Ch. 20: The Trojan War and Achilles
Philoctetes
-Greeks first stopped on an island to get water and give a sacrifice to the gods. A snake beneath the altar bit him, and as the Greeks sailed on, his wound got worse that it ran with pus and smelled so bad that in disgust his companions abandoned him on the island of Lemnos. He survived in the mouth of a dirty cave, saved only by the bow that Heracles gave him as a reward for lighting Heracles' pyre, with which he shot small game. - Diomedes and Odysseus fetch Philoctetes from his desolate island. - He wounds Paris with a poisoned arrow, but it eventually kills Paris.
Buildup to the Trojan War
A complicated set of stories establishes a cycle of curses and family problems that culminate in prince Paris of Troy 'abducting' Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. •Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, lead an enormous force of Greek heroes to get her back. •Troy is ultimately sacked after a very tough 10 year war; Helen brought home to Sparta. •How and where did it all begin?
Thetis Comforts Her Son
Achilles thus brings harm to his own, as heroes in myth often do •His mother Thetis "senses" his anguish and comes to comfort him •Thetis then goes to Zeus to ask him to honor her son. •Hera gets upset when she sees Thetis with Zeus, but Hephaestus calms her down by playing the barman -Uncontrollable laughter and a good night's sleep
Achilles as a Girl
As the Greek heroes assemble for the Trojan War, Thetis hides him, so that he does not go •She 'knows things' about his fate ... •She hides him on the obscure island of Scyros among a group of girls •The Greeks' seer, Calchas, figures out where Achilles is, and has Odysseus out him •He stages an attack on Scyros, and Achilles leaps to fight the supposed attackers •Odysseus then recruits him for the Trojan War
The Burial of Hector
Our humanity is defined by how we choose to face the suffering we inevitably endure. •Hector's body is returned under truce, and he is given honorable burial. •The last line of the poem: "Such was the burial of Hector." •Hector is the romantic "hero" of the poem, while Achilles is the "classical" hero. •At this point Achilles' wrath has been released, and so here the Iliad comes to its end: -The Iliad is NOT the story of the whole Trojan War.
Pelops and Hippodamia
Pelops later comes to Elis (near Olympia) to win the hand of Hippodamia. •She was to be the bride of the suitor who could beat her father in a chariot race. •Her father Oenomaüs would give the suitor a head start, then ride up behind him and cut off his head. •Pelops had tireless horses given to him by Poseidon, Shaker of the Earth. •Pelops also bribes Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oenomaüs, to alter the king's chariot. •Wax is used on the axles instead of bronze pins; during the race the wheels heat up, melt the wax, the wheels fall off, and Oenomaüs is dragged to his death. •Pelops' bribe was that Myrtilus could have Hippodamia for the first night. •But Pelops then throws Myrtilus off a cliff, as he curses the House of Pelops forever.
Calchas
Prophet of the Greeks during the Trojan War. He declared that the Greeks would never take Troy w/o Achilles' help
The Assembling of the Heroes
The Greeks assemble at Aulis, on the coast of Boeotia They sail to Troy via island of Lemnos •The Greek heroes assemble to sail to Troy, but there are problems: •First, they cannot win without Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, the greatest of Greek fighters; he was too young to be a suitor for Helen, so he never took the Oath of Tyndareüs •Second, the winds will not let them depart without Agamemnon's sacrifice of his own daughter Iphigenia; Artemis, angry at Agamemnon for hunting down her deer, demands the sacrifice of his virgin daughter
The House of Tyndareüs
Tyndareüs' wife is Leda, whom Zeus raped when he took the form of a swan. •Leda bears four children:-Castor and Clytemnestra, fathered by Tyndareüs -Polydeuces (Pollux) and Helen, fathered by Zeus •Tyndareüs marries his daughter Clytemnestra to Agamemnon for a powerful alliance. •But Helen is so beautiful that everyone wants to marry her: so how does he choose her husband without making enemies of everyone?
Hecabê
Wife of Priam, King of Troy. mother of Paris and Hector
Palamedes
son of Nauplius, clever enemy of Odysseus, inventor of alphabet, dice, numbers, and astronomy. Exposed Odysseus to get him into war by putting his baby Telemachus in front of Odysseus' blade plow.
Ajax
suitor of Helen and one of the greatest heroes in the Trojan War.
