Practice questions on the Trojan saga (Fall 08)
Trojan War Saga
All the gods and goddesses but one were invited to the wedding of Peleus and
___________, parents of _______________. This goddess, Eris, whose name means
______________, threw a golden apple into the midst of the party. The apple was
inscribed, “To _____________”. Three goddesses claimed the apple,
______________, ________________, and _____________. They agreed to be judged
by a prince of Troy, _______________.
Aphrodite offered as a bribe the most beautiful woman in the world, ______________,
who was already married to ______________. Many suitors had fought over her,
but all agreed to abide by an oath to support the one who was chosen. When she
was abducted by Paris, _______________ led the Greek forces to Troy in order
to retrieve her.
________________ did not wish to go to Troy and tried to trick the Greeks by
pretending he was insane. His plot was foiled by Palamedes. _____________ was
hidden away by his mother Thetis on Scyros, disguised as a girl, but Odysseus
discovered him. The Greeks left for Troy from the shore of Aulis, where _______________
was sacrificed to Artemis by her father ______________. On the way to Troy ________________’s
foot became infected and he was stranded on the island of Lemnos by the Greeks.
The epic poem the ________ tells the events of the 10th year of the war, and
has as its theme the wrath of ______________ when he and __________________ quarrel
over a matter of honor.
The Trojans have as their king and queen _______________ and ______________.
The greatest Trojan fighter is ______________.
After Achilles withdraws his men from the fight, the Greeks begin to lose. His
best friend ____________ asks to be allowed to fight, and he borrows the armor
of Achilles. He is killed by _______________, and this event drives Achilles
mad with grief and rage. His mother _____________ brings him armor newly forged
by the god ______________, and he returns to the battle. He kills Hector, and
mutilates the body by __________________________________. Eventually he is visited
by Hector’s father _____________, who reminds Achilles of his own father.
Hector’s body is returned and buried and thus ends the Iliad.
Allies arrive to aid the Trojans, including the women warriors called ____________.
Achilles falls in love with their queen just as he transfixes her with a spear.
Achilles himself dies when cowardly _____________, shooting an arrow from afar,
hits him in his only vulnerable spot, _________________.
When Achilles is dead, Ajax retrieves his body and both he and _________________
claim Achilles’ armor. When Ajax does not get the armor, he goes insane
with anger and shames himself by _________________________. When he returns to
his senses, he ends his dishonor by ____________________.
Troy could only be taken when the Greeks possessed two talismans: the bow of
________________, which Odysseus and Neoptolemus retrieved from _______________
on the island of Lemnos; and the statue known as the _______________, which the
Greeks stole from the Trojan citadel.
The Greeks then built ________________, filled it with men, and pretended to
sail away in their ships. In fact they stopped behind a nearby island, while
the Trojans debated what to do. Some believed that it was an offering to Athena,
and must be brought into the city. The priest _______________ and the priestess
and seer _____________ both protested and warned them not to trust the Greeks.
But the priest was punished by a terrible omen, ___________________. Nobody believed
the priestess, as usual, because she had been cursed by her former lover, the
god ________________.
The Trojans brought the horse into the city and celebrated the end of the war.
When they were all asleep, the Greeks crept out of the horse and sacked the city.
The males, including King _____________ and his grandchild ______________, were
killed. The women, including Hectors’ wife _______________, and the King’s
wife, _____________, were taken as slaves. Little Ajax dragged _________________
from the altar of Athena, and raped her. She then became a slave of Agamemnon
and eventually died at Mycenae. Helen was recaptured by her husband ________________;
he wanted to kill her but could not bring himself to do so. Priam and Hecuba’s
daughter ________________ was sacrificed on the tomb of _________________. Priam’s
son ______________ escaped with a group of Trojans and sailed to Italy, where
he became a founding hero of the Romans.