Ancient Greece, final study, part 2

Troy, city state:  Homer, the Trojan War, and the Trojan Horse; Myth or fact?

*3,000 years ago (the Bronze age) a war broke out because Prince Paris of Troy (son of King Priam of Troy) decided that he wanted the Greek princess Helen even though she was already married to Menelaus (king of Sparta) so Paris captured Helen. (that makes sense) This account is by Homer in the Iliad but is this real or not real?  Oh, yea, and no one knows for certain if Homer was actually real or not either.

~What we know about Homer (the ancient Greek poet):

Homer

*Allegedly, Homer is the son of Epikaste and Telemachus and was born somewhere between the 8th and 9th century BC.

*He was a legendary storyteller and singer (a bard).

*It is thought he was born on the island of Chios but he also could have been born in Ionia or that he at the very least lived in Ionia since it was said that he used a dialect from Ionia.

*It is believed that Homer was blind.

This is the opening passage to the Odyssey.

*Homer is  famous for the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey but it is doubtful by historians that he produced these epic poems alone.

*An epic poem is a long poem about a historical heroes with a lot of flair.

 *These two epic poems are thought to have shaped the Greek culture significantly.

*It was rumored that Homer was illiterate and maybe he dictated the poems to a scribe.

*There is no reliable information to prove Homer existed or not.  This is a topic that has been in debate for many, many years.  It is likely there will never be a clear cut answer.

~The Iliad is a poem about the seige of the city of Troy during the Trojan War.  The main conflict in the Iliad is when the two Greek leaders King Agamemnon and Hero Achilles argue.  Achilles was said to be the greatest Greek warrior but he refused to fight and laid down his weapon.

~The Odyssey is a poem that focuses more on the Greek character Odysseus.  Odysseus went on a ten year journey from Troy to Ithaca.  This poem outlines what circumstances that occurred to his family in Ithaca and his wife, Penelope.

*Troy was located across the sea from Sparta (near Turkey).

*Troy was protected by a high wall which was built around the entire city.

*A Greek general, Odysseus, devised a plan to build a huge wooden horse and offer it to the Trojan people as a gift.

*This giant horse was then left at the gates of Troy while the Spartans pretended to leave.

*Little did the Trojan people know that the horse was hollow inside and at least 30 men were hiding inside.

*The people of Troy were very happy with this gift, and they brought this giant horse inside of their walls.

*After much celebration, the people of Troy fell asleep.  The men inside of the horse climbed out and opened the gates for the Greeks to enter and attack the people of Troy while they slept.  The Greeks did enter and that was pretty much the end of Troy.

*They were also able to take Princess Helen back to Greece.

*I am pretty sure most people have heard the idiom that Virgil coined: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis which simply states wary of Greeks bearing gifts.

Hector and Achilles

*Before the war ended another important battle occurred between Hector and Achilles.  These two were very different but loved and respected by their people.  They were both leaders.  Achilles fought to kill the Trojans.  Hector was a prince from Troy.  Oddly enough, both were killed by the same person but at different times.  Ajax-another Greek warrior-made a deal with Hector to kill Achilles on his behalf so Ajax shot Achilles in the heel and killed him, however, Hector did not honor his end of the deal with Ajax, Ajax killed him as well.

*You may have heard the term Achilles heel.  According to legend, Achilles' mother wanted her newborn son to be immortal so she took Achilles to the Styx River.  She held him by one heel and
dipped him in the river.  It is said that the area in which she held him stayed dry-not touched by the water in the Styx River-and this marked his weak spot.  Essentially, this meant that this part left untouched by the Styx River was his only weak spot and that is why he died when Ajax shot him in the heel.

Ancient Greece the final years. 

Back in those days, war was pretty much always happening.  King Darius I of Persia wanted to conquer Greece in 490 BC.  Then there was the Battle of Marathon (also Persians).  The second invasion on Greece was about 10 years later with King Xerxes (the son of King Darius I) decided he wanted revenge on the Greeks.  Later the Battle of Thermopylae (again Persians) and finally the Battle of Salamis.  Xerxes launched another attack on Athens but this time, it did not go so well for the Persians.  Xerxes and his military retreated back to Persia, and with that, I am calling it done as we may never learn all there is to know and what is myth or reality.  It does make for very interesting conversations though.

Next up more famous Ancient Greeks.
Our previous studies of Ancient Greece are here, here, and here.

More about Homer
Achilles and Hector
BBC
Ancient Greece for kids