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Final Exam Study Guide
Classical Mythology (CLSA20160001)
University of Iowa
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Classical Mythology Final Exam Notes
Ch – Oedipus and the Myths of Thebes The Founding of Thebes Two Separate Stories of the Founding o Dionysus and Heracles born in Thebes Cadmus, one of Europa’s brothers, searches for his sister o Her brothers were sent by her father to go find her and not to return without her o Cilix and Phoenix gave up the search, only Cadmus continued; he will never find her o Delphi: Follow a cow with special markings and found a city where the cow lies down He builds Thebes in Boeotia o Wishing to sacrifice the cow to Zeus, he sends his companions to get water for the sacrifice Cadmus’ companions are killed by a dragon o Cadmus defeats the dragon and plants its teeth into the ground (Athena’s suggestion) A goddess appears to him and predicts that he will too turn into a serpent Up spring armed men Cadmus throws stones among them; think that they are being attacked, the warriors battle each other until only five remain Only five survive, the Sparti, “sown men,” ancestors of the aristocratic families in Thebes o Cadmus was forced to serve Ares for 8 years in penance for the dragon he had killed o Cadmus marries Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite Their wedding was one of the most splendid in Greek myth Aphrodite gave her as a wedding gift objects of wondrous beauty (necklace and a robe), but a jinx to whoever wore them in later generations The children of this union were to lead accursed lives Grown old and worn out with grief, Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes wandering to Illyria where he too became king o Cadmus and Harmonia were ultimately turned into serpents and sent by Zeus to live forever in the Elysian fields Amphion and Zethus o Antiope becomes pregnant by Zeus Antiope had been forced to leave Thebes by her father because of her shameless behavior Antiope took refuge with a king of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus and married him o Still ashamed in his daughter’s behavior, Nycteus commanded his brother, Lycus, to avenge his families honor, then killed himself Lycus followed Nycteus’ command and mounted a campaign against Sicyon, killed the king, took Antiope prisoner, and dragged her back to Thebes o On the way back to Thebes, she gives birth to twins A shepherd finds them in the mount Cithaeron He raises them and gives them their names, Amphion and Zethus o Lycus brings her back and hands her over to his wife, Dirce Dirce hates Antiope: locked her in a cell and tortured her daily Eventually she escaped her tormenter, Antiope flees to the mountains and ends up in the hut of her children Somehow they recognize her and, eager for revenge, tracked down Dirce o Amphion and Zethus punish Dirce by tying her to a bull which drags her to her death They threw threw her body into a spring, and then they killed Lycus o While growing up, Amphion and Zethus showed themselves to be opposite in nature, however, they were friendly and ruled together in harmony
Zethus: cattle breeder, a man of action and practical affairs; scorned Amphion, who spent his time practicing the lyre But the power of art proved itself when the two brother set out to build the walls of Thebes, a second foundation: The first thing one does in founding a city is to build protective walls Zethus struggled to carry mighty stones on his back, while Amphion merely strummed on his lyre and the stones rose miraculously from the ground and settled in place Oedipus the King o Laius, king of Thebes, Amphion and Zethus had both died and the Thebans acclaimed him as king, was married to Jocasta He avoided intercourse with his wife because an oracle had foreseen that he would die at the hands of his son One day Laius became drunk and slept with Jocasta A son was born but Laius ordered that the child be exposed to die He pinned together the child’s feet with an iron pin (Oedipus = swollen foot) and gave the baby to a shepherd The shepherd took pity and gave the child to a friend from Corinth o In Corinth, he was adopted by King Polybus and his wife Merope o Oedipus grew up in Corinth Some of his friends taunted him about his birth and he went to Delphi to ask about his parents The Pythia at Delphi: Oedipus will kill his father and sleep with his mother o He vowed to never return to Corinth and instead, Oedipus heads towards Thebes At a fork in the road on the way there, a man in a chariot from the other direction drove him off of it He gets into a fight and kills a man who struck him with his goad o Thebes is in turmoil: The Sphinx was devouring the Thebans one by one o Before killing her victims, the Sphinx posed a riddle: “What goes on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?” Only when the riddle was answered would the Thebans be delivered from the sphinx o Oedipus learns that King Laius had been killed on his way to Delphi to find out what he should do about the situation o Creon, Laius’ brother-in-law, decreed that whoever solved the riddle could marry the queen and become king of