias attempts to murder Agamemnon, Menelaos and Odysseus but the goddess Athene, ever solicitous for the Greek cause, deludes Aias' mind so that he kills, not men, but some sheep penned in the camp his loss of face being thus compounded, Aias sees no alternative to suicide - he falls upon the sword which Hektor had once given him, in an exchange of gifts between respected foes yet the last word rests with Odysseus, who successfully persuades a reluctant Agamemnon to allow burial to the "traitor" Aias, on the grounds that, as Odysseus puts it, "I too shall come to that need", that is, every mortal will one day need the hand of another to bury him

the Wooden Horse

the ultimate stratagem to effect Troy's capture is the Wooden Horse it's the best-known detail of the entire Trojan saga due to the Roman poet Virgil it is through the Wooden Hose that Troy's defenses are to be breached on the advice of Odysseus or Athene, a craftsman named Epeios makes the deceptive animal, whose exterior belies the ranks of armed men concealed within leaving this image behind, complete with its carved inscription, "for their return home, a thank offering to Athene from the Greeks", the fleet sails away--but only as far as Tenedos as the denouement approaches, so does the intensity of the gods' involvement first, Cassandra, Priam's daughter, urges the destruction of the false gift, but of course is not believed, thanks to Apollo's curse then the priest Laokoon echoes Cassandra's view, but Apollo sends two sea-serpents to devour his children all agree that this is an omen, but it is interpreted, as omens usually are, in the light of the observers' various expectations, either as a confirmation of Laokoon's impiety or as an anticipation of Troy's imminent fall one last hurdle remains to be overcome by the Greek force, as the ever-untrustworthy Helen circles the horse, imitating the voices of the wives of the Greek heroes once more it is Odysseus who is equal to the test, as he stops the mouth of one soldier who is about to call out in reply to his "wife" having hauled the horse into the city, the heedless Trojans sleep what follows lays the basis for the next several stages in the unrolling of this sequence of myth countless Trojan men are slain, except for a fortunate few, such as Aineias, who escapes to find a future in Latium in Italy, and Antenor, who had been conciliatory on the ocassion of the embassy to Troy of Menelaos and Odysseus, and who was variously said to have founded Kyrene in Libya, or settlements on the sites of Venice and Pauda otherwise virtually the only Trojans alive in the city are women and children the widows are allotted as slave concubines to their Greek captors, an act which stores up trouble for the futrue the Greek victory is also marked by acts of signla cruelty and impiety, directed in particular at the surviving members of the Trojan royal family Hektor's infant son Astyanax is hurled from the ramparts to his death, in callous mockery of his name ("Lord of the City") Priam's daughter Polyxena is sacrificed at the behest of the ghost of Achilles, who demands her death as a tribute to his honors as for Cassandra, she is raped by Aias, the son of Oileus, as she clings for sanctuary to an image of Athene no less ghastly is the slaughter of Cassandra's father Priam, by Achilles' son Neoptolemos, upon the altar of Zeus such intolerable dishonor to a divinity will bear bitter fruit, in the form of divine intervention to shatter the Greeks' homecoming

Greek Urban Landscape

the urban landscape of every Greek city was filled with stories of heroes battles of heroes, against centaurs or Amazons were a popular motif on sculptural reliefs high on a temple's walls many graves might be distinguished by votive offerings of coins, cups, and jewelry near a plque that named and showed a hero banqueting additionally, the adventures of heroes, more than those of gods and goddesses, occupied a central place in Greek literature, such as epic, tragedy, history, and philosophy at festivals, choral songs celebrated heroes, and tragedies were often named after the heroes who served as their protagonists not surprisingly, then, one scholarly response to the large number of stories about Greek heroes has been to describe and organize them in order to begin the work of interpretation to this end, classical scholars have found the work of Vladimir Propp (1895-1970) and FitzRoy Raglan particularly useful

Circe

their next stop was at Aeaea, the island inhabited by Circe the witch she is the daughter of Helios and a sister of Aeetes she turned many of his companions into pigs and fell in love with Odysseus whom she convinced/put a spell on him to spend a whole year with her she does however finally allow him and his companions to leave and helps him plan out his return, which included traveling to the underworld to consult Teiresias the seer Sorceress, daughter of the Sun men transformed into swine

Return Patterns

there are two common themes in the return stories the first was that of the adulterous wife the second is that the tales relate to the founding of Greek colonies in Italy which first occurred in the 8th century BC the theme of the adulterous wife southern Italy: colonization and exile

After the Odyssey

there is an intriguing group of tales which speculate about what happened to Odysseus and his family, tales whose thrust could hardly be predicted on the basis of the Odyssey according to one such tale, Odysseus and Circe had a son, Telegonos ("Born Far Away"), who came to Ithaca in search of his father, but accidentally killed him in an extraordinary and, on the face of it, emotionally implausible tying up dynastic loose ends, Telegonos was said to have married Penelope, and Telemachos Circe more thought-provoking is a tradition according to which Penelope was seduced by one or other of the suitors, a variant which is a mirror-image of the "alternative" Helen story, which reinvented her as a faithful wife who never went to Troy at all just how strong might be the slant put on myths by local tradition is demonstrated by an Arcadian legend which turned Penelope--sent away by Odysseus on the grounds of her adultery--into the lover of Hermes, by whom she became the mother, of all creates, the goatish god Pan

the Trojan Expedition

there was reluctance on the part of some participants from the outset the Ithacan Odysseus used all his guile to try to escape the call-up when Palamedes, an envoy from the Greek high command, came to recruit him, the hero feigned madness by yoking a horse with an ox and sowing the earth with salt instead of seed but Palamedes saw though the deception, and compelled Odysseus to reveal his sanity when the life of his young son Telemachos was in danger Odysseus wished to avoid the expedition because of an oracle, which had predicted his twenty-year absence from home in the event of his going to Troy

Helius and Calypso

they then sailed to Thrinacia where Helius's cattle were pastured unfortunately, he fell asleep again and his hungry crew didn't obey his orders and they killed and ate a few Zeus to appease Helius sent a storm that sank his ship, leaving only Odysseus as a survivor he ended up drifting to Ogygia where Calypso lived there are a few versions of her parentage, but in this story her father was Atlas Calypso fell in love with him and offered him youth and immortality if he remained with her well he did for seven years, but the gods convinced her to release him to complete his journey she helps him secure a new boat fully stocked the Cattle of the Sun (Helius) - Island of Thrinacia - theft of the cattle - loss of all Odysseus' men Calypso - daughter of Atlas - Ogygia - captivity of Odysseus for seven years

