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Myth: Etymologically, the Word myth comes from Greek, meaning “speech” or “study”. A myth is a socially powerful, traditional story which has vague origins.
- Myths are narratives, a series of events structured into a sequence.
- The second element is tradition. Myths have been transferred from teller to teller and generation to generation. From this perspective, one way of characterising myth is a story whose origins have been forgotten.
- Myths carry significant meaning to the culture they originate from. They often represent the social structure and norms, sometimes even considered sacred texts. To the ancient greeks, their myths were considered a telling of real events, and were regarded sacred. While not scientific, these stories can be considered proto-scientific, as they are often attempts to explain and rationalise real events and natural phenomena. Mythology: Mythology refers to a collection of myths of a given society that together form a mythological system. Mythology as a scientific research field emerged in 19th-20th centuries. Cult: Tends to focus on specific features of a divine power, singling out particular quality. Ritual: A formal ceremony or a series of actions always performed the same way. Just as rituals differed from place to place and period to period, so did the portrayals of myth-tellers of those rituals. Cultural effect: As myths are splitting reflections of the society they belong to; they bear many aspects unique or crucial to said culture. For Greek Myths specifically, the gods were made after the people’s own image and used to preserve and deify the human qualities their society deemed sacred. As with humans themselves, myths are no stranger to change and interpretation. Greek gods highlight this significantly. There are two important examples of this;
- Eros, the god of beauty and lust, whose depiction went from a young male beauty to an infant wielding magical arrows that would bind those shot with it in love.
- Dionysus, the god of wine and harvest, who went from a wise, bearded man in long flowing robes to being youthful and effeminate. Greek myths can be divided into two; The Divine Myths: Consists of stories about gods and divine powers. This category often involves imaginary places (Tartarus, Valhalla, etc.). The Heroic Myths: Myths concerning humans who display supreme heroicism, honour etc. Gaining the favour of the gods, slaying mythical beasts and so on. Roman and Greek Mythological Connections: As the Greeks controlled a wide area, they played a crucial role in the building of Rome, and these settlers brought with them their own stories. Even as the Romans’ influence grew, their culture became ingrained with Greek culture, thought and myths.
Literary Sources: The earliest literary sources are the epic poetry of Homer and Hesiod. Their Works are of long traditions and oral verses. (The course mostly focuses on Hesiod’s version.) Visual Sources: The Greeks believed that the invisible should be understood in the realm of the visible. They made their gods in their own image and devoted many artifacts to them such as statues, temples, trinkets, paintings and even festivals. Artistic images show how the ancients visualised the subjects of myths, and also how their conceptions could change over time. Such as Dionysus, who went from a bearded man wearing long robes to a youthful, beardless and half-naked depiction. These visual sources were most importantly used to complete the missing parts of the stories. General Characteristics of Greek Myths: The Greek Gods were not like the gods of other ancient civilizations. They weren’t omniscient or omnipotent, and displayed human qualities such as drinking, quarreling, being deceived or vulnerable and so on. Titans:
- Rhea^1 and Chronos^2 were the most important of the titans, as they birthed many of the Olympian gods. In the beginning, Gaia^3 gives birth to two sets of monsters with 50 heads and 100 arms with Ouranos,^4 her son and husband. Among them, Brontes (Thunderer), Steropes (Ligthner) and Arges (Vivid). Ouranos hates his children so much that he pushes them back into their mother’s womb. Kronos, one of Gaia and Ouranos’ children, decides to punish him for this. He ambushed Ouranos and castrates him with a colossal sickle and flings his genitals to the sea. Ouronos’ blood and semen splatters over Gaia, and this gives birth to three species of gods:
- Erinyes (Furies): Goddesses of retribution who exacted punishment for severe crimes, particularly familial ones.
- Gigantes (Giants): Monstrous being of incredible power with huge bodies. Hesiod has described them in full armour, carrying long spears.
