- 1. The Trojan WarEnglish I
2. Judgment of ParisAn important feast was taking place at the
home of the gods and goddesses, Mount Olympus. The evil goddess of
Discord, Eris, was angry that she was not invited, so she decided
to make trouble. She threw a golden apple into the crowd. On the
apple were the words For the Fairest. 3. Of course, all of the
goddesses wanted the apple because each believed that she was the
fairest. The choices were narrowed down to three: Aphrodite, Hera,
and Pallas Athena. The three goddesses asked Zeus to decide which
one of them should get the apple, but he refused to have anything
to do with the matter. 4. Zeus told the three goddesses to go
toMount Ida, near Troy, where they wouldfind the young prince
Paris. Zeus saidthat he was an excellent judge of beauty.Paris was
a prince, but was doingshepherds work outside of Troy becausehis
father, King Priam was warned thatParis would one day be the ruin
of hiscountry. 5. Paris was surprise when he saw the
threegoddesses. The goddesses each offeredParis a bribe to convince
him that theydeserved the apple. Hera promised tomake Paris Lord of
Europe and Asia.Athena promised he would lead theTrojans to victory
against the Greeks.Aphrodite promised Paris that the fairestwoman
in all the world would be his.Paris gave the golden apple to
Aphrodite. 6. The fairest woman in the world was Helen. Every young
prince in Greece wanted to marry her. However, Helen was already
married to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon. 7. Paris traveled to
Sparta and was greetedgraciously by Helen and Menelaus.Trusting
Paris completely, Menelaus leftParis in his home and traveled alone
toCrete. When Menelaus returned fromCrete, his wife was gone.
Menelaus calledupon all the men of Greece to help himget Helen
back. 8. Odysseus did not want to leave his home to join the Army
and retrieve Helen. He pretended that he had gone mad; when a
messenger arrived, he was plowing a field and sewing it with salt
instead of seed. The messenger put Odysseus son in the direct path
of the plow. When Odysseus stopped the plow, it was proven that
Odysseus was not crazy, and he was forced to join the Army. 9. A
thousand ships carried the Greek Army toTroy. The war went on for
ten years.Neither side was able to win victory overthe other. Both
sides lost many greatwarriors. The Greeks knew that theycould not
defeat the Trojans by force;they would have to find a way to
takeTroy by surprise. 10. Odysseus came up with a plan to build a
giant wooden horse which was hallow and so big that it could hold a
number of men.Several of the Greek warriors, including Odysseus hid
inside the giant horse. The Trojans were afraid to destroy the
horse because they thought the gods would punish them for
destroying a gift, so they pulled the horse into the city. 11. In
the middle of thenight, the Greekssnuck out of thehorse and into
thecity streets of Troy.They burned thecitys buildings to theground
and killed themen as they left theirburning homes. TheGreeks had
won. 12. The Greeks went mad with victory the night they defeated
the Trojans. They forgot what was due to the gods, and on their
voyage home, they were terribly punished.The Odyssey is the story
of one soldier-- Odysseus, a smart Greek--and his return home from
war, a journey that lasts more than twenty years.