Achilles Dragging the Corpse of Hector

this is a Black figure hydria, circa 520-510 BC, attributed to the Antiope Group this shows Achilles dragging the body of Hector behind his chariot to the left is Priam and Hecuba mourning their son, and to the right is the tomb of Patroclus with his small ghost coming out of it Iris the white figure in the front is there to plead for Hectors body only when Zeus ordered him, via Thetis, did he return the body to the Trojans

Odyssey

this tale has a rather unique mix of myth, legend, etc. so, ask yourself what is conjured up in your brain when you think of an 'odyssey?' the dictionary defines an odyssey as a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune

Five Traits of Greek Heroes

those described by the Greeks as heroes exhibit most f the following five traits: - a hero was understood to be a man who had died - heroes perform extraordinary deeds that may or may not be moral - heroes die prematurely, violently, or mysteriously - heroes were worshipped at their gravesites - heroes obtain a form of immortality through song and cult hero cults in Greece were part of a religious system in which some men were imagined to retain their vital dynamism after death to protect (or harm) those who worshipped at their shrine this dynamism or "shining brightness" was not necessarily the light of reason, nor was it in service to "the greater good" or exemplary of moral valor it was, nonetheless, nearly divine, even beautiful in its excess--and was honored as such

Graf's Schema of Analysis

vertical tradition includes "different versions of the same mythic episodes" horizontal tradition describes an account created from "different versions that yield a running biography of the mythic figure" most modern books of mythology favor the horizontal tradition, creating cohesive biographies of heroes that smooth out the contradictions in multiple accounts of one episode yet such an approach ignores how the genre and date of an ancient work may shape how a hero is depicted two literary genres (epic and tragedy) have played an especially important role in shaping how heroes (and heroines) have been understood in antiquity as well as in modern scholarship

Leda and the Egg

while depictions of Leda and the swan were common, these images show the result of that union Leda hatched an egg here are two depictions of the egg which contained Helen

the Escape from Cyclops' Cave

the next day when Polyphemus had to let out the sheep to graze, Odysseus had strapped his men to the underside of the sheep so they could escape, so when Polyphemus touched the back of each sheep before he let them out he was also freeing Odysseus and his men here you see Odysseus's escape, circa 490-480 BC, attributed to the Goettingen Painter unfortunately, Odysseus got cocky and when they were safely on their ship he called out and revealed his true identity Polyphemus then cries out to his father and asks Poseidon to avenge him escape on the underside of a ram disclosure of Odysseus' name Polyphemus' curse

the Island of Aeolus

Odysseus then sails to the island of Aeolus who gives him a bag of wind that holds good winds and he shows him how to use it to return home they then depart and when Odysseus saw the shore of Ithaca, he finally fell asleep and his men opened the bag all the winds rushed out and they were blown back to Aeolus, who had no more bags of wind to give them they then rowed to the Laestrygonians, giants who ate the man Odysseus had sent on ahead they tried to flee but the Laestrygonians threw boulders at the ships and only Odysseus's ship makes it out of the harbor Aeolus, keeper of the winds bag of winds Laestrygonians: sinking of all of Odysseus' ships but his own

the Sirens

Odysseus' next adversaries on leaving Circe are the Sirens and the paired destroyers Skylla and Charybdis the Sirens, depicted by post-Homeric sources as women above the waist and birds below it, are beautiful but lethal, for their hypnotically mesmerizing songs lure unsuspecting sailors to banish all thoughts of nostos, and to remain lethargically with the Sirens until death on Circe's advice, Odysseus stops the ears of his comrades with wax, but leaves his own hearing impaired, in keeping with his insatiable curiosity to test his experience to the very limits he orders his men to bind him to the mast, and to turn deaf ears to his pleas to be released when the Sirens begin their singing

Propp's Thirty-One Functions

- a family member of the hero departs from home - the hero is warned not to do something - the hero violates this warning - the villain attempts to gain information about his victim - the villain gains information about his victim - the villain attempts to deceive his victim to get his possessions or his person - the victim unknowingly submits to the villain's deception - the villain causes harm to a family member, and/or a family member lacks or wants something - the hero responds to a request or command and departs or is dispatched - a seeker (who is sometimes the hero) decides on an action - the hero departs - the hero is tested to see if he is worthy of help - the hero reacts to the actions of a donor - the hero acquires use of a magical agent - the hero is led to the location of a desired object - the hero and the villain join in combat - the hero is branded - the villain is defeated - the initial lack is resolved - the hero returns - the hero is pursued - the hero is rescued from pursuit - the hero, unrecognized, arrives home or in another country - a false hero presents false claims - a difficult task is presented to the hero - the task is completed - the hero is recognized - the false hero or villain is exposed - the hero is given a new appearance - the villain is punished - the hero ascends the throne

Theseus Abducting Helen

Helen was a beauty even at a young age when Theseus was a young man, he and a friend decided they should marry daughters of Zeus Theseus then stole Helen at the age of 12 and took her to a suburb of Athens and left her in the care of Aethra he then left to help his friend abduct Persephone, who was already the wife of Hades Hades did not allow this and there are two basic versions of the tale Hades threw Theseus into jail and his friend was torn apart by Cerberus the other version has them being chained by snakes to chairs and Theseus escapes when Heracles visits the Underworld and frees him his friend never made it out, and when he returned to Athens, he found that Helen's brothers Castor and Polydeuces had come and rescued her

the Wrath of Achilles

Achilles was furious that Agamemnon used him to deceive Iphigenia, but we will discuss that tale later it was customary for the Greeks to divide any booty among the chiefs and soldiers, and this included any slaves this occurred and there were two slave girls that were given to Agamemnon as the leader of the Greeks, and Achilles as the best fighter the girl that was given to Agamemnon happened to be the daughter of the priest of Apollo the priest offered to pay a ransom to Agamemnon, but Agamemnon was rude and refused the priest then asked Apollo to avenge him and the god sent a plague after consulting an oracle, Agamemnon was forced to give up the slave, and took Achilles's slave as a replacement Achilles warned Agamemnon but the king kept the slave and Achilles refused to fight

the Underworld

Book 11 of the Odyssey is known as the Book of the Dead Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean, pours libations and performs sacrifices to beckon the souls of the dead the first that appears is Elpenor who had fallen off Circe's roof and he begged Odysseus to give him a proper burial then Tiresias who reveals it is Poseidon who is punishing them he then prophesizes that Odysseus will return home, but not for a while and then must make another trip to a far-off land to appease Poseidon he warns the hero not to touch the flock of the Sun unless they wished to suffer more tragedy he also sees his mother who updates him on the happenings in Ithaca and how she died of grief waiting for his return he also sees several other famous men and heroes, even some he fought with "Book of the Dead": Odyssey, Book 11 Tiresias Odysseus' mother, Anticlea meeting with old comrades - Elpenor - Agamemnon - Achilles - Ajax

Heroes perform extraordinary deeds that may or may not be moral.

