Homer told a great story about Odysseus.

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

Homer was a blind poet and storyteller Homer was a blind poet and storyteller who lived around the time of 720 B.C.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.

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).

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…

Discord was MAD because she was not

invited to the wedding.

She plotted her revenge…

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”

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.)

Athena, Hera and Aphrodite all

claimed the golden appleHera Athena Aphrodite

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.

All three wanted the golden apple and the title…

“The Fairest”

They decided that the only way to settle the argument was to have a

beauty contest.

Can you imagine?

They wanted Zeus, king of the gods, to judge the beauty contest.

AphroditeHera

Athena

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?

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.

So, there was the hottie Paris, sitting on the side of a hill just watching

his sheep when…

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

stare.

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.

Aphrodite offered Paris the most beautiful woman in the world

Hera offered him power and cities.

Athena offered him glory and victory in battle.

Paris considered himself more of a

lover than a fighter.

As a result, Paris awarded

Aphrodite the winner of the

golden apple.

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.

Greeks Trojans

TrojansGreeks

The Greeks and the Trojans were enemies. They were both rich city-

states with mighty rulers.

Helen Paris

Helen

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.

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.

Helen

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.

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.

Helen was an innocent victim

who was kidnapped by

Paris

Helen was a chick who ran off with

Paris because he was young, good-looking and smarter than her

husband.

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

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 4949thth

child.child. An old man prophesied that the child Heckuba was carrying would be the

downfall of Troy.downfall of Troy.

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.

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?

Good thing for Paris, the servant couldn’t servant couldn’t do itdo 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.

Between awarding Aphrodite the golden apple and picking up his prize, Paris participated in a great tournament.

When no wars were going on the men would earn honor and gloryhonor and glory by competing in tournaments. (They were

like mini Olympics.)

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.

Hey, what’s up with that country boy, Paris, beating my kids in all

the races? Something isn’t right!

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 King Priam and his wife welcomed Paris home with welcomed Paris home with

open arms. open arms. I guess they I guess they forgot about the whole forgot about the whole downfall of Troy thing.downfall of Troy thing.

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.

When Menelaus got home…

No Paris

No Wife

No Treasure

Empty House

Duh, What happened?

Menelaus got mad

He was so mad that He was so mad that steam came out of steam came out of

his ears.his ears.

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…

All the best of the best heroes and warriors

gathered together. They were ready for WARWAR.

Agamemnon and Meneleus were the leaders of the

army.

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 madArtemis really really mad. She is the goddess of the moon, hunt

and protector of animals.

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…

She would not allow any Greek to leave for Troy

until they sacrificed to her.

Artemis required Agamemnon to sacrifice one of his daughters,

Iphigenia. Unless, Agamemnon complied, Artemis would prevent

the war by stopping the wind.

AgamemnonAgamemnon and and ClytemnestraClytemnestra

MenalausMenalaus and and HelenHelen

Clytemnestra and HelenClytemnestra and Helen

Agamemnon and MenalausAgamemnon and Menalaus

In other words, two gorgeous sisters married two powerful men that

happened to be brothers

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.

Agamemnon sent word to his wife Clytemnestra.

Send our daughter, Iphigenia,

to the Greek camp.

Achilles, the greatest warrior,

wants to marry her before he leaves

for Troy.

Clytemnestra and her daughter, Iphigenia, were very excited. They got all dressed up and rushed to the

Greek camp.

When she got there…No wedding

No flowers

No happy day

Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to Artemis.

The

Wind

Blew

The Greeks sailed for Troy

Clytemnestra cried, mourned and hated her husband.

But that’s another story…

The Greeks went to war.They pillaged.

They burned towns.

They stole treasure.

They stole women (war prizes).

And this was all just on the way to Troy.

They weren’t even serious yet.

The Iliad is the story of the

last few months of the

Trojan War

Did I mention, the war lasted 10 very long years?

The Iliad is the story of the last few months of the Trojan War.

The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ journey home from the war. It takes poor

Odysseus 10 years to get home.

