Myth 19 TROY
Real historical event, c 1200 BC ?
That doesn't matter
not poetry about facts, but about human
decisions
Internal fight among Greeks
—Achilles and Agamemnon
HOMER, Iliad
The Greeks:
Argives, Achaeans, Danaans
(not the Greeks—a Roman term, or the Hellenes,
a post-Homeric term)
Trojans: always presented as foreigners
(Priam has many
wives)
but they have the same gods, and basically
act just like the Greeks
Troy, “Ilium”, Dardans,
Dardanians
Pre-Story
(pre-Homer—Iliad, 10th year of battle; though lots of back story
and front story)
House
of Atreus (Agamemnon and Menelaus)
descended from Tantalus
—punished by the gods for serving his son Pelops
Demeter
accidentally ate his shoulder
Hephaestus
makes a new one
Pelops—Peloponnesus
many
kids—Atreus and Thyestes
Atreus and Thyestes compete for throne
Agamemnon
and Menelaus driven out
get
help of Tyndareus, reclaim throne
House
of Tyndareus:
Helen (wife of Menelaus) Clytemnestra (wife
of Agamemnon)
Leda—Zeus comes to her as a swan
(one of the few birds with a penis)
has
sex with husband on same night
4
kids: Helen and Polydeuces (immortal)
Clytemnestra
and Castor (mortal)
the
“Dioscuri”--Wonder Twins
Oath of Tyndareus
Clytemnestra
marries Agamemnon, but Helen is too hot
she's
already been stolen once by Theseus
but the Wonder Twins got her back, and
stole his mom Aethra as well)
Suitors everywhere—who
to choose?
Odysseus,
Diomedes, Ajax, Patroclus,
Menelaus
Odysseus—the
cleverest of all Greeks, comes up with a plan
The
Oath
All suitors must accept decision
and must defend the victor in all wrongs
told
in a fragment poem by Hesiod
(Achilles
would have won, but he was too young)
Menelaus wins; have a daughter, Hermione
Peleus and Thetis
Parents of Achilles
Thetis—sea nymph
Zeus wanted, but Prometheus warned
(thanks,
you can go now)
Zeus
lets Peleus marry Thetis
They have a son—Achilles
(obviously better than his dad)
Thetis leaves him by the hearth to burn
away his mortality
gets interrupted by Peleus—she
stops (cf. Demeter)
Achilles heel story
from unfinished Achillied,
Statius (1st AD)
Thetis: “Soon will I restore the plains and the
fields where the Centaurs roam: by this beauty of thine
and the coming joys of youth I pray thee, if for thy sake I endured the earth
and an inglorious mate, if at thy birth I fortified thee with the stern waters
of Styx – ay, would I had wholly! – take these safe robes awhile, they will in
no wise harm thy valour.
Apollo guides an arrow from Paris (into his
heel)
In Homer, Achilles is not otherwise
invincible
Entrusted
to Chiron, centaur, for his upbringing
lives the manly life, outside, with his
“friend” Patroclus
Peleus and Thetis
have the fanciest wedding of all time
—Hera's relief?
But didn't invite Eris “strife”
an Apple for the fairest
Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite compete
don't fight at a wedding; take it to Paris
(Lucian’s version, ACM 288 ff)
House
of Troy
(Helen of Troy, is of course, not from
Troy)
Priam and Hecabe (=Hecuba)
sons:
Hector (greatest Trojan) and Paris
—a
son who will bring destruction to the city
“hey,
let’s avoid fate by exposing our son!”