Greek heroes perform extraordinary deeds, often of strength and endurance, although these deeds did not always serve the greater good although historical figures who were recognized as heroes often did benefit their communities, many Greek heroes simply performed deeds that exceeded those of other men

Paris and Helen

Helen, the child of Zeus and Leda, was married to Menelaos, king of Sparta why would she desert him for another man? throughout Greek myth-telling, from epic to lyric to tragedy to philosophical prose analyses of motivation, competing explanations were given of why Helen was unfaithful - she was a wicked woman - she succumbed to the irresistible power of persuasion - she was abducted by force - she was compelled by Aphrodite - etc. a more intriguing version says that what went to Troy with Paris was a mere phantom, whereas the real Helen, chaste and faithful, was spirited away to Egypt to await rescue by Menealos unleashing of war in retaliation for the perceived breaking of a basic moral rule: for paris had been a guest in Menelaos' house (albeit in Menelaos' absence), and had repaid this hospitality with gross betrayal before Helen's marriage, such was her beauty that all the greatest heroes had sought her hand to neutralize in advance the wrath of the disappointed suitors, Helen's mortal "father" Tyndareos obliged them all to swear an oath to aid whoever should be the lucky man, in the event of any future threat to the marriage after Helen's scandalous elopement, Menelaos turned to his more powerful brother, Agamemnon king of Mycenae, who puyt together an expeditionary force requiring of all the oath-takers that they may be as good as their word some of the participants were the sons of Argonauts the sense of collective endeavor which bonded together the crew of the Argo was never matched among the numerous and varied contingents of Greeks who went to Troy

Defining Greek Heroes

Homer uses the word "hero" broadly to describe those battling at Troy his use of the word, like its English meaning, refers to the main protagonist of a story yet many figures who had few or no stories attached to their names were worshipped at gravesites and also called heroes these heroes may have been of local importance, but no information has survived to identify them the category of heroes includes such local figures as well as characters from myths, legends (stories that hover between historically plausible and unlikely), and history

Odysseus and Nausicaa

after leaving Calypso, 18 days later Poseidon noticed that Odysseus had been helped by the other gods and tries to drown him, but the goddess Ino came to his rescue giving him a veil that would allow him to breath and Athena looks out for him helping him avoid bad rocks off the coast he follows a river up the coast and makes it to the riverbank the next day, the Phaeacian princess Nausicaa sees him after Athena convinces her in a dream to go out and wash her clothes as they are naked washing their clothes, they encounter naked Odysseus who doesn't reveal his identity Nausicaa falls in love with him and directs him to come to the palace and approach the queen, as it would be scandalous if she brought him herself

the Iliad

after nine years of fighting, there have been many instances of valor on both sides but the issue is no closer to a resolution then in the tenth year there occurs a sequence of episodes which demonstrates, thanks to Homer's monumental narrative, just how profound are the implications, for gods as well as mortals, of this squabble over an unfaithful wife Agamemnon has a concubine, the daughter of a priest of Apollo when her father protests to the god, Apollo intervenes by sending a plague upon the Greeks Agamemnon has no choice but to give up the girl - however, to repair the damage to his honor, he takes for himself a captive slave-girl who has been allotted to Achilles now it is Achilles whose honor is damaged he thinks at first of killing Agamemnon on the spot, but Athene intervenes to stop him instead, Achilles withdraws to his tent to brood, in the company of his dear companion Patroklos several consequences flow from his refusal to fight first, the onus of battle is now borne by the other Greeks, who successively pit their courage against that of the Trojans: Menelaos, Diomedes, Odysseus, Aias the son of Telamon, Agamemnon himself secondly, Achilles turn in his isolation to his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, who successfully implores Zeus to grant temporary victory to the Tojans in order to make the Greeks recognize the worth of her absent son the third consequence of Achilles' withdrawal--a withdrawal in which he obstinately persists even in the face of lavish reparations by Agamemnon--in his loss of Patroklos seeing the Trojans already setting the first of the Greek ships alight, Achilles allows his friend to go into battle in his (Achilles') armor but Patroklos is a lesser man, and falls beneath the spear of Priam's son Hektor, bulwark of the city Patroklos' death at last undams Achilles' resistance, acting not for the Greek cause but to assuage his own vengeful grief, he returns to the fray, slays Hektor, and drags the corpse behind his chariot in order to disfigure it it is only through the gods' intervention that the corpse remains undefiled, for the Trojans too are dear to the gods of Olympos in absolute contrast, the focus switches to the privacy of Achilles' quarters, to which Priam, aided by the mediator-god Hermes, makes his way in secret in order to ransom Hektor's corpose this is a meeting of unbearable tension, because the rules for this unprecedented encounter have to be improvised by the two protagonists what allows Achilles to calm his rage just enough to let Priam take back Hector's body is a sense of the underlying, common humanity which does in this and every war more particularly, Priam reminds Achilles of his own father Peleus far away in Greece there follows a second scene of public ritual, the funeral of Hektor back in Troy the climax of this ceremony, at once orderly and agonized, consists of the successive lamentations of the three women to whom Hektor had been especially dear: his wife Andromache, his mother Hekabe, and Helen, the lonely outsider whose unique perspective enables her to testify to Hektor's matchless generosity of spirit, even to one like her, towards whom he might have had every reason to feel spite so ends the epic--but not the war, for once Hektor has been buried, the fighting will start once more

the Judgement of Paris

Paris was still the destructive firebrand while still a shepherd on Mount Ida, he was visited by the goddess Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite, who demanded that he make a judgement about their relative beauty - Eris, goddess of discord, had thrown between them an apple inscribed "For the Fairest" in post-classical tradition "The Judgement of Paris" has been one of the richest of all themes deriving from Greek mythology for mortals, deciding between divinities was impossible and usually catastrophic, since all divinities had their indispensable functions but Paris' decision was at least displaced from the goddesses themselves, since it turned on a choice between the three bribes which they offered: - power (Hera) - victory in war (Athene) - the hand of Helen, the world's loveliest woman (Aphrodite) Paris' decision to opt for Helen/Aphrodite reflected his own personality, which myth-tellers often represented as vain and superficial--both attractive and susceptible to attractiveness also implicated in his choice was transgression, for Helen was another man's wife - this transgression was the impetus for the Trojan War