Thebes Oedipus solved the riddle (“human” infants, maturity, old age: cane), the Sphinx threw herself off of a cliff, he married Jocasta, and became king of Thebes They had two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene o Sophocles in his Oedipus the King unfolds little by little how Oedipus finds out the truth The play is both a masterpiece and a deeply disturbing story A plague has fallen over the city, Oedipus learns from an oracle that miasma, blood- pollution, has caused the plague In the confusion surrounding the Sphinx, no one had taken the time to find the murderer of King Laius o The ghost of King Laius was angry and vengeful “To all Cadmeans do I proclaim: if any of you knows by whom your King Laius was slain, I order him to tell me all he knows...” “I herby call down curses on this killer-be he alone, or helped in secret crime-that horribly, as he is horrible, he may drag out his wretched unblessed days”
o Theseus steps up to help Oedipus, by ordering them to leave o Oedipus curses both his sons and predicts that they will kill each other o Finally, Oedipus withdraws into the grove, blesses his daughters, and disappears mysteriously – an invisible spirit protecting Athens from her enemies The Battle Before Thebes o The army from Argos arrives at seven-gated Thebes There were seven heroes on each side, and Argive to attack each gate, a Theban to defend Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes o Tiresias informs the Thebans that they could win the war only if Creon’s son, Menoeceus, was sacrificed to Ares Overhearing this, Menoeceus willingly kills himself outside one of the gates o Eteocles and Polynices meet in combat and each kills the other “Each took his sword in hand and charges the other... so side by side the brothers fell to earth, one by the other. Thus they shared the realm” – Euripides’ Phoenician Women o Only Adrastus escaped in his chariot Antigone o Creon decides that the corpses of the attackers are not to be given proper burial and that anyone who defies the edict will be put to death o Antigone is determined to bury Polynices She declares her intention to Ismene who cannot believe that Antigone plans to defy the king’s decree Antigone insists her own first duty is to family and to ancient custom o When Creon learns that someone has cast a handful of dust on the corpse, he immediately suspects a political conspiracy o He is astonished when guards drag Antigone before him as a culprit, who is engaged to marry his son o Creon finds out that Antigone has performed rites over the corpse and condemns her to death He sends her to a cave to be buried alive “... do you admit it this, or deny your guilt?” “I admit it proudly. This I do not deny” “... did you know that my decree forbade the deed?” “Like everyone else, I knew. Just what did you expect?” “But still you dared to flout the city’s law?” “I did indeed. The law was not prescribed by Zeus...” – Sophocles, Antigone o Haemon, son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone, tries to change his father’s mind Creon refuses and even threatened Haemon with death “Love, unconquered in the fight, love, you who make havoc of wealth, who keep thy vigil on the soft check of a maiden; thou roam over the sea, and among the homes of dwellers in the wilds; no immortal can escape thee, nor any among men whose life is for a day; and he to whom thou hast come is mad...” o Creon sends Antigone to a cave to be buried alive o Tiresias reports horrid omens in the city and warns Creon to retract his harsh decree At last Creon goes to the cave to release Antigone; Antigone has hanged herself o Haemon tries to kill his father with his sword, misses, and kills himself o The mother of Haemon, at the news of her son’s death, commits suicide o State vs. Family: Should the city or the family be the basis of society? o Nomos (law of custom) vs. Physis (nature) o Woman vs. man: The female is acting on the male, while the males is acted upon Ch – Jason and the Myths of Iolcus and Calydon
Thessaly o Thessaly, the richest plain in Greece, birthplace of Achilles Dominated by wealthy aristocratic elite o The Vale of Tempe: Peneus River Very narrow o Mt. Pelion: Home of Chiron the Centaur Centaur Country o Sources About Jason and The Argonauts Homer: Odyssey Main Source – Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica The Generation Before the Trojan War Euripedes: Medea The Aeolids: Phrixus and Helle o Descends of King Aeolous of the Magnesia Peninsula He had seven sons, including Athamus o Athamas + Nephele Phrixus (son) + Helle (daughter) Eventually Athamus got tired of Nephele and took a second wife, Ino, daughter of Cadmus of Thebes o Athamas + Ino: Ino bore Athamas two sons and was insanely jealous of Phrixus because she feared that he, instead of one of her own children, might inherit the throne She therefore contrived a plot to destroy her stepson She persuaded the local women to parch the seed grain crop failed and famine soon fell on the land, so Athamas, as Ino had foreseen, sent messengers to the oracle at Delphi to ask what to do o Ino intercepted the messengers and bribed them to report that Apollo replied that to restore