Fall of Troy Flashcards
What is the Trojan Horse about in Homer?
The Odyssey: it’s about the aftermath of war, and the intertwining narratives of the one man who gets a successful homecoming, with all those who do not.
Not mentioned in the Iliad
What is the Trojan Horse Story in general?
Inspired by Athena (who is great at strategy and making wooden stuff)
Idea articulated on the human realm by Odysseus (Ulysses)
Built by Epeius (craftsman)
After 10 years siege with no progress, the Greeks pretend to sail away, leaving a Wooden Horse, supposedly an offering for Athena (whom they offended when Odysseus/Diomedes stole her statue)
The Trojans take it into the city, to the Temple of Athena on their citadel – but it turns out to have warriors inside, including Odysseus and Neoptolemus (Achilles’ son), who come out, open the gates, and let the besieging army inside – where they slaughter almost all the men, loot the city, kill the babies and rape and enslave the women, as per Euripides’ Trojan Women
A summary of the Trojan Horse in Odyssey Book 8?
Odysseus, a clever/ sneaky Greek warrior, is on their way back from Troy
Staying with Phaeacians (lovely welcoming hosts)
Asks to hear the story of the Trojan Horse, but when he hears it, he cries
Simile compares his tears to those of a woman, enslaved when her husband is slaughtered in war
Who was Virgil?
Roman poet from Mantua, 70-19 BCE
Central themes of LABOR, the ENVIRONMENT, and the conflict between INDIVIDUAL DESIRE versus HISTORY/ COMMUNITY/ GODS / FATE
Pressured by emperor/ Princeps Augustus (aka Octavian), the winner of the Roman civil wars, to write an epic about Rome
MYTH was an important part of putting a good spin on a dubious and radical political change, from Republicanism to one-man-rule (tyranny? BUT WE MUSTN’T CALL IT THAT)
MYTH allowed Virgil to create a poem that was both celebrates the Roman empire and/or mourning its very high human costs
What is PIETAS?
Dutifulness, fidelity, loyalty, piety, pity, patriotism
Especially associated with loyalty to male family members and gods
Being a TEAM PLAYER is a new kind of superpower: Aeneas can subordinate his individual desires (for honor or love), for the GREATER GOOD
How does the Aeneid reframe the Trojan War myth?
It is reframed so that the losers (Trojans) are the ultimate winners (because they’re the Romans).
But the Aeneid also reframes what winning means:
The Greeks “win” the Trojan War by being deceitful and cruel –but the story is not on their side (they don’t ”win” the Roman Empire)
Aeneas gets “home” to a place he’s never been before: winning is a longer game than you think (it’ll happen only when he’s long dead, if then)
Hector tells Aeneas to run away: it’s not about winning every battle, or about individual honor
Aeneas has to win not for himself, but for his people – in the future
How does the Trojan Horse trick work in Virgil?
Sinon: not a mechanical trick, but a human being with a story
He pretends to be an outcast, a victim, a wannabe immigrant to the Trojan community
He appeals to Trojans’ piety, pity, and honesty (pietas)
Summary of the Aeneid 1
Juno tells the anger she has toward the Trojans and how she doesn’t want Aeneas to survive. Since she is still mad at the Trojans after the Judgment of Paris. So, she shipwrecked him at the great city of Carthage on the coast of North Africa, where Dido was.
Who is Juno?
It is the Roman name for the goddess Hera
Who is Aeneas?
He is one of the very view survivors from the Trojan royal house and the son of the goddess Venus
Knows for him Pietas
Who is Venus?
The roman name for the goddess Aphrodite
Who is Jove, Jupiter?
The roman name for Zeus
Summary of Aeneid 2
Aeneas tells Dido the story of the fall of his city. He mentions how the Greeks (Odysseus) fashioned a horse and falsely claimed it was an offering for Minerva. The Trojans went to the Greek camp, which was empty, and there was a horse. They were not sure what to do with it. Laocoon (Priest of Poseidon) told the Trojans they should get rid of it due to it being a trap from the enemy. Then Sinon is brought in and says he is technically Greek but does not claim to be so to gain the trust of the Trojans. The Trojans believed Sinon’s lies and brought the horse into the city. Then Sinon releases the Greek soldiers in the horse, and they stormed the city at night. Aeneas had a dream of Hector saying he needed to leave the city since it had fallen to the Greeks. He escapes with his old father, Achises, and his little son, Iulus.
Who is Ulysses?
The Roman name for Odysseus
Who is Minerva?
The tribute of the Trojan Horse according to Sinon