the Returns of the Greek Heroes

among the returning Greek heroes, there were two patterns in response to the desecration of her temple, Athena sent a storm which destroyed most of Agamemnon's fleet Ajax boasted that he escaped drowning only to be killed by Poseidon with his trident another storm hit the fleet and killed more men when their ships wrecked off the coast of Euboea Agamemnon did make it home, where he was murdered by his wife Menelaus was shipwrecked in Egypt and seven years after the war ended, he and Helen made it back to Sparta Diomedes had wounded Aphrodite in the war and so upon returning home he found his wife was cheating and he left and founded new cities in Italy Philoctetes returned to Thessaly and was driven out by his people and founded new cities in Italy Idomeneus from Crete too had an unfaithful wife whose lover killed her and her children making himself king or he swore to Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw if he made it home, and that happened to be his son, in punishment the gods sent a plague and the Cretans drove him out both of his stories end with him in Italy. Neoptolemus went back to Phthia with Andromache and married Helen's daughter Hermione he was later killed at Delphi and a hero cult was established there Ajax, son of Oïleus - Athena's anger for sanctuary desecration Agamemnon - Clytemnestra's anger for the sacrifice of Iphigenia Menelaüs - Menelaüsin Egypt - then Sparta Diomedes - adulterous wife - driven to Southern Italy -hero cult Idomeneus - adulterous wife - driven to Southern Italy - hero cult Philoctetes - driven to Southern Italy - hero cult Neoptolemus - hero cult in Delphi

Odysseus on the Mast

here they are again depicted on an Attic Red figure stamnos, circa 480-470 BC. Odysseus is tied to the mast

Death of Achilles

in this Black figure amphora attributed to Exekias, circa 540-530 BC, you see Menelaus warding a man away from Achilles's body with a spear, and three warriors chasing two naked men away from the body Achilles was fatally wounded by Paris in the heel his funeral was attended by Thetis and her nymphs. His ghost was encountered later by Odysseus in the Underworld, where he demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, a girl he supposedly loved and had been surprised by Paris when meeting her his great armor forged by Hephaistos was fought over by Odysseus and the Greater Ajax it was determined that whomever the Trojan prisoners said did them more harm would win the armor, and Odysseus won Ajax killed himself in shame

Ransom for Hector

from left to right, you have Hermes escorting servants bring gifts, Priam with outstretched hands to Achilles who sits above Hector's body, and a woman bringing wine the mutilation of the body of Hector was the peak of Achilles's anger and violence, and the Iliad ends with the grief of Andromache and Helen at Hector's burial

the Face that Launched a Thousand Ships

here is a fragment of an Attic krater, 460-440 BC which depicts the face that launched a thousand ships

the Trojan War

its memorableness is partly due to the fact that two supreme poems, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, are devoted to events during and after this expedition, and that countless images and numerous narratives, including many tragedies, deal with the same theme a quite different aspect of the appeal of the Trojan War lies in the seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm of the modern public for asking whether mystical events "really happened," an enthusiasm fueled by remarkable archaeological effort to uncover the "real" Toy the Trojan War was a backdrop against which Greeks explored every manner of intellectual and emotional issue, from free-will and human responsibility, to honor, shame and guilt, to relationships between humans and gods and between males and females--all this under the fearsome pressure of warfare

What makes the Iliad the greatest of all mythological narratives?

its unflinching confrontation of the grim brutality of war, while still conveying a sense both of the respect and affection which humans can show each other, and of the world of peaceful activities within which warfare is merely one factor

Troy

looking at Troy's unique place within the world of Greek mythology can teach us many things, but two above all: - the way in which the meanings of myths vary according to the different perspectives of their tellers - the extraordinary difficulty of any attempt to unravel the opposition between "real" and "mythical" space

Later Career of Odysseus

most myth-tellers agreed that Odysseus, ever the wanderer, left home once more and remarried on the mainland of northwest Greece, either in Thesprotia or Aitolia but the Odyssey suggests another possibility Teiresias predicts that Odysseus must go on a long journey inland, carrying an oar, to a place where people mistake the oar for a winnowing fan - in other words, he must reverse his destiny, which has hitherto been dominated by the sea at this inland spot he must placate Poseidon with a sacrifice, whereupon he may return to Ithaca the prophecy concludes with the prediction that Odysseus will suffer a gentle death "from the sea" we do not know how the prophecy worked out in detail, but there is a symbolic neatness about it - from the moment that he feigned madness by sowing the ground with salt, Odysseus' fate has been inseparable from the element where Poseidon holds sway Odysseus' individual trademark is crafty intelligence

the Walls of Troy

a critical moment in the building of any city is the construction of its walls this act calls for special skill and may also entail special peril the construction of Troy's walls was such a significant event that Ilos' son Laomedon was able to enlist the aid of two divinities, Apollo and Poseidon, as builders but Laomedon made the kind of mistake which many myths show to be disastrous - he broke his contract with the gods when Apollo and Poseidon received no wages, they sent, respectively, a plague and a sea-monster Laomedon followed the advice of an oracle and offered up his daughter Hesione to the monster by way of appeasement however, Herakles, passing by en route from his Labor with the Amazons, agreed to rescue her, provided Laomedon would give him a reward, namely the wonderful mares which Zeus had given to Tros as recompense for the loss of Ganymede unfortunately, Laomedon had learned nothing, for he reneged on his agreement the hero duly sacked the newly built city and slew Laomedon, giving Hesione as bride to Telamon, his companion in arms and the future father of the great warrior Aias

Aeneas

a final note on the Trojan War concerns the Trojan Aeneas Aeneas's mother was Aphrodite and protected by her he escaped Troy carrying his father and holding the hand of his son his wife Creusa followed behind him but didn't make it out he then led the survivors to Italy where he ended up founding Rome according to one origin story he was able to escape because the ghost of Hector came to him in his sleep and told him to flee he awoke to the chaos of the city being sacked, initially fought against the Greeks, but after his companions were dead, Venus led him home after their escape when he discovered his wife was missing he returns to try and find her but instead encounters her ghost who tells him of his destiny to found a new city in the west

