Once Upon A Time...

1. Once Upon A Time... Homer told a great story about Odysseus. The Odyssey

2. The Odyssey is part 2 of one of the greatest stories ever told. In order to REALLY understand the Odyssey, one must know some background information

3. Homer was a blind poet and storyteller who lived around the time of 720 B.C. Homer is considered the inventor of the long or extended simile. He specialized in using flashback, cliffhangers and fully developed characters. Aristotle called The Iliad the first great tragedy.

4. Long long ago, there was a mortal named Peleus. The gods loved him so much that they decided to allow him to marry a beautiful goddess named Thetis. These two will have a son named Achilles. He becomes one of the great heroes in Greek legend. In fact, he plays a huge role in the Trojan war (The Iliad).

5. After these two get married, they have a son, Achilles. In order to protect him, Thetis dips him in the River Styx making in invulnerable. One little problem…

6. Now back to the wedding…

7. Discord was MAD because she was not invited to the wedding. She plotted her revenge…

8. Discord threw a golden apple into the reception. It bounced right into the middle of all the guests. The tag on the golden apple read… “For the fairest”

9. Discord was happy because she caused a huge fight. She loves it when people disagree and fight (that is why she wasn’t invited to the wedding.)

10. Athena, Hera and Aphrodite all claimed thegolden apple Hera Aphrodite Athena

11. Hera is the queen of the gods, Zeus’ wife and protector of married women Athena is goddess of wisdom and just wars. She is daughter of Zeus and one of the 3 virgin goddesses Aphrodite is goddess of love and beauty.

12. All three wanted the golden apple and the title… “The Fairest”

13. They decided that the only way to settle the argument was to have a beauty contest. Can you imagine?

14. They wanted Zeus, king of the gods, to judge the beauty contest. Hera Aphrodite Athena

15. Zeus said, “NO WAY!!!!!!!!” How can you vote against the goddess of love and beauty in a beauty contest? How much trouble do you think Zeus would be in if he voted against his own wife? How could Zeus vote against his favorite child? No Win Situation for Zeus

16. Zeus was smart. He refused to judge the contest. He didn’t want any of the goddesses mad at him. Zeus said let Paris do it. Paris was a lowly shepherd who had amazing taste in beauty.

17. So, there was the hottie Paris, sitting on the side of a hill just watching his sheep when… Poof!

18. Three amazingly beautiful goddesses appeared to Paris. He was shocked and amazed. All he could do was drool and stare.

19. Since fair-play and honesty wasn’t common among the immortals, Aphrodite, Athena and Hera all bribed Paris to try and get him to pick them as the winner of the beauty contest.

20. Aphrodite offered Paris the most beautiful woman in the world Hera offered him power and cities. Athena offered him glory and victory in battle.

21. Paris considered himself more of a lover than a fighter. As a result, Paris awarded Aphrodite the winner of the golden apple.

22. Paris was awarded the most beautiful woman in the world. Aphrodite neglected to mention that Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, was already married. Oh well, minor details for a goddess. Paris hopped in his boat and headed off to Sparta to get Helen.

23. Super Powers Greeks Trojans

24. The Greeks and the Trojans were enemies. They were both rich city-states with mighty rulers. Helen Paris Greeks Trojans

25. Helen was married to one of the Greek rulers. He was the king of Sparta. Menelaus was a mighty ruler who loved to wage war. He was not the brightest man in the world but he was very rich. Helen Menelaus was always looking for reasons to go to war. Paris would soon give him a great excuse for attacking the rich city of Troy.

26. How did Helen end up with Menelaus? When, Helen was very young and just starting to become very beautiful, her father came up with a plan to protect her. There were so many men who wanted to marry Helen that her father made each man swear an oath to protect Helen and whomever she would marry. Once Menelaus was chosen as Helen’s husband, the rest of the men of Greece were obligated to protect the marriage. Helen

27. When Paris arrived in Sparta he told Menelaous that he was there on a mission of peace. Menelaous believed him and invited Paris to stay in his home. Soon after, Menelaous was called away on business. He left his wife, the most beautiful woman in the world, alone at home with a young good-looking stranger from a far off land. Like I said, Menelaous was not the brightest man alive.

