The Story of Troy Part 1

The Story of Troy.

by Michael Clarke.

INTRODUCTION.

I. HOMER, THE FATHER OF POETRY.

In this book we are to tell the story of Troy, and particularly of the famous siege which ended in the total destruction of that renowned city.

It is a story of brave warriors and heroes of 3000 years ago, about whose exploits the greatest poets and historians of ancient times have written. Some of the wonderful events of the memorable siege are related in a celebrated poem called the Il'i-ad, written in the Greek language.

The author of this poem was Ho'mer, who was the author of another great poem, the Od'ys-sey, which tells of the voyages and adventures of the Greek hero, U-lys'ses, after the taking of Troy.

Homer has been called the Father of Poetry, because he was the first and greatest of poets. He lived so long ago that very little is known about him. We do not even know for a certainty when or where he was born. It is believed, however, that he lived in the ninth century before Christ, and that his native place was Smyr'na, in Asia Minor. But long after his death several other cities claimed the honor of being his birthplace.

Seven Grecian cities vied for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread.

LEONIDAS.

It is perhaps not true that Homer was so poor as to be obliged to beg for his bread; but it is probable that he earned his living by traveling from city to city through many parts of Greece and Asia Minor, reciting his poems in the palaces of princes, and at public a.s.semblies. This was one of the customs of ancient times, when the art of writing was either not known, or very little practiced. The poets, or bards, of those days committed their compositions to memory, and repeated them aloud at gatherings of the people, particularly at festivals and athletic games, of which the ancient Greeks were very fond. At those games prizes and rewards were given to the bards as well as to the athletes.

It is said that in the latter part of his life the great poet became blind, and that this was why he received the name of Homer, which signified a blind person. The name first given to him, we are told, was Mel-e-sig'e-nes, from the river Me'les, a small stream on the banks of which his native city of Smyrna was situated.

So little being known of Homer's life, there has been much difference of opinion about him among learned men. Many have believed that Homer never existed. Others have thought that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed not by one author, but by several. "Some," says the English poet, Walter Savage Landor, "tell us that there were twenty Homers, some deny that there was ever one." Those who believe that there were "twenty Homers"

think that different parts of the two great poems--the Iliad and Odyssey--were composed by different persons, and that all the parts were afterwards put together in the form in which they now appear. The opinion of most scholars at present, however, is that Homer did really exist, that he was a wandering bard, or minstrel, who sang or recited verses or ballads composed by himself, about the great deeds of heroes and warriors, and that those ballads, collected and arranged in after years in two separate books, form the poems known as the Iliad and Odyssey.

Homer's poetry is what is called epic poetry, that is, it tells about heroes and heroic actions. The Iliad and Odyssey are the first and greatest of epic poems. In all ages since Homer's time, scholars have agreed in declaring them to be the finest poetic productions of human genius. No nation in the world has ever produced poems so beautiful or so perfect. They have been read and admired by learned men for more than 2000 years. They have been translated into the languages of all civilized countries. In this book we make many quotations from the fine translation of the Iliad by our American poet, William Cullen Bryant. We quote also from the well-known translation by the English poet, Alexander Pope.

The ancients had a very great admiration for the poetry of Homer. We are told that every educated Greek could repeat from memory any pa.s.sage in the Iliad or Odyssey. Alexander the Great was so fond of Homer's poems that he always had them under his pillow while he slept. He kept the Iliad in a richly ornamented casket, saying that "the most perfect work of human genius ought to be preserved in a box the most valuable and precious in the world."

So great was the veneration the Greeks had for Homer, that they erected temples and altars to him, and worshiped him as a G.o.d. They held festivals in his honor, and made medals bearing the figure of the poet sitting on a throne and holding in his hands the Iliad and Odyssey. One of the kings of E'gypt built in that country a magnificent temple, in which was set up a statue of Homer, surrounded with a beautiful representation of the seven cities that contended for the honor of being the place of his birth.

Great bard of Greece, whose ever-during verse All ages venerate, all tongues rehea.r.s.e; Could blind idolatry be justly paid To aught of mental power by man display'd, To thee, thou sire of soul-exalting song, That boundless worship might to thee belong.

HAYLEY.

II. THE G.o.dS AND G.o.dDESSES.

To understand the Story of Troy it is necessary to know something about the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, who played so important a part in the events we are to relate. We shall see that in the Tro'jan War nearly everything was ordered or directed by a G.o.d or G.o.ddess. The G.o.ds, indeed, had much to do in the causing of the war, and they took sides in the great struggle, some of them helping the Greeks and some helping the Trojans.

The ancient Greeks believed that there were a great many G.o.ds. According to their religion all parts of the universe,--the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the ocean, seas, and rivers, the mountains and forests, the winds and storms,--were ruled by different G.o.ds. The G.o.ds, too, it was supposed, controlled all the affairs of human life. There were a G.o.d of war and a G.o.d of peace, and G.o.ds of music, and poetry, and dancing, and hunting, and of all the other arts or occupations in which men engaged.

The G.o.ds, it was believed, were in some respects like human beings. In form they usually appeared as men and women. They were pa.s.sionate and vindictive, and often quarreled among themselves. They married and had children, and needed food and drink and sleep. Sometimes they married human beings, and the sons of such marriages were the heroes of antiquity, men of giant strength who performed daring and wonderful feats. The food of the G.o.ds was Am-bro'sia, which conferred immortality and perpetual youth on those who partook of it; their drink was a delicious wine called Nec'tar.

