9th year of the war with Troy

I watched today as the untouchable hero Achilles and Agamemnon waged war with words.  In truth I feel Achilles is correct in saying Agamemnon, self proclaimed leader of us Greeks due to my lack of foresight with his father-in-law Tyndareus, should give the girl Chryseis back to her father.  The priest of Apollo must have prayed to the all seeing God of the golden bow and now he curses with disease and sickness.  The men are dying slowly and the morale is not so high in no part due to the lack of success in taking Troy.  It's high walls hinder us as its defenders, the skilled Trojan archers, push us back with each attempt to advance and now this plague.  If I were a more foolish man I, too, would have spoken up but I am not a man loved by all the gods such as Achilles.  Nor am I as skilled with the spear and the sword as that man to threaten such a greedy king as Agamemnon for my city of Ithaca is not as protected and with as skilled a warrior as a myrmidon of Achilles' bravest fighters.  It would be a slaughter no doubt.  I do, however, give credit to the old man whom still dares to wield sword and spear with younger men, this man Nestor.  He spoke what I could not because of his wisdom of warfare and insight which gives him due honor.  I've yet to reach his height of prestige but in due time it will be my turn.

For all the Gods' sense of humor, Agamemnon to return to Greece with his tail tucked behind his legs like a whipped dog because of a dream.  A god must be playing a trick because I know better than to believe there is strife within the walls of Troy in no small part to the help of Hera, mother of us all, and Athena the spear wielder.  Nestor himself believed the dream and urged the Achaians and Argives to return home.  I take back my words of praise on the old fool.  With age comes nonsense and the loss of reason.  I do hope I keep my sanity and reason should I survive to be as old as he.  I must have looked a fool, running about and goading the egos of all the heroes gathered to turn back to Troy but I did my part.  Troy will be sacked and its riches ours as it should be if we are to return to our wives after being gone so long.

With our armies turned back to Troy and eager to do battle all the heroes of Mycenae look even more ready for war than ever.  The the warriors of Athens, Krete, Sparta and my own the men of Ithaca among the many who have massed under the oath with Menelaus and Agamemnon when they were matched with the fair daughters of Tyndareus. 

We came upon the outskirts of Troy and there Trojans were ready with Hector, the greatest of the Trojan heroes, leading the charge.  To my disbelief I also took note that the young man who dared to take Helen from Menelaus was in the fray, Alexandros they called him or was it Paris?  No matter it made me laugh when he took sight of Menelaus routing towards him.  Of all the youths of this age, the boy may have the better looks of any man but he had no courage.  It surprised me even more when Hector called for a truce to let the two men fight for the honor of keeping Helen, no doubt the Trojan hero scolded his brother into accepting the duel in order to bring honor back to their father's name.  The duel, if you'll call it that, was not much to take note of because Menelaus, the warrior he is, got the upper hand despite breaking his spear and sword.  But, yet again the gods, and their sense of humor, intervened breaking the oath made by Hector and Agamemnon to let the two men fight.  No doubt, Aphrodite the fairest of the Goddesses, spirited him away as Menelaus went for the killing blow.  The Gods have ruined our honor yet again.  What will they do next?

The battle ensued after the dishonor of the duel.  A sad day it was to see Menelaus fall in the thick of it, taken no less by an arrow from the skilled archers of Troy.  Agamemnon grieved the most no doubt fueling his rage.  We will have our revenge and Troy will fall, there is no doubting that now.  Greedy and cunning as he is, Agamemnon has shown the tendency to do as he likes and gets what he wants no matter the means.  I fear because of this, the death of his brother, more Greeks will perish in order to take Troy but Agamemnon will not care.  A long road home is ahead of us if we make it out alive.  I must be quick witted to stay alive. 

The Illiad of Homer.  Trans. Richmond Lattimore.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.  75-145.

Greek Mythology Link.  Odysseus. Carlos Parada.  7 Sept. 2012.  http://www.maicar.com/GML/Odysseus.html.

Greek Myth Index.  Odysseus.  8 Sept. 2012.  http://mythindex.com/greek-mythology/O/Odysseus.html.

Son of Laertes or was it Sisyphus?

Greek Mythology Link.  Odysseus.  Carlos Parada.  7 Sept. 2012. http://www.maicar.com/GML/Odysseus.html.

To you who know not of me I am called Odysseus but to the Latin speakers I am known as Ulysses.  I am King of Ithaca and rule with common sense in an age where no one seems to have it.  My mother is Anticlea who was with child before marrying Laertes.  Though my real father is Sisyphus, Laertes is the man I grew up calling father but history likes to mix and match so take your pick.

In the years when Helen and Clytemnestra were to be wed, I felt no need to be a suitor to women so beautiful and if chosen, earn the ire of all the men who came.  Gods knowing, men do evil deeds for the littlest matters, and in this case, women.  The maiden Penelope looked more to my standards, a woman of fair looks and pretty enough to win my heart.  To win her hand, though, I had to be clever.  King Tyndareus, father of Helen and Clytemnestra, didn't want a blood bath between the suitors and I didn't want to become a victim of the possible battle.  Taking the old man aside I offered advice, an oath all the suitors had to take in order to ensure no harm came to the man chosen as the husband of the lady Helen.  Should the oath be forsaken each man will take up arms to defend he whom was shamed.  A simple oath and one that was to Tyndareus' liking.  With a good word from the old king to Penelope, I had what I wanted.

In irony, this oath became my own undoing or so it seems.  A lowly prince of Troy appears to have taken Helen from the king of Sparta, Menelaus who won Helen's hand and unlucky from my point of view.  Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, wants all the men who took the oath to help him go to war, as was part of the oath I was dumb enough to make, against the Trojans and take back Helen in Menelaus' honor.  Clever I may be but there are those who can match my intellect on rare occasions.  In an attempt to play dumb I yoked an ass and oxen to a plow and tried to plant salt.  I had hoped my sanity would be questioned and my part in this war be forgotten.  Low and behold, Agamemnon's man Palamedes forced me to be sane as he put my young child in front of the yoke.  Damn him, the Gods must be laughing that I, Odysseus most intelligent of man, was outwitted.  Off to war I go but Palamedes will do well to watch where he stands.

Greek Mythology Link.  Odysseus. Carlos Parada.  7 Sept. 2012.  http://www.maicar.com/GML/Odysseus.html.

Greek Myth Index.  Odysseus.  8 Sept. 2012.  http://mythindex.com/greek-mythology/O/Odysseus.html.