Departing from War

although Odysseus was present when the Oath of Tyndareus was sworn, he actually had no intention of marrying Helen and returned home to marry his sweetheart Penelope when the call to arms came Odysseus's son was only one month old, and being quite smart, Odysseus knew that the war would end poorly for both sides so, when Agamemnon's messenger came, Odysseus pretended to be mad he yoked a donkey and an ox together and tried to plough a field with salt the messenger initially thought the king was mad but tested him by placing his child Telemachus in front of the plough obviously, he didn't run over his child and so he was forced to join the fight his first task was to find Achilles and get him to enter the war the Greeks gathered at Aulis and were able to sail no further due to bad winds a prophet told them that Artemis sent the bad weather and would only be appeased by the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daughter so Agamemnon wrote to his wife Clytemnestra to send Iphigenia and told her that he planed on married her to the hero Achilles

End of the Odyssey

although the Odyssey is over, Tiresias had foretold that Odysseus would have to make one more trip he had to carry an oar inland until the people he came too did not know of the sea or ships when they believed the oar, Odysseus carried was a winnowing-fan, he was to plant the oar in the ground, offering a sacrifice to Poseidon and all the gods, thus appeasing Poseidon by extending his worship inland much later in Ithaca Odysseus was accidentally killed

Recovery of Helen

another version told by Stesichorus says that Helen and Paris were driven ashore in Egypt and that Helen was detained by the king, and the Helen that went with Paris was a phantom after the war, Menelaus ends up shipwrecked in Egypt and sees Helen, but cannot believe his eyes until a sailor comes and reports that the Helen they had onboard suddenly disappeared into thin air the king wished to marry Helen and they deceive him by agreeing to marry him if she was allowed to perform a ceremonial burial at sea for her husband who was reported to be dead and the king gives her a ship to do so. Helen, Menelaus, and his men escape and return to Sparta in the ship in book 4 of the Odyssey, Telemachus encounter the couple in Sparta, and they are reconciled and joke about the ten years they were apart Pausanias wrote that she shared the afterlife with Achilles, while Euripides wrote that she ended up being taken to Mount Olympus by Apollo, or she was taken back and faced a death sentence or was in Egypt as described

Omens and Sacrifice

at all period of ancient Greek history, the inception of a military campaign was marked by religious observance such as sacrifice it was also a time around which other forms of interaction with the sacred tended to cluster, such as omens, prophecies, and oracles the mythical expedition to Troy began with a whole series of such ominous events, as well as with delays and false starts at every stage in these complex and hesitant preliminaries it seemed that the gods were involved, an indication of the magnitude of the undertaking and perhaps also of its overall moral ambiguity the Greek army and fleet assembled at Aulis, on the northeastern coast of Boiotia opposite Euboia immediately there was a false start, which took the Greek not to the Troad but to neighboring Mysia, which they sacked in the mistaken belief that it was Troy when they reassembled at Aulis, there was a much more serious delay, for the fleet was blocked in port by adverse winds sent by Artemis motivation for her anger was her resentment towards Agamemnon for boasting that his hunting prowess was superior to her own a more intriguing account says that her wrath is fundamentally obscure--a perspective which tragedy often advances about the human condition the only way out of the impasse at Aulis was for Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia to Artemis, in a horrific perversion of the everyday ritual of animal sacrifice which was a central feature of Greek social life Agamemnon's act enabled the expedition to continue, but it also inaugurated a sequence of brutal revenge killings within his own household for there was one version in which Artemis intervened, at the very instant of sacrifice, to substitute a deer for Iphigeneia, after which the maiden was miraculously transported to the Black Sea to become the goddess' priestess the more usual version, however, was bleaker and less escapist, an appropriately cruel inauguration of a conflict in which so much blood would be spilled so the fleet sailed, but two more "hesitations" were in store first, when the Greeks put in to an island in the northeastern Aegean--Tenedos, according to some--Philoktetes was bitten in the foot by a sacred serpent - bearing in mind what the logic of myth has to say about divine/human relations, it is not surprising to learn that Philoktetes had allegedly been guilty of a previous transgression against the gods, although, as usual, accounts differ over what the precise offense was --- at any rate, the wound festered and stank, so that the army, represented by Odysseus, put Philoktetes ashore on the nearby island of Lemnos, with nothing but his miraculously unerring bow to help him survive the second "hesitation" involved a last-ditch attempt to negotiate: an embassy, led by Menelaos and Odysseus, was sent to ask the Trojans to return Helen overture was rejected, the Greeks landed, and the killing began it was a ten year campaign that is recorded primarily in Homer's Iliad

Odysseus visits the Underworld

at the limit of the world, Odysseus and his men disembark and walk to a spot which Circe had described: the edge of the Underworld by performing an animal sacrifice, Odysseus summons up the ghosts of the dead, who are attracted by the blood among the first is the blind seer Teiresias, who reveals experiences which still lie in store for Odysseus then, in a full scene of full pathos, Odysseus converses with the ghost of his mother Antikleia, who died of grief as she pined for her absent son she reassures Odysseus that his wife Penelope, his son Telemachos, and his father Laertes are all still alive, though in a poor state: Penelope weeps incessantly, while aged Laertes ekes out a pitifully squalid existence next, the ghost of Agamemnon relates the gruesome outcome of his own nostos Achilles, too, is there - he would, he tells Odysseus, rather work as the humblest laborer in the world of the living than be king of the gloomy realm of the dead what has not changed is Achilles' concern, utterly typical of Greek heroes, for the reputation of his son Neoptolemos - when he hears from Odysseus about the young man's prowess in fighting, Achilles strides away in pride bound up with the heroic concern for reputation, of course, are the tensions and resentments which accompany failure such feelings underlie the next of Odysseus' encounters, that with the shade of Aias the son of Telamon even in death Aias stands apart, still burning with hatred at his failure to be awarded Achilles' arms Odysseus' compliments and expressions of regret have no effect - Aias stalks off into the darkness, without uttering a single word during his brush with the kingdom of Hades Odysseus catches sight of many others of the famous dead, but at last even he loses his nerve, undermined by a "green fear" that Persephone might unleash a terrible monster against him he returns to Circe's isle, but this time just for one day

Heroes were worshipped at their gravesites.