- Meliads (Three Nymphs): Unthreathening creatures, female nature spirits of amorphous disposition. Meanwhile, Ouranos’ severed genitals were carried over the waves, and from the foam gathered around them was born Aphrodite. Rhea gives birth to the children of Kronos. Fearing his children would overthrow him, he devours all five whole. When Rhea was pregnant a sixth time, she turned to her parents for advice. Under their guidance, she goes to Crete to birth Zeus and hide him. To Kronos she gives a swaddled stone to (^4) A god personified by the sky, sometimes referred to as “The Sky-Father” in Roman Mythology, he is called “Uranus” (^3) A goddess personified by the Earth, often called “Mother Earth” (^2) The personification of time and a symbol of cyclical time, sometimes associated with the zodiac wheel (^1) The Titaness Daughter of Gaia and Ouranos, known as the Mother of the Gods
Iron Age: The fifth and current age, were all humans were created by Zeus as evil and selfish, burdened with weariness and sorrow. All manner of evil came into being in this age, piety and other virtues disappeared and most of the gods left on Earth abandoned it. Hesiod predicted that Zeus would destroy this race someday.
Prometheus vs Zeus:
Prometheus was tasked with dividing an ox and set out two portions of food, one for the gods and one for the mortals. He produced, on one hand, a choice selection of succulent meats unappealingly covered with the ox’s stomach and on the other, bones of the ox dressed in a layer of appetizing fat. Zeus was to choose the gods’ portion, and he was tricked into choosing the bones. From that day forward, humans always took the best meat for themselves and burned the bones for the gods. Angered, Zeus withheld from humanity the gift of fire. So, Prometheus stole the fire from heaven and carried it secretly down to earth, gifting it to humans himself. Once again, Zeus was angered, and decided to balance the blessing with a curse; the first woman Pandora, a beautiful evil. Pandora: She was adorned and taught by the gods, showered by beauty and grace by Aphrodite. Zeus gave her to Prometheus’ foolish brother, Epimetheus. Though Prometheus warned him not to take anything from Zeus, Epimetheus condemned himself by welcoming her, for she brought with her as dowry a pithos, a great jar bestowed by the gods. The jar was filled with sorrow, diseases, and hard labour. When Pandora gave in to curiosity and opened the jar, the curse poured all over earth and cursed humanity, from which mortals have never been free since. Thus, was born the phrase “Pandora’s Box”. As for Prometheus, Zeus punished him for his gift of fire by chaining him to a cliff in the Caucasian Mountains and sending an eagle, offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna, to tear out Prometheus’ liver every single day, which grew anew every night. Long ages past before his agony ended, when Zeus sent his son Herakles to kill the eagle and release him. During his torture, Zeus forced him to tell the name of the mother whose son would one day overthrow Zeus.
The 12 Olympians:
Zeus: Often referred to as the King of the Gods, he led a battle against his father Chronos and became the chief god. He controlled the weather, using his ability to hurl thunder and lightning to enforce his reign. His first wife was Metis, then Hera, but he wouldn’t stay loyal to either and frolicked with many women, giving birth to many gods and legendary humans. Poseidon : Parter of the seas, brother of Zeus. Sometimes depicted as serene and wise, other times, wrathful and merciless. He is symbolized by horses and is said to have created them, he has such a liking to them that Demeter once seduced him by turning herself into a horse. His official wife is Amphitrite, who was a reluctant wife at first. She ran away from him once, and Poseidon sent every sea creature after her to bring her back. This made Amphitrite realize Poseidon’s love. The first animal to find her was a dolphin, whom Poseidon immortalized in the sky in the form of the constellation Delphinus. Hera: Last wife of Zeus, often depicted as jealous and wrathful due to Zeus’ philandering. One example of such is Io, who she turned into a cow and sent gadflies to pester her. From Zeus’ tryst with