Achilles' Heel
•A much later story (Roman, but very likely not Greek) says that Thetis dipped Achilles in the Styx, the river of the Underworld, and so made him invincible •His only weak spot: his heel, which Thetis had held when she dipped him -Achilles will later die because of an arrow shot by Paris that wounds him in the heel -Homer does NOT seem to know the Styx story
The Body of Hector
•Achilles buries Patroclus, but refuses burial for Hector. •The gods are offended, Hermes leads Priam to Achilles to ask for the return of the body of his son (Book 24). •Priam surprises Achilles in his tent, appeals to Achilles to think of what his own father will feel when Achilles dies. •Priam: "I have done what no other man has done: kissed the hands of the man who killed my children." •Achilles thinks of his father, and of Patroclus, and he relents; he offers a meal to Priam. •They eat and talk while Hector's body is being prepared; they sit and admire each other and their bravery.
The Wisdom of Achilles
•Achilles explains to Priam that Zeus has two big urns outside his door: -One of blessings, one of evils •Usually Zeus gives some things from both urns, sometimes just evils/bads -All lives include evil/bad and suffering, death comes to all •Human beings must live on despite the suffering. •Thus Achilles and Priam come to understand that heroism, for all its violent glory, also includes compassion for the suffering that the death of loved ones brings.
Background of The Iliad of Homer
•Achilles is the central hero of the Iliad, the great surviving Greek account of the Trojan War •The Iliad was judged by the Greeks to be their greatest piece of literature; since then most, if not all, have agreed with them •The Iliad is NOT the story of the Trojan War, but the story about the character and choices of Achilles, whom Homer calls the "Best of the Achaeans" •Written down between 800-700 BC about events that would have happened circa 1200 BC •Oral tradition maintained and developed the story, but one poet clearly shaped it into its form as we know it, and the Greeks called that poet Homer •The written text is stable around 550 BC; the masterpiece of Greek literature since that time •Many of its poetic features are due to its history and origins as an oral poem
The Two Fates of Achilles
•Achilles reveals that his immortal mother Thetis has told him that he has one of two fates •EITHER he will win much glory at Troy and die an early death •OR he can not fight at Troy and go home for a long life in obscurity •The choice is his to make, and this is the crucial choice of his life (and the Iliad) -His fates are fated, but the choice of fate is his! •Fighting for Agamemnon is not worth the risk, he says, so he will go home to an anonymous old age
The First Interlude
•Achilles' plan works: the Greeks start losing •Homer includes here the background to the war -A long list of who fought on both sides -An inconclusive single combat between Menelaus and Paris -Helen's self-awareness and her allure •Agamemnon eventually decides he has to have Achilles back •Will give him Briseïs back and LOTS more •Sends Odysseus as the negotiator
The Glory of Hector
•Achilles' single combat with Hector is the climax of the Iliad (Book 22). •Hector is the Trojan hero in the poem, fighting selflessly for his family and his home and his city (he is the romantic hero of the tale). •There is a poignant scene early in the Iliad when Hector returns to Troy for a break (in Book 6). •His wife Andromache urges him in the name of his baby son Astyanax not to return to fight and risk death. •Hector explains that his is the life of a warrior. •Hector reveals to his wife that the worst thing in the world for him would be to hear her screaming while being taken captive. -Book 6, lines 440-475 •If that time comes, his only hope is that he is dead, so that he can't hear it. •He reaches out to give his baby son a goodbye hug, but the baby is afraid of his helmet. •Hector then removes the helmet and laughs with his baby and wife as a father and husband. -This is the most tender moment in the Iliad. -Shows that Hector understands the cost of his choices.
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
•Agamemnon tricks Iphigenia into approaching the altar, gags her so she can't curse him, and kills her. -She thought she was to be betrothed to Achilles! -Agamemnon's wife will avenge Iphigenia later •Why would Agamemnon kill his own daughter to win back his brother's wife? -Agamemnon is in an impossible situation: either he violates his family or he undermines the collective effort of the Greeks, to punish a crime against Xenia
The Second Interlude: Achilles' Divided Mind
•But Achilles does not immediately go home, because he doesn't want to leave his friends •Torn by indecision: fight or go? •His best friend Patroclus, upset at watching the Greeks lose, asks Achilles to borrow his armor so that he can fight •The Trojans will think Achilles is back, and they will retreat, sparing the Greeks •Achilles agrees but tells Patroclus that he must return as soon as the Trojans begin to retreat
Background about the myth of The Trojan War
•Greatest heroic event in Greek myth •Many poems tell about the war in what we call 'The Epic Cycle'; Homer's two great epics are the best known and always have been. •A Trojan War was fought about 1200 BC, though how much 'history' Homer reports is impossible to know (likely not much). •Homer's poems/stories are primarily about human choices and human characters.