Poor Odysseus, that is 20 long years away from home

and family.IthacaIthaca-- Odysseus’ beloved island home

PenelopePenelope, Odysseus’ faithful wife

Did we mention that Odysseus faked faked insanityinsanity trying to get out of going away

to the Trojan war?When the Greeks arrived to pick up Odysseus to go

to war, he was acting crazyacting crazy. In fact, he was plowing a field and planting rocks. In order to test his sanity, the Greeks laid Odysseus’ son in

front of the plow. When he swerved around the baby, they knew it was a trick.trick.

Why on earth would Why on earth would a macho Greek a macho Greek

leader want to stay leader want to stay home from war?home from war?

Paradise home, beautiful young wife and a new baby (Telemachus)

Odysseus bids farewell to his wife Penelope and infant son

Telemachus, as his faithful dog Argos lies nearby.

Too bad, so sad for Too bad, so sad for Odysseus…Odysseus…

He had to say goodbye to his wife and

son

CleverTrickySmartWitty

God-like wisdom

Agamemnon and Meneleous (Helen’s angry husband) were the leaders of the

army.

Their biggest baddest warrior was Achilles.

Greeks TrojansKing Priam ruled Troy. Troy was under attack

because of Paris “stealing” Helen.

The biggest baddest warrior was Hector.

On the way to Troy the Greeks did a lot of damage. They gathered many goodies. The Greeks had a weird tradition

that they called “war prizes.” They would capture a town and steal its beautiful women. The women would be handed out as war prizes to the leaders and great heroes.

Agamemnon was awarded a very beautiful

girl. She was Apollo’s priest’s daughter.

Agamemnon was a happy man. He thought his war prize was more beautiful and that he would love her more than

his very own wife (Clytemnestra).She is already mad about the death of her daughter. Can you imagine how mad she would be if she heard

this?

The priest begged Agamemnon to

release his daughter. He even offered many gifts.

NO

NO

The priest was sad and mad. He

prayed to Apollo and asked for HELP.

Apollo caused the Greeks to get sick. Many strong heroes

died. It was very sad for the Greeks.

The Greeks held a meeting and

decided to send a messenger to Apollo to find out what they could do to make him

happy

The messenger came back but won’t tell…

I know why Apollo is mad but if I tell, I’m a dead man.

Someone here will kill me.

“I’m too scared. Someone must promise to protect

me.” Achilles said, “Don’t worry little buddy.

No one here will lay a hand on you.”

The messenger told the Greeks that Apollo was mad at them because of

how Agamemnon had treated his priest. Until things were made right

with the priest, by returning his daughter, the Greeks would continue to

die.

The Greeks said….

NO

NO

Achilles said, “Yes, you must return the girl to her father.”

Agamemnon pouted and said, “Fine, then I’m taking your war

prize to replace mine.”

I wouldn’t do that if I were you said Achilles. After all, I’m the biggest baddest warrior you have. Without me you are

nothing. The Trojans would have beaten you along time ago.

“Why Agamemnon are you whining about this? You always get the most treasure. You know, I do all the work and you get all the glory. If you take away my war prize, I just might pack up and go home. You’ll wish you had treated me better

when the Trojans are knocking at your door.”

Achilles cried because Agamemnon took his woman.

He was so upset that he refused to fight. Just like he said.

Ha ha!

Agamemnon was very mature about the

whole thing. He said, “Ha ha, she’s mine.Ha ha, she’s mine.

We don’t need you to fight. We’ll be just

fine.”

The Greeks started getting their butts kicked. Without Achilles they just

weren’t that tough. Hector, the biggest badest Trojan, started

inflicting serious pain on the Greeks

Yeah Agamemnon, this will work without Achilles

The Greeks say...

Achilles was sad to see his friends all getting hurt and dying. He loves and lived to fight and was seriously bummed out that he was not able to participate and earn glory and honor through his deeds in battle. Honor was very very important to the Greeks.

Achilles would not fight because of the dishonor Agamemnon caused him. He felt he had to prove a point.