Alamene was born Hercules, to whom Hera focused her enmity, she sent snakes to poison him in the crib, assigned her 12 labour, and lastly set the amazons on him. Demeter: Goddess of corn and harvest. She oversaw agriculture, farming and the earth’s fertility. To her brother Zeus she bore a daughter, Persephone. Her and Persephone were so close that the pair was dubbed “The Twin Goddesses”. Hades took a liking to Persephone, and hatched a plan to kidnap her, with Zeus’ approval. One day, Persephone and her companions went flower viewing, and Persephone saw a pretty narcissus flower. When she went near it, the earth tore open and out came Hades, and dragged Persephone to Tartarus. With her daughter missing, Demeter was overtaken by grief and spent days scouring the Earth in search of her daughter and abandoned her duties. The resulting famine was so destructive that Zeus himself ordered Hades to give Persephone back, fearing the mortals would stop worshipping the gods. However, because Hades had fed Persephone a pomegranate from the underworld, she could not be completely freed, and had to remain one-third of each year with Hades. Aphrodite: Born of the foam gathering around Ouranos’ severed genitals, she’s associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was married to Hephaestus, but neither of them were loyal. Most notably, she had an affair with Ares. One day, Helios spotted Aphrodite laying with Ares and reported this to Hephaestus. Instead of killing them, Hephaestus fashioned an invisible net, and placed it on their marital bed. When Aphrodite and Ares next laid on the bed together, the net snapped and caught them inside. Suddenly, Hephaestus and the other gods walked in and laughed at the two. From her and Ares’ coupling was born Phobos, Deimos and Eros.
- Aphrodite later came to know the pain of love by a mortal lover, Anchises, a cowherd. She went down to Earth in a disguise and made love to him, then gave birth to Aeneas. Anchises would be fine so long as he never named his son’s real mother, but Zeus tricked him, got him drunk and he revealed her to be Aphrodite. Zeus promptly struck him with his bolts, he was either crippled or blinded. Apollo (Zeus + Leto): Born of Zeus and the titan Leto, Patron of Music, arts, and leader of the Muses. He was also the god of prophecy. He wielded a bow that could bring plagues and mounted a chariot. Often, he is depicted as the epitome of male beauty. When Leto was about to give birth to Apollo and searching for a place to give birth, the whole Earth rejected her, due to Hera’s jealousy. What’s more, Hera had kept the goddesses of birth busy, and Leto was forced to bear the pain for 9 days. Apollo was given the epithet “Pythios” for slaying the beast called Python. He is symbolized by several things, such as a laurel wreath, Lyre, Bow and arrow, and Python.
- Askeplios (Apollo + Koronis): Apollo had her mother killed by fire, but as she lay burning, she saved her son, and gave him to the Centaur Chairon. Chairon raised and educated him in many fields, and later Askeplios became a Master of Medicine. He is associated with snakes.
- In one story, Apollo is challenged to a musical duel by a man named Marsyas. The competition was mostly a stalemate, with Marsyas departing as the victor in the first round, when Apollo showed his trickster side. He turned his lyre upside down and played it with his regular mastery, then challenged Marsyas to do the same. As Marsyas used an Aulos^6 in the duel, it was impossible for him to do this. Marsyas thus lost the duel, and was chained and flayed (skinned) alive. Artemis (Zeus + Leto): Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt, mistress of wild animals, twin of Apollo. As one of the three maiden goddesses (the others being Athena and Hestia), she highly valued purity. (^6) A twin-headed Greek winded instrument. Also named Tibia in Latin.
