The Trojan War begins in vengeance and vanity. It all starts when Paris the prince of a foreign land steals the bride of a king named Menelaus. To see why Paris choose to steal the bride of king which the act of doing so caused one of the greatest wars in history we have to look back a few years. Back first to the celebration of two nobles getting married.
The King Peleus of the Myrmidons had just decided to get married to a sea nymph named Thetis. Many guests came to the wedding to the wedding including mortal and the Gods of High Olympus. One of the gods that had not been invited, Eris the goddess of discord, arrived with thirst for vengeance. When all she did was place an golden apple on a table and leave, people became confused. There was
…show more content…
This was the wedding of King Menelaus of Sparta and Princess Helena. Princess Helena was known throughout Greece as the most beautiful of mortal women. Soon, just as Aphrodite had planned it, the news of Helena’s beauty reached Troy and just as it had arrived Paris had plans to leave and meet this beautiful woman. Oenone begged for him to stay and be with her but he did not listen and he never again visited Oenone. He begged his father and like alway he got what he want and set off for Sparta. When Paris and his party arrived in Sparta they were met by slaves as a strangers were and then cleaned themselves, put on new clothes and presented themselves in front of King Menelaus. He asked them why they there and they told him that they were there for shelter and food and Menelaus welcomed them kindly. They stayed there for many days. Paris spent many hours with the king's wife Helena and grew quite fond of her. Helena also grew quite fond of Paris and one day while the king was off hunting and Paris had made an excuse to stay back he offered to take her back to Troy to marry him and leave Menelaus. She thought over it and decided to go with him and leave Menelaus. This was what sparked the Trojan War and that the story of The Golden
Odysseus gets mad at Penelope for wanting to move the bed he made and he exposes himself this way. She knows for sure that he is Odysseus and they reconcile with each other. Loving one
Helen was able to run away from Menelaus and go back to Troy with Paris. After a few years of her being said that she was kidnapped, she came back and had to suffer however Menelaus treated her. Helen found her own strength and told the truth of where she had been and how it was her choice to leave Sparta. Helen and Penelope are powerful greek women, but only Penelope is viewed as perfect for staying loyal to her husband. While Penelope was viewed as perfect for her loyalty to Odysseus, Aphrodite was able to sleep with whatever men she wanted to
Throughout Titus Andronicus, many allusions are made to the Trojan War, a violent ten-year battle fought between the Trojans and the Greeks in ancient times. I believe that those references are meant to drive home the point of revenge as a cycle of murder, betrayal, and bloodshed. One example is the status shift that Tamora undergoes during the first three acts of the play. In 1.1, Tamora and her children were simply prizes of war that Titus gifted the emperor. As the Romans made to kill Tamora’s firstborn son, she fell to her knees, begging for mercy that the Romans ignored.
Honorable suicides like these are also well documented during the Peloponnesian War, which between 431 and 404 BCE saw Athens and Sparta fighting against one another for the supremacy over Greece. Honorable death by suicide was so significant that there were consequences if the warriors did not commit suicide. In the case of a battle in which the Athenians were victorious, the latter demanded the Spartans to surrender since they had them trapped in a situation that would result in certain death certain death. Once the Spartans heard the Athenian call to surrender and realized that they could become prisoners of war, they jumped on the offer, lowered their arms, and became prisoners to the Athenians. After these Spartan soldiers were released
They days aboard the ship passed, all her meals were with Menelaus, she spent the day weaving, spinning, or finding things to do aboard the ship, and then she would sleep, wake up and do it again. In those weeks, she slowly started becoming friends with her husband, as he kept his promise on not making her do anything she didn’t want to do. While walking with him on the ship she asked, “When are we at Mycenae?”
These women influenced the conditions of the journey by guiding Odysseus in different directions, and aiding him crucially. Their authority showed the idea behind an old proverb, which states, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman”. Throughout The Odyssey, the women exemplified their power during the course of Odysseus’ journey. Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, bravely held down the front in Ithaca while her husband struggled to find his way back home. In Book 18, Penelope spoke to the ever-so-desperate suitors about what Odysseus “told” her before he left.
First, Athena makes a plan for Odysseus to meet Princess Nausicaa on Phaiacia. The two Greeks do meet, and even though Odysseus is a complete stranger, which the Phaiacians are not fond of, that Nausicaa is aware of, the princess welcomes Odysseus and makes a plan for him to stay in her father Alcinoos’ palace. When Odysseus arrives in the palace of Alcinoos, he is given a throne in which Alcinoos’ son Laodamas was previously sitting in, and is given a feast. “There they were, face to face: the King in his majesty, and the castaway with only his knowledge of man and his ready wit. Alcinoos held his hand out to Odysseus and led him from the hearth to a high seat where his own son was sitting, near himself, for he loved the courteous Laodamas best of all his sons.
The respectable male characters such as Odysseus treat women well, but mostly for their appearance and marriage potential. Near the beginning, after washing up on the island of the Pheaecians, he meets a girl and says, “Mistress: please: are you divine, or mortal? If one of those who dwell in the wide heaven, you are the most near to Artemis, I should say,” (8). To
The baby would one day cause the destruction of his country. " Ten years of war, Trojans against Greeks, Goddess against Goddess. We call this the Trojan War. But how did this come to be? Who is to blame?
While a great deal of the Iliad is fictional, it still provides us with a historical model that details the causes war, the contrasting elements of humanity that emerge during war, and the effect of war on culture. In the Iliad, the Trojan War is started by Paris, a prince of Troy, who abducts the beautiful Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. Menelaus consequently bands together with his brother Agamemnon to sail an army consisting of the Mycenaean city states to Troy. The ensuing Trojan war would last over ten years, and lead to the death of great warriors on both sides of the conflict, including Patroclus, Hector, and even Achilles.
When Odysseus finally returns home, he has Athena disguise him so he can look at how his home has been going without him. Everyone besides his wife, son, and two other of his men have been disloyal to him and there is a group of suitors there who have overstayed their visit trying to get Penelope to be their wife. Odysseus locks the suitors all in one room where the
The Trojan War was started because as seen in the myth of the golden apple, Zeus believed that there were too many people on the earth. Therefore Zeus devised a scheme that would solve this situation, with the help of Eris. They created a golden apple for the “Fairest” and gave it to Hera, Aphrodite and Athena,
Even though the maids are employees of the family, they also committed disgraceful acts. Night after night they would sleep with the suitors, fully aware that these men were courting their mistress, Queen Penelope. While the maids are cleaning up the remains of the murdered suitors, Odysseus converses with
The Beginnings of the Trojan War What are some key elements of the Trojan War and how do we know this information today? We have a vast wealth of knowledge surrounding this time in thanks to Homers Iliad. This is also where I found a significant portion of my rendition of this war. The Trojan War was fought between Greece and Troy around 1200 B.C. The war began when Paris of Troy "abducted" Helen of Greece.
All of the gods and goddesses were invited to the wedding except Eris, the goddess of discord. This made her so outraged that she planned to crash the wedding. Once Eris arrived at the wedding, she threw a golden apple inscribed with, “ For the fairest.” This apple made three goddesses crave it's ownership, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. After hours of fighting over the apple, Hermes, the messenger of Olympia, finally made Paris, prince of Troy, in charge of deciding the apple’s fate.