The Trojan War was a ten-year war in which Greek warriors laid siege to Troy.
The Iliad describes gods and goddesses moving around and picking sides in the final year of the war.
A youth named Paris, one of the sons of King Priam of Troy, was asked to choose the fairest of three goddesses:Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Each goddess offered Paris a special gift if he declared her the fairest. Paris selected Aphrodite, who had promised him the most beautiful woman in the world.
Aphrodite took Paris to Sparta, where the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, was. Paris fell in love almost immediately and took Helen with him back to Troy.
Helen was the wife of Prince Menelaus, who was outraged by Paris taking Helen to Troy. Menelaus asked his
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They besieged the city of Troy, but made little progress in the war for nine years. The Iliad takes up the story when Agamemnon insulted his bravest warrior, Achilles. Furious with Agamemnon, Achilles withdrew from the battle, cursing his Greek comrades.
Hector, another one of Priam’s sons and the leading Trojan warrior, led a force from the besieged city to attack the Greeks. Hector killed Patroclus, who had borrowed the armor of his friend Achilles. Filled with grief and rage, Achilles returned to the battle and killed Hector. Then Achilles dragged Hector's body behind his chariot, preventing the Trojans from holding a proper funeral. This act angered the gods, who persuaded Achilles to return the body to Hector's family.
Paris killed Achilles with a well-aimed arrow, which landed in Achilles’ heel, only to be killed by a Greek archer. After the death of Achilles, the Greeks recognized Odysseus as their finest warrior. The valiant Ajax, angry at being passed by, attempted to kill the other Greek leaders and finally committed suicide. Meanwhile, Odysseus came up with a plan to defeat Troy by tricking them rather than direct force. He told the Greeks to build an enormous, hollow wooden horse on wheels. The Greek soldiers hid inside the horse, which was then pushed/pulled to the gates of Troy. The Trojans awoke to find this marvel outside their gates and brought it into the city. That night, the Greek soldiers
To begin with, there are three main reasons Helen should have been returned to the Greeks but the major reason that sticks out is the fact that King Menelaus was her rightfully wedded husband. Paris went to the palace of Menelaus to see her and potentially fall in love. That is precisely what happened. “And then the king rode out hunting. Paris made an excuse not to ride
After leaving her hometown and being taken to Troy by Paris, she realizes she doesn’t have such a liking for him but more so toward Hector. Helen believes he is more of a gentleman and has a better fondness of her feelings than Paris does. It’s shocking but also while all of that is still happening she blames some of these series of events on Aphrodite, a beautiful goddess, who is known for being the goddess of love, relationships, and is very supportive of Paris. She also helps out the Trojans while the war is happening.
The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
In The Iliad the major conflict begins between Prince Paris and the Achaean king Menelaus over Helen. During the war that arises from the attempt to bring back Helen the Achaeans reside in a city nearby and hold captive several women. Chryses asks
drive to conquer the Trojan army with or without the aid of Achilles. In doing
The Greek gods were not only intimately involved in the action of the Trojan War, they were also the impetus for the war. Although the overt cause of the war was Paris' abduction of Helen, this act was the result of quarrelling goddesses. The Trojan prince Paris was forced to choose the fairest amongst the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. Each goddess attempted to sway Paris with offerings, and Aphrodite's temptation was Helen; this leads to the war and the immortal alliances that overshadow its mortal activities. The story that the poem implicitly addresses is of the Achaen king Agamemnon and his daughter Iphigenia. The Achaen forces have gathered at Aulis before mounting their attack on Troy when one of Artemis' stags is killed; this, coupled with Agamemnon's boasting of the act, is why "Artemis is offended" (51). In retaliation, the goddess imprisons the troops at Aulis by preventing the wind from powering their fleet. In order to appease the goddess and begin the war, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter Iphigenia as "the child" who will become "the victim of Aulis." Although Artemis intervenes and makes Iphigenia one of her priestesses, only the goddess knows that Iphigenia escaped death.
An ancient history website states that “Athena was a major protagonist in Homer’s account of the Trojan War in the Illiad where she supports the Achaeans and their heroes, especially Achilles, to whom she gives encouragement and wise counsel. " Athena is first shown in the Illiad when Agamemnon threatens to go to Achille’s tent in the camp and take Biseis himself. Along side Hera and Poseiden, Athena tended to help the Greek side during the war. With the help from others, Athena comes up with the idea of a Trojan horse and that the warriors hide inside the horse and that the horse would be brought into the city and given as a gift.
Oh no, Helen’s been stolen! Prince Paris has kidnapped Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris was assisted by Aphrodite, who promised him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, as a reward for siding with her during a competition against the goddesses Hera and Athena.
With Agamemnon capturing Chrysies, the following events unravel into what becomes the Trojan War and the story of the Iliad. If you focus on mortals in the epic, females may seem like they have little to offer, but the Iliad contains strong female characters if you include the gods. All the gods are all portrayed, as powerful beings. Aphrodite, Athena and Hera, are not lacking in power with them being female characters. Helen should also be noted for she is the reason that Troy was destroyed.
Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. The Spartans refused to return Helen to Sparta so Menelaus persuaded his brother Agamemnon to lead an army against Troy. They fought for nine years but never were able to defeat he main city. The Greeks then built a large wooden horse in which warriors were hidden inside. The Greeks appeared to leave and the horse was left at the front gates of the city. The Trojans brought the horse inside the gates and the other Greeks returned at night. The people hidden inside the horse opened the gates for these Greeks and they destroyed Troy. This war could also have another motive as to who controlled trade through the Dardanelles.
Homer and Petersen use imagery to convey that Odysseus and Achilles go on their journeys to satisfy their ego. Achilles is on his journey to be remembered, to be famous. Early in the film Troy while Agamemnon is attempting to complete taking control of all of Greece, he has one last challenge that stands in his way of completing this goal; he needs Achilles’ help. Although he has a long lasting hatred for Agamemnon, Achilles sees this as a chance to satisfy his ego as the most powerful warrior in all of Greece. He fights this massive, crazed warrior for the land of Sicily and defeats him.
Paris’ brother, Hector, told him: "Paris, appalling Paris! Our prince of beauty-mad for woman, you lure them all to ruin." (Book III) Women are not the only ones drawn to ruin by Paris. The whole Trojan army, not to mention the whole city of Troy, was endangered by Paris’ selfishness. Paris is very likely the cause of the Trojan War. His story was told by prophecies before he was born: The prophecies said that he would be the cause of the destruction of Troy. His parents, Priam and Hecuba, left him to die on a mountain when he was a baby, but he was rescued and returned to Troy as a young man. Paris abducted prince Menelaos’ (of Mycenae) wife, Helen, who was said to be the
The suspected start of the war- over the abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta- was caused entirely by a godly conflict over who was the most beautiful- Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, was selected to judge. He chose Aphro...
...h Agamemnon and wishes that ‘strife could die from the lives of gods and men’… Not to avenge Patroclus by killing Hector would be a renunciation of all that he stands for and has lived by”. Even though “sorrow fell on Achilles like a cloud” (216), he went back out to the battlefield and killed Hector. It took a great deal of bravery for Achilles to face the man who killed his best friend but Achilles, being the hero that he was, got back into battle and killed him because he couldn’t let Patroclus’ death go unavenged.
In the Iliad, the warrior Achilles is initially portrayed as arrogant and spiteful. Towards the end of the epic, however, he turns aside his puerile ways and fulfills his duties to his companions. Achilles' progression as a character is like that of a person from childhood to adulthood. The first book of the Iliad paves the way for the rest of the epic. During the ninth year of the Trojan War, Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, takes Achilles' concubine, Briseis.