Dionysus to Semele’s sisters to hide, but they were punished by Hera with a frenzy, going mad and killing their children. Zeus then tried to hide Dionysus by turning him into a goat, but to no avail. Hera found and cursed him directly, and he was left to wander the world with the maddening disease until he was cured by Kybele. Hestia (Chronus + Rhea): Final sister of Zeus, often excluded from the official pantheon of the twelve Olympians. She was the gentlest of the goddesses and protected the home and the hearth. Her symbols were the hearth and its fire. Miscellaneous Gods: Eros: God of love and lust, in the earliest accounts he was a primordial god, but in later iterations he was described as the children of Aphrodite and Ares. His roman equivalent was cupid, and within the Roman canon he was given the form of an infant with magical arrows that could bring two together in love. Hades: God of the dead and keeper of the underworld, eldest son of Chonos and Rhea, brother of Zeus. He was the last to be disgorged from Chronus’ insides. Interestingly, later on his name became synonymous with the underworld itself, and thus the underworld Tartarus is sometimes referred to as Hades even today. Iamos: Son of Apollo and Euadne. Apollo covered up this affair, but her step-father discovered the truth and went to the Delphic Oracle, where he was told Iamos was the son of Apollo and would become a great prophet someday. Eudane had given birth to him at a countryside and returned to find him lying in a bed of violet flowers. Thus, she named him Iamos, meaning “child of the violets” Divine Epithets: The foremost of the gods were often referred to only by their titles and epithets as a sign of respect. These epithets differ from region to region, as different regions have their own stories for the gods. Some of the most important are; Zeus: Cloud Gatherer, Thunderer on high, Father of Gods and Men, Hera: Protector of Men, cow-eyed, white-armed, Goddess of Marriage Apollo: Pythian (or Pyhton), Phoebus Apollo, far-shooter, Paion Hermes: Giver of charm, bringer of luck, Schemer Demeter: Erinys (Avenger), Melania (The Black One) Artemis: “she of the hunt”, “strong-voiced”, “virgin-goddess” Ares: “man-slaying”, “beast-like” Poseidon: “earth-shaker”, “God of the Seas” Hephaestus: “the lame one”, “the halting” Dionysus: “twice born”, “he of the trees”, “the liberator” Athene: “She who fights in the front”, “the unwearying”
Aphrodite: “Ourania” (Heavenly), “mother of love”, “she who has risen from the sea” Greek and Roman Parallels: As the influence of the Greeks were heavy in the Roman empire, their myths were also ported over to the Roman belief. While parallelism between myths is present in almost every culture, Greek and Roman myths are particularly notable in that they’re almost identical, save for a few changes in stories, depiction, and which gods they veneered the most. Greek: Latin: Zeus Jupiter Poseidon Neptune Hera Juno Demeter Ceres Aphrodite Venus Apollo Apollo Artemis Diana Hermes Mercury Ares Mars Hephaestus Vulcan Dionysus Liber Cronus Saturn Eros Cupid Selene Luna Helios Sol, Phoebus Ouranos Uranus, Caelum The Romans were the first to make significant progress in the field of astronomy, they documented and named the five planets visible to the naked eye, as well as many of the constellations. In the 19th century when many new planets and satellites were discovered, the tradition was continued and many mythological characters such as Phobos, Deimos, Ceres, Luna (The Moon, sometimes called Lua) took their place among the stars.
- In the end Herakles killed the Hydra with the help of his nephew Iolaos. As Herakles cut off Hydra’s heads, Iolaos sealed the slump neck with a burning brand to prevent more heads from growing.
- One head was immortal, so Herakles buried it under a heavy rock beside the road from Lerna to Elaios.
- When Hydra was at last dead, Herakles split open its body and took its poisonous blood, and used it as a deadly venom to bask his arrow tips in. Third Labour, The Ceryneian Hind:
- Herakles was to catch the hind with the golden horns, sacred to Artemis.
- He hunted it for a year and finally brought her down with a careful arrow
- As he was carrying it back, he ran into Artemis who was furious with him, but she let him go after he explained his situation.
- Herakles brought the hind to Eurystheus and released it afterwards. Fourth Labour, The Erymanthian Boar
- Once again, Herakles was to bring the animal back alive.
- On his way, he encountered centaurs on Mt. Pholoe, wild creatures born of Ixion’s son Kentauros coupling with Magnesian mares.
- Pholos, a civilised and kindly centaur born of a Melian nymph and the satyr Silenos, chief companion of Dionysus, was first to welcome Herakles.
- Pholos offered him roast meat, but Herakles asked for wine as well. Pholos was hesitant to open the great jar of wine belonging to all centaurs, but Herakles opened it himself, the smell attracting all centaurs.
- A fight broke out, Herakles shot some of them with his arrows, the rest fled to Maleia in the southern Peloponnese, Herakles followed.