The G.o.ds, then, were immortal beings. They never died; they never grew old, and they possessed immense power. They could change themselves, or human beings, into any form, and they could make themselves visible or invisible at pleasure. They could travel through the skies, or over earth or ocean, with the rapidity of lightning, often riding in gorgeous golden chariots drawn by horses of immortal breed. They were greatly feared by men, and when any disaster occurred,--if lives were lost by earthquake, or shipwreck, or any other calamity,--it was attributed to the anger of some G.o.d.

Though immortal beings, however, the G.o.ds were subject to some of the physical infirmities of humanity. They could not die, but they might be wounded and suffer bodily pain the same as men. They often took part in the quarrels and wars of people on earth, and they had weapons and armor like human warriors.

The usual place of residence of the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds was on the top of Mount O-lym'pus in Greece. Here they dwelt in golden palaces, and they had a Council Chamber where they frequently feasted together at grand banquets, celestial music being rendered by A-pol'lo, the G.o.d of minstrelsy, and the Muses, who were the divinities of poetry and song.

In all the chief cities grand temples were erected for the worship of the G.o.ds. One of the most famous was the Par'the-non, at Athens. At the shrines of the G.o.ds costly gifts in gold and silver were presented, and on their altars, often built in the open air, beasts were killed and burned as sacrifices, which were thought to be very pleasing to the divine beings to whom they were offered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PARTHENON.

_From model in Metropolitan Museum, New York._]

The greatest and most powerful of the G.o.ds was Ju'pi-ter, also called Jove or Zeus. To him all the rest were subject. He was the king of the G.o.ds, the mighty Thunderer, at whose nod Olympus shook, and at whose word the heavens trembled. From his great power in the regions of the sky he was sometimes called the "cloud-compelling Jove."

He, whose all-conscious eyes the world behold, The eternal Thunderer sat, enthroned in gold.

High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes, And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes.

POPE, _Iliad_, Book VIII.

The wife of Jupiter, and the queen of heaven, was Ju'no, who, as we shall see, was the great enemy of Troy and the Trojans. One of the daughters of Jupiter, called Ve'nus, or Aph-ro-di'te, was the G.o.ddess of beauty and love. Nep'tune was the G.o.d of the sea. He usually carried in his hand a trident, or three-p.r.o.nged scepter, the emblem of his authority.

His sumptuous palace-halls were built Deep down in ocean, golden, glittering, proof Against decay of time.

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XIII.

Mars was the G.o.d of war, and Plu'to, also called Dis and Ha'des, was G.o.d of the regions of the dead. One of the most glorious and powerful of the G.o.ds was Apollo, or Ph'bus, or Smin'theus, for he had many names. He was G.o.d of the sun, and of medicine, music, and poetry. He is represented as holding in his hand a bow, and sometimes a lyre. Homer calls him the "G.o.d of the silver bow," and the "far-darting Apollo," for the ancients believed that with the dart of his arrow he sent down plagues upon men whenever they offended him.

The other princ.i.p.al deities mentioned by Homer are Mi-ner'va, or Pal'las, the G.o.ddess of wisdom; Vul'can, the G.o.d of fire; and Mer'cu-ry, or Her'mes, the messenger of Jupiter. Vulcan was also the patron, or G.o.d, of smiths. He had several forges; one was on Mount Olympus, and another was supposed to be under Mount aet'na in Sic'i-ly. Here, with his giant workmen, the Cy'clops, he made thunderbolts for Jupiter, and sometimes armor and weapons of war for earthly heroes.

The G.o.ds, it was believed, made their will known to men in various ways,--sometimes by the flight of birds, frequently by dreams, and sometimes by appearing on earth under different forms, and speaking directly to kings and warriors. Very often men learned the will of the G.o.ds by consulting seers and soothsayers, or augurs,--persons who were supposed to have the power of foretelling events. There were temples also where the G.o.ds gave answers through priests. Such answers were called Or'a-cles, and this name was also given to the priests. The most celebrated oracle of ancient times was in the temple of Apollo at Del'phi, in Greece. To this place people came from all parts of the world to consult the G.o.d, whose answers were given by a priestess called Pyth'i-a.

The ancients never engaged in war or any other important undertaking without sacrificing to the G.o.ds or consulting their oracles or soothsayers. Before going to battle they made sacrifices to the G.o.ds. If they were defeated in battle they regarded it as a sign of the anger of Jupiter, or Juno, or Minerva, or Apollo, or some of the other great beings who dwelt on Olympus. When making leagues or treaties of peace, they called the G.o.ds as witnesses, and prayed to Father Jupiter to send terrible punishments on any who should take false oaths, or break their promises. In the story of the Trojan War we shall find many examples of such appeals to the G.o.ds by the chiefs on both sides.

"O Father Jove, who rulest from the top Of Ida, mightiest one and most august!

Whichever of these twain has done the wrong, Grant that he pa.s.s to Pluto's dwelling, slain, While friendship and a faithful league are ours.

"O Jupiter most mighty and august!

Whoever first shall break these solemn oaths, So may their brains flow down upon the earth,-- Theirs and their children's."

BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book III.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OFFERING TO MINERVA.

_Painting by Gaudemaris._]

THE STORY OF TROY.

I. TROY BEFORE THE SIEGE.