the land, Athamas must sacrifice his firstborn child, Phrixus Athamas sorrowfully led Phrixus to the altar, but just as he was about to stab him, a golden ram appeared beside the altar Athamas stood back as Phrixus and his sister climbed on the back of the animal The ram soared away to the east; No one in Greece saw the children again Golden ram Appears just in time and Phrixus and Helle are saved from being sacrificed Parallel with Abraham and Isaac in the Bible o Phrixus and Helle Helle lost her grip and tumbled to her death in the narrows below, Hellespont “sea of Helle” The ram reached the city of Colchis, in the Black Sea Phrixus sacrifices the ram to Zeus in gratitude and gives the skin to Aeetes, son of Helius, who hung the it from an oak tree in a grove of Ares Aeetes was the local king Son of Helius and brother of Pasiphae Set a great dragon to protect it Pelias and Jason o Aeson Jason o Pelias grew up to be arrogant and intolerant Pelias kept his half-brother Aeson imprisoned in the palace of Iolcus, was said to be the rightful heir Pelias is king of Iolcus o Aeson’s wife had a son whom he gave to Chiron Feared Pelias would kill him said he was dead in childbirth, stillborn; sent him to Chiron Chiron names the boy Jason and raised him to manhood
Heracles heard the scream, but found nothing now lived with the nymphs deep in the pond Argonauts noticed that they were missing, but continued on o Put in to a land ruled by the braggart Amycus, an ugly, brutish man who challenged all passersby to box He always won, except when he faced Polydeuces Approaching the Bosporus, they stop at the land of King Phineus o Had abused the gift of prophecy given to him by Apollo, so the Harpies (half women/ half birds) always tortured by them o The Harpies (“snatchers”) were constantly stealing the food from him o Phineus promises to show the Argonauts the way to Colchis if the Boreas help him Phineus’s wife Cleopatra and the desperate Phineus agree to give Jason exact information about the future course of the Argo if Boreas would free him from the Harpies The Argonauts bait a trap, a table set with delicious foods When the Harpies appeared, Boreas, winged, drew their swords and rose against them, pursuing them at lightening speed through the air until they fell from the sky o They kill the Harpies Phineus warns them about the Symphlegades, the “Clashing Rocks,” which smashed anything that came between them o Before attempting to go through, Jason should let a dove fly through the rocks to see if the passage was safe; the dove passed through, losing only its tail feathers as the rocks crashed together behind it If the dove did not make it through, they should forget about their adventure and go home o Now the Argonauts took their chance, after rowing hard, nearly in desperation, they too got past the rocks Just as the tail feathers of the dove was caught by the rocks, so was the banner of the Argo’s stern snapped away Medea and the Golden Fleece The Argonauts arrive at Colchis Because an oracle had warned Aeetes that a foreigner would be his undoing, he greeted the foreigners brusquely Aeetes announced that he would gladly let Jason take the Golden Fleece once: o Jason yoked two fire-breathing, bronze-hoofed bulls, plowed up the ground, sowed the dragon’s teeth left over from the dragon Cadmus had killed, and kill the armed warriors who would spring from the earth Jason fell into a deep depression he could see no escape Hera causes Medea, a sorceress and the king’s daughter, to fall in love with Jason and betray her father o She persuaded Aphrodite to send Eros to prick Medea with such love for Jason that she would help him against her cruel father Aeetes, who despised foreigners and had no intention of giving up the fleece She gives him a protective ointment, spread on his sword, shield, and body; Jason promises to marry her if only he lived Jason succeeds in performing the task Although his plan had failed, Aeetes was not going to give up the fleece o He decided to destroy the Greeks at once o Medea, realizing that she was about to be discovered, led Jason to the fleece
o With the help of Medea, she puts the dragon to sleep with the potion, snatches the fleece, and the two flee away Helping the hero at the expense of her own family o They snatched the fleece, ran to the Argo, and rowed away Libya Aeetes and Apsyrtus, his son and Medea’s brother, pursue them all over the Mediterranean o Apsyrtus Medea lured him into a trap where Jason killed him, chopped off his fingers and toes, and three times sucked up a mouthful of blood and spit it out (confuse the ghost), then buried the corps Apollonius of Rhodes: Or, Medea kidnapped her little brother, cut him into pieces, and dropped pieces of him to the overboard to slow her father down, since he would have to pick up the pieces They reach Libya o The ship halts upon the burning sands o The Argonauts pick it up on their shoulders and carry it for nine days They find the Garden of the Hesperides in the middle of the desert o Nymphs weeping over the snake Ladon, which Heracles had now killed o Heracles has just left with the apples They manage to return Argo to the sea and they head north