- In Maleia, they took refuge with the kindly centaur Cheiron. Herakles approached, still firing arrows, and accidentally shot Cheiron in his knee.
- Because of Hydra’s poison, the wound was incurable and although Cheiron was immortal, he couldn’t bear the agony, and longed to die. Zeus allowed him to give up his immortality and Cheiron was put to death. Zeus set him among the stars as the constellation Sagittarius, once again immortal.
- Herakles returned to Pholoe to find that Pholos had curiously picked up one of his arrows and accidentally dropped it on his foot, so he too had died from Hydra’s poison. Herakles buried his friend before continuing his task
- He found the boar in its lair on Mt. Erymanthos and chased it far, exhausting it and driving it through snow to seize it, then carried it to Mycenae alive. At this, the terrified Eurystheus once again hid in his jar, as frequently seen on vase paintings with him covering and Herakles standing tall before, threatening to ram him with the boar. Fifth Labour, The Augeian Stables:
- His fifth labour was to clean up the Augeian stables, belonging to Augeias, King of Elis.
- He had many herds of cattle which he kept in stables that were never cleaned. Herakles was to clean it in a single day
- Herakles broke openings through the walls of the stables and diverted the two main rivers of the area, Alpheios and Peneios, to flow through and wash away the filth. Sixth Labour, The Stymphalian Birds:
- Was to drive away a large flock of birds infesting the shores around Stymphalos in north-eastern Arcadia.
- Though in the usual story they are not at all dangerous, in one version reflected by Pausanias, the birds are bronze-beaked and man-eating.
- Herakles flushed them out from the trees by creating a fearsome noise with a bronze rattle made by Hephaistos and shot them as they flew up. Seventh Labour, The Cretan Bull:
- For this, Herakles had to leave mainland Greece and travel to Crete, where he was to bring back a magnificent white bull that Poseidon had once sent to Minos, the Cretan king
- Minos had promised to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon, but he loved the bull so much that he sacrificed another instead.
- Poseidon was angered and made his wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull (literally) and from their union were born the minotaurs.
- Herakles wrestled with the bull and rode its back all the way across the sea and over to the Peleponnese.
- Once again, he presented the animal to Eurystheus then set it free. Eight Labour, The Horses of Diomedes:
- In Thrace, Diomedes, son of Ares, was king of Bistones.
- Diomedes owned 4 mares that he fed with human flesh
- Herakles tames the mares by feeding them their own master, and this cured them of their man-eating tastes.
- He drove them back as a chariot team. Eurystheus dedicated them to Hera and bred from them
- In Apollodorus’ version, Herakles drives the mares to the sea, then leaves them in charge of his young lover Abderos, son of Hermes. While Herakles fought Diomedes, the mares dragged Abderos to his death. Herakles buried the boy, and by his grave the city of Abdera was founded in his memory. Ninth Labour, The Belt of Hippolyte:
- In the southern Black Sea by the river Thermoden, lived a tribe of amazon warriors led by Hippolyte, who had a belt (or girdle) which was symbol of her royal authority. Herakles was to bring it to Eurystheus
- Hippolyte agreed to give him the belt, but Hera played her tricks again. She disguised herself as one of the amazons, and inflamed the other women, claiming Herakles kidnapped their queen.
- The amazons attacked Herakles, who assumed treachery and killed Hippolyte and her amazons.
- On his way back he rested at Troy, where he saved Laomedeon’s daughter, Hesione, from a sea monster. Laomedeon promised to reward him the divine horses given to him by Zeus but went back on his word. Herakles vowed for revenge. Tenth Labour, The Cattle of Geryon:
- Geryon, monstrous son of the Oceanid Kallirhoe and Chursaor^9 , had cattle Herakles was tasked to bring to Eurystheus. (^9) Son of Poseidon from Medusa’s cut neck.
- Herakles’ first task was to figure out how to get there, he went and wrestled with Nereus while he kept changing shapes, Herakles held on through all and refused to let go until he got what he wanted. On his way, Herakles had many adventures:
- In Libya, Herakles came across Antaios, son of Poseidon and Gaia, who forced all passengers to wrestle with him. His strength was being constantly renewed so long as he had contact with his mother (Earth). So, Herakles lifted him up high and crushed him in his arms.