The Death of Hector
•Hector fights to defend his home, while Achilles fights in a rage for having let Patroclus die. •At first Hector runs, but then stands his ground. •Achilles stabs him with his spear, Hector asks for burial and vows that Achilles will soon die. •Achilles responds simply: "I know" •Then he ties Hector's body to the back of his chariot and drags him in the dust. -On the walls of Troy, Andromache watches in despair, knowing that Troy is now doomed and that slavery is her fate.
The Wrath of Achilles
•Hector's killing of Patroclus makes Achilles ANGRY, what we thought was Achilles' anger in the beginning was only a warmup. •Achilles roars across the battlefield and kills so many Trojans that the river on the Trojan plain becomes upset at being clogged with all their bodies. •All the Trojans flee back to their city, Hector alone remains to fight Achilles in single combat. An example of the feeling of Achilles' wrath comes in his speech to Lykaon. •Lykaon was a son of Priam whom Achilles had captured once before earlier in the war but had ransomed him back to his family. •Lykaon pleads again to be ransomed, but this time Achilles refuses to listen. •Iliad, Book 21, lines 99-135: "Die now, because Patroclus was a better man than you."
The Youth of Achilles
•His immortal mother Thetis would burn him in the fire when he was a baby in order to burn his mortal parts away -Compare Demeter and Demophoön in Eleusis •Peleus catches her doing this, which ruins it; she leaves Peleus and the baby •Peleus gives Achilles to Chiron the Centaur in order to be raised -Chiron teaches him hunting, fighting, music -Chiron had done the same for Jason in the previous generation
Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux)
•Known as the Dioscuri ("sons of Zeus"), even though Castor was the son of Tyndareüs •Twins who shared adventures: -They joined the Argonauts and saved Rome from destruction •Castor was killed during a cattle raid, but Polydeuces saves him by persuading Zeus to grant both of them partial immortality. -They spend one day on Olympus, the next in Hades.
The Oath of Tyndareüs
•Odysseus proposes a solution to Tyndareüs for solving the Helen problem -His price: the hand of Tyndareüs' niece Penelope, who turns out to be a perfect match (see Odyssey) •All suitors are to swear to an oath, that if anyone violates Helen's honor, they all must help to punish the offender.-Those who won't swear cannot woo her, and since all want her, they all take the oath. •Menelaus is Helen's choice, but when Paris 'abducts' her, all her suitors are bound to help him get her back and punish Paris.
Launching the War: Paris of Troy
•Paris is one of the 50 sons of Priam, King of Troy, which is the greatest city on the Aegean coast (what is now Turkey) •His brother Hector is Troy's best fighter, but Paris is regarded as the most handsome of men •Zeus thus calls upon Paris to judge a beauty contest among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite that develops at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis
The Death of Patroclus
•Patroclus gets carried away, charges Troy, and is killed by Hector, the best of the Trojans. •Achilles is overcome with grief, realizes that he waffled and so sent his friend to do something he should have done [Admetus]. •His indecision has made his decision for him: now he must avenge Patroclus, [which he 'knows' will mean an early but glorious death at Troy.] •The glory of fighting to avenge a friend is worth dying for in a way that fighting for prizes isn't.
The House of Pelops
•Pelops takes Oenomaüs' place as King of Elis, and names the region after himself: Peloponnesus ("Island of Pelops") •Pelops' two most famous sons are Atreus and Thyestes •The son of Thyestes is Aegisthus; the sons of Atreus are Agamemnon and Menelaüs.