to Crete Crete Talus hurls huge stones against them Bronze giant (robot) who circles the island hurls the boulder at any ship that is approaching the island o The giant had a single vein of ichor, the liquid that serves as blood for the gods, replenished through a whole in the ankle Medea fixes the giant with her evil eye o He strikes his ankle against a rock and dislodges the plug that held in the ichor, his divine blood Talus, fatally weakened, falls from a cliff into the sea Apollonius of Rhodius The story of the Argonauts is preserved by Apollonius of Rhodius (3rd century BC) in his poem the Argonautica Jason indecisive, less brave than Medea who is the stronger of the two and takes initiative to get stuff done: reversal of expected patterns of heroic behavior Emphasis on Jason’s and Medea’s emotions, technical descriptions, geography The Death of Pelias Back on Iolcus, the rumor spread that the Argo had sunk with all hands aboard o Pelias congratulated himself on being the first human to escape the fate predicted by an oracle o He decided to finish off Aeson, Jason’s father, permitting him to drink bull’s blood, a deadly poison Jason’s mother ran screaming in the palace, cursed the king, and killed herself with a sword Jason and Medea arrive at Iolcus, after his four-month voyage o They show the fleece to Pelias but he refuses to give up the throne o Medea decides to get rid of Pelias with the aid of his daughters o Medea claims to Pelias’ daughter that she can make their father younger by chopping him up into pieces and boiling the pieces in a cauldron of water and magical herbs
At his birth, two of the Fates said that Meleager would become handsome and brave but the third pointed to a log burning in the fireplace and proclaimed that when that log would be consumed, Meleager would die His mother, Althaea, extinguished the fire puts the log in a chest in a basement o “When that log is consumed, the child will die” o Meleager eventually returns from Cochis after being with the Argonauts o Artemis sends an enormous boar to ravage Calydon Oeneus forgets to include Artemis in the harvest sacrifice, which offends her Boar tore up the crops, uprooted tress, and killed anyone who crossed his path o Summoned by Oeneus, a team of heroes assembles to take on the boar: Dioscuri, Theseus, Jason, Pirithous, Peleus, Iphicles, Amphiaraus (seer of Argos) o Meleager is their leader of the hunting party o Atalanta, a famous female athlete (sprinter), joins the hunt Wanting only boys, she was exposed at birth, suckled by a bear, and raised by hunters Meleager was very attracted to her, so he let her come on the hunt Other people were upset Source: the poet Bacchylids Heracles descending into the Underworld and sees Meleager’s ghost o Atalanta is first to wound the beast pig’s red eye; Meleager finishes it off o Meleager gives the pelt to Atalanta she had drawn blood first but also because he wanted to sleep with her o His maternal uncles protest and Meleager kills them o Hearing the news, Meleager’s mother throws the log into the fire and Meleager dies “When all at once my dear breath-soul shriveled, and I groaned at feeling my strength decay. With my dying breath I mourned for the brightness of the youth and joy I was leaving behind” Heracles asked, if he had a sister? Yes, he does: Deianira o Remorseful, Althaea hanged herself after killing her son, and Meleager’s wife followed suit The Future Adventures of Atalanta o Her father wanted her to marry a young man, but she was determined to remain a virgin o Atalanta agrees to marry whoever could beat her in a footrace Devotee of Artmeis o The suitors would take a head start and then Atalanta would come from behind and throw her spear in their back, then cuts off their heads and dangles them on staffs surrounding the stadium o Melanion lets go one of the apples (golden apples of the Hesperides) that Aphrodite had give him Atalanta stops to pick it up and Melanion wins the race “She allowed him to distract her from her murderous habits” o The two have intercourse at a shrine of Zeus and Zeus changes them into lions According to Greek folklore, lions can mate with leopards, but never with other lions Ch – The Trojan War Hellenspont – belief that the Trojan war began with a real historical event: the sack of a Bronze Age City near the Hellenspont around 1200 BC Sophia wearing “Priam’s treasure” Heinrich Schliemann o Damaged Troy 7 Sculptural fragments from East Pediment, Temple of Zeus at Olympia The House of Atreus o The kings who led the Greek expedition to Troy came from the House of Atreus, which ruled the Argive plain from either Mycenae or Argos
