Prologue to The Odyssey
Directions: Read "The Prologue" and answer the questions at the end of the story. Define the vocabulary from the way each word is used in the sentence.
Vocabulary:
1. strategy
2. naiad
3. discord
4. inscribed
5. intervene
6. prior
7. refrain
8. tactician
9. staved
10. ogre
11. peril
The adventures of Odysseus began many years before this story opens. Odysseus was the master strategist of the Greek forces in the war against Troy – the war that started with an apple, ended with a horse, and was fought by a thousand kings for the love of a beautiful woman. This woman, Helen, became known as “the face that launched a thousand ships.”
The story started when Peleus, a mighty hero, was to be married to Thetis, the most beautiful naiad that ever lived in Poseidon’s waves. It was a magnificent wedding, attended by all the Olympian gods. Unfortunately, however, Thetis had neglected to send an invitation to Eris, Lady of Discord and sister to the god of War, Ares. Eris came without invitation and upon the banquet table threw a golden apple inscribed “To the Fairest.” The apple was claimed immediately by Hera, the queen of the gods; Athena, goddess of Wisdom; and Aphrodite, goddess of Love.
The feud between the three goddesses was so bitter that no god dared to intervene; instead, they passed judgment onto Paris, a shepherd boy of Troy, the son of King Priam, whose royal birth had been kept secret.
Bribes came his way immediately: Hera (Queen of gods) promised him great power; Athena (goddess of Wisdom) offered him complete wisdom; Aphrodite (goddess of Love) said nothing but whispered in Paris’ ear. He immediately gave her the apple. She had promised him the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen, a Spartan queen.
Paris straightway gave up being a shepard and became Prince of Troy. He received a sailing ship and crew, and he sailed to Sparta. He met Helen at a state banquet given by her husband, King Menelaus, and by dawn she was aboard his ship, sailing for Troy.
Prior to her marriage to King Menelaus, Helen had been courted by many kings and princes of the Greek islands. Her father was afraid to allow her to accept a suitor for fear the others would band together to destroy the successful one. Finally, Odysseus offered a plan: all Helen’s admirers would swear a sacred oath to refrain from murdering the successful suitor and would join to defend Helen and her new husband against any attack. Thereupon, Helen chose King Menelaus, one of the most powerful of the Greek chieftains. Thus it was that when Paris made off with Helen, a thousand kings were called upon to keep their oath. They assembled a huge fleet and sailed for Troy.
The Greeks camped outside the walls of Troy, and for ten years tried to fight their way into the city. However, the walls were strong, and the Trojans were brave. The Trojans were led by King Priam’s fifty warrior sons, with the great Hector as their chief. Even after Hector was killed by the Greek hero, Achilles, the Trojans staved off defeat – that is until the “Wooden Horse” trick occurred.
Odysseus, sharpest tactician among the Greeks, thought of the trick. He had the men pretend to give up. They took up their tents, boarded their ships, and sailed out of sight, where they anchored and waited for nightfall. Behind them on the beach, they had left a giant wooden horse. The Trojans thought the horse was an offering to Poseidon(the god of the sea) to ask for good seas while the Greeks were sailing home. They dragged the horse into the city and began to celebrate. The wooden horse was hollow, however, and made so that Odysseus and armed warriors were able to hide inside it as it was rolled into the city. That night, as the Trojans slept, the Greeks crawled out of their hiding place, killed the Trojan guards, and opened the gates to the entire Greek army. Troy was taken. The warriors were slaughtered; women and children enslaved. After Troy was burned, Odysseus began the trip home with three ships each holding fifty men.
What should have been a smooth journey, quickly changed to a disastrous one when Poseidon became angered. Thus, he called up the winds and tides against Odysseus and sent word to the ogres of the islands and the monsters of the deep. For ten long years, Odysseus had to battle his way through the worst perils imaginable in order to return home.
Questions for The Prologue
1. Why was Odysseus considered a master strategist?
2. Why was Helen called “the face that launched a thousand ships”?
3. What other story do you know in which someone who was excluded from an event became angry and cast a spell?
4. What did the apple’s inscription imply?
5. Why did the gods choose Paris to judge the goddesses?
6. Why did the Greeks wage war on Troy?
7. How did the Greeks attain victory?
8. Why did Helen go with Paris to Troy?
9. What does the story imply about the Greeks’ concept of a hero?
10. What does it imply about their concept of the gods?
11. Think of other stories in which the love of a beautiful woman caused a major problem. Write a paragraph summarizing the story.
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