Background to The Odyssey

1. Background to The Odyssey

2. The Birth of Paris Around 1200 B.C. Troy was a wealthy, large,beautiful city fortified by strong, high walls and massive gates. King Priam of Troy and his wife, Hecuba, had many children. Before the birth of one of them, Hecuba dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch that destroyed Troy. Prophets told the king he must kill his son. He gave his son, Paris, to his herdsman, Agelaos to kill. Agelaos could not bring himself to kill the baby so he left him in the mountains to die. Later, when he found Paris still alive, Agelaos raised him as his own son.

3. The Wedding of King Peleus to sea-goddess, Thetis (parents of Achilles) Many mortals and all of the gods and goddesses were invited except Eris, goddess of discord.

4. Eris brought a golden apple and tossed it among the guests. It was inscribed “For the Fairest of the Fair.”

5. Goddess of Marriage Queen of the Gods Goddess of Love and Beauty Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the prize.

6. Zeus refused to judge a beauty contest between his wife and two of his daughters. He chose Paris, the true son of Priam, King of Troy and Hecuba, his wife, to judge the contest. Paris had grown up in the farms by Mount Ida and was well known for his courage and fairness. He was also known for his great physical beauty and strength. Zeus sent Hermes with the goddesses to find Paris tending his flocks. Hermes promised Paris that the goddesses would accept his decision.

7. Athena promised Paris supreme wisdom and victory in war if he would name her. Hera promised him wealth, power and honor if he awarded her the prize. Aphrodite looked into his lonely heart and promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite and Athena and Hera stormed off, vowing revenge.

8. The Judgment of Paris The ultimate cause of the Trojan War was the judgment of Paris. He insulted the goddesses who came to his courtyard and praised the one who promised him love. Hera, Poseidon and Athena hated Troy and its people because of this.

9. Paris would have to prove himself worthy of Helen. Paris returns to Troy to compete in an athletic competition and wins, defeating his real brothers. Agelaos reveals Paris’s true identity and he is returned to the royal family. Helen had many suitors before her father gave her to Menalaus. They all promised to help Menalaus avenge any insult to Helen. Agamemnon, Menalaus’s brother and King of Mycenae, and Odysseus, King of Ithaca, had especially vowed to defend her honor if necessary.

10. Paris, back in the royal family at Troy, made a journey to Sparta as a Trojan ambassador bearing gifts. He was treated as a royal guest. Paris and Helen fell in love and left Sparta together, returning to Troy where Helen was accepted and worshiped. When the Spartans learned that Helen and Paris were back in Troy, they sent a delegation (Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and Menelaus, the injured husband) to Troy demanding the return of Helen. When the Trojans refused, the Spartans appealed to the oath which Helen’s father had forced them all to take, and the Greeks assembled an army to invade Troy.

11. The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships

12. Odysseus was reluctant to leave his serene home island of Ithaca. He did not want to leave behind a new born son and his beautiful wife, Penelope, both of whom he adored with all his heart. After some convincing Odysseus is off to the far away city of Troy. He has no idea of what is about to come of him in the next twenty years....

13. The Greek Warriors (except Paris)

14. Achilles: The greatest hero of the Trojan War Meanwhile, back in Greece... Peleus and Thetis had six sons who died mysteriously before Achilles was born. His mother vowed to make him invulnerable so she dipped him into the River Styx, rendering him protected except in the spot where she held him, the heel. Later she placed him in the fire to make him immortal but Peleus rescued him. Thetis was so upset that she returned to the sea. Peleus gave his son to a wise Centaur to raise to become a hero.

15. Achilles grew up with Chiron the Centaur and when he heard the troops were gathering, he set out for Troy. The Centaur had given him a magic spear and his name became feared.

16. Achilles considers killing the throned Agamemnon, who has just declared that he would take the former's sweetheart Briseis for himself. But while Achilles ponders, Athena comes from heaven and, invisible to the others, seizes him by his hair and stays his anger. To the left old Nestor watches the scene.

17. Achilles withdrew from the war when Agamemmnon commandeered his war prize, the young Briseis, a beautiful Trojan princess he had taken to be his serving maid.

18. He re-entered the conflict after Hector slew his cousin Patroclus as Achilles watched. He vowed to avenge the death. Hector challenged Achilles.

19. Achilles killed Hector and dragged the body through the dirt. King Priam begged for an honorable funeral for his son and Achilles called a twelve-day truce to the war and returned the body to Troy.

20. The actions of Paris and Aphrodite started the Trojan war. Paris fights, but he is mostly out of legend until Hector is killed by Achilles. While Achilles and his allies bring Hector's body back into Troy for a funeral, Paris takes a bow and arrows and shoots it at Achilles. Apollo guides his arrow so that it hits Achilles's foot, in the famous Achilles tendon. Achilles dies, fulfilling the prophecy that he would lead a short, heroic life. Paris is soon killed.

21. After ten long years of battle, the Greeks wondered if a specially offering might please the gods enough to cause the gods to give them Troy as a reward. This gives Odysseus an idea for a plan to get inside the gates of Troy. They build a wooden horse to hide inside. They burn their camp and the ships sail away, but hide out of sight. The Trojans believe they are victorious and rush out of the city.

22. The Trojan priest Laocoon warned the Trojans not to believe Sinon, the Greek who stayed behind to convince the Trojans the horse was a gift, "I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts.” In the midst of his warnings a huge sea monster, sent by the still angry Hera and Athena, came from the surf and killed Laocoon and his sons.

