Black Ships Before Troy

Menelaus returns from hunting to discover that Helen and Paris have fled to Troy. He is furious and calls for aid from his brother, the High King Agamemnon. Agamemnon invokes the oath taken by many Greek kings including Nestor, Thisbe, Pytho, Ajax, Diomedes, and Odysseus, to fight for one another. Men and ships from all over Greece gather, taking up “bows and spears for the keeping of their oath, to fetch back Helen of the Fair Cheeks and take vengeance upon Troy” (12).

The Greek forces are missing one crucial warrior: Achilles, son of Thetis and Peleus (the couple whose wedding started the fight between goddesses). When he was a baby, Thetis dipped Achilles into the River Styx, so that he might be immune to death in battle. She grasped the back of his ankle, the Achilles tendon, so her fingers kept the waters from reaching that spot—his only point of weakness. Under the tutelage of Chiron, the wise Centaur, Achilles became skilled in battle and strategy, and in music. When Agamemnon calls all Greeks to battle, Thetis hides Achilles and his companion Patroclus on the Isle of Scyros, where Achilles dresses as a maiden and hides amongst King Lycomedes’s daughters.

The wily and cunning King Odysseus outsmarts Thetis and pierces Achilles’s disguise. Odysseus lays out many gifts for the maidens of Lycomedes’s court. Instead of choosing a necklace or earrings, Achilles chooses the sword and thus reveals himself. Thetis warns Achilles that if he leaves for the war, he “will make for [himself] a name that shall last while men tell stories round the fire, even to the end of the world,” but he will die young (15). Achilles chooses everlasting fame over a long life; both he and Patroclus join the war.

The Greeks overcome many obstacles on their journey to Troy. When they land, they drive the Trojan army off, and built a shore town to sustain the many years of war to follow. The Trojans barricade themselves within the city; because the Greeks aren’t used to siege warfare, they do not build trenches, keep supplies out of the city, or break through the walls.

Nine years pass with only the slightest of skirmishes. The Greeks plunder many other Trojan villages in the area. They enslave many women; in particular, Agamemnon captures Chryseis, while Achilles captures Briseis. Chryseis’s father, a priest of Apollo, begs for his daughter’s return, but Agamemnon refuses. As a result, Apollo rains down misfortune and pestilence on the Greek camp. Agamemnon finally agrees to return Chryseis, but only if he can then take Briseis for himself to save face as the highest-ranking Greek warrior.

Achilles is furious at this and quarrels with Agamemnon, swearing not to fight for Agamemnon until the king apologizes. Achilles weeps by the beach until Thetis comes to him. He demands that she ask Zeus to aid the Trojans until Agamemnon begs Achilles on his knees. Achilles sulks for twelve days.

On the twelfth day, Zeus meets with Thetis and agrees to her request. Zeus sets everything into motion by sending Agamemnon a dream. Within it, Zeus appears as Nestor, telling the High King that if the Greeks attack the Trojans the next day, Zeus will grant them victory. Agamemnon wants to believe his dream, but summons all the other war leaders for advice. They are doubtful, so Agamemnon suggests that they test their army’s temper by suggesting that they return to Greece. The tired army is overjoyed by the false promise of returning home. Odysseus is the only one who wants to continue fighting and ushers the men back. Thersites, one of the men who wanted to return to Greece, is outspoken about his disdain for the leaders. Odysseus, quick to nip the beginning of a revolt in the bud, beats Thersites bloody. In doing so, Odysseus manages to rally the men for battle.

The Trojans know that Achilles no longer fights for the Greeks. When both sides meet on the battlefield after many long years, Paris is on the front lines dressed in a spotted panther skin. He challenges any Greek warrior to single combat, but when Menelaus takes him up on it, Paris hides among the Trojans. His brother, Hector, scolds him for his cowardice and forces him to fight. They agree with the Greeks that the fight between Paris and Menelaus will end the war; the survivor wins the war and Helen. Upon hearing about the fight between Paris and Menelaus, Helen hurries out onto the roof where she sees King Priam. Many Trojans think Helen should return to Sparta so that the war might end. Priam is kind to her, however, and tries to console her.

The two sides sacrifice two lambs so that the gods might bless the duel. They draw lots to decide who will throw the first spear. Paris throws first, but his spear bounces harmlessly off Menelaus’s shield. Menelaus calls out for Zeus’s blessing and returns the blow; the spear cuts through Paris’s shield and breastplate but does not harm him. Menelaus is fierce and attempts to drag Paris into the Greek front line. Aphrodite intervenes, however, and causes Menelaus to lose hold of Paris. Aphrodite throws a cloak of invisibility over Paris and whisks him behind the walls of Troy.

The Greeks demand the victory that is theirs by rights. Helen agrees, but Aphrodite threatens Helen; if she leaves Paris, the goddess will force the Greeks to hate Helen as readily as the Trojans already do. Helen obeys in fear; however, she tells Paris that she wishes that he had died in the duel “at the hand of [her] true marriage-lord, who is a better man than [Paris] will ever be” (30). Helen wants to return to the Greeks, but Aphrodite casts a spell on her to prevent this. The goddess worries that if Troy loses, Athene and Hera will mock her.

Athene, on the side of the Greeks, is desperate to end the temporary truce between the Trojans and the Greeks. She compels Pandarus, one of Troy’s allies, to fire an arrow at Menelaus. It wounds Menelaus, though not fatally. The truce is broken and both sides prepare once more for war. The Trojans and the Greeks fight fiercely; on the Greek side, Diomedes kills many, and eventually ends Pandarus’s life. Hector almost forces some of the Greeks back onto their boats, but the Greeks push back in turn. The day is turning in favor of the Greeks, and the Trojans retreat into their city.

A soothsayer tells Hector to reenter Troy, prophesying how to win the battle. Hector follows the soothsayer’s instructions: He bids his mother to gather all the women and jewels, and to pray to Athene to remind the goddess that they, too, are her daughters—this way, they might gain her blessing in battle.

Hector then visits Helen and Paris. Paris is playacting at dressing for battle—“fussing over his armor and playing with his great bow, like a girl making ready for a party, instead of arming himself for the war-host” (36). Paris does not take the war seriously and shies away from battle; both Helen and Hector are ashamed of his behavior. Hector, on the other hand, has been fighting as best he can. Knowing that he will not return from the war, he bids goodbye to his wife Andromache and their son Astyanax. They weep and clutch each other close. Before Hector leaves his family to return to the front, he says to Andromache, “Dear, cease the weeping. Go back to your women and set them to women’s work. War is the work for men” (39).