Connect Ancient Greek Warfar and War to the Odyssey

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The ancient Greek War and the Odyssey War.
Gods and mythical creatures controlled the wars and lifestyle of ancient Greek. Ancient wars were between the control of mortals by these gods, the chosen mortals or the half godchildren. These gods sought to control the mortals and the mortals sought to turn the cause of history (Francis).
There were many wars fought by the ancient Greeks including the Trojan War. It took place during the Mycenaean period. However, there were many wars the Greek fought, those fought during the Mycenaean period no one knows the exact period it took place whereas those after have the dates when the wars started and when they ended. Among the great heroes of Greece during this period were Achilles and Odysseus. The causes of the Trojan War had begun before Achilles was born. He was to receive a lot of glory from the war but at the expense of a short life.
Odysseus was powerful, eloquent, wise, cunning, and resourceful. His aid and that of Achilles were to cause the downfall of Troy. He did not want to join the war against Troy because he had an infant son and he could only return home after ten years despite the war ending in ten years. He had no choice having used his cunningness to feign madness but Palamedes beat him to his own game. Odysseus with Menelaus, and Nestor recruited the young Achilles from the women quarters in the Island of Scyrus (Homer).
It is the Trojan war that later defines the life of Odysseus and the events that took place after the war. The war lasted for ten years and it is the same period of time that he took back home, a journey that could have taken him a few weeks. The return trip is because of many obstacles including the god Poseidon, mythical creatures and his lazy and greedy crewmembers.
To understand the long journey back to his island, first we need to know about the war, the Trojan War. It is because of Paris who took the wife of Menelaus that caused them to wage war against the prince of Troy hence the Trojan War. Helen of Sparta fell in love with Paris and later eloped with him when her husband had gone to mourn his grandfather in Crete and she left her daughter, Hermione, behind (Segal).
After her husband came back, he conspired to fight the prince of Troy with the aid of Helen’s suitors who had vowed to aid him whenever the need arose. Among these men was Odysseus. According to the seer, they could not win the war without the help of Achilles and Odysseus.
Agamemnon, the brother to Menelaus also came to his aid bringing with him a hundred ships and contingents of men. Other suitors also brought the same. He later became the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Greece (Johnson).
The war lasted for ten years because they first attacked the wrong island, Teuthrania. When they discovered they have attacked the wrong island they went back to Greece. However, as earlier mentioned the gods were in control of the war in this time. Agamemnon chose to sacrifice to all the gods except Artemis.As they were attacking Teuthrania, Achilles wounded her king, Telephus, a mortal wound that only he could heal by the same magic sword that wounded him. He, however, wounded and killed as many Greeks as he could. When they realized it was not troy, they set back to search for Troy but a violent storm sent them back to Greece.
Meanwhile Telephus followed them back to Greece because his wound would not heal. Taking the disguise of a beggar he took hostage Agamemnon’s infant son and threatened to kill him if Achilles would not heal him. Since Achilles did not know how to proceed in healing him, he agreed to help them navigate through the sea into Troy and also not to aid his father-in –law, King Priam of Troy in the coming war. The seer told Achilles how he could help in healing the mortal wound on Telephus. The wound healed instantly.
The Greek fleet during that time reassembled and organized themselves to go out against Troy having counted and recovered the recoverable losses. However, the fleet stayed at the harbor for several months because of unfavorable winds. All this winds and storm that kept them at Aulis and Greece was due to the huntress goddess, Artemis for revenge that Agamemnon had not sacrificed to her. Other myths say that the goddess felt despised because Agamemnon boasted after killing a stag in the sacred grove that he was a better hunter than her. Therefore, she had decided to punish the whole crew because of him.
The only way to appease the goddess was for him to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia. He could not think of doing that but the other leaders told him to step down from the post of commander in chief instead. Odysseus devised a plan to lure her but since she discovered the deception, she accepted her fate. On the sacrificial altar, the goddess chose to replace her with a fawn using a very thick fog. After this, the winds died and the fleet once again commences sail to Troy.
Telephus kept his word and guided them to Troy. They stopped briefly at Lemnos where a water snake bit Philoctetes and his wound would not heal. The odor from the snakebite was so bad that Agamemnon and Odysseus ordered the others to abandon him on the island. However, they later came for him because troy would not fall since the bow and arrows of Heracles, which he possessed were with him (Strauss).
The fleet also stopped at Tenedos another island. They fought the king of Tenedos, Tenes who was the son of a god, Apollo. Achilles, the son of the goddess of water, Thetis, killed him.
The Greek army had the best warriors of whom were; Achillesthe son of Peleus and Thetis, Aja the son of Telamon and Periboea, Diomedes the son of Tydeus and Deipyle, Odysseus the son of Laertes and Anricleia. On the other hand, Hector the eldest son King Priam of Troy led the Trojan forces. Net to him was Aeneas a royal prince of Troy but the bravest in the kingdom.
Before the landing in Troy, they sent Menelaus and Odysseus as their ambassadors to ask for Helen’s return. Other elders in Troy also supported this to prevent Troy from getting into the war. One elder helped Paris vehemently refuse Helen’s handing over to Greece; he even tried to kill both ambassadors had Antenor not prevented it (Cline).
The Greeks did not receive the news well when they heard it, the landed on the coast of Troy but none of them wanted to be the first to step on Trojan soil. The first few days and years, the Trojans won because neighboring kingdoms still fed them. The best arrack for the Greece was to attack this help and in so doing men won themselves food and women. One account however strikes much significance. Agamemnon took the daughter of the high priest of Apollo. Since he refused to give her back, he prayed to Apollo and he struck the Greece camp with pestilence. This costed those men and they could not fight.
He gave the daughter back but took Achilles’ concubine, which made Achilles to withdraw from the war. His withdrawal caused a huge disaster to the Greeks in the few days of fighting. Achilles asked his mother for help who later asked Zeus for a boon. The Greeks suffered because of the insult Agamemnon. The boon caused the death of many people from both sides and it could lead for a much higher price for Achilles. Since Achilles had withdrawn from the war, many fighters thought they would lose. Odysseus being a good orator convinced them to fight and they all prepared for battle. The Greeks seemed to win and both sides agreed to let the fight be between the two husbands and the winner would go with Helen. Menelaus was a better fighter than Paris and before he could kill him, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, spirited him away.
Both parties agreed that Greece had won and they settled on peace. However, Zeus c...