Exposed
on Mt. Ida, raised by a shepherd
Paris
is super shepherd
Wakes
up one day, and there's Hermes and 3 Goddesses
they
each bribe him
Hera—world
domination
Athena—greatest
warrior
Aphrodite—the
world's most beautiful woman
(only briefly mentioned in Homer, Iliad 24.25ff:
Though Achilles in his anger tried to disfigure
Hector, the blessed immortals felt pity as they watched, and urged the
sharp-eyed Hermes
to steal the corpse. Though this thought pleased most of them, Hera,
Poseidon
and bright-eyed Athene were opposed. They still hated sacred
She
gives him Helen (who's married)
he comes down, reveals himself to be Trojan
prince, and sets off to his prize
Menelaus
receives him well (XENIA)
when
he steps out, Helen and Paris flee (rape of Helen)
she
abandons husband and daughter
he
violates XENIA
THE WAR
Menelaus
gets Agamemnon
They
invoke the Oath of Tyndareus
(people
are less willing for this than, say, Argonauts)
Gathering
at Aulis
Odysseus
doesn't want to come
wife
Penelope has just had a son: Telemachus
Pretends
to be crazy to get out of war
Palamedes--2nd
cleverest Greek
(credited with dice, numbers, the alphabet
in some later stories)
throws
Telemachus in front of the plow
“gotcha!”
Odysseus never forgives him—frames him and gets
him killed a traitor's death
Calchas declares we can't win without Achilles
His
mom has dressed him like a girl to avoid war
pretend
to be peddlers-- gotcha!
A
lot of trickery, oath enforcement to get people to go
this
war is going to suck
Journey to Troy
not
sure where it is
incident
with Achilles and King Telephus
Contrary wind: Calchas
reveals that Artemis is mad at Agamemnon's boasting
must
sacrifice daughter: Iphigenia
“Achilles
wants to marry you!”
told
in Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Arrive at Troy
the
first off the boat will die
Protesilaus –dead
Homer: The Iliad
made
up of many close ups
—personal moments, dialogue, speeches
Anger of Achilles
Homer
knows how to write a good story
focused
to the point
You
cannot sit down and explain everything
it
certainly would not make good literature
He
begins in medias res—RAGE
24 books, focused on a single incident in
the 10th year of the war
When
the Iliad opens, Greeks are sitting
on the beach
when
it ends, Greeks are sitting on the beach
Achilles Rage:
Book 1
Agamemnon has a captive named Chryseis,
(daughter of Chrysis,
priest of Apollo)
Agamemnon
refused to give her up-he's a leader
Chrysis prays to Apollo who sends plague
Calchas: you must give her up
Agamemnon
will, but needs a replacement girl:
Achilles'
Briseis
Should
he kill him? Athena comes to prevent it
“you
sot! You don't even fight!”
Achilles
asks his mother Thetis for revenge
Zeus
lets the Trojans win for a while,
as long as Achilles isn't there
Helen on the wall (Book 3.170ff)
“come
watch, you bear no blame in my eyes” (160ff)
Helen:
self pitying
Identifies
the Greek Heroes
Book 6
Hector and Andromache
son
of Priam, greatest of Trojans
begged
to stay by his wife and little baby
all
of my family is dead (by Achilles)
440—I
worry about you, but more for my fame
I
see your slavery coming
470—reaches
out for son, cries for helmet
Book 9
Greeks go to beg Achilles to relent and
join
Agamemnon
offers him everything
120
ff one of my daughters
don't
be like Hades, implacable
Achilles:
311 “As much as I hate the gate of Hades, I
hate the man who says one thing, secretly thinking another”
NO: look at all I have done, and this is
the treatment I get?
340:
he must think only he and his brother have feelings for their wives
409—I'l
choose an obscure death over glorious
Patroclus, his best friend begs him
borrows
his armor
killed
by Hector, who takes the armor
Patrolcus is killed: Now Achilles is mad
New Armor—from Haephastus
Book 22
Achilles
kills Hector, who begs for an honorable burial
“
I would rather eat your flesh”
Drags
his body around behind his chariot for days
Gives
Patroclus a huge funeral
Book 24
Priam comes and begs for
his son's body
think
about your own father (485)
All
of my sons are dead—nineteen by one woman
They
mourn together (510)
your
heart must be made of iron
He
gives him the body for no ransom
“And so the Trojans Buried the body of
Hector, breaker of horses”
Iliad ends with Achilles alive, Troy untaken
Plot and Character
focused—just like your writing should be
you can't tell everything—it'll
suck
tell something specific, and
tell it well
Character—clearly developed, but with no
internal insight
revealed by their actions (and lack
of actions) and words
Achilles: warrior intellectual—fiercely
individual