28. Two sides to Every Story #1 #2 Helen was a chick who ran off with Paris because he was young, good-looking and smarter than her husband. Helen was an innocent victim who was kidnapped by Paris

29. Regardless, Helen went home with Paris. Paris lived in Troy with his family. Speaking of Paris’ family… There is a whole other story that needs to be told about Paris and his homeland

30. Long ago, King Priam and Queen Heckuba were happily ruling Troy. They had a very large family and yet another baby on the way. This would be Queen Heckuba’s 49th child. An old man prophesied that the child Heckuba was carrying would be the downfall of Troy.

31. You guessed it! The baby that was going to be the downfall of Troy was Paris. Priam and Heckuba couldn’t kill their child but they didn’t want to lose their beloved city.

32. Priam gave little baby Paris to one of his servants and told him to go up to the mountains and leave the baby. That way, he wasn’t technically killing his son. After all, if the gods wanted to save the child they could. Guess what?

33. Good thing for Paris, the servant couldn’t do it. The servant, gave the baby to a shepherd friend. The shepherd raised Paris as his son (which explains why Paris was watching sheep when the 3 goddesses appeared to him). King Priam thought his city was safe.

34. Were you wondering how Paris went from working in the fields to Prince of Troy? Between awarding Aphrodite the golden apple and picking up his prize, Paris participated in a great tournament.

35. When no wars were going on the men would earn honor and glory by competing in tournaments. (They were like mini Olympics.) Guess who was hosting? King Priam of the great city-state of Troy invites all the strong men to compete against my strong and princely sons in a tournament.

36. Hey, what’s up with that country boy, Paris, beating my kids in all the races? Something isn’t right!

37. It’s all beginning to make sense. The reason he can win against my sons is that he is one of my sons. King Priam and his wife welcomed Paris home with open arms. I guess they forgot about the whole downfall of Troy thing.

38. Everyone in Troy was happy until...

39. When Paris and Helen reached Troy, they were meet with grumbles. King Priam and all of Paris’ brothers complained that Paris had made a great big mistake by bringing Helen home to Troy. They were right!

40. When Menelaus got home… Duh, What happened? • No Paris • No Wife • No Treasure • Empty House

41. Menelaus got mad He was so mad that steam came out of his ears. Then he had an idea

42. He Remembered The Oath

43. Meneleus called all the Greeks together who had taken the oath to protect Helen’s marriage. Many of the Greeks didn’t want to go to war. But, then Meneleus reminded the men of how much money $$$$$ and treasure could be theirs if they conquered Troy. Not to mention all the gorgeous women…

44. All the best of the best heroes and warriors gathered together. They were ready for WAR. Agamemnon and Meneleus were the leaders of the army.

45. Before the all the Greeks could gather and leave for Troy a tragedy happened. One of the Greek, who was waiting to leave for Troy, shot a pregnant bunny. This made Artemis really really mad. She is the goddess of the moon, hunt and protector of animals.

46. Artemis stopped the wind. The men waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited…

47. She would not allow any Greek to leave for Troy until they sacrificed to her. No wind No War

48. Artemis required Agamemnon to sacrifice one of his daughters, Iphigenia. Unless, Agamemnon complied, Artemis would prevent the war by stopping the wind.

49. Family Tree Information Married Siblings Agamemnon and Clytemnestra Clytemnestra and Helen Menalaus and Helen Agamemnon and Menalaus In other words, two gorgeous sisters married two powerful men that happened to be brothers

50. Greeks Troy Agamemnon was feeling the pressure. All the guys were sitting around waiting and waiting and waiting. As you can imagine, there were some pretty grumpy guys.