belief in the potency of heroes' souls offers one explanation for their worship - even after death they had the power to act on behalf of those who worshipped them or to harm those who did not heroes were believed to be as powerful and dangerous in death as they had been in life if a hero died violently or prematurely, his soul might remain angry after death and might be motivated to harm the living, often by causing famine, plague, infertility, and drought thus hero shrines were established to appease the anger of deceased heroes and to harness their vital powers for a community's benefit the power attributed to the bones of heroes, which could be sought out, fought over, or moved, reinforces the notion that death cannot destroy or weaken a hero's body or soul attention to the hero's powers after death may explain why his actions during life, while important, did not need to be moral or ethical as long as his actions were simply exceptional, such a man could earn recognition as a hero once he had died

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

committed the deeds of heroes to writing epic often emphasizes the splendor of the hero's exploits on the battlefield, in the gymnasium, sailing on the seas, or fighting in foreign lands he is seldom depicted as a stationary figure, content to rule a kingdom or administer a temple to the epic poets, heroes are dynamic figures defined by the travels, exploits, and actions they are rarely glimpsed in domestic spaces there is evidence of heroic qualities in lyric poetry as well

Skylla and Charybdis

equally dangerous, but without the Sirens' compensating allure, are Skylla and Charybdis, joint guardians of a precipitous and turbulent channel they offer seafarers a choice of horrible deaths Skylla is a cave-swelling flesh-eater with twelve feet and six necks, each neck topped by a ghastly head - from her lair halfway up a cliff she springs out to seize and devour her wretched victims CHarybdis is a whirlpool whose sucking down and vomiting up no vessel can survive once again it is Circe's advice which enables Odysseus to come through the ordeal as she had urged him to do, he sets course to avoid Charybdis, and, by deft steering and hard rowing, manages to get past Skylla, though with six of his comrades lost in the process

Map

first let us talk about where the key characters were from on this map you see Ithaka where Odysseus was from, Helen and Menelaus were from Sparta, Agamemnon from Mycenae, Aulis where the Sacrifice of Iphigenia occurred, Phthia in Thessaly where Achilles and the Myrmidones were from, and Troy in Modern Day Turkey where Paris and Hector were from

Funeral Games of Patroclus

for important figures funeral games were quite common there were competitions for chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, foot race, hand to hand combat, archery, spear throwing, and pig iron throwing prizes included tripods, women, armor, lifetime supply of iron for weapon and wheel making, etc. here is a fragment of a Black figure dinos by Sophilos 580-570 BC with the inscription 'Games for Patroklos, Sophilos painted me'

Shifting Perspectives on the Trojan War

for the Greeks, the Trojan War really happened on the Hellenistic inscription known as the Parian Marble, the Fall of Troy is dated quite precisely to the seventh-last day of the month of Thargelion in the twenty-second year of the reign of King Menestheus of Athens --- in modern terms, June 5th, 1209 BC other ancient sources offer a range of different dates, ranging from the late 14th to the late 12th centuries BC - but what all agree on is the historicity of the event like every Greek myth, the tale of Troy was fluid, open to "negotiation" according to the interests and attitudes of different myth-tellers it is only in the 5th century BC, especially in Athens, that, in the aftermath of the Persian invasion of Greece, "Troy" takes on an intensely negative image, and Trojans become the archetypal "barbarians" after the repulse of the Persians in the 480s/470s, Greek involvement with the Persian empire continued to dominate the political horizon, until it was overshadowed in the late 5th century BC by the internecine Peloponnesian War, which pitted Athens and Sparta against each other throughout this period and beyond it, the Trojan War remained a reference point for political ideology and military action

Troy and Archeologists

from impoverished beginnings Schliemann had succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune thanks to extraordinary business acumen he then made a huge investment, of time and energy as well as money, in uncovering Greece's archaeological heritage at Mycenae, Orchomenos, Tiryns, and in culmination, Troy - this labor of love was one which he presented as the fulfillment of a childhood dream Schliemann intuition that the site of Troy was to be found at modern Hisarlik was borne out by his own magnificent finds of everything from walls and gateways to jewelry and gold subsequent archaeological campaigns, led during the 1930s by Carl Blegen (1887-1971) and since 1988 by Manfred Korfmann, have consolidated and expanded the picture by no means all archeologists have accepted the inferences which Korfmann wishes to make from his findings but if he is right, Hisarlik is the site of a city which, in the mid-late 2nd millennium BC, was one of the largest in the entire Near East, with a population of perhaps 5,000-10,000 during the latter part of the 13th century BC not the least astounding piece of evidence which has come to light since Schliemann is that of a treaty (c. 1280 BC) between the Hittite king Muwattalli II and Alaksandu of the land of Wilusa (cf. "Ilion") it seems peverse to deny the similarity between the names Alaksandu and Alexandros, which was the alternative name borne by Priam's son Paris there can be little doubt that, for most visitors, first-hand acquaintance with the landscape at and near Hisarlik lends immediacy to the Trojan story - the massiveness of the walls - the exposed site - the flatness of the plain - all these can hardly fail to strike a chord of recognition

Propp and Raglan

generated lists of heroes' adventures that classical scholars have borrowed to study Greek heroes although other approaches are possible, the descriptive lists developed by Propp and Raglan have proved especially useful they have helped scholars distinguish Greek heroes from heroes in other societies, locate and interpret stories and features unique to a particular Greek hero, link heroes' stories to their social context, and (more recently) compare Greek heroes and heroines

the Adventures

going in chronological order, when Odysseus and his companions first left Troy, they sacked the city of Ismarus but spared the priest of Apollo who gave them 12 jars of wine, but they were driven back to their ships and Zeus sent a storm which blew them off course for 9 days they land next at the land of the Lotus-Eaters whoever ate the fruit of the lotus forgot everything else and only by Odysseus abstaining and dragging his men back and locking them up on the ship were they able to escape Cicones - Thracian city of Ismarus sacked by Odysseus - gift of wine for sparing Maron, priest of Apollo Lotus eaters - fruit of the lotus, which blots out the desire to return home

Achilles

greatest of all the warriors Achilles' divine mother Thetis knew he was fated to die if he went to Troy, so she sent him to be brought up, disguised as a girl, on the isle of Skyros but Odysseus, who was by now part of the Greek force, exposed the ruse by setting before Achilles and his girl companions both women's clothing and men's weapons when Achilles instinctively concentrated on the shield and spear, his disguise was unmasked

Sirens

he returns to Aeaea, buries Elpenor, spends one last night with Circe where she describes his upcoming obstacles and how to survive them when they leave, they pass by the Sirens which would drive men to insanity Odysseus plugs up his men's ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship, so he alone hears the wail of the Sirens, but they are not driven to destruction here the story is represented by William Etty in 1837

