Timed Reading — The Iliad and the Odyssey

The Achaeans (Greeks), under King Agamemnon, have been fighting the Trojans off and on for nine years. They want to retrieve Helen, the wife of Menelaus and sister-in-law of Agamemnon. Paris, a son of the king of Troy, kidnapped Helen, which started the war between the Achaeans and Troy.

Yet after nine years of war, Troy remains intact, and the Trojan army remains undefeated. The Achaean army is struggling. At present, the Achaean troops are dying from a mysterious plague. Hundreds of funeral fires burn each night. Finally, Achilles, the Achaeans’ best soldier, calls for an assembly to determine the cause of the plague.

A soothsayer reveals to the army that King Agamemnon’s arrogance has caused the deadly plague, for he refused to return a woman who was captured and given to him as a war prize. Reluctantly, Agamemnon agrees to return the woman. The Greek hero Odysseus takes a ship and returns the woman to her father, whereupon the god Apollo ends the plague. However, soon after, Agamemnon demands to take another slave as compensation. He chooses to take a woman who was awarded to Achilles.

Achilles is furious, and he refuses to fight any longer for the Achaeans. He and his forces retreat to the beach beside their ships. Achilles asks his mother, the goddess Thetis, to ask Zeus, king of the gods, to help the Trojans defeat his former friends, the Achaeans. Zeus agrees.

The two armies prepare for battle, and Paris leaps out and challenges any of the Achaeans to a duel. Menelaus agrees and beats him, but before he can kill Paris, the goddess Aphrodite carries him away to safety. A short truce is called, but it is broken when a Trojan soldier wounds Menelaus. During the battle that follows, Diomedes, an Achaean, kills many Trojans and wounds the goddess Aphrodite. Apollo quickly comes to confront Diomedes and warns him not to wage war with gods. However, Diomedes is also emboldened by Athena, so he continues his attacks and eventually wounds another god, Ares.