Background to The Odyssey

1. Background to The Odyssey Trojan War

2. The First Nine Years • The war between Greece and Troy over the kidnapping of Helen waged for 10 years. • Since she was the cause of the war, she was given the epithet, “the face that launched a thousand ships.” • Epithet - a brief descriptive phrase used to characterize a particular person or thing. • For the first 9 years, the Greeks and Trojans fought, but the Greeks could not penetrate the high walls that surrounded the city.

3. The Final Year • The final year of the war is told in Homer’s The Iliad. • After the death of Hector, Troy’s strongest hero, at his own hands, Achilles knew that his death was near as it was foretold. • Achilles was soon killed by an arrow in the heel shot by Paris, the man who stole Helen. • With both sides losing their greatest heroes, Odysseus, the most clever of all the Greeks, came up with an ingenious plan to end the war.

4. The Trojan Horse • Odysseus crafted the idea to stash his army in the body of a wooden horse and leave the horse as a gift for the Trojans. • The rest of the Greek army would appear to have left. • The Greeks built the horse and moved their ships out of sight. • The Trojans took in the Greek gift and celebrated their victory. • That night, the Greeks struck and sacked Troy.

5. Legacy of War • Odysseus earned the epithet, “the shrewdest of all the Greeks” because of his clever plan that won the war. • However, he is the one that suffers the most in his terrible journey home. (Details to follow ) • Menelaus got Helen back, but their marriage was not a pleasant one due to her infidelity. • Finally, Greeks, for the rest of time, would have to live with the phrase, “never trust a Greek bearing gifts.”