Review for Exam #4

01.    Start of the Trojan War

• Paris, judge of beauty contest @ Peleus and Thetis wedding (they have Achilles),
• Eris "strife" crashed party and gives apple "for the fairest."
• Each goddess offers bribe. Hera, power; Athena, wisdom; Aphrodite, most beautiful woman (Helen of Sparta).
• Background of Mycenae = House of Atreus

02.    The House of Atreus

• Pelops (son of Tantalus serving him as soup to gods,
• Wins wife Hippodamia in chariot race given by father King Oenomaus of Pisa
• Pelops has Myrtalus take out wheel pins, which causes the king’s death
• Myrtalus thought he got Hippodamia. Pelops pushes him down wall
• Myrtalus curses Pelops’ entire family.
• children of Pelops and Hippodamia = Atreus and Thyestes

03.    Competition for Kingdom of Mycenae

• golden ram from sky will be given to next king of Mycenae
• Zeus sends the ram to Atreus
• Atreus's wife Aerope lets his brother Thyestes have the ram while Atreus was asleep.
• Next morning Thyestes shows off the ram; the sun rose and sat backwards.
• Atreus serves Thyestes Thyestes’ own children for supper
• Thyestes marries his own daughter Pelopia and has a son Aegistheus.
• Atreus marries Pelopia and takes Aegistheus as his own son.
• Later, Aegistheus finds out the truth and kills Atreus.
• Agamemnon and Menelaus (sons of Atreus and Aerope) flee to Sparta.

4.    House of Tyndareus

• Leda, wife of Tyndareus of Sparta, raped by Zeus, who is in form of a swan.
• Leda also has sex with Tyndareus the same night. Leda lays two eggs.
• Mortal egg: Castor and Clytemnestra
• Immortal egg: Pollux and Helen
• Castor, mortal, killed. Pollux can’t stand the death so they share Pollux’s immortality
• 1 day on Mt. Olympus, 1 day in Underworld.
• Clytemnestra and Agamemnon have three children- Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia
• All Helen's suitors vow to honor her choice of husband = Menelaus.

5.    Judgement of Paris

• Wedding of Peleus and Thetis - all the deities invited except for Eris (discord)
• Eris throws out golden apple inscribed "For the Fairest"
• Hera, Athena, Aphrodite claim prize; Zeus is too smart to serve as judge
• Prince Paris of Troy agrees to serve as judge; chooses Aphrodite;
• receives most beautiful woman in world as his prize (who happens to be Mrs. Menelaus)
• Paris received as guest of Menelaus; Paris and Helen steal treasures and flee.

6.    Gathering of Greeks for the Trojan War

• All the former suitors gathered at Aulis, except for two draft dodgers
• Odysseus, wife Penelope just had son Telemachus, fakes madness by plowing fields w/salt
• they put baby in front and he stepped
• Achilles, mom dresses him up as a girl, sends him to Island of Nubile Young Girls
• Odysseus gets off boat and lays toys out
• Achilles caught because he is the only one who reached for guy toy
• Artemis holds winds back because of no sacrifice on her name.
• Agamemnon is told to sacrafice daughter Iphignia by Calchas (the sea): two alternatives
• kill daughter and obtain ARETE (virtue, manliness, measured in acts you do) and KLEOS (fame, only thing left after you die)
• Don’t kill daughter and be a loser, wimp
• Gets Iphigenia to show up by claiming she will marry Achilles - and sacrifices her.
• The army leaves for Troy—leaving Clytemnestra as ruler behind very angry, has affair with brother Aegisthus

7.    Greek Heroes

• Agamemnon = king of Mycenae-killed by wife and lover when returned home
• Menelaus = King of Sparta
• Odysseus = King of Ithaca
• Achilles = Greatest Greek hero, kills Hector, killed by Paris
• Diomedes = best fighter/ thinker; wounded both Ares and Aphrodite in combat
• Nestor = wise old wind bag
• Idomeneus = King of Crete
• Philoctetes = Mighty Steerman/ Stinky foot because bit by snake, left on island with Heracles bow (father Poeas, who lit Heracles’ funeral pyre)
• Ajax the Greater = kills himself after Odysseus gets Achilles’ armor (not him)
• Ajax the Lesser = raped Cassandra in Athena’s temple-- HUBRIS
• Neoptolemus (a/k/a Pyrrhus) = Achilles son, decapitates King Priam of Troy