- In Egypt, he came across another son of Poseidon, Bousiris. After 9 years of famine, a learned seer from Cyprus instructed that the land would be fruitful so long as he sacrificed every passing foreigner to Zeus. Bousiris sacrificed the seer, then carried on killing every foreigner. When Herakles arrived, he was caught and brought to an altar, he burst his bonds and killed Bousiris.
- In the Caucasian Mountains, he passed by Prometheus and freed him, the grateful Prometheus advised Herakles that he could get the titan Atlas to go get the apples for him, which Herakles obliged. Atlas was another titan punished by Zeus. His punishment was holding up the sky forever for taking part in the 10-year war against Zeus. Atlas gladly obliged to Herakles’ plan and brought the apples for him. He wasn’t planning to ever return to his duty, so he offered to deliver them to Eurystheus himself, but Herakles tricked him. He told atlas to hold up the sky for just a moment while he made himself more comfortable and ran off with the apples once atlas had taken the load once again. The goddess Athene returned the apples to the Hesperides for they were too sacred for mortals.
- In some versions, Herakles kills Lagon before picking the apples himself. After his death, Lagon is immortalised in the constellation Draco. Twelfth Labour, Kerberos:
- Herakles’ final labour was to go down to Tartarus and fetch Kerberos.
- He was accompanied by Hermes, they went down, passing by many familiar faces in Tartarus.
- Finally, he came facing Hades himself, who gave him permission to take Kerberos back to Earth for a short time, so long as he mastered him without using weapons. Herakles overcame the hound by brute strength, and brought him up to Earth.
- The foam from the hound’s jaws took root and grew into the aconite plant with deadly poison.
- Eurystheus once again hid in his jar after seeing Kerberos, and Herakles returned him to Hades. Marriage To Deineira:
- With his mind once again at marriage, Herakles journeyed to woo Deineira, who had another suitor, the river god Acheloos.
- Herakles wrestled Acheloos for her hand, and after much struggle, Herakles beat him.
- During their struggle, Herakles broke off one of Archeloos’s horns. To recover this, Acheloos gave in its place the precious horn of Amaltheia, the “Horn of Plenty”, a cornucopia that provided limitless food and drink.
- Deianeira married Herakles, bearing several children together. Death and Apotheosis:
- Nessos gives Deianeira a “love-charm” for she fears Herakles will leave him. She smears the potion onto a robe and gifts it to Herakles.
- Upon putting on the robe, Herakles is overtaken by the agony of the poison
- Hyllos, one of Herakles and Deianeira’s sons, brings his father home as he lay dying. In her shock and sadness, Deianeira goes out to their marital bed and stabs herself with a sword.
- Herakles instructs Hyllos to take him to a funeral pyre. As he lays on it, ready for his death, nobody was willing to light the pyre. Except Poias, who passed by looking for his sheep, agreed to light the pyre, and Herakles awarded him with his bow and arrows.
- As the pyre burnt, a thunderclap broke from heaven. Herakles was taken up to Olympos and made immortal among the gods. Zeus honoured his son by setting him among the stars as the constellation Herakles. Constellation we’ve encountered (So far): Delphinus, Cancer, Sagittarius, Draco, Herakles
The Trojan War
Zeus was the main progenitor of the war, to reduce the rapidly increasing population of humanity and, more importantly, as an expedition to reclaim his daughter Helen from her abductor, Paris. The Birth of Helen:
- Helen’s birth and kidnapping was all Zeus’ plan to start the Trojan war
- Her mother is often named Leda
- Zeus takes the form of a swan and flies into her arms, from the union is borne an egg that births Helen
- In some versions, Nemesis is the one who bears the egg, then Helen is brought to Leda.
- When young, she was abducted by Theseus and his comrade Peirithoos. She was soon rescued by her brothers. When Helen was of marriage age, the greatest heroes from all over Greece came bearing gifts to win her over, including Menestheus, Ajax, and Odysseus.