Nobody

here 'Ulysseus blinding Polyphemus' was found in 1957 in a villa of Tiberius it dates to the 1st century BC and is attributed to three artists from Rhodes the next day Odysseus uses wine to get Polyphemus drunk during this encounter, the Cyclops asks Odysseus his name, and Odysseus responds ουτις which in Greek means "Nobody" later when he is passed out drunk, they use a pole they had set in the fire to harden during the day, and they stab him in the eye blinding him when he screams out and his neighbors come to see what is wrong, he shouts out "Nobody is killing me," so they leave him be

Helen and Paris

here is Helen, Paris, Andromache, Hector, and Kebriones (the half-brother and charioteer of Hector) Hector is saying goodbye to Andromache and Helen has her back to Paris according to some of the tales, Paris seduced Helen and brought her to Troy Agamemnon to help vindicate his brother called on all the suitors to uphold their oath and fight against the Trojans another version we will discuss later stated that Helen was actually in Egypt the whole time, and it was a phantom that was in Troy

Polyphemius, the Cyclops

here is Odysseus and Polyphemus, circa 650 BC Odysseus and his men next travel to Thrinacia where Polyphemus the son of Poseidon and a cyclops lived in Homer, Cyclopes were lawless, rude and giants while not all Cyclopes were one eyed, Polyphemus was. When Odysseus and his men land, they ate some wild goats they captured and found a cave of sheep, milk, and cheese while they linger and enjoy the food, Polyphemus returns and eats two of Odysseus's men, imprisoning the rest he keeps them in his cave for future meals and rolls a large boulder over the entrance knowing that only Polyphemus could move the boulder, they couldn't attack and kill him so wise Odysseus comes up with a plan

Achilles and Thetis

here is Thetis delivering armor to Achilles which was forged by Hephaistos in this Red Figure by Deepdene Painter, circa 470-460 BC Achilles was the son of Peleus the king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis a nymph Zeus and Poseidon had both desired Thetis, but there was a prophesy that Thetis would have a son greater than his father, so they arranged her marriage to a mortal Achilles was the best and most handsome warrior in the Greek army according to Homer, Achilles and his cousin were brought up by Thetis in Phthia one of the popular myths about this hero was that Thetis dipped Achiles in the waters of the Styx and held him by his heel making him invulnerable except for that part of his heel, the proverbial "Achilles's heel." Hearing an oracle that his son would die at Troy, Peleus sent Achilles to Lycomedes on Scyros where he was dressed as a girl and kept among the king's daughters Achilles fell in love with one of the girls, Deidamia who bore him a son Neoptolemus. After Achilles's death, Neoptolemus joins in the fight and took part in sacking the city now, the timeline of this does not add up as the war lasted 10 years, and Achilles was still alive in the 9th year, so when was Neoptolemus born? was he only 9 years old and entering war? time is fluid in myths, he was old enough to fight and young enough to be Achilles's son

the Fall of Troy

here is a Red figure hydra from the early 5th century, attributed to Kleophrades Painter here is the sack of Troy from left to right, Aeneas flees with Anchises his father on his back and his son leading the way, Cassandra holding on to Palladion begging Ajax not to hurt her, Priam with Astyanax's body at the altar with Neoptolemus about to strike him and various mourners so the Greeks sack the city, only Antenor was spared and Aeneas escaped, all other male inhabitants were killed Priam was killed by Neoptolemus, Hectors baby son Astyanax was thrown from the walls, Andromache became Neoptolemus's slave, Cassandra was raped by the Lesser Ajax in the temple of Athena and given to Agamemnon as a slave it was unclear what role Helen played during this time. According to Virgil, she helped signal to the Greeks to enter the city, according to Homer she was on the side of the Trojans and tried to imitate the Greek's loved ones to lure them out of the horse when Paris died, she became the lover of his younger brother Deiphobus, and when the Greeks sacked the city, she hid his sword and Menelaus and Odysseus slaughtered him Stesichorus wrote that Trojans and Greeks came together to stone her to death, but Menelaus stepped in and stated he alone had the right to kill his unfaithful wife but remember, she was the most beautiful woman on earth and when he raised his sword, she dropped her dress and her beauty caused him to drop his sword

Agamemnon

here is a funeral mask in gold that was originally identified as the mask of Agamemnon Agamemnon had originally helped Menelaus with arranging the marriage to Helen, and so it was Agamemnon who called to arms those who had sworn the Oath of Tyndareus the first nine years of the war which were told in the epic poem were lost to time, but the Iliad tells the tenth year and it starts with "the wrath of Achilles" as it begins with the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles and ends with the ransoming of Hectors body in the twenty-forth book of the tale

Leda and the Swan

here is an Apulian Red Figure attributed to the Painter of the Louvre, circa 350-340 BC, with Zeus seducing Leda in the guise of a swan Hypnos, sleep personified is holding a sleep wand above her head and Peitho, the goddess of persuasion and seduction is to the left Leda was the queen of Sparta and the wife of Tyndareus there are several versions of the parentage of her children according to Homer, Castor and Polydeuces were the sons of Tyndareus, and Helen was the daughter of Zeus Hyginus claims that Castor and Clytemnestra were Tyndareus's children and Polydeuces and Helen were Zeus's other authors disagree and assign the children differently

the Abduction of Helen

here is an early depiction of the Abduction of Helen this is an Attic Red Figure from Italy, circa 480 BC it is signed by Makron the painter and Hieron the potter from left to right is Aeneas, Paris holding Helen by the wrist, Peitho goddess of persuasion, and Aphrodite you can also see Eros flying between Paris and Helen sometime after her rescue from Athens, Tyndareus decided she should marry many very powerful men came from all over Greece worried that one of the suitors would attack Sparta if not given Helen in marriage, Tyndareus consulted Odysseus the king of Ithaca who happened to be there, not as a suitor, but as an observer the advice Tyndareus took was to have all the suitors take an oath to accept Helen's choice and if anyone didn't accept her choice, the other suitors would come to her aid and defend her choice Helen ended up choosing Menelaus, a prince of Mycenae, and the brother of King Agamemnon who was married to Clytemnestra, Helen's sister in this image ask yourself why Peitho, Eros, and Aphrodite are assisting Paris who is pulling Helen along

the Embassy to Achilles

here is an embassy to Achilles with Phoenix and Odysseus on this Attic Red Figure Hydra, circa 480 BC without Achilles in the fight, the Greeks were pushed back to their ships by the Trojans many of the Greek leaders begged Achilles to return to battle, but he refused finally, Achilles's friend Patroclus seeing the devastation by the Trojans, begged Achilles to join the fighting, when he refused Patroclus continued to push and Achilles agreed to allow Patroclus to wear his armor to rally the troops

