Agamemnon Question and Answer

1. Role of Gods and Goddesses in Agamemnon

Answer:  We have seen many gods and goddesses plays an important role in Agamemnon. From all of the god and goddesses we have discussed below. There are:

Apollo:   Greek God of the Sun, the Light, the Music and the Prophecy, the son of Zeus and the Titan Leto - According to Homer’s Illiad.  Here Apollo played a major part in the Trojan War. He infected the Greek encampment with a plague and aided Paris in killing Achilles.

Ares: Greek God of War  The son of Zeus and Hera  Ares always took the side of Aphrodite in the Trojan War. He fought for Hector (a Trojan) until a Greek warrior pierced him with a spear that was guided by Athena. He then departed the battlefield in order to complain to Zeus about Athena’s violence.

Dionysus:  Greek God of Wine & the Grape Harvest  the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele  worshipped as early as 1500- 100BC by Mycenean Greeks.

Hades:  Greek God of the Dead and King of the Underworld  the oldest male child of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon  Hades is described by some sources as the god of the earth’s fertility.

Hephaestus: Greek God of Fire and Metalworking  the son of Zeus and Hera and married to Aphrodite  Hephaestus crafted the armor that Achilles wore in the Trojan War. The same arms, despite their connection to divinity, brought about the death of Ajax.

Hermes: Greek God of Trade, Eloquence and Messenger of the Gods  the son of Zeus and Maia, one of the seven Pleiades and daughter of the Titan Atlas  Both Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts, and also as a benefactor of mortals.

Poseidon: Greek God of the Sea  the son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Hades  Poseidon assisted the Greeks in the Trojan war. However, Zeus commanded him to withdraw from the battlefield, and he reluctantly obeyed.  His grudge against Odysseus is one theme in the Odyssey.

Zeus: Greek God of the Sky and King of the Gods  Zeus was the last child of the titans Cronus and Rhea  Hesiod calls Zeus the “the lord of justice.” Perhaps because of this, he was reluctant to join a side in the Trojan War. He preferred the Trojans, but he wanted to stay neutral because Hera preferred the Greeks. She was insufferable when he opposed her openly.

Aphrodite: Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty & Eternal Youth  the daughter of Zeus and Dione  During the Trojan War, Aphrodite fought on the side of Paris.  Aphrodite rescued Paris from Menelaus by enveloping him in a cloud and taking him back to Troy.

Artemis: Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Forests and Hills, the Moon, Archery  the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and the Titaness Leto and she has a twin brother, the god Apollo.

Athena:Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War  was born from Zeus and no mother  Hera and Athena fought against Paris in the Trojan War since he had awarded the Golden Apple to Aphrodite.  The sacred image of Athena, a wood statue called the Palladium, protected the Trojans as long as they had it.  Odysseus and Diomedes executed a plan to steal the image, greatly encouraging the Greeks in their hopes to end the long-suffering war.

Demeter: Greek Goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, Sacred Law and the Harvest  the daughter of Cronus and Rhea  She had one daughter, Persephone; Zeus was Persephone’s father.  Cronus had previously swallowed Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

Hera: Greek Goddess of Marriage and Queen of Olympus  the Queen of the Gods and is the wife and sister of Zeus  The Trojan War would have ended in peace, but Hera had a vested interest in its outcome and influenced Zeus to either switch sides or remain neutral.

Hestia:

2 Biography of Aeschylus

Answer:  Aeschylus was born to a noble and wealthy Athenian family in the Greek town of Eleusis. His father was Euphorion, a wealthy man of the upper class. Aeschylus's education included the writings of Homer (wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey ). Aeschylus' writings were strongly Athenian and rich with moral authority. He carried home the first place award from the Athens competition thirteen times! Because Aeschylus was writing for the Greek theater in its beginning stages, he is credited with having introduced many features that are now considered traditional. Aeschylus' masterpiece is the Oresteia, the only preserved trilogy from Greek drama. The three plays are Agamemnon, The Choephori, and The Eumenides.According to legend, Aeschylus was picked up by an eagle who thought he was a turtle. The eagle had been confused by Aeschylus's bald head. Aeschylus was killed when the eagle realized its mistake and dropped him.

4. Character analysis of cassandra.

Cassandra, the story’s narrator, a princess of Troy in Anatolia, a seer, and a priestess of the god Apollo. According to myth, Apollo granted her the gift of prophecy so that she would agree to sleep with him; when she refused, he left her with the gift but added that no one would believe her prophecies. Captured by Mycenaean Greeks under King Agamemnon, Cassandra meditates about her life in the now-ruined citadel of Troy as well as about the terrible future her captors face. Cassandra proudly recalls having been the beloved favorite of King Priam of Troy. Painfully, however, she also recalls how he cast her into prison because she dared to prophesy Troy’s imminent doom. She dies rather than go with Aeneus to found a new society.