- Menelaos was chosen, as he gave the most gifts
- Achilles was too young to participate Helen’s birth was all part of Zeus’ plan. Her kidnapping, and the resulting war to get her back was all intentionally orchestrated by him. Her mother is usually said to be Leda, wife of spartan king Tyndareos. Zeus took the form of a swan and flew into Leda’s arms for protection from an eagle. The result of their union was an egg, from which was born Helen. Three more were also born to Leda, known as Dioskouroi (Boys of Zeus) including Klytaimnestra, who would later marry and murder king Agamemnon.
- He ambushed her by the coast and wrestled her. Thetis changed shape to various animals, but Peleus wouldn’t budge, so she gave up and became his wife.
- Their wedding was celebrated on Mt. Pelion, which Eris wasn’t invited to and became spiteful.
- Their son Achilles would indeed turn out to be greater than his father.
- Thetis wanted to make their son immortal, so she would dip his body in fire at night and wash him with ambrosia during the day. When Peleus witnessed this, he cried out in horror and interrupted her. Thetis was so angry that she left her family and returned to the sea to live with the Nereids once more.
- In another version, Thetis instead washes Achilles in the river Styx, gripping him by the Ankle. This made him immortal in every part except one heel. Eventually, an arrow in that one weak ankle would bring about his death.
- Peleus gave Achilles to Cheiron, the wise kindly Centaur living in Mt. Pelion.
- Cheiron fed Achilles with the flesh of lions and boars to enstill courage and strength. Achilles grew up to be handsome, strong, valiant and so fleet of his foot that he could run down stags without hounds
- Homer calls him “Swift-footed Achilles” (!)
- Thetis never ceased watching over her son. When she foresaw the approaching war and Achilles’ destined death, she dressed him up as a girl and sent him to live with the women at Lykomedes’ court.
- Odysseus later broke Achilles’ disguise and recruited him to fight for Troy. Achilles went eagerly. Prelude to War: With the blessing of Aphrodite, Paris went to the Peloponnese as soon as he could, to the doorstep of Helen and Menelaos.
- By this time, Helen and Menelaos were married for a good while, and their daughter, Hermoine, was 9.
- The couple received Paris warmly and entertained him, Paris would in turn give rich gifts to Helen.
- After 9 days, Menelaos went to Crete to bury his grandfather, and asked Helen to look after their guest and supply him with whatever he needs.
- Seizing the opportunity, Paris courted her and Helen, swayed by Aphrodite, quickly fell in love. They quickly left Sparta for Troy.
- When Menelaos returned and learned of it, he went to his brother Agamemnon for help. Together they sent envoys around Greece and calling for war. In time, they had an army big enough to take Helen back by force
- Odysseus was also recruited to the army by force despite his reluctance, and he agreed to recruit others, among them were Achilles, Ajax and Diomedes
- The army gathered with a fleet and assembled at Aulis.
- Once at Aulis, when they were making sacrifices to win divine favour, a terrible serpent gilded from beneath the sacrificial altar. The serpent climbed a tree and devoured 8 baby sparrows and their mother. At once the snake was turned to stone by Zeus. (Slaytlarda vardı, büyük olasılıkla önemlidir.)
First Attempt to Reach Troy:
- The Greeks did not know the exact location of Troy, and went too far to the south, landing in Troy’s neighbouring country, Mysia.
- Mistaking Mysia to be Troy, they began attacking and pillaging. Among the chaos, Achilles had wounded the land’s king, Telephos, who discovered his wounds wouldn’t heal after the Greeks realised their mistake and left.
- Telephos learned from an oracle that it could only be cured by the one who wounded him, so he set after Achilles. He would find him in Argos, where Greeks were reassembling their forces.