Birth of Helen

here is another depiction of the birth of Helen this is from scenes depicting a comedy which is indicated by the odd faces which were masks the actors used in theater

Funeral of Patroclus

here is the Funeral of Patroclus, in the center is a pyre with spoils, Achilles is to the left holding a prisoner by her hair and is about to kill her three other prisoners are behind him on the right is Agamemnon pouring libations, lower is Automedon dragging the corpse of Hector, and in the upper part of the panel is Nestor and Phoenix in a tent as stated earlier, the death of Patroclus drove Achilles to return to battle Thetis brought him new armor made by Hephaestus and he pushes the Trojans back to the city they then held a funeral for Patroclus Patroclus came to Achilles while sleeping and told him to quickly bury him and to ensure their bones would be interred in the same urn a sign of great respect, Patroclus was covered in locks of hair from the Myrmidons and others various animals, honey, oil, 12 Trojans are killed and added to the pile after praying to the gods for favorable wind the pyre doesn't die down until morning

in the Land of Phaeacians

here you see the meeting of Odysseus and Nausikaa on this lid the next day Alcinous calls an assembly, assisted by Athena, and they agree to give Odysseus a ship the king then throws a feast in Odysseus's honor and a blind bard sings of the disagreement between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy Odysseus starts crying and the king ends the feast and begins the games after the games, more feasting and Odysseus asks the blind bard Demodocus to sing of the Trojan horse and the sacking of the city once again Odysseus breaks down and the king stops the music and asks Odysseus to tell the truth and tell who he is, where he is from, and where he is going he reveals all

Telemachus

here you see the slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and Telemachus, Campanian Red Figure bell-krater, circa 330 BC there are numerous omens throughout this tale, the final two omens prophesizing the suitors' demise was an eagle carrying a dove in its talons followed by the walls being covered in blood the suitors do not notice or are too distracted and they continue to antagonize the beggar Odysseus Penelope announces the challenge to the men, and brings Odysseus's bow out and has Telemachus set up the axes Telemachus himself is unable to string the bow and neither are the suitors just as they are ready to retire for the day and try again in the morning Odysseus asks to try they complain, but he is given the bow, quickly strings it and sends the arrow through the axe heads he then turns and shoots one of the suitors in the throat and reveals himself Odysseus and Telemachus then butcher the suitors with some inspiration from Athena he then calls his old nursemaid to round up all the women who had been disloyal and makes them clear away the corpses and clean off the blood before they are taken out and killed

Heroes obtain a form of immortality through song and cult.

heroes received sacrifices and dedications in their honor at their gravesites, often at annual festivals, when stories of their lives might be retold heroes were celebrated in poetry, which was also recited at festivals in these ways, the extraordinary deeds of heroes were celebrated and remembered heroes, then, managed to escape mortality and live eternally in song and cult, perpetuating the "shining brightness" they shared with the gods

Heroes in Cults

heroes were worshipped where their bodies were believed to rest hero shrines were located at a variety of places - in the center of a community or at its boundaries (gates, walls, etc.) often heroes were worshipped in an open-air space that had been cut off or separated from its surroundings and marked as sacred, sometimes by walls within such a place, there may have been any of the following - a mount of dirt of any size indicating a burial - a tomb - a gravestone - an altar - a small house containing the hero's remains or offerings - a small temple - a cult statue the gravesites of some heroes lacked elaborate structures or burial markers but were distinguised from other graves by the presence of dedications such as terracotta statues, pots, jewelry, weaponry, or plaques showing males reclining on couches and banqueting such plaques suggest the banqueter is "heroized" in death and now enjoys the sort of luxury that Hesiod suggests surrounds heroes on the Islands of the Blessed in addition to dedications of precious objects, animal sacrifices, food offerings, and annual festivals consisting of mourning, songs, games, and sacrifices took place at hero shrines

the Trojan Horse

in 1865, the English archaeologist Frank Calvert began excavations in Hisarlik and in 1868, Heinrich Schliemann a German businessman joined and took over here is the modern site they claim was Troy the Greeks, on the advice of Odysseus, built a large wooden horse, large enough that 30-50 warriors were hidden inside the Greeks then sailed to a nearby island and left one man, Sinon to say that the horse was an offering to Athena for a previous desecration of her temple the Trojans decided to pull the horse into the city and removed part of their wall to do so they celebrated that night as the Greeks sailed back and sacked the city Cassandra a daughter of Priam, warned against bringing the horse into the city, but was not believed

A hero was understood to be a man who had died.

in his Works and Days, Hesiod describes "a divine generation of heroic men, called demi-gods (hemitheoi)" because Hesiod links these heroes to death and because they were venerated at their gravesites, the word "demigods" suggests that heroes were human beings considered to be near the gods, whether through birth, talent, beauty, deeds, or favoritism

Epic Heroes in the Classical Period

in the Classical Period, epic heroes became the protagonists of Athenian tragedies, the plots of which show them in cities, houses, and communities that impose varied constraints and demands on them the dramatic conventions of the tragic stage necessitated that heroes' victories on battlefields and against monsters be described (not enacted on stage), and thus these adventures become secondary to relationships between heroes and other men, gods, and family, all of which could be depicted on stage the tragedians explore how the dynamic and self-motivated men whose courageous exploits were described in epic and lyric poetry could be content with staying at home and cooperating with their fellow citizens in this way, tragic heroes spoke to the lives of their audiences, who, as citizen-soldiers, fought wars in seasonal compaigns and then returned to the city to live with their wives and govern their cities in coordination with other men under the tragedians' scrutiny, Greek heroes are no less majestic than in epic poems, but they confront problems in the more constrained space of the city and the household thus each generation of poets imagined Greek heroes differently, which in part explains why any horizontal account of one hero's life is filled with stories that contradict one another and do not create a consistent portrait

Achilles and Patroclus

in this Attic Red Figure, circa 500 BC, Achilles is bandaging the arm of Patroclus initially Patroclus, wearing the famous armor was successful in rallying the Greeks and they pushed the Trojans back to the walls of Troy Hector then rushed forward and killed Patroclus and took off his armor a fight broke out between both sides over Patroclus's body and when the news quickly reached Achilles, he arrived, and the body was brought back to camp by Ajax and Odysseus and Achilles killed Hector with a spear to the throat