o Tantalus and Pelops Tantalus – the arrogant king who dined with the gods, stole their nectar and ambrosia, then tempted them to cannibalism The descendants of Tantalus committed crimes worthy of the founder of their line: hideous crimes of treachery, adultery, cannibalism, incest, rape, and murder Misfortunes resulted from the crimes committed in the early days of the dynasty and the curses that these crimes provoked from their enemies Tantalus had invited the gods to a banquet, then chopped up his son Pelops and served the pieces in a stew All the gods recognized the dish at once as human flesh and rejected it, except Demeter, preoccupied with disappearance of her daughter Persephone She accidently consumed Pelops’ shoulder Zeus ordered Hermes to put the pieces back into the pot and boil them some more Out came a fresh child, minus his shoulder Hephaestus made a prosthetic shoulder of ivory o Oenomaus and Hippodamia Oenomaus, King of Pisa, site of the classical Olympic Games, was in love with his daughter Hippodamia, and refused to let her marry anyone To marry Hippodamia, beat him in a chariot race: an unwinnable contest magical race (horses were the children of the winds); gave the suitors a head start and then chopped the suitors head off o Nailed the heads of the suitors to the door of his palace o Hippodamia was so beautiful that these conditions were no deterrent Pelops heard of Hippodamia’s beauty and was determined to win the contest o Came from Lydia bringing a golden-winged chariot drawn by horses that never tired, gift from his divine lover, Poseidon o Pelops also bribed Myrtilus, the king’s charioteer, promising him the first night in bed with Hippodamia if he helped him win the race Pelops wins Hippodamia with the help of the Myrtilus Bribed a stable boy, to tamper with the pins in the chariot, replacing them with wax, so that when the chariot was going, the wheels would fall off Pelops won with his special chariot o The heated axle melted the wax and the wheels flew off Oenomaus was tangled in the reins and dragged to his death When Pelops returned, he found Myrtilus clawing at Hippodamia, eager for his reward In a rage, Pelops threw him off from a cliff As Myrtilus fell, he curses Pelops and all of his line Curses on the lips of dying men are particularly effective o Pelops became the king of Peloponnesus, “island of Pelops” After the Heraclids killed Eurystheus, an oracle ordered the Mycenaeans to choose a child of Pelops to be the new king o Thyestes and Atreus were his children Pelops + Hippodamia Thyestes and Atreus o An oracle had ordered the Mycenaeans to choose as their king a child of Pelops Thyestes’ suggestion: whichever of the two, Atreus or Thyestes, produced the fleece of the golden lamb, that one would become the king Years before, Atreus had vowed to Artemis to sacrifice his finest lamb to her, but when a lamb with a golden fleece appeared in his flock, he killed it and hid the skin in a trunk instead of burning the fleece on the altar as he should have The only other person that knew about the deception was his wife
Pelopia, in despair over her father being her rapisr, plunges the sword into her heart Aegisthus, realizing his true paternity, drew out the bloody weapon from his mother’s dead body and carried it to Atreus, seeming proof that he performed Atreus’ bloody command to kill Thyestes Then he kills Atreus Thyestes became king of Mycenae Agamemnon and Menelaus flee to Sparta and took refuge with Tyndareus o With the help of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, they raised an army and Agamemnon seized the power from Thyestes, now the new King of Mycenae The House of Tyndarerus o Leda was the wife of Tyndareus Zeus, seeing how beautiful she was, came to her in the form of a swan: Helen and Polydeuces (semidivine) Leda and her husband Tyndareus also had intercourse that night: Castor and Clytemnestra (mortal) Idea that she laid two eggs: One egg for each man she slept with Castor and Polydeuces = Dioscuri “sons of Zeus” who traveled on the Argo o The Oath of Tyndareus Tyndareus married Clytemnestra to Agamemnon, but worried about Helen, who had grown up to be the most beautiful woman in the world The best Greek men sought her hand Tyndareus was in a dilemma Odysseus, one of the suitors, understood Tyndareus’ position and suggested a solution: o If only Tyndareus would arrange Odysseus’ marriage with Tyndareus’ niece, Penelope o Oath of Tyndareus: “If anyone carried Helen off, then all the suitors together should join in pursuit and exact punishment from the offender” – Hesoid, Catalogue of Women Helen was given to Menelaus o Helen bore Menelaus a daughter, Hermione The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis o Peleus: born on Aegina o Peleus and his brother Telamon kill their half-brother Phocus, envied his superior athletic ability, and are exiled Telamon settles on Salamis Fathered Ajax: suitor of Helen and one of the greatest heroes in the Trojan War Peleus settles in Thessaly o Zeus arranged for Thetis, his former mistress, to marry Peleus Prometheus revealed that Thetis’ child would be greater than the father Peleus tried to rape Thetis, she changed forms (fire, tree, lion) , but finally agreed to marry him o Hera, evidently grateful to Thetis for not having slept with her husband, arranged for Thetis the most splendid wedding Euripedes, Iphigenia in Aulis o In the midst of the wedding, Eris, “strife,” appeared at the door of the wedding tent, resentful she had not received the invitation She rolled an apple across the floor, crying, “May the most beautiful goddess take it” Eris and the apple “to the fairest” o Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each claimed the apple for herself They made such a ruckus that Zeus ordered them to be quiet and to present themselves for impartial appraisal before Paris