When the Trojans pushed the fighting back almost to the

ships…

I wish Achilles was in the fight

Achilles was so very sad. He walked along the beach and called

to his mommy (goddess Thetis)He asked her what he should do. The big guy,

Zeus, owed her a favor. She found out Achilles’ fate.

Zeus said…Achilles has two possible fates.

If he fights at Troy, then he will earn honor and immortality. He

will be a hero and be remembered forever.

If he does not fight at Troy, then Achilles will live a long good

life but die and not be remembered.

Patroclous was Achilles best friend. Patroclous begged his friend to let him wear the scary armor of Achilles. If the Trojans thought Achilles was back in the battle then maybe they would back off.

Pat

t

Pat

“Okay Pat, you can wear my armor and kick some Trojan butt. However, I do not want you to push them all the way back to the

city. That would rob me of honor.” Achilles was worried that his friend would encounter the

great Trojan hero, Hector.

Pat went out wearing Achilles’ armor.

The Trojan warriors freaked out and ran toward the city.

Pat and the Greek army followed. They killed many Trojans.

Caught up in the moment, Pat chases the Trojans to the city walls. Achilles told him not to go that far. He forgot.

I’m Achilles,really.

Hector

Killed

Pat Pat

Achilles crying over Pat

Achilles is the strongest man alive. In fact, he is the son of a goddess. He is

macho, strong, stubborn and angry about the death of his best friend. He wants to

go kill some Trojans but he had no armor.

Pat lost the armor to Hector.

As a prize of warAs a prize of warHector kept the Hector kept the

very valuable armorvery valuable armorfor himselffor himself

“Mom, I need your

help!”

Thetis had Hephestus, the god

of iron-working, make Achilles’ new

armor. It was awesome and

fearful.

Achilles did not waste any time at all. He went into battle and killed tons and tons of

Trojans. The ones who escaped, ran

into the gates of the city. All but one…

Historic armor

Hector was left alone to face the furious Achilles.

Achilles, after a long battle, killed the mighty warrior Hector.

Achilles was able to kill Hector because he knew where the weakness was in his armor. How did he know? Remember,

the armor that Hector was wearing used to be his! Talk about your twisted irony.

Achilles was so upset over the death of his friend, Pat, that he hooked Hector up to the back of his chariot and dragged him

around the city.

It was ugly!!!

For 10 years they fought. Sometimes For 10 years they fought. Sometimes the Greeks would be winning and the Greeks would be winning and

sometimes the Trojans. Sometimes sometimes the Trojans. Sometimes the gods and goddess would get the gods and goddess would get

involved and help and sometimes involved and help and sometimes they wouldn’t. they wouldn’t.

Hey guys, I have an

idea!

Troy is a huge city with powerful walls. We haven’t be able to break down or get inside the

walls. So, here is my idea. Let’s pack everything up and make it look like we gave up and went

home. We’ll hide the ships just around the coast. We will leave one guy and an “offering” to the

gods.

Our “offering” will be their downfall. They will open the

gates to check everything out. The guy that we leave

behind will tell them that the big statue is an offering to the gods and they better be

nice to it. When they take it into the city…

Our “smarty Our “smarty pants” pants”

Odysseus came Odysseus came up with the idea up with the idea

of the of the Trojan Trojan HorseHorse.. His idea His idea has been copied has been copied zillions of timeszillions of times

Hiding in the belly of the horse was the Hiding in the belly of the horse was the best of the best Greek warriors. When the best of the best Greek warriors. When the

Trojans brought the horse into the city, Trojans brought the horse into the city, they brought in big trouble. The saying, they brought in big trouble. The saying, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” came “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” came

from this story.from this story.

Thinking they had won the war, the Trojans had a huge party. They ate, drank

and were merry.

When all the Trojans slept, the Greeks snuck out and

opened the gates. The Greek army was waiting. The

Greeks killed the Trojans and won the war.Nice work Nice work

Odysseus!Odysseus!

GreeksThe Greeks

divided up the spoils and headed for

home.