01The stolen queen
Paris of Troy carried Helen away from Menelaus' Sparta. Bound by the oath they had sworn as her suitors, the kings of Greece mustered under Agamemnon of Mycenae, and a thousand ships crossed the Aegean.
THE TROJAN WAR
Τρωικὸς πόλεμος
For Helen, taken from Sparta to Troy, the Achaean kings besieged Priam's city for ten years — the war of wars, where Achilles' wrath burned, Hector fell, and every homecoming was poisoned.
The tale
02The wrath of Achilles
In the tenth year Agamemnon slighted Achilles over the captive Briseis, and the best of the Achaeans withdrew from the fight. Plague and rout followed, until the Trojans pressed to the very ships.
03Hector's fall
Patroclus fell to Hector wearing Achilles' armour, and grief drove Achilles back to war. He slew Hector before the walls, dragged him behind his chariot, and at last gave the body back to old Priam, who kissed the hands that had killed his son.
04The poisoned homecomings
Troy fell, but the victors' returns were bitter. Agamemnon came home to Clytemnestra and the axe; his shade told Odysseus there is nothing more terrible than a treacherous house. Orestes' vengeance closed the curse of the Atreids.
Episodes
Cast
HelenThe cause and the prizeMenelausThe wronged husbandAgamemnonLord of the hostClytemnestraThe waiting queenIphigeniaSacrificed at AulisOrestesThe avengerSarpedonLycian ally of TroyAchillesBest of the AchaeansHectorShield of TroyParisThe thief of HelenPriamOld king of TroyHecubaQueen of the doomed cityCassandraThe unheeded prophetessAeneasSeed of the Trojans to comeOdysseusThe cunning onePatroclusBeloved of Achilles
Places
Told in
- Homer — Iliadentire
- Homer — Odysseythe returns, esp. 11
- Ovid — Metamorphoses12-13
- Hyginus — Fabulae78, 98-111