The Epic Cycle
The Trojan War and everything around it
A Spartan maiden named Helen becomes the most-sought-after maiden in history. King Theseus of Athens kidnaps her but is forced to give her back. She marries King Menelaus, then elopes with Paris to Troy. The kingdoms of Hellas unite under Menelaus's brother, King Agamemnon, to mount a campaign against Troy to rescue Helen. The war drags on for ten years before Troy is destroyed. But the kings return home to find that the Sea Peoples are on the rise, Dorian invaders are streaming down from the north, cities are burning, allies are falling, Hellenic civilization is being wiped away, and the Fourth Age is at an end.
Plot points/Scenes
Before the War
Recruiting the Troops
The Embarkation
The First Nine Years
The Iliad
The End of the War
Homecomings
The Odyssey
Structure
Exposition
The core of this story is Homer's two extant works, The Iliad and The Odyssey, but parts of this story that are now lost to us included Amazons on the battlefield, the death of Achilles, the fight between Odysseus and Ajax over Achilles's legacy, events surrounding the suicide of Ajax, the planning and execution of the Trojan Horse attack, the destruction of Troy, and the desecration of the Palestra. Many later works riff on these events, and add to our understanding.
Components
Goals
The main goal of the Achaians under King Agamemnon is to bring Helen back to Hellas and avenge Paris's violation of xenia, the code of hospitality required by Zeus.
Stakes
For Troy, the stakes are the destruction of the city, the death of its men, and the enslavement of its women. For the Achaians, a defeat would have been devastating, and even the cost of victory contributed to the collapse of their civilization.
Moral Quandaries
Was it worth it?
Comments