[hooligan]

Basically it is just rape and slaughter from this point on. The city is burned and many of the citizens are captured and put into slavery or killed outright.

The royal family of Troy is murdered and Neoptolemus kills king Priam over the Alter of Zeus.

Polyxena is captured by Neoptolemus and then sacrificed over Achilles grave. Achilles had appeared to the Greeks and demanded this sacrifice since it was his love for her and the deception of her family which caused his death. This sacrifice mirrors the sacrifice of Iphigenia in that is is a prophesized pre-condition to returning to Greece as Iphigenia was a pre-condition to leaving Greece.

Ajax the lesser rapes/captures Cassandra in the temple of Athena and while taking her she clings to the statue of Athena which then gets toppled over. This is even too much for the Greeks, who threaten to stone Ajax to death for the crime. This act also earns the Greeks the enmity of Athena who becomes one of the principle gods who prevent the safe return of the Greek heroes.

Cassandra and Andromache are taken prisoner by Agamemnon and Neoptolemus. Both actually make it back to Greece. Andromache and Hector’s son Astyanax is cast over the wall of Troy by Neoptolemus. And to Andromache he has these ‘comforting’ words, "Since my father killed his father he might try to avenge the death. He also could become King of Troy, and we want no more kings of Troy!". He’s a real sweetheart.

Hecabe is taken prisoner by Odysseus, but she refuses to be brought back to Greece as a prisoner and she cast herself off his ship while they are sailing through the Hellespont.

And of course Helen is recaptured though she is wracked with guilt for the devastation she has caused to both her Greek homeland and to the people of Troy.

Meanwhile, Aeneas and a small group of Trojans are sneaking out of the city disguised as Greek soldiers. Aeneas’ father Anchises is old and feeble and must be carried on Aeneas’ back in order to escape (this is a very common artistic theme in Greek and Roman art, in fact if you see an old man being carried you can pretty much assume it is Aeneas and Anchises). Anchises as a cousin of Priam is all that remains of a once numerous Trojan dynasty (OK, almost all).

[Majkai]

hooligan, on Aug 26 2005, 03:53 PM, said:

Basically it is just rape and slaughter from this point on.  The city is burned and many of the citizens are captured and put into slavery or killed outright.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They really knew how to wage war back then, didn't they? Didn't they wait for a UN Security Council vote or anything?

[hooligan]

This wasn't a peace keeping mission or a nation building exercise that's for damn sure.

[Jive Doctor]

Nice work on the Trojan cycle by the way. I know I never show my support by posting in it, but I really enjoyed reading about it. Used to be a big Greek myth fan, but lost touch.

Can't wait for the Odyssey! Keep up the awesome work!

Jiv

[hooligan]

Thanks, I am trying to decide how much detail I should go into with the Odyssey. I will probably cover it over 3 days or something like that, and I will tell it in 'natural' order not the convoluted order of the epic.

[Jive Doctor]

Just went back through and read all the Iliad posts again. Thinking on it now, as well as all that happens during the Odyssey, I've come to one conclusion. Cool and powerful as they are: the Greek Gods sucked. Half or more of the problems in so many greek mythologies were caused by their meddling/jealousy/lust/greed. I know there is so much written on this and the psyche of the Ancient Greek civilization regarding how they viewed their gods, but on a purely story sense: I get really pissed off at how many suffer and die because of them. (I also understand that so much of the involvment of the gods was creative license on the part of the people who wrote these books, I'm just voicing an opinion of the story and its characters).
Having said all that, the stories are still a fascinating and captivating read.

Wow that sounded really Rant-y, it honestly wasn't meant to

This post has been edited by Jiv: 31 August 2005 - 12:18 PM

[hooligan]

You're right. It is far better for a person to escape the notice of the gods then to get involved in their dramas. But if it wasn't hard then they wouldn't be heroes.

[Weyalan]

What has Troy's scrotum got to do with anything? (apart from resting nicely on Enobarbus' chin)