The Trojan War

It began with the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, where Eris, the goddess of discord, created the competition of fairness and beauty upon three goddesses by a golden apple. As the goddesses, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, were in rivalry of the apple, Zeus was the judge of whom to give the apple. However he refused and he had given the role to a shepherd named Paris (Paris was the son of Hecuba and Priam and was forseened to destroy Troy and was abandoned in the wild)

"The goddesses approached Paris and each offered Paris a bribe for selecting her. Hera promised to make him a king who would rule Asia and have great wealth. Athena offered to give him wisdom and an invincible valor in warfare. But Aphrodite won the apple by promising Paris the most beautiful woman in the world — the spectacular Helen"

(https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/mythology/summary-and-analysis-greek-mythology/the-trojan-war-8212-the-preliminaries-the-course-of-the-war-the-fall-of-troy-and-the-returns)

He chose Aphrodite for the gift of the most beautiful woman. Once Paris knew of his gift of Helen he then claimed the throne of Troy and abandon his lover then sailed to Sparta. Paris was able to seduce Helen as her husband was absent and took her back to Troy

. Once Helen's husband, Menelaus, had found of what happened to his wife he then went to claim back Helen. Menelaus took with him Greek heros and traveled to Troy. For nine years the Greeks fought at the surroundings of Troy. Later on the Greeks created a wooden horse and snuck few soldiers into the horse. Once the Trojans had saw the horse they took it in foolishly. The Greeks then opened the gate and destroyed Troy. Throughout the war it was said for the gods and goddesses had took play on each side. Where Zeus and Apollo took no side and watched.

The major players were:

Paris: taking Helen and provoking Menelaus

Menelaus: to declare the war to take back Helen.

Aphrodite was not as major but was the one that caused the war into with her gift

The Odyssey

The Odyssey was told after the Trojan War.

The hero Odysseus was assumed to be dead after the war. However he was held captive by the goddess Calypso. Fortunately, with Athena as an ally, he was able to escape and began to travel back. They were also trapped on an island that contains a cyclops. Odysseus had led his men into a cave that contained food and water. They were trapped and realized Polyphemus was the owner of the cave. He ate most of his men one by one. Odysseus had tied his men on the sheeps belly and was token out of the cave. Then sailed away.

But doing so, he was caught in a storm due to the wrath of Poseidon. He was able to escape with the guidance of of the god Ailos. After the storm they came upon an island and was tricked by the goddess Circe. She turned them all into pigs however the God Heremes was able to help Odysseus to avoid the curse and was able to help change his men back to human. They stayed at the island for a year. Odysseus took Circe as a lover and was able to avoid the voices of sirens and travel farther in the ocean. While his wife Penelope was forced to choose a suitor with the absence of Odysseus. Telemachus, their son, was aided by Athena and reunited with his father to bring him back. Once they had came back. Penelope had recognized Odysseus' face while he was dressed as a beggar,so she created a test where only Odysseus can achieve.

"she will, at last, marry the suitor who can string Odysseus' great bow and shoot an arrow through a dozen axe heads"

(http://www.gradesaver.com/the-odyssey/study-guide/summary)

Odysseus was able to passed the test and reprove his identity he told her about the bed he built for them. And both were reunited together.

The Major Characters

Odysseus: he was the main character who needed to reunite with his wife Telemachus (not as significant): the one who was able to find him