8.    Deities on Greek Side

• Athena = still mad at losing Judgement of Paris
• Hera = still mad at losing Judgement of Paris
• Poseidon = had been stiffed by King Priam's father in a business deal

9.    Trojan Heroes

• Paris (son of King Priam and Hecuba of Troy)  = won Helen
• Hector = brother of Paris, heir to throne, greatest Trojan hero,
• Andromache = heroic wife of Hector, mother of Astyanax
• Astyanax  = son of Hector and Andromache; thrown to his death from the walls of Troy after it fell
• Aeneas  = (son of Aprodite and Anchises) eventually escaped from Troy and founded Rome
• Sarpedon  = illegitimate son of Zeus whom even Zeus could not save
• Helenus = son of Priam; prophet; third Mr. Helen
• Priam  = aged king of Troy; hopes to leave it all to Hector
• Cassandra = 100% accurate prophetess whom nobody ever believes

10.    Deities on Trojan Side

• Aphrodite  = winner in Judgement of Paris
• Ares  = no particular reason, just likes to fight
• Apollo

11.    THE ILIAD: Achilles versus Agamemnon

• Agamemnon takes Chryseis, daughter of Chryses (local priest of Apollo), as booty
• Apollo sends Cholera plague on camp; Agamemnon must return Chryseis
• If Agamemnon does not return her, the Greeks lose
• If Agamemnon hands over his girl, he will be deprived of KLEOS and ARETE points.
• Achilles, tired of watching the plague, tells Agamemnon to give her back.
• Agamemnon says okay but takes Achilles’ slave girl Briseis
• Achilles takes his men and retreats from war
• Achilles's mother Thetis gets Zeus to let the Greeks get womped
• Agamemnon and the Greeks spend next eight books geting their tails kicked

12.    THE ILIAD: Achilles's Choice

• Agamemnon sends an embassy to persuade Achilles back
• offers money, an apology, and his daughter’s hand
• Phoenix, Ajax the Greater, and Odysseus all make speeches
• Achilles explains that he has two fates to choose from
• die young with ARETE
• live long and die without ARETE (he picks this option)

13.    THE ILIAD: Achilles vs. Hector

• Patroclus, friend of Achilles, allowed to borrow Achilles’ armor in hopes to gain on Greeks side
• Warned not to get too close to the walls of Troy.
• Patroclus tries to go over wall (hubris)
• Patroclus killed by Hector, who strips off armor of Achilles
• Achilles enraged at the death of his friend and stolen armor by Hector
• Thetis gets Hephaestus to make new armor with scenes of both peace and war on it
• Achilles kills Hector, desecrates body by dragging it through town (Hector pleaded for a proper burial).

14.    THE ILIAD: conclusion

• Zeus and Gods preserve Hector's body by sprinkling it with magic stuff.
• Achilles gives body to Priam after shaking hands with him
• Achilles knows he is going to die soon
• Funeral games celebrated for Hector = anticipates Achilles's demise
• END OF THE ILIAD

15.    Fall of Troy

• Paris, assisted by Apollo, shot Achilles in heel. Ajax the Greater brought body back.
• Prize for best warrior was Achilles’ armor. Given to Odysseus instead of Ajax.
• Ajax driven mad, commits suicide.
• Trojans winning by pushing Greeks back to boat
• Sinon talks Trojans into bringing in the wooden horse in
• Laocoon (priest of Apollo) disagrees but he and his sons are eaten by snakes
• When all are asleep, Greeks get out and open gates and sack the city
• Neoptolemus kills king Priam
• Helen keeps Menelaus from killing her by flashing her breasts at him

16.    THE NOSTOI: definition

• nostos = Ancient Greek for "return voyage"
• compare English word "nostalgia" (longing to go home)
• popular "sequels" to the Iliad
• also contain KERNELS OF HISTORICAL FACT

17.    Individual NOSTOI

• Menelaus = got Helen back, on the way home, blown to Egypt, but made it back later.
• Nestor = Went over land--Homer probably could relate to him because of old wind bag
• Diomedes = returned to Argos, (wife unfaithful, not welcomed at home) wanders around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped as God after death.
• Idomeneus = hero of Crete. weather was bad, vows if saved will sacrifice first thing that approaches him when he has landed—his son. Miasma causes him to wander around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped as God after death.
• Philoctetes = not welcomed at home. founds Naples as he wanders around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped as God after death.
• Aeneas = son of Aphrodite and Anchises, wanders around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped as God after death.
  