23. The Trojans took this as a sign of victory and pulled the horse inside their gates. They spent the night celebrating their victory over the Greeks.

24. The Greeks hiding inside climbed out, opened the gates of Troy for the rest of their army, and Troy was burned to the ground as in Hecuba’s dream, because of the actions of her son, Paris.

25. The gods regarded the sacking of Troy and especially the treatment of the temples as a sacrilege, and they punished many of the Greek leaders. The fleet was almost destroyed by a storm on the journey back. Menelaus's ships sailed all over the sea for seven years. Agamemnon returned to Argos, where he was murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus.

26. After the long, enduring ten year battle of Troy, Odysseus and his fleet split apart from the Greek convoy. But when going around Cape Malea off of the Pelopenessian peninsula they are blown off course and end up in Northern Africa. Here they encounter the Lotus-Eaters.

27. The Lotus-Eaters subsisted on the sweet fruit of the lotus, which induced forgetfulness. Some of the crew eat the tempting fruit, but Odysseus drags them back aboard the ships and then they sail off.

28. Odysseus and his fleet sail north and come to the Cyclops' island. Here Odysseus takes twelve men ashore with him to explore. They encounter a cyclops named Polyphemus and narrowly escape with their lives from his cave. Odysseus angers Poseidon when he escapes.

30. They set sail again and come to the island of Aeolia. Aeolus, king of the winds, gives Odysseus a bag of all the bad winds that they will encounter on their journey home. Odysseus thanks him, and soon the fleet is off to Ithaca. But when the ships are in sight of Ithaca, Odysseus falls asleep and his men get curious and open the bag of winds, thus propelling them away from Ithaca and back to Aeolus. This time the king is not hospitable and forces them to leave his island.

31. Away from Aeolus, Odysseus and his fleet come to a strange place called the Land of the Laestrygonians. The people here are cannibals and they eat some of Odysseus' men. Then they launch rocks from the high cliffs, destroying 11 of Odysseus' 12 ships. Odysseus is compelled to leave with his only ship.

33. After the Land of the Laestrygonians, Odysseus and his one ship with one crew come to an island called Aeaea. Here an enchantress named Circe lives. After an initial setback, Odysseus and Circe become friends and lovers. A year follows before Odysseus' men remind him of home. Circe then tells him that he first must travel down to Hades for Tiresias, the prophet, to give him instructions on how to get home.

34. Circe is the daughter of Helios, the Sun God, and Hecate. She was a powerful witch who had no love for mortals. Initially, she was married to a king and poisoned him in hopes of taking over the kingdom. But, she was banished from the city and went to live on the Island of Dawn, Aeaea. She is best known from The Odyssey where she turned Odysseus' men into animals with a magic potion. Of course, the gods helped Odysseus, and Hermes was sent to give him a herb that would make him immune to Circe's magic. She eventually agreed to turn his men back, but only on the condition that Odysseus sleep with her. Then she warned him of the perils in the next part of his journey. Odysseus and Penelope's son, Telemachus, is said to have married her.

36. Odysseus and his men go down to Hades, and Odysseus meets Tiresias. Tiresias tells Odysseus of how he must get home, and of the dangers that lie ahead. With the newly acquired knowledge, Odysseus and his men leave the underworld and travel back to Aeaea to bury one of the crew who had died there. Once they are finished, they set sail once again for home.

37. Their first encounter is that of the island of the Sirens, also known as Capri. The Sirens are beautiful women who sing and attract seamen into the shallow harbor where they become stuck forever. Wisely, Odysseus fills his men’s ears with wax so they will not be able to hear the singing. He then has himself tied to the mast so he will be able to hear the songs, but won't be able to reach them. They pass the Sirens unharmed and keep on sailing south.

39. Now they come to the strait where Scylla and Charybdis live. Scylla is a six-headed monster who lives in a cave above the cliffs on one side of the strait. Charybdis is a fierce whirlpool that lies on the opposite side of Scylla. It is impossible to go through unharmed.

40. Charybdis was once a nymph-daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who flooded lands for her father's underwater kingdom until Zeus turned her into a monster and made her suck in and out water three times an day. She lived in a cave at one side of the Strait of Messina, opposite the monster Scylla, the two of them forming a dangerous threat to passing ships. Between a rock and a hard place.

41. The ship safely steers around Charybdis and then comes to Scylla where they lose six men by the six mouths of the monster. A little battered, they sail on.

42. Next they come to the island of Thrinacia, also the home of the cattle of the the sun god Helios. Odysseus was warned not to eat the cattle or else the gods would become angry. They are stranded there for about a month because the winds had died. With their food supply gone, they crew becomes extremely hungry. And while Odysseus is sleeping one day, they slaughter some of the cattle and feast.

43. Helios, God of the Sun, Keeper of immortal herds and shepherds is furious. After Odysseus’s crew killed his immortal cows and feasted on them he prayed to Zeus to punish the men for what they had done.

44. Zeus: Chief god of the Greek pantheon

45. The next day the winds are good so they set off from the island. But out at sea a storm is brewed up by the gods. Zeus sends a lightening bolt and all but Odysseus are killed. Odysseus floats helplessly for days before he comes to the island of Ogygia. The island is home to the beautiful nymph Calypso. He befriends and becomes lovers with her.

46. After seven years with her, Odysseus is decreed to return to Ithaca by the gods. On a makeshift raft he sets sail for Ithaca at last.

47. Poseidon catches Odysseus on his raft and destroys it in a storm. After two more days at sea, Odysseus washes up on the shores of the island of Scheria, home of the Phaeacians, where he eventually tells his story.