- The fleet was gathered in Aulis once more, where the oracle Kalchas made a second prophecy, that Artemis was angry and demanded sacrifice of Agamemnon’s virgin daughter, Iphigenia. The cause of the goddess’ anger was that Agamemnon had shot a stag and boasted that he was a greater hunter than Artemis herself. Agamemnon made efforts to sacrifice her, luring her to Aulis with the promise that Achilles was there to marry her. Iphigenia figures out her father’s intentions but agrees to be sacrificed. She was brought to the altar, but in a crucial moment, just as the knife is stroked, Artemis takes away Iphigenia and replaces her with a deer to be sacrificed.
- In other versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed, and her mother Klytaimnestra murders Agamemnon upon his return for sacrificing their daughter.
- After crossing the Aegean, the Greeks land in Tenedos, and island in Troy.
- The island’s king, Tenes, sought to drive them away by bombarding them with stone and Achilles killed him, even though Thetis had warned him not to, or else he would die at the hands of Apollo, which he later would. First 9 Years:
- At first, Greeks try to get Helen back peacefully
- Greeks struggle to breach the walls of Troy for 9 whole years
- During this period, Greeks sacked almost all surrounding cities. Among them, Lyrnessos is important as Achilles is awarded his beloved Brises after taking the city.
- All of the original suitors of Helen are bound to fight in the war, as Tyndareus had all of them swear an oath to protect the marriage of Helen if they weren’t chosen. Wrath of Achilles in the Tenth Year:
- The beginning of the Iliad
- Agamemnon, after losing his bride-prize Chryseis, takes Brises from Achilles as replacement
- Achilles is angered and leaves the battle entirely.
- In Achilles’ absence, the Trojans gain the upper hand on the Greeks
- An important Trojan hero, Hector, slays many Achaeans including Patroklos, a dear friend of Achilles.
- After hearing of his friend’s death, Achilles returns to the battle and kills Hector, drags his body around a temple of Apollo and leaves it to rot but the gods, favouring Hector, preserve his body.
- Afterwards Hector’s body is taken through a regular ceremony and properly buried. **Hector’s funeral concludes the Iliad.
- Achilles’ wrath is caused by Agamemnon taking Brises from him (%99 sınav sorusu)**
- Menelaos wins the duel and drags Paris back to the Greek lines by his helmet, almost killing him, until Aphrodite saves Paris by spiriting him away. (%99 Sınav sorusu)
- Later, Paris is mortally wounded by Philoctetes and dies when his original wife Oenone refuses to help him. Previous Characters’ Fates After the War:
- Priam: Caught in the altar of Zeus and butchered by Neoptolemus.^10
- Andromache and her son Astyanax: Flung down the walls of Troy by Neoptolemus
- Hecuba: Given as prize to Odysseus, the man she hated the most.
- Kassandra: Raped by the lesser Ajax and then awarded to Agamemnon
- Helen: After Paris’s death, his brother Deiphobus marries Helen. Menelaos finds both and kills Deiphobus. He was going to kill Helen as well, but after seeing Helen naked once again, he decides to spare her.
There are Two Ajaxes:
Ajax The Lesser:
- Son of Oileus, king of Locris. He’s also called “Locrian Ajax”. - Was the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War. - Rapes Kassandra - Invokes Athena’s anger, who orders the Greeks to kill him, but he hides in different
temples each time and the Greeks leave him alone, fearing they’d invoke the wrath of
another god.
- He’s eventually killed by drowning after Poseidon drives his trident through his ship
and destroys it.
- Cowardly and cringe. Ajax The Greater: - Son of Telamon and Periboea, half-brother of Teucer. Also called Telamonian Ajax. - The actually heroic one - In Achilles’ absence, he fights Hector in a duel - After Achilles’ death, the Greek warriors hold a competition to determine who’d
inherit his divine armour.
- Ajax fights Odysseus in this competition and kills himself out of shame after losing. - Extremely based.
Hocanın çalışın dediği sorular:
- Why is Achilles full of wrath? -> Because Agamemnon takes Brises away from him.
- Who saves Paris from death by Menelaos? -> Aphrodite
- What does “Iliad” mean? (Optional) -> A series of miseries and disastrous events. (^10) Also called Pyrrhus.
