1) The goddess Thetis was prophesied to bear a son greater than his father, so Zeus arranged for her to marry the mortal Peleus. They had a son, Achilles, who was fated to die at Troy.
2) Paris, prince of Troy, was chosen to judge a beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. He chose Aphrodite, who rewarded him with Helen, wife of Menelaus. Paris took Helen to Troy, starting the Trojan War.
3) Agamemnon led the Greeks to retrieve Helen. However, to appease Artemis and get winds to sail, he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia
3. One strand of the
story begins with
the goddess Thetis
4. Thetis: Nereid
THETIS: Daughter of NEREUS and DORIS, and best
friend of EURYNOME, was doing well God-wise until an
oracle put out a prophecy which upset ZEUS and
POSEIDON, who both fancied her at the time. The
oracle said that THETIS would bear a son greater than
his father.
15. Eris is Discord, and may be called strife and
quarrel as well. Eris has been said to be the
daughter of Nyx, but she has also been called
the sister of Ares and the nurse of War, since she
helps her brother in arms to accomplish his
bloody work.
And enjoying the groans of dying men, she fills
their hearts with hatred, so that they may slay
each other.
33. Nursed by a bear for 5 days, Paris
survived and was raised by shepherds
The young
Paris fell in
love with the
nymph
Oenone
34. Paris was the perfect
choice to judge the
beauty contest, for
Zeus desired to make
his daughter Helen
famous in both Europe
and Asia via an
infamous war.
39. “Leda and the Swan” has been a subject
for many artists
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53. And a famous poem by Yeats
Leda And The Swan
Poem lyrics of Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats.
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
54. Leda gave birth to 2 eggs
One egg contained Helen and Polydeuces
(Pollux).
The other egg contained Clytemnestra and
Castor.
Castor and Pollux were known as the Dioscuri or
Gemini.
61. In the meantime, Helen’s sister
Clytemnestra had married twice
First to Tantalus, son of
Thyestes
Second, to
Agamemnon, who killed
Tantalus
62. After Helen was returned to Sparta, suitors
came from all over
Tyndareus was at a loss because he feared
reprisal from the unsuccessful.
It was, of course, the clever Odysseus who came
up with a strategy -- a strategy he offered to
share in exchange for Tyndareus’s
niece, Penelope.
63.
64. Odysseus’ plan:
All the suitors were required to swear an oath to
stand behind whichever suitor Tyndareus
selected, and be ready at any time in the future
to defend the marriage.
The suitors so swore.
69. The plan was for Hermione to marry
Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and
Clytemnestra
70. This marriage would unite Mycenae, ruled
by Agamemnon, and Sparta, ruled by
Menelaus
However, many plans were delayed or ruined
entirely by
The JUDGEMENT OF PARIS
71. When Zeus named Paris as the
arbiter of the apple, each of the three
goddesses came to Paris with a bribe
89. Awed by her beauty and her status, the
Trojans welcomed her—even Priam
90.
91. As soon as Helen left Sparta, the Greeks
hyped out
Menelaus, who had been amusing himself with
a nymph in Crete, came rushing back to Sparta.
Agamemnon was furious at the dishonor done
to his family.
Couriers were sent throughout Greece to
remind former suitors of their oath.
97. But Helen could not be retrieved.
Warriors throughout the Hellenistic world were
called upon to wage war
98. Some, like Odysseus, were reluctant to go
Happily married to Penelope, with an infant son
named Telemachos and with a prophecy that he
would not return from Troy until 20 years had
passed, Odysseus feigned madness to escape
the call.
101. But Odysseus was needed for his skills as a
rhetorician and a strategist
So Palimedes was sent to bring Odysseus in. He
did so by throwing the infant Telemachos under
the plow. Odysseus’ scheme was to appear mad
by plowing the sand on the beach.
112. Disguised as a merchant, Odysseus
included a wonderful sword in his bag of
ladies’ goods
When one of the
“girls” fondled the
sword, Odysseus
knew “she” was
Achilles.
113. Achilles, leading the Myrmidons, went willingly
to Aulis, where Agamemnon had gathered all of
the Greek warriors
114. It took two years for all the forces to
assemble at Aulis
In the
meantime, Agamemno
n, hunting for food for
the
troops, accidentally
killed a stag sacred to
the goddess Artemis
115. Outraged, Artemis kept the winds from
blowing, so the restless troops were stuck
in Aulis.
119. Agamemnon’s ruse was that he had
arranged a marriage between Iphigenia
and Achilles
Thrilled, Clytemnestra
sent her child to Aulis.
When the marriage was
discovered to be a
hoax, both Clytemnestra
and Achilles were royally
pissed at Agamemnon.