o Zeus appointed Paris, son of of Trojan King Priam, as the judge of who is the most beautiful of the goddesses Paris: exposed to die, raised by shepherds bring about down fall of Troy Priam + Hecabe Paris Hecabe dreamed that she gave birth to a firebrand seer: next child would cause the city’s destruction Priam ordered the child to be exposed on Mount Ida behind Troy, but a shepherd found the child, called him Paris, and raised him as his own One day Paris awoke from a nap to find Hermes, who presented the three feuding goddesses for inspection They bribe him Greeks: Achaeans, Argives, Danaans The Judgment of Paris o Hermes leads Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera to Paris One by one they undraped to show their naked bodies to the astonished shepherd Each also offered a bribe o Hera : Dominion over the whole world o Athena : Glorious military career o Aphrodite: Helen her hand in marriage Declared Aphrodite the fairest importance of Eros o Paris chose Helen and went to Sparta to claim his prize Problem: Helen is already married to Menelaus o Paris, Helen, and xenia Menelaus received Paris warmly according to the conventions of xenia, “guest- friendship” When Menelaus was called to Crete to attend a funeral, Paris and Helen, irresistibly attracted to each other, gathered up the treasure in the place and fled Thus Helen left behind her lawful husband, young daughter Hermoine, and her good name So Paris, visitor in the Atreids palace, Dishonored the laws that bind guest and host: Ate the king’s bread, then eloped with his wife The Trojan War: The Gathering at Aulis o When Menelaus returned from Crete and found that Paris had violated the bonds of xenia, he fell into a black rage He appealed to Agamemnon, and the brothers invoked the Oath of Tyndareus o Helen’s former suitors evoked the Oath of Tyndareus, assembled their armies, and gathered at Aulius, in Boeotia o Odysseus is missing at first, and Menelaus and several others went to Ithaca to collect him Recently, his wife Penelope had borne a baby boy, Telemachus Happy in his domestic life, lost his taste for war Palamedes was not deceived: famed for his cleverness like Odysseus, invented the alphabet, dice, numbers, astronomy Palameds seized Telemachus from Penelope’s arms, raced to the beach, and cast the child into the sand in front of the blade of plow: If Odysseus were mad, he would plow on, but if sane, he would spare his infant son Odysseus stopped the slow, exposed later took revenge on Palamedes: said he intended to betray the Greeks for gold – they stoned him to death and left him to rot unburied o According to Calchas, the prophet of the expedition, declared the Greeks would never take Troy without the help of Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis Achilles had been too young to be a suitor of Helen
Agamemnon sent a herald to bring Iphgenia to Aulis, pretending that Agamemnon wanted to marry her to Achilles Decked out in wedding cloth, Iphigenia was led to a wood, where Agamemnon slashed her throat Another tradition: at the last second, Artemis sent down a doe as a substitution o As predicted, the winds now blew fair The Greeks set sail and stop at an island o A snake bites Philoctetes on the foot His wound festers, runs with pus, and smelled so foul that the Greeks abandon him on the island of Lemnos Survives only by Heracles’s bow o The Greeks arrive at Troy Oracle: First to land would be first to die, and no one wanted to go ashore Finally, Protesilaus bravely leapt from the ship and ran onto the beach o Trojan warrior Hector cut him down, first to die in the long war o Greeks called Argives, Achaeans, Danaans Helen on the Wall o Odysseus and Menelaus went to the city to ask for the return of Helen and the treasure and so settle the issue without further bloodshed o For their efforts, they were nearly killed in treachery Thus the fighting began o The most complete source for the events of the Trojan War is Homer’s Iliad A single incident in the tenth year of the war, the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles o The Trojan elders have climber to the top of the city walls to overlook the warriors on the plain below One elder complains at risking so much for the sake of a woman, when Helen herself comes to join them o Helen identifies Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Ajax from the walls of Troy for Priam o “No one can blame the Trojans or yet the well-graved Achaeans for enduring so much and so long for such a beautiful woman...” The Anger of Achilles o The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, which led to Achilles’ unbridled anger and its fateful consequences o Tenth year of the war, when Chryses, a priest of Apollo, asks to ransom his daughter Chryseis whom Achilles captured in a raid o In the distribution of the booty, Agamemnon received Chryseis o Although the assembled Greeks urged that the girl be given back to to Chryses, Agamemnon bluntly announced that it would be unworthy for him as supreme commander to lack a girl as booty; He refuses to give back the girl War-prizes are the visible signs of one’s honor Agamemnon dismisses Chryses: If ever again he appears near the camp, Agamemnon will kill him o Chryses prays to Apollo and the god sends a plague to the Greek camp, as a vengeance against the Greeks After nine exhausting years, the Greeks are no closer to victory then when they came, and now disease decimates their ranks o Calchas announces that only by giving up the girl Chryseis can they be saved Agamemnon is backed into a corner o Agamemnon agrees to give the girl back in a public assembly, but under the condition that he will take Achilles’ own prize Briseis, for the sake of his own honor