18.    Agamemnon's NOSTOS (Aeschylus's Oresteia Trilogy)

• Agamemnon (first play) = Agamemnon returns to Greece with his prize Cassandra.
• Cassandra tells Agamemnon that his wife seeks revenge by his death, then hers
• He walks up red carpet, into bath that Clytemnestra prepares for him, and gets killed
• Clytemnestra  incurs miasma along with her lover Aegisthus, but what is Orestes to do?
• The Liberation Bearers (second play) = Electra persuades her brother Orestes (with Apollos help) to kill mother and lover Aegisthus
• The Kindly Ones (third play) = Furies are prosecuting attorneys, Apollo the defense attorney. Jury tied, Athena rules for Orestes.

19.    Odysseus’ wanderings on way home

• Island of the Ciconians = Sacked the city, taking booty, taking with them 12 jars of red wine. Lost men from every ship when escaping
• Lotus Eaters = blown to this island where everyone consumes the lotus-laced with drug that makes sailors lose memory, hope and want to stay there. Odysseus the only one that does not consume it, pushes them back on the ship, quickly sailing to avoid temptations of jumping
• Polyphemus Island = Ate herd of sheep, found Cyclops cave containing fruit and delicacies, Cyclops trapped opening w/ boulder and ate men every night. Odysseus could not kill him or they would be trapped, so he plied him w/ wine as trick, got him drunk until he fell asleep after saying his name was "nobody"—in which the Cyclops promised to eat him last. Made a stake smoldering from the fire and plunged into his eye. Men hid on belly of sheep so when Cyclops let them out in the morning they would be free. Cyclops called to friends exclaiming "nobody did it!" and they laughed and ignored aid. They quickly left
• Aeolus Island = God of winds feasted men and gave him special bag containing deadly winds. Men jealous, open bag while asleep and are blown back to Aeolus Island. Aeolus thinks Gods hate them and turns them away.
• The Laestrygonians = Cannibals that ate all ships except Odysseus and his few crew. Quickly sailed away
• Circe = Daughter of Helius-turns men into pigs. O goes by himself-protected by herb moly Hermes gives him to immune from spell. He will sleep with her but first make an oath not to castrate him. He goes-her spell fails and she guesses his name by prophesy. Circe changes men back and they live on island for one year. He leaves with advice to talk to Tiresias in underworld, then beware of next two places and not eat the cattle of Helus
• Katabasis = visits Tiresias to learn direction home
• Sirens = beautiful women singing with enchanted voices. Entraps sailors-they follow them and die on cliffs the women-birds perch on. Men put wax in their ears but O strapped down to mast—he begs to be let go hearing their voices-but they pass.
• Scylla and Charybdis = blocking the narrow straight they must pass through- on one side Scylla-monster w/ 12 feet, 6heads w/ 3 rows of teeth hidden in cave beneath sheer cliffs. Charybdis- whirlpool sucks down and spits up three times a day. Men try to go on side w/ Scylla- who seized men from boat and ate them
• Cattle of the Sun= Winds kept them from leaving-starving them to eat fish (not food for heroes). While O asleep, the men devoured one of the cows-they leave and violant storm erupts-killing all but Odysseus who drifts back to Charybdis in her grasp for days.
• Calypso = Finally he washes up on Ogygia. Sea nymph wanting him for herself promises him immortality-but he says no.
• Phaeacians = washes up on Scheria and tells them of his adventures
• Ithaca = returned to his home island by the Phaeacians

20.    Odysseus's return

• Goes to swineherd friend Eumaeus's house.
• Son Telemachus is there and says whats happening at home: suitors, murder plots
• He disguises himself as beggar talks to Penelope saying her husband is alive.
• She recognizes him and immediately tells of contest she will hold for her hand
• whoever can string her husband’s old bow and shoot it thru 12 axeheads.
• No one can and he does-then turns on suitors and kills them.
• Penelope tells him to sleep on porch (test) on old bed-he gets mad, she smiles and they go to bed.