(i) Using a map show the relative locations of Argos, Pylos, Sparta, Mycenae, Ithaca and Troy.
(ii) The Return of Agamemnon-
(a) Primary Sources
Aeschylus: "Agamemnon" (opening scene and 11s . 788sq . - scene where he returns and his wife spreads out a crimson carpet). Retell this story to the Class.
Homer: "Odyssey" Book III and Book XI.
(b) Summary of the Story
Agamemnon was King of Mycenae. He was a brother of Menelaus.
- They were called the Atreidae because they were sons of Atreus
- It was Agamemnon who organised the fleet to sail to Troy to get Helen back
- When the war was over Agamemnon returned home with Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy
- For a long time his wife, Clytemnestra, had been faithful to him but finally she fell in love with Aegisthus.
- When Agamemnon returned she and Aegis thus pretended to welcome him by preparing a banquet
- However they killed Agamemnon and Cassandra when they attended the banquet
- Aegis thus then reigned in Mycenae for seven years
- In the eighth year Orestes, son of Agamemnon, backed by his sister Electra, avenged the death of his father by killing Aegis thus and Clytemnestra
- Many years later Orestes united the House of Atreus and the House of Thyestes, thus ending the curse
- Orestes died of a snake bite when he was seventy years old.
(iii) The Wanderings of Odysseus
(a) Primary Source - "The Odyssey"
(b) Summary of the Story
- Odysseus was son of King Laertes of Ithaca
- His wife was Penelope
- Their son was Telemachus - he was a baby when Odysseus left for Troy
- Odysseus was not keen to go to Troy as an oracle warned him he would not return till the twentieth year (see R. Graves: "Greek Myths", Vol.2: 160,f)
- Weather conditions and the intervention of the Gods prevented Odysseus from returning home immediately after the fall of Troy
- On Odysseus's journey back (see "The Odyssey" for details) he visited the following
- The Cicones - Ismarus
- The Lotus-Eaters
- The Cyclopes (see Homer's "Odyssey" Book IX a n d Virgil's "Aeneid" Book III)
- Island of Aeolia - North of Sicily
- The Laestrygonians
- Circe
- The Underworld
- He returns to Circe for the body of Elpenor
- The Sirens
- The Wandering Rocks (Virgil - between Sicily and Italy)
There were dangers on each side in
- Scylla
- Charybdis
- The Island of the Sun
- Scylla and Charybdis again
- Calypso - island of Ogygia
- The Phaeacians - Island of Scherie
- Ithaca (island west of Greece)
(iv) Main Points
- After the war at Troy many important Greeks were dead
- Patroclus was killed by Hector
- Achilles was killed by Paris
- Ajax went mad and killed himself
- The remaining Greek heroes were anxious to get home
- Nestor returned t o Pylos
- Menelaus returned with Helen to Sparta
- Diomedes returned to Argos
- Agamemnon however ran into trouble when he got home to Mycenae
- Odysseus was prevented from returning home to Ithaca for another ten years.
(v) Primary Sources
| (a) Literature | |
| Aeschylus: | "Oresteian Trilogy" |
| Sophocles: | "Ajax" |
| Euripides | "Hecuba" |
| Plutarch: | "Age of Alexander"
(Story that Alexander died from water from the River Styx which was gathered in the hoof of a mule). |
| | |
| (b) Monumental Remains | |
| Troy | The complete city |
| Mycenae | Grave Circle A - "Mask of Agamemnon" (believed, incorrectly, by Schliemann, to be that of Agamemnon)
Tholos Tomb - "Treasury of Atreus" (believed, incorrectly, to be the tomb of Atreus) |
| | |
| (c) Art | "Apotheosis of Homer", British Museum, London (Hellenistic Period) |
| | "Portrait of Homer", Boston (Hellenistic Period), (Pictures in Richter). |
(vi) Influence on European Culture
(a) Literature
| James Joyce: | "Ulysses" |
| Shakespeare: | "Troilus and Cressida" |
| Tennyson's poems | e.g. "The Lotus Eaters" |
| Bellay's Sonnet: | "Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage" |
| Satre: | "Les Mouches" |
| A. Gide: | "Philoctete" |
| T.S. Eliot: | "The Family reunion, Sweeney among the" |
| Eugene O'Neill: | "Mourning becomes Electra" |
| C. Wolf | "Cassandra" |
(b) Art
| Pintoriocchio: | "Penelope & Telemachus" |
| Patinir: | "Charon crossing the River Styx" |
| Piero di Cosimo: | "Scenes from the Odyssey" |
| Delacroix: | "Dante and Virgil crossing the Styx" |
(c) Tapestry
Tapestry of Baroque period designed by Jordaens
(d) Music
| William Walton: | "Troilus & Cressida" - opera |
| Dalapiccolo: | "Ulysses" - opera |
| Seiber: | "Ulysses" - based on Joyce's work |
| Offenbach: | "Orpheus in the Underworld" (overture) |
| Mozart: | "I domeneus" |
(e) Advertising
"Cyclops" used on a potato crisp bag!
(f) Sport
"Cyclops", the service line machine, used in the tennis matches at Wimbledon
(vii) Additional Reading and other Materials for Teachers
- Michael Wood: "In Search of the Trojan War"
- M. Thorpe: "Homer" (Inside the Ancient World Series)
- M. Sargent: "Mycenae" (Aspects of Greek Life Series - Longman)
- O. Taplin: "Greek Fire"
- Slides or Pictures of Troy
- Slides or pictures of Mycenae showing Grave Circle A and its finds, including "Mask of Agamemnon" and "The Treasury of Atreus".
(viii) Recommended Activities for Students
- Draw pictures of the scenes in the story
- Mime some of the situations in which Odysseus found himself and involve all members of the class in guessing the mime content.
- Hold a class quiz on places and characters encountered in Odysseus's travels.
(ix) Related Topics
Using Nausicaa as a model hold a discussion on moral behaviour.