Achilles reminds him that there are no unassigned girls stored away to give out, and that Agamemnon should wait until Troy is sacked, when he can have all the women he wants If all the women are assigned, Agamemnon retorts, then he will have to take someone else’s, even Achilles’ own prize, Briseis After all, he is supreme commander and he can do what the wants, words that fire Achilles’ wrath “The challenge enraged Achilles; his angry spirit debated: should he draw his keen- edged sword, hanging down by his thigh, thrust the others aside, and assassinate proud Agamemnon, or should he swallow his anger, controlling his furious spirit?” Briseis and Phoenix o Athena came to quiet Agamemnon’s fury Hera cares for both of the men o Achilles withdraws to his tent and sulks o Agamemnon’s men come and take away Briseis o Weeping, Achilles begs his mother, Thetis, for revenge of Agamemnon, who has forgot him, and on the Greeks who allowed Agamemnon to get away with it She asks Zeus, who owes her a favor, to destroy the Greeks so that they may realize how wrong they were when they dishonored Achilles by taking away his prize, and Zeus agrees The Greeks at Troy o The Greeks (Danaans, Achaens, Argives) arrive at Troy o The most complete source for the events of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad o Not a comprehensive account of the war: the Iliad takes place over a few weeks in the tenth year of the war o The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles sets a train of events in motion The Wrath of Achilles o Chryses, a local priest of Apollo, asks to ransom his daughter Chryseis from Agamemnon o Agamemnon refuses to give back the girl War prizes (geras) are the visible signs of one’s honor (time) o Chryses prays to Apollo and the god sends a plague to the Greek camp o Chryses, Apollo, and the Plague (11) Hear me, Silver Bow, protector of Chryse and holy Cilla, high lord of Tenedos: if ever I built a shrine that pleased you, if ever I burned the fat thighs of a bull or goat for you, grant my wish: Smintheus, with your arrows make the Greeks pay for my tears.’ So he prayed, and Phoebus Apollo heard him. Down he came, in fury, from the heights of Olympus, with his bow and inlaid quiver at his back. The arrows rattled at his shoulder as the god descended like the night, in anger. He set down by the ships, and fired a shaft, with a fearful twang of his silver bow. First he attacked the mules, and the swift hounds, then loosed his vicious darts at the men; so the dense pyres for the dead burned endlessly. o Achilles to Agamemnon Then, with an angry look, swift-footed Achilles replied: Why, you shameless schemer, why should any Achaean leap to obey your orders to march or wage war? No quarrel with Trojan spearmen brought me here to fight: they have done me no wrong. No horse or cow of mine have they stolen, nor have my crops been ravaged in deep- soiled Phthia, nurturer of men, since the shadowy mountains and the echoing sea lie between us. No, for your pleasure, you shameless cur, we followed to try and win recompense, for you and Menelaus, from the Trojans. And you neither see nor care; and even threaten to rob me of my prize, given by the sons of Achaea, reward for which I labored. When the Achaeans sack some rich Trojan city, it’s not I who win the prize. My hands bear the brunt of the fiercest fight, but when the wealth is shared, yours is the greater, while I return, weary with battle, to the ships, with some small
o Things go very badly for the Greeks o Patroclus, Achilles’ dear friend, begs Achilles to relent his wrath or asks permission to go to battle wearing Achilles’ armor o Achilles agrees, but cautions Patrclus not to go near the walls of Troy, where Hector is strongest o Patroclus forgets his friend’s words; Hector, with the help from Apollo, kills him, strips off the armor, and puts it on o When Achilles hears that Patroclus is dead because of his own stubborn anger toward Agamemnon, he maddened by grief and thinks only of revenge o Achilles’ new armor Thetis brings him new armor made by Hephaestus to replace that taken by Hector The Revenge of Achilles o Achilles re-enters the battle Like a demon, he storms onto the plain, killing Trojans left and right o Scamander river becomes chocked with corpses o The river god rises up in self-defense, since it is choked with corpses, and attacks the hero, nearly drowning him o But Achilles escapes and continues to rout the Trojans, who pour into the city, except for Hector, who waits beside