Epics
1. The Iliad
- 9 years after start of Trojan War
- Greeks sack Chryse and capture Chryseis and Briseis, former for Agamemnon,
latter for Achilles
- Chryseis’ father, priest of Apollo, offers a ransom for his daughter back,
Agamemnon refuses so he prays for a plague upon the Greeks
- Prophet Calchas says Chryseis is the cause, Agamemnon returns her and takes
Briseis instead, causing Achilles to refuse to fight
- Trojans begin to push Greeks back w/ Zeus on their side, set fire to a Greek ship
- Nestor thinks of a plan to have Patroclus wear Achilles’ armour and fight instead
of him, but Apollo knocks his armour and Hector kills him
- Achilles agrees to rejoin the battle wearing armour Hephaestus has forged on
orders of Thetis, his mother
- Achilles chases Hector until Athena tricks the Trojan into turning around and
fighting
- Hector is killed and his body attached to the back of Achilles’ chariot is dragged
around Patroclus’ funeral bier every day for 9 days
- Zeus sends Hermes to escort Priam, Hector’s father, into the Achaean camp,
where he pleads with Achilles for his son’s body which he is given
- There is a temporary ceasefire for Hecuba to perform funeral rites for her son
2. The Odyssey
- 10 years after the fall of Troy
- Odysseus journeying back to Ithaca where suitors are destroying his house and
wooing his wife Penelope
- The nymph Calypso has imprisoned Odysseus on her island Ogygia and he has no
crew or ship to help him escape
- Athena disguises herself and helps Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, with the suitors,
and prepares him to journey after his father
- Zeus sends Hermes to rescue Odysseus
- Poseidon sends a storm to wreck his ship as revenge for blinding his son, the
cyclops Polyphemus
- Athena saves him and sends him to Scheria, home of the Phaeacians, where the
princess Nausicaa and king and queen promise to give him safe passage to Ithaca
after hearing his stories
- He describes his trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, battle with Polyphemus,
love-affair with the witch Circe, temptation by the Sirens, journey to Hades to the
prophet Tiresias, and fight with sea-monster Scylla
- The Phaeacians return him to Ithaca disguised as a beggar where he is received
by his swineherd Eumaeus
- He reveals his true identity to his son Telemachus and they plan to kill the suitors
- At the palace he is only recognised by his old nurse Eurycleia
- Penelope, suspecting he’s Odysseus, prepares an archery contest, promising to
marry the man who can string Odysseus’ bow and fire an arrow through twelve
axes
1. The Iliad
- 9 years after start of Trojan War
- Greeks sack Chryse and capture Chryseis and Briseis, former for Agamemnon,
latter for Achilles
- Chryseis’ father, priest of Apollo, offers a ransom for his daughter back,
Agamemnon refuses so he prays for a plague upon the Greeks
- Prophet Calchas says Chryseis is the cause, Agamemnon returns her and takes
Briseis instead, causing Achilles to refuse to fight
- Trojans begin to push Greeks back w/ Zeus on their side, set fire to a Greek ship
- Nestor thinks of a plan to have Patroclus wear Achilles’ armour and fight instead
of him, but Apollo knocks his armour and Hector kills him
- Achilles agrees to rejoin the battle wearing armour Hephaestus has forged on
orders of Thetis, his mother
- Achilles chases Hector until Athena tricks the Trojan into turning around and
fighting
- Hector is killed and his body attached to the back of Achilles’ chariot is dragged
around Patroclus’ funeral bier every day for 9 days
- Zeus sends Hermes to escort Priam, Hector’s father, into the Achaean camp,
where he pleads with Achilles for his son’s body which he is given
- There is a temporary ceasefire for Hecuba to perform funeral rites for her son
2. The Odyssey
- 10 years after the fall of Troy
- Odysseus journeying back to Ithaca where suitors are destroying his house and
wooing his wife Penelope
- The nymph Calypso has imprisoned Odysseus on her island Ogygia and he has no
crew or ship to help him escape
- Athena disguises herself and helps Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, with the suitors,
and prepares him to journey after his father
- Zeus sends Hermes to rescue Odysseus
- Poseidon sends a storm to wreck his ship as revenge for blinding his son, the
cyclops Polyphemus
- Athena saves him and sends him to Scheria, home of the Phaeacians, where the
princess Nausicaa and king and queen promise to give him safe passage to Ithaca
after hearing his stories
- He describes his trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, battle with Polyphemus,
love-affair with the witch Circe, temptation by the Sirens, journey to Hades to the
prophet Tiresias, and fight with sea-monster Scylla
- The Phaeacians return him to Ithaca disguised as a beggar where he is received
by his swineherd Eumaeus
- He reveals his true identity to his son Telemachus and they plan to kill the suitors
- At the palace he is only recognised by his old nurse Eurycleia
- Penelope, suspecting he’s Odysseus, prepares an archery contest, promising to
marry the man who can string Odysseus’ bow and fire an arrow through twelve
axes
