The story in brief
A goddess nobody invited, a prince who judges a beauty contest, and a queen of Sparta carried off across the sea. A thousand ships, ten years of war, and a wooden gift that ends it in a night. Plus the surprise: Homer’s Iliad has no apple, no heel and no horse.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
The Golden Apple
A goddess nobody invited, three goddesses who want one title, and a shepherd asked to choose.
Sources: Cypria (Proclus, Chrestomathia); Apollodorus, Epitome 3.1–5; Homer, Iliad 3, 24
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
A Thousand Ships
An old oath comes due, a hero hides in a dress, and the biggest fleet the poets ever imagined.
Sources: Homer, Iliad 2; Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9 and Epitome 3.6–22; Thucydides 1.10; Herodotus 2.112–120
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Wrath of Achilles
The Iliad isn’t the story of the war. It’s fifty days of one man’s anger, and an old king’s courage.
Sources: Homer, Iliad 1, 6, 9, 16, 22, 24
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
The Heel
Everyone knows how Achilles died. Homer never mentions the heel.
Sources: Aethiopis and Little Iliad (Proclus); Apollodorus, Epitome 5.1–8; Homer, Iliad 21–22, Odyssey 24; Statius, Achilleid 1
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Horse
An empty beach, a wooden horse, and a prophetess nobody believes.
Sources: Homer, Odyssey 4, 8; Virgil, Aeneid 2; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.14–23; Sack of Troy (Proclus)
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- ParisPrince of Troy · Herdsman · Judge of Goddesses
- Helen of TroyQueen of Sparta · Daughter of Zeus · The face of the war
- HectorPrince of Troy · Tamer of Horses · Defender of the Walls
- ThetisSea Goddess · Bride of Peleus · Mother of Achilles
- CassandraPrincess of Troy · Prophetess · Never Believed
- AchillesSon of Thetis · Best of the Achaeans · Swift-footed
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Trojan War”. By the end of it, you can tell where an Achilles’ heel comes from, and why the Romans called themselves Trojans.
Sources
- Homer, Iliad and Odyssey
- The Epic Cycle (Proclus)
- Virgil, Aeneid 2
- Statius, Achilleid
- Apollodorus, Epitome 3–5
