Lecture 7 Flashcards
1
Q
The Troy Cycle
A
- everything related to the Trojan war (leading events, actual war, aftermath)
- Homers’ texts are the best known texts of the troy cycle
2
Q
Zeus and Leda
A
- Tyndareus and Leda king and queen of Sparta
- Zeus had sex with Leda as a swan and then her husband and later gave birth to four children
- Castor and Clytemnestra (Tyndareus)
- Pollux and Helen (Zeus)
- Helens birth could be the start of the Troy Cycle
3
Q
Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
A
- Thetis married off so she can’t have a relationship with a god and thus producing a child more powerful than the gods. Marrying her off keeps them all safe from being overthrown
- Thetis is a sea goddess and human
4
Q
Eris
A
- goddess of discord
- angry because not invited to the wedding
- takes a golden apple and writes for the fairest and throws it into the middle of the wedding
- Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claim its thiers
- Zeus throws it off Olympus to earth and they follow
5
Q
Paris
A
- apple falls in front of him
- Goddess make him decide who should get it.
- Bribe him and he accepts Aphrodite’s best and he gets the most beautiful woman, Helen.
6
Q
Abduction of Helen
A
- already married to Menelaus and this caused problems because Tyndareus was afraid all the kings would attack him to marry Helen or that they’d attack who he chose.
- Oath of Tyndareus: made them swear to abide by his decision and to not rebel and that they’d go after anyone who stole Helen.
- could explain the war
- Paris steals her and violates xenia
7
Q
Xenia
A
- guest friendship
- if you go stay at someone’s house you make a promise to not kill them and that they won’t kill you and you won’t steal from them.
8
Q
Myth and Timelessness
A
- all this started at wedding of Achilles’ parents
- he was present at the wedding as a child and a teen when the war started
- He’s about as close to the gods as humans get
- no one can stand up to him in battle
- Prophecy: if Achilles fights in the battle, he will die according to Thetis so she convinces him to hide. He goes to an island full of women disguised as one of them.
- Odysseus goes to this island and tricks Achilles into coming back with him to the war (shows women armor and only one is interested)
9
Q
Iphigenia
A
- Agamemnon is going to lead the troops
- oracle says he must sacrifice his favorite daughter to get the winds to sail to Troy.
- tricks Iphigenia by saying he’s going to marry her to Achilles then he kills her
- his wife, Clytemnestra is pissed
10
Q
Where does the Iliad start?
A
- 9 years into the war
- Medias Res
- not really about the war at all
- covers 20 days in the 10th year
11
Q
Beginning
A
- poet invokes a muse to begin the poem
- Achilles and Agamemnon are fighting
- a lot of people are going to die because of Achilles’ anger who is a Greek
- Zeus is causing this to happen
- Achilles is angry because Agamemnon stole his prize (Chryseus)
- Agamemnon is supposed to give her back to appease Apollo but he refuses so Chryses prays to Apollo who sends a plague and all the Greeks start dying
- then he sends Chryseus back
- Agamemnon then takes Briseis who was Achilles’ prize (second most beautiful woman)
- Achilles wants to kill Agamemnon but Athena stops him
- Achilles goes to Thetis and asks her to talk to Zeus
- Zeus listens because he owes her a favor and he does what Achilles wants and makes the Greeks start losing
12
Q
Achilles Characterization
A
- quick to anger
- morally gray in Greek sense
- character flaw