We discussed Menelaus, Paris, Helen, and Agamemnon today in class. Please be ready for a QUIZ covering the above characters on WEDNESDAY.
Menelaus, King of Sparta/Husband to Helen
B1:1."Hear me also! This touches me most clearly. My mind is that the Acheans
and the Trojans should now be reconciled. You have suffered enough
this quarrel of mine and Paris. Call his grace, King Priam, as a
witness, and we do not wish to violate this old man, he looks both before and behind, to see that the best is done for both sides."
2.
" Paris struck first, but Menelaus caught the swift spear on his
shield then hurled his own. It rent Paris' but did not wound him.
Menelaus drew his sword, his only weapon now, but as he did so it fell
from his hand broken. Undaunted though unarmed he leaped upon Paris and
seizing him...he would have dragged him to the Greeks victoriously if
it had not been for Aphrodite saving him. "
B2:1.
"Menelaus and Helen received him graciously as their guest. The ties
between guest and host were strong. Each was bound to help and never
harm the other. But Paris broke that bond. Menelaus trusting completely
to it left Paris in his home and went off to Crete."
2. "Later after Paris' death, the Trojans gave Helen to his brother Deiphobus,
in whose house, on the night of the fall of Troy, Menelaus found her.
He had meant to kill her on the spot, but her beauty and Aphrodite's
power deterred him."
B4:1.
"Menelaus saw who was making the challenge and was as glad as a lion
coming on the carcass of a wild goat....He stood and looked at his rival
with contempt."
2. Same as the second quote for B1..refer to the second quote for B1.
Burial mask discovered by Henrik Scheilmann. Scheilmann
thought he had discovered the mask of Agamemnon. He was actually
incorrect, as the funeral mask is several hundred years older than the
Agamemnon of history.
B1:1.
"Artemis was so angry. One of her beloved wild creatures, a hare, had
been slain by the Greeks, together with her young, and the only way to
create the winds and ensure a safe voyage to Troy was to appease her by
sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia....He dared the deed,
slaying his child to help a war."
2. "Agamemnon, in Greek Mythology,
was King of Mycenae, and a commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan
War. When the Greeks had assembled at
Aulis
for their voyage to Troy they were held back by adverse winds.
Agamemnon had killed one of Artemis' sacred hares and the young; she was
angry with Agamemnon's arrogance, so she caused the winds to blow
unceasingly. To punish Agamemnon, she required the sacrifice of his
eldest daughter Iphigenia. "
B2:1. ""Agamemnon sent a letter to Clytemnestra and their child, Iphigenia, asking them to come and join them at
Aulis, where Iphigenia he said was going to be married to the great Achilles."
2.
"He insulted the goddess Artemis by bragging that he was a better
hunter than she and by killing a sacred hare. As punishment, Artemis
caused the winds to blow so hard that the Greek fleet could not set
sail."
First day of Iliad Character Presentations
Priam, King of Troy, begging Achilles to relinquish the body of Hector
B1/B2:
1.
"I have endured what no other mortal on the face of the earth has yet
endured, to reach forth my hand to the face of him that has slain my
sons."
2. " So accompanied the old man past the guards and came into
the presence of the man who had killed and maltreated his son. He
clasped his knees and kissed his hands and as he did so, Achilles felt
awe and so did all the other there....."
B4:
1.
"Priam was killed by Neopotolemus, the son of Achilles. Achilles had
spared Priam, but Achilles' son struck him down before the eyes of his
wife and daughters."
2. ""In Greek Mythology, Priam was the last
king of Troy, a ruler who witnessed the destruction of his city in the
Trojan War. His son Paris caused the war, while another son, Hector,
became the greatest Trojan hero during the long struggle with the
Greeks."
Paris, Prince of Troy
B1:
1.
"Hera promised to make him Lord of Europe and Asia; Athena, that he
would lead the Trojans to victory against the Greeks and lay Greece in
ruins; Aphrodite, that the fairest woman in all the world would be
his."
2. "Paris, a weakling and something of a coward, too, as later events showed, chose the last."
B2:
1. "Paris himself, who had not fought at all, except to throw his spear, she caught up in a cloud and took him back to Helen."
2.
"His single combat with Menelaus, Helen's husband, was suppose to
have settled the outcome of the whole war. Instead it revealed Paris as
a coward, who only escaped through the intervention of Aphrodite."
B4:
1.
"In Sparta, Menelaus, husband of Helen, treated Paris as a royal
guest. However, when Menelaus left Sparta for a funeral, Paris
abducted Helen and also carried off much of Menelaus' wealth."
2.
"What men care for most was set before him. Hera promised to make him
Lord of Europe and Asia; Athena, that he would lead the Trojans to
victory against the Greeks and lay Greece in ruins; Aphrodite, that the
fairest woman in all the world should be his. Paris, a weakling and
something of a coward, too, as later events showed, chose the last. He
gave Aphrodite the golden apple."
Helen, "the face that launched a thousand ships"
B1:
1.
"Then Priam brought Hector home, mourned in Troy as never another,
even Helen wept. 'The other Trojans upbraided me, ' she said, 'but
always I had comfort from you through your gentleness of spirit and
your kind words. You were only my friend."
2.
"The most fascinating things about Helen was her story. It was far
better than she was. We do not see any real character development in
her and have to regard her as a a pawn of the gods. The larger story is
involved with the people around her, their rise and fall. She herself
seemed oblivious to the horrors that surrounded her."
B2
1.
"If only death had pleased me then, grim death, that day I followed
your son to Troy, forsaking my marriage bed, my kinsmen and my
children."
2. "Never set food on Mt. Olympus
...never! ---suffer Paris, protect Paris, for eternity....until he makes
you his wedded wife---that or his slave. Not I, I'll never go back
again. It would be wrong, disgraceful to share that coward's bed once
more."
B4
1.
"Aphrodite led Paris to Sparta, the home of a Greek prince named
Menelaus. Helen, his wife was considered the most beautiful woman in the
world. Paris fell in love with Helen and carried her off to Troy."
2.
"When Menelaus returned home and discovered Helen gone, he called on
the leaders of Greece, who had sworn to support him if necessary. The
Greeks organized a great expedition and set sail for Troy. Their
arrival at Troy marked the beginning of the Trojan War."