the Scaean gate His mother Hecabe and his father Priam climb to the walls and call down, begging him to come inside o Hector awaits by the city gates o When Hector sees Achilles coming, he turns and runs three times around the walls, then makes his stand The Death of Hector o Achilles storms into the battle and stabs his spear through Hector’s throat, but misses his vocal cords o Hector begs for honorable funeral Achilles replies that he would rather eat Hector’s flesh raw Hector dies prophesying that Achilles’ death will follow soon o The Hector of the gleaming helm replied, in a feeble voice: ‘At your feet I beg, by your parents, by your own life, don’t let the dogs devour my flesh by the hollow ships. Accept the ransom my royal father and mother will offer, stores of gold and bronze, and let them carry my body home, so the Trojans and their wives may grant me in death my portion of fire’ o But fleet-footed Achilles glared at him in answer: ‘Don’t speak of my parents. I wish the fury and the pain in me could drive me to carve and eat you raw for what you did, as surely as this is true: no living man will keep the dogs from gnawing at your skull, not if men weighed out twenty, thirty times your worth in ransom, and promised even more, not though Priam bid them give your weight in gold, not even then will your royal mother lay you on a bier to grieve for you, the son she bore, rather shall dogs, and carrion birds, devour you utterly’ o Achilles ties Hector’s body to his chariot and drags the corpse in the dust for days o Patroclus receives a splendid funeral The Greeks gather Patroclus’ bones and place them in an urn, to await Achilles’ own ashes o Aided by Hermes, Priam goes to Achilles’ tent to offer ransom for his son’s corpse “O Achilles, out of respect for the clemency loved by the gods, take pity on me, and remember in pity your own father. Yet my lot is surely the sadder, for – a thing no human before me has ever been humbled to do – I held the hand of the slayer of my own son to my lips, in token of deep supplication” o Achilles sees in the aged, broken king the image of his own father Peleus, soon to be childless too
o In a magnanimous gesture, Achilles gives up the body without ransom o “Achilles’ heart was shaken with grief for his own father. Taking the old man’s hand, he quietly moved it away, and both men remembered their sorrow... their misery filled all the camp” o “And so they buried horse-taming Hector,” reads the last line of the Iliad The End of the Iliad o Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen lament the loss of Hector in turn o The Funeral of Hector: They placed the ashes, wrapped in a purple robe, inside a golden urn, and laid the urn in a hollow grave, covering it with large close-set stones. Then over it they piled the barrow, posting sentinels on every side, let the bronze-greaved Greeks attacked them before the promised time. When they had heaped the mound, they returned to Troy, and gathered in Zeus-beloved Priam’s palace for the glorious funeral feast appointed Cursed house of Atreus o Tantalus Pelops (curse) o Pelops + Hippodamia (curse Myrtilus as he is pushed off of a cliff) Oenomaus (X) Hippodamia o Pelops + Hippodamia Atreus & Thyestes (curse) o Atreus (X) Menelaus + Agamemnon o Thyestes Pelopia + 3 sons (X) o Thyestes + Pelopia (X) Aegisthus o Autreus + Pelopia o Menelaus + Helen Hermoine Zeus + Leda Helen o Agamemnon + Clytemnestra Iphigenia (X) & Electra & Orestes Tyndarus + Leda Clymnestra o Helen + Paris o Aegisthus + Clytemnestra Clytemnestra though Iphigenia was going to marry Achilles, but was sacrificed instead Pissed off at Agamemnon Ch – The Fall of Troy The End of the Iliad o Next day, when rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, the people gathered at glorious Hector’s pyre. Then when all had assembled they worked together, quenching the embers with red wine, wherever the fire had reached. Then Hector’s brothers and his friends collected his ashes, still mourning him, their cheeks wet with tears. They placed the ashes, wrapped in a purple robe, inside a golden urn, and laid the urn in a hollow grave, covering it with large close-set stones. Then over it they piled the barrow, posting sentinels on every side, lest the bronze- greaved Greeks attacked them before the promised time. When they had heaped the mound, they returned to Toy, and gathered the Zeus-beloved Priam’s palace for the glorious funeral feast appointed. And such were the funeral rites of Hector, tamer of horses The Trojan Cycle o Earliest representation of the Trojan horse o Many later events of the Trojan War told in the lost Cyclic Poems The Judgment of the Arms of Achilles o After Hector’s death, allies from far afield came to assist the Trojans o The Amazons arrive to assist the Trojans o Achilles/ Penthesilea Penthesilea, who led a contingent of Amazons, was cut down by Achilles As she lay dying, he took pity on her, but the wound was mortal o Achilles kills Thersites, a Greek scoundrel, “the ugliest man who went to Troy”
Final Exam Study Guide
Course: Classical Mythology (CLSA20160001)
University: University of Iowa
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