Homer and the Trojan War (Iliad)

HOMER and the Trojan War (Iliad) ILIUM (TROY) was a royal city in what is now northwest Turkey, in the river valley of the Skamander River, some three or four miles from the Hellespont (the modern town is called Hissarlik). The archaeological site was originally excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870's.. TROS: king of Troy, was the son of an Erechthonius ('born of the earth') and of the daughter of the River Simois, Astioche. ILOS: son of Tros and Callirhoe ('beautifully flowing'); she was a daughter of the river god Skamandros. Other siblings were: GANYMEDE, Assaracus, Cleopatra. Ilos married Eurydice, and had children: Laomedon and Themiste (She married Capys, son of Assaracus, who was her first-cousin). LAOMEDON, for whom Poseidon and Apollo built the walls of Troy, had: PRIAM (his successor as King of Troy), HESIONE (Heracles story), and 7 others PRIAM married: (1) Arisbe (They had a son, Aesacus); (2) HECUBA, whose children were: Helenus (the seer) Troilus Deiphobus Alexandros (Paris) Polydoros HECTOR Cassandra Polyxena and 41 others GODS who favored the Greeks included: Hera, Athena, and Thetis. GODS who were uncommitted were: Zeus, Hades, Hermes, Iris, Persephone and Demeter. GODS who supported the Trojans were: Aphrodite, Apollo, Poseidon, and (for a while) Athena. NOTE: Some gods who were "uncommitted" ended up supporting "The Will of Zeus" and therefore the Greeks. Athena, who had a temple in Troy, decided to support Odysseus and supplied him and Epeus with the plans for the Wooden Horse; she also had her statue (the Palladion) removed from Troy by Aeneas. Poseidon and Apollo had built the walls of Troy; both killed Greeks by the thousands, either at Troy during the war, or on the sea on the way home. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS in the ILIAD: • -ACHILLES called Pelides = son of PELEUS (king of Phthia and Hellas in Thessaly) and THETIS; leader of MYRMIDONS (at age ca. 15) • -PATROKLOS his best friend, guardian, and lover; his squire at Troy; son of Menoitios (a friend of Heracles from Opis; another son was ABDERUS, Heracles' lover) "Achilles was also accompanied by Patroklos, son of Menoetios and Sthenele daughter of Akastos (or the mother of Patroklos was Periopis daughter of Pheres, or, as Philocrates says, she was Polymele daughter of Peleus). At Opus, in a quarrel over a game of dice, Patroklos killed the boy Klitonymos son of Amphidamas, and flying with his father he dwelt at the house of Peleus and became the lover [eromenos] of Achilles." Apollodoros Library of Greek Mythology III. 13.8. • • • • • • • -AGAMEMNON son of Atreus, grandson of Pelops, great-grandson of Tantalus, king of Mycenae; Commander-in- chief (wanax) of the expedition; Married to Clytamnestra, half-sister of Helen of Sparta -MENELAUS brother of Agamemnon, married to Helen; successor of Helen's father Tyndareus as King of Sparta. Called ATREIDES -HELEN daughter of Zeus & of Leda, wife of Tyndareus; mistress of Paris the Trojan -NESTOR son of Neleus, grandson of POSEIDON, king of Pylos. He brought 90 ships to Troy (= 4500 men) -ODYSSEUS son of LAERTES and Antikleia, king of Ithaca (Zakynthos ?) 12 ships (= 600 men) -DIOMEDES son of Tydeus one of the Epigonoi in the Theban Saga, king of Argos. Brought 80 ships (= 4000 men from Argos, Tiryns, Troezen and Epidauros) -AJAX son of Telamon, the king of the Island of Salamis in the Saronic Gulf; brought 12 ships (= 400 men, including Athens).