Mythology of the Iliad and the Odyssey Read Online Free Page A

the picture of Hera as the jealous divine wife Homer presents elsewhere in the
Iliad
—in her plot against Heracles, Zeus’s child by a mortal woman (14.300-8), and her brutal assault on Artemis, Zeus’s child by another goddess (21.557-66).... And this personal motive has its opposite side: the unfailing support given to the Trojans by the winner of the beauty contest, Aphrodite, and her intervention to save Paris from his fate at the hands of Menelaus (3.439-41). 7

INTRODUCTION
    Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces during the Trojan War, quarreled with Achilles, his greatest warrior. They argued violently over the spoils, or prizes, of war. Agamemnon had taken away Briseïs, a slave girl whom Achilles had won. The Greeks considered war prizes to be evidence of a hero’s honor. Thus, Agamemnon’s action slighted Achilles’ honor.
    The story of Achilles and Agamemnon is told in the
Iliad
, which is divided into twenty-four parts called books. In Homer’s day, the
Iliad
was recited at festivals, where it took two or three days to perform, because it required fifteen sessions of two hours each. 1 Most likely, poets took turns reciting it.
    Iliad
is a word which means “a poem about Ilium.”
Ilium
was another name for the city of Troy. However, the
Iliad
is not just about the city of Troy and the Trojan War. The first line of Homer’s epic notes that the poem’s subject is:
“Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles...”(1.1) 2
    The rage, or fierce anger, of Achilles occurred after the quarrel he had with Agamemnon. Their quarrel took place in the tenth and last year of the Trojan War. As a result of his rage, Achilles acted unlike a hero by withdrawing from the battle. His pride, or
hubris
, got in the way of his duty as a warrior. His actions caused the deaths of many warriors, both Trojan and Greek. However, Achilles finally became aware of how his pride had caused his inappropriate actions. This awareness—and his fated death—make him a tragic hero.
    At that time, there was no unified Greek nation. Rather, there were many cities, each with its own king and ruling family. Homer referred to the Greek fighting forces as “the Achaeans.” Achaea was a region in the northern Peloponnesus. According to Greek mythology, the Achaeans were descended from Achaeus, the grandson of Hellen. Hellen was the ancestor of the Hellenes, another name for the Greeks. Ancient Greece was known as Hellas.
    The Greek and Trojan armies were organized differently. The Greeks were led by King Agamemnon of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus. However, the army he commanded was made up of smaller independent groups, or contingents. Each contingent had its own commander. Achilles, for example, commanded the Myrmidons. At any time, a commander could withdraw his independent army from the fighting, which Achilles did for a time.
    Troy was a powerful city led by a mighty king, Priam. His fifty sons, including Paris and Hector, were part of that army. Troy also received help from independent allies from different nations. These allies included the Amazons, a mighty race of warrior women; the Ethiopians, from the south; and the Lycians, from southern Asia Minor. When Homer compared the Trojans and Greeks, he considered the Trojans more cosmopolitan, or having a world-wide mixture. 3
    The war took place in Troy and the area surrounding it. In the 1870s, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann went in search of the site of the ancient city. He excavated what is known as the mound of Hissarlik. This mound is located on the plain by the Hellespont (Dardanelles) in the northwest corner of present-day Turkey. There, Schliemann found evidence of at least nine cities, layered one atop the other. These cities are referred to as Troy 1, Troy 2, and so on. Schliemann believed that Troy 2 was the location of the city where the Trojan War took place. He based his claims on the jewelry and golden treasure that he found there. However, modern