Helen

In Aeschylus’ play Agamemnon, the dynamic, strong female character of Clytaemnestra is introduced. Left alone for ten years, she has become bitter after Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter, Iphigeneia, in order to sail to Troy. Clytaemnestra is waiting for her revenge. Clytaemnestra’s two speeches after Agamemnon has returned to Argos and is entering the palace reveal that she is convicting him of the murder of Iphigeneia and sentencing him to death. In Clytaemnestra’s first speech when…

The Aeneid is bursting with violent acts from the beginning to the end. The main character, Aeneas, faces conflict from both humans and gods. Aeneas is a Trojan hero and prince who embodies pietas, or driven by duty, honor, and devotion, which makes him an example of an ideal Roman citizen. Aeneas was determined to be a successful founder of Rome, but he faced complications along the journey. In each conflict, Aeneas dealt with fighting and violence; therefore, Rome was founded on violent…

The Homecoming The Odyssey by the ancient Greek writer Homer takes us into the life of a man called Odysseus. Odysseus, the son of Lartes, has left both his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope, to fight a war in Troy. After 10 years of fighting the war, Odysseus and his men were finally ready to return home to their families, however, the Gods were not finished with Odysseus. They needed to test his wisdom, honor, piety and prudence to prove that he is truly a noble hero. While Odysseus was…

Like an avalanche in the mountains change is inevitable and unstoppable. In the Iliad, by Homer, an epic/poem retelling the tale of the Trojan war, there was a bloody battle between Greece and Troy. One of the main characters is Achilles, an almost invincible Greek warrior. The author uses characterization to show Achilles experiences great change throughout the poem, from stubborn to devastated to avengement seeking, all because his good friend and comrade, Patroclus, was killed in battle.…

Jean Anouilh’s play Antigone is a tragedy inspired by Greek mythology and the play of the same name (Antigone, by Sophocles) from the fifth century B.C. The play Antigone tells the story of a brave girl (one of Oedipus’s daughters) who stands up against the law in order to honor her brother. The play had many important characters without which the meaning would be incomplete. However, there were many minor characters that completed the play and aided the reader’s understanding which leads us…

There are very few epic heroes in the trojan war. There are two of them that stand out and their names are Hector and Achilles. Achilles is the hero form Greece. Hector is the hero from Troy. Achilles is the much better choice of the two. Achilles is the better fit of the two. Achilles one day the greek kings decide to go to Troy and start a because of one women and he goes on a quest. Achilles take his group which was called the mermydons. When Achilles was finally found him He went to Troy.…

“The Odyssey” In Homer’s novel titled “The Odyssey,” which consisted of 24 “books” or short poems, the story of Odysseus is told. The story picks up shortly after the end of the battle of Troy. It is told in a very interesting way, as it is not told in chronological order. Homer jumps right into the middle of the action and fills in the beginning after introducing the characters and hooking the audience. So many of the stories and creatures from Greek mythology that I have heard of or studied…

The world described by Hesiod in the Works and Days is different from the heroic world described by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey. These world differ in many different ways from each other in the aspect of realism. The descriptions in the Works and Days is a world that is close to Greek life and doesn’t exaggerate many aspects while the Iliad and the Odyssey are books that exaggerate heroes and warriors and wars throughout the story. There are a lot of major differences between the books…

Whenever Hollywood writers adapt a story, it changes. In the case of Perseus, there were drastic differences. In the story, Perseus goes on an adventure and fights monsters to save his mother; in the movie, Perseus goes on a similar adventure but for the princess and to challenge the Gods. There are many similarities and differences between the story of Perseus and Clash of the Titans. The underlying story line in the story of Perseus and Clash of the Titans is very similar. Perseus goes on a…

Aeschylus’s trilogy The Oresteia is a play of immense proportions, and at its heart it is a study of morality and the palpable tension of the competing ideas of dikē – justice or right. It depicts a societal change from one form of justice and law to another; from the law of the old gods to the law of the new. The third play in the trilogy, The Eumenides, depicts the culmination of this conflict, where all the individual conflicts reach their conclusions and the overarching themes of the trilogy…