LLT 121 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY: Trojan War
Copyright © 2001, Joseph J. Hughes
Last reviewed: 13 August 2001

I.   The House of Atreus
     A. Pelops: Founder of the Dynasty
        1. Tantalus, Pelops's father, stews the son
           a. Tantalus sent to Tartarus
           b. Pelops reassembled with ivory shoulder
        2. Pelops takes a wife
           a. contest for Hippodamia
           b. bribing of Myrtilus, the king's charioteer
           c. curse of Myrtilus
           d. Pelops rules over the Peloponnesus ("Pelops's island")
     B.	Banquet of Thyestes
        1. the brothers, Atreus and Thyestes, sons of Pelops
        2. brothers vie for rule of Mycenae
           a. Thyestes' affair with Aërope
           b. Thyestes' trick of the fleece
           c. Zeus, angered, makes sun rise in the west
           d. Thyestes banished
        3. Thyestes tricked into feasting on his sons
           a. Thyestes must have a son by his daughter, Pelopia, in order to get revenge
           b. Thyestes rapes Pelopia; Aegisthus produced
        4. Aegisthus kills Atreus
           a. Atreus marries Pelopia; takes Aegisthus for his own son
           b. Aegisthus discovers his true father; then kills Atreus
        5. Atreus; sons, Agamemnon and Menelaüs, flee to Sparta

II.  The House of Tyndareus
     A.	Leda (wife of Tyndareus) and the swan
        1. raped by Zeus, who takes the form of a swan
           a. sex with Tyndareus on the same night
           b. twins from the eggs: one mortal, the other a demigod
        2. 2 brothers: Castor and Polydeuces (Roman name, Pollux), the Dioscuri ("sons of Zeus")
           a. return Helen when kidnapped by Theseus
           b. brothers share immortality
        3. 2 sisters: Clytemnestra and Helen
     B.	Oath of Tyndareus
        1. Clytemnestra married off to Agamemnon
        2. Helen's marriage to be protected by an oath
           a. Odysseus' idea; gets him his wife, Penelope
           b. all suitors vow to support Helen's choice
        3. Helen chooses Menelaüs, who offers the greatest bride-price

III. The Judgment of Paris
     A.	wedding of Peleus and Thetis
        1. Peleus driven from place to place in his youth
        2. gods arrange for his marriage to Thetis, the sea nymph
           a. Thetis destined to bear a son greater than the father
           b. Achilles produced
        3. gods attend the wedding
           a. Eris, "Strife," crashes the party
           b. the trick of the golden apple
     B. the beauty contest
	1. 3 goddesses vie for the golden apple
        2. Paris, son of Priam, most handsome man
           a. Paris abandoned as an infant because of Hecabe's dream
           b. Paris to judge the 3 goddesses
           c. each goddess offers an inducement
              1) Hera offers world dominion
              2) Athena offers military success
              3) Aphrodite offers the most beautiful woman
     C.	the (second) kidnapping of Helen
        1. Paris received as a guest by Menelaüs
        2. Paris and Helen flee with treasure

IV.  The Trojan War begins
     A.	Gathering at Aulis
	1. former suitors called to avenge Menelaus
        2. 2 draft-dodgers:
           a. Odysseus feigns madness
           b. Achilles hidden and disguised by his mother
     B. Telephus, the eastern king
        1. wounded and then cured by Achilles
        2. reveals the way to Troy
     C.	unfavorable wind holds up fleet because Agamemnon insulted Artemis
        1. Agamemnon must sacrifice Iphigenia, his daughter
           a. tells Clytemnestra Iphigenia is to be married to Achilles
           b. Iphigenia saved by Artemis; becomes her priestess
        2.as Calchas, the seer, predicted, the fleet then sails

V.   Events At Troy
     A.	Philoctetes
        1. Greek warrior who inherited Heracles' magical bow
        2. bitten by sacred snake; abandoned on an island
     B.	Protesilaüs, the first to land on Trojan soil, the first to die
     C. Achilles vs. Agamemnon
        1. Agamemnon told he must give back his prize woman
           a. takes Achilles' prize woman
           b. Achilles & troops withdraw from the battle in anger
        2. Achilles' mother supplicates Zeus to allow Trojan victory: Greeks suffer great loses
        3. Hector and Andromache: Hector as the heroic ideal
        4. Embassy to Achilles: Achilles refuses Agamemnon's extravagant offer
        5. Greeks are driven back to their ships by the Trojans
           a. Achilles allows his friend, Patroclus, to take his army and drive the Trojans from the Greek camp
           b. Patroclus gets carried away; ultimately killed by Hector
     D.	Achilles' Tragic Choice
        1. long, but unrenowned life; short, but glorious life
        2. Achilles enters the battle to avenge Patroclus' death
     E.	ransoming of Hector's body
        1. Achilles desecrates the body: has become inhuman
        2. commanded by Zeus to give it back to Priam, the father
        3. regains his humanity

VI.  The Greeks at Troy
     A.	Judgment of the Arms of Achilles
        1. Achilles killed by Paris
        2. Ajax recovers the body: considered the second best Greek warrior
        3. Odysseus gets the prize for second best: Achilles' armor
        4. Ajax driven mad; commits suicide out of shame: heroic ideal is outdated
     B.	Trojan Horse
        1. three conditions for ending the war: war still doesn't end
        2. Odysseus' idea to use strategy instead of force
           a. Sinon left behind to trick the Trojans
           b. Laocoön suspects a trick: killed, along with his sons, by twin snakes
        3. horse taken inside the city: partying and carnage
           a. Helen spared by his husband, Menelaüs, when she bares her breasts
           b. Aeneas and his contingent are permitted to escape
           c. Greeks commit atrocities and are punished: terrible homecomings

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