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Paris & the Golden Apple Almost all the gods were invited to a big wedding; except Eris, the disagreeable goddess of discord. Feeling slighted, she tossed a golden apple, inscribed with the phrase “For the Fairest” amongst the goddesses. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite fight bitterly over the apple. Zeus appoints Paris, a Trojan prince and reputed to be the most handsome man, to decide. The goddesses try bribing him to choose her. Hera promises world dominion, Athena promises victory in all battles. Aphrodite offers the least; she promises him the most beautiful woman: Helen. Guess what he chose. . .
The Greeks: Agamemnon • Becomes commander of Greeks in the Trojan War after the abduction of sister-in-law Helen • Gathers Helen’s suitors & their men to sail from Greece to Troy (hence Helen is “the face that launched 1000 ships”) • Breaks through the Trojan barrier protecting the Helen • Considered the Greek equivalent of Hector
Oldest child of Priam and Hecuba Trojan prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War Leader of the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy Favorite of Apollo Killed by Achilles after he had killed Patroclus, Achilles’ squire and best friend. The Trojans: Hector
The Trojans: Cassandra • Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. • The god Apollo became infatuated with Cassandra’s beauty, and granted her the gift of prophecy. But Cassandra rebuffed his advances, and instead of just killing her or taking the gift from Cassandra, he put a slight wrinkle in her gift: she would still have the ability of 100% crystal clear foresight, but no mortal would ever believe her prophecies. • The worst part, of course, was that Cassandra knew that war was coming to Troy. But no one believed her. She knew that horrible death and calamity would befall her friends and family. She knew that Troy would be sacked by the Greek invaders. • She knew that she would eventually be raped by the conquering Greek hero Ajax, and that she would be murdered by King Agamemnon’s jealous wife.
The Greeks: Achilles • Achilles was the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. • Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body she held him by, his heel. • Greek Hero of the Trojan War. • Greatest warrior of Homer’s Iliad.
Achilles Cont... • Killed Hector, Prince of Troy. • As predicted by Hector with his dying breath, Achilles was killed by Paris with an arrow. In some versions, the god Apollo guided Paris' arrow. Achilles killing Hector
The Greeks: Pyrrhus (aka Neoptolemus) • Son of Achilles • Escapes from wooden horse • Kills King Priam of Troy to avenge his father’s death
The Greeks: Odysseus • Came from a long line of thieves, tricksters, and scoundrels • Was the only one of Helen’s suitors to not bring her gifts (he thought she was a gold-digger) • He, instead, choses Helen’s cousin, Penelope • Originally he feigned madness to escape going to war when called by Agamemnon • Known for his cleverness; his most ingenious plan -- to build a wooden horse • Earns Poseidon’s wrath for blinding one of his sons (a cyclops. Poseidon vows to make the trip long and costly. After being gone in the war 10 years, it takes another 10 years for him to get home
The Oedipal Saga Who’s your mama & daddy?
The House of Thebes: King Laius • Received an oracle from Delphi which told him he must not have a child with his wife or the child would kill him and marry her.
Queen Jocasta • Oedipus’s biological mother • Knowing the curse, she and Laius give the baby to shepherds to leave on a mountaintop. They don’t and give him to the childless King and Queen of Corinth who raise him as their own. • She believes her baby died on the mountaintop
OEDIPUS • Son of King Laius & Jocasta of Thebes. • Raised as a Prince of Corinth. • At a party a drunken guest says Oedipus is not the King of Corinth’s son. Oedipus goes to the Oracle of Delphi to find out the truth. He’s told the curse, and fearing he kill his parents (the King & Queen of Corinth) he flees to Thebes • Oedipus kills his biological father in on the way to Thebes • After arriving in Thebes, he finds the city under attack from the Sphinx. He solves riddle of the Sphinx & was named king. • Oedipus married Jocasta, his mother, and had four children.
The End of Oedipus • After many years of peace and prosperity, Thebes is attacked by a plague • Nothing seems to help alleviate the plague, so Oedipus sends his brother-in-law Creon to the Oracle to ask for a solution • Teiresias says that one who is guilty of Laius’s death must pay for the plague to be lifted • It comes to be known that Oedipus was the killer • Jocasta, upon hearing the news, hangs herself • Oedipus blinds himself with Jocasta’s brooch and is exiled
Teiresias • Teiresias was the blind prophet who revealed the truth of the crimes of Oedipus. • According to Ovid, the Roman poet, he spent part of his life as a man and seven years of it as a woman so he knew the act of love from both points of view. • He died when he was struck by an arrow of Apollo.
Antigone • Antigone is the daughter of King Oedipus and his wife Jocasta. • Antigone is the half-sister of her father, Oedipus, and the granddaughter of her mother, Jocasta. • Her older brothers begin a war to secure the throne left by their father Oedipus’ death. Both brothers are killed in battle. Eteocles receives a burial. Their uncle Creon refuses to allow Polyneices to be buried. This is against the laws of the gods.
The End of House of Laius • Antigone buries Polyneices, against her uncle’s orders • Creon sentences her to death by entombing in a cave • Both Antigone and he fiance, Creon’s son, Haemon, die in the cave. • Creon realizes his error and tries to save them. It’s too late.
