The Story of Troy

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The Story of Troy

???The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Troy, by Michael Clarke This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Story of Troy
Author: Michael Clarke
Release Date: February 8, 2006 [EBook #16990]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
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[Illustration: HEAD OF HOMER.
British Museum.]
ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS
THE STORY OF TROY
BY
M. CLARKE
NEW YORK--CINCINNATI--CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

CONTENTS.
PAGE INTRODUCTION--HOMER, THE FATHER OF POETRY 7
THE GODS AND GODDESSES 11
I. TROY BEFORE THE SIEGE 19
II. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS 33
III. THE LEAGUE AGAINST TROY 46
IV. BEGINNING OF THE WAR 63
V. THE WRATH OF ACHILLES 76
VI. THE DREAM OF AGAMEMNON 92
VII. THE COMBAT BETWEEN MENELAUS AND PARIS 109
VIII. THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE 124
IX. THE SECOND BATTLE--EXPLOIT OF DIOMEDE AND ULYSSES 149
X. THE BATTLE AT THE SHIPS--DEATH OF PATROCLUS 166
XI. END OF THE WRATH OF ACHILLES--DEATH OF HECTOR 193
XII. DEATH OF ACHILLES--FALL AND DESTRUCTION OF TROY 220
XIII. THE GREEK CHIEFS AFTER THE WAR 240

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 Ilê1i-ad, written in the Greek language. The author of this poem was Hoê1mer, who was the author of another great poem, the Odê1ys-sey, which tells of the voyages and adventures of the Greek hero, U-lysê1ses, 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 Smyrê1na, 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 assemblies. 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-sigê1e-nes, from the river Meê1les, 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