The 'Abduction' of Helen
•Some time later Paris journeys to Sparta for Helen (Achilles has to grow up ... ?) •Menelaus welcomes him as a guest, but Paris violates xenia and 'abducts' his wife -Helen may not have been unwilling to go? •Menelaus then invokes the Oath of Tyndareüs and assembles Helen's suitors •His brother Agamemnon, the strongest king in Greece, will lead the expedition
House of Pelops
•Tantalus, King of Lydia, sought to test the gods' knowledge and fed them a stew made from his son Pelops. •Distracted by the loss of Persephone, Demeter ate a few bites. •The other gods immediately recognized the stew as human flesh and forever punished Tantalus in the Underworld with hunger and thirst •Zeus puts Pelops back together, and Hephaestus fits in an ivory shoulder (i.e., the part Demeter ate)
The Origin of Achilles' Wrath
•The Iliad begins with Chryses, a priest of Apollo, coming to the Greek camp and asking for his daughter Chryseïs to be returned to him •She was captured in a village raid around Troy, and was Agamemnon's prize after the victory -Homeric warriors take their status from the prizes they receive for their fighting •Agamemnon refuses to give up his prize •Chryses calls upon Apollo to help him, and so Apollo sends a plague against the Greeks -Apollo as "he who shoots from afar" •Calchas the seer reveals that Chryseïs must be given back to end the plague •At a public assembly of the soldiers, Achilles challenges Agamemnon to give her back •Agamemnon does but then he takes Achilles' war-prize, a woman named Briseïs •Achilles feels so dishonored that he withdraws from the fighting and wants the Greeks to start losing, so that Agamemnon can see how much he needs Achilles (i.e. that Achilles is the "Best of the Achaeans")
The Quarrel Between Agamemnon and Achilles
•The issue is much greater than who has a war prize (highest honor) or not •Agamemnon feels that, since he is the leader of the expedition, he should have the best prize •Achilles feels that, since he is the best fighter and works the hardest, he should have the best prize •Traditional authority vs. individual brilliance •How can an amazing individual work within an established cultural system? •Agamemnon is like the CEO of the expedition, he has the most stock in the company •Achilles is like the greatest employee of the company, makes the company the most money •But how is even the best employee going to change the power structure of a big company? •Openly challenging well established authority very rarely brings sound change •Achilles chooses to go on strike (passive resistance): he will cost the company money and maybe they will listen---What else would cause the company to listen?
The House of Atreus
•The line of kings in Mycenae ends with Eurystheus, and an oracle tells them to choose a son of Pelops for their king •After a rivalry, the elder son Atreus is chosen. •Atreus, however, learns his wife is having an affair with Thyestes. •In retaliation, Atreus kills three of Thyestes' sons and feeds them to him at a banquet, after which Atreus shows him their heads. •Thyestes then curses the House of Atreus (this doubles the curse of Myrtilus on Pelops) •In a complex story of revenge, Thyestes' son Aegisthus avenges his brothers by killing Atreus, and Thyestes' seizes the throne in Mycenae. •Agamemnon and Menelaüs, the sons of Atreus, flee to Sparta. •Tyndareüs, King of Sparta, supports their cause and leads an army to drive Thyestes out and to install Agamemnon as the King of Mycenae. •Tyndareüs' daughters Clytemnestra and Helen are married to Agamemnon and Menelaüs. -Why does Menelaus get Helen?
The Embassy to Achilles
•The list of gifts Agamemnon offers is so great that everybody thinks Achilles will accept -Prizes = status for the Homeric warrior •But Achilles refuses: he is so disgusted with Agamemnon that he is now questioning the values of his culture •He questions whether risking his life for glory is really worth it -Shocking: All other Homeric heroes describe the risks and the glory of war as par for their heroic code •Theme: what is worth dying for?
The Iliad: Main Theme
•The main theme of the Iliad explores the difference between gods and humans •Compare the beginning and end of Book 1-Soldiers fight and die, but gods feast and laugh •Iliad: what does it mean to be mortal? •Homer: the acceptance of one's mortality, and the responsibility for the lives of others •Mortals have to make choices, and mortals live or die as a result of these choices •Which choices are worth risking death and which are not? (Gods are not limited by our dilemma)
The Iliad: Plot and Character
•The plot (myth) is the story of the wrath of Achilles during about one month in the tenth year of the Trojan War •This wrath causes Achilles to navigate a series of choices and to come to a new understanding about the world •The development of his character is the central element in the story •The Trojan War is the background, but Achilles and his wrath are the focus
Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
•Thetis a sea goddess, daughter of Nereus •Zeus lusted for her, but told by Prometheus that her son would be greater than her father -Zeus ultimately lets Heracles unbind Prometheus for this knowledge •Zeus thus has Thetis married off to a mortal named Peleus (why Peleus is not clear) •Peleus is a minor king in Thessaly -Son of Peleus and Thetis: Achilles •Thetis not pleased to be married to a mortal; so Peleus has to sneak up, grab her, and hold on until she consents •Hera throws her a great wedding, grateful that Zeus did not sleep with her •Eris, the Goddess of Strife, bitter because she was not invited, turns up anyway and throws a golden apple into the crowd •Apple is engraved: "To the Fairest" •Hera, Athena, Aphrodite each claim it; Zeus says that Paris should be the judge •Hermes brings the three goddesses to Paris and explains his assignment •Goddesses each try to bribe him: -Hera offers political power -Athena offers him glory as a soldier -Aphrodite offers him the most beautiful woman in the world •The most handsome Paris chooses Aphrodite, who promises him Helen
