From Ancient Tunnels to Nuclear Bunkers: Nooshabad's Timeless Lesson in Human Survival

The primary historical and literary sources used to piece together the alternate versions of Iliad and  Odyssey  include the following:

1. Primary Surviving Ancient Sources

• Proclus’s Chrestomathy (Summaries of the Epic Cycle):
  Much of what we know about the lost parts of the Trojan War cycle comes from a 5th-century CE scholar named Proclus. He wrote extensive summaries (arguments) of the ancient cyclic epics like the Cypria, Aethiopis, and Iliupersis (Sack of Troy). His work is preserved in translations like The Epic Cycle (published by Oxford University Press).
  
  
• Virgil’s The Aeneid:
  Written in Latin around 19–29 BCE, this is a fully intact, primary literary masterwork. Standard scholarly editions include the Oxford Classical Texts series or translations by Robert Fagles and Mandelbaum.
  
  
• The Athenian Tragedies (5th Century BCE):
  Plays by Aeschylus (such as the Oresteia trilogy), Sophocles (such as Ajax and Philoctetes), and Euripides (such as The Trojan Women and Hecuba) survive in full. They provide the alternate, darker psychological versions of the heroes. These are commonly studied via the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press), which provides the original Greek text alongside the English translation on facing pages.
  
  

2. Scholarly & Academic References

If you are looking for rigorous academic research and translations free of crowd-sourced bias, classical scholars look to specialized publications:

• The Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press): The gold standard for primary texts of classical literature. Volumes dedicated to Homer, Hesiod, Greek Epic Fragments, and the Tragedians contain the exact lines and fragments recorded by ancient writers.
  
  
• Oxford University Press (OUP) Commentaries: Scholars like M.L. West wrote definitive academic texts such as The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics (Oxford, 2013), which meticulously analyzes every surviving line and reference to the pre-quels and sequels of Homer.
  
  
• The Cambridge Classical Studies / Cambridge Guides to Homer: Academic resources that examine how the oral traditions shifted across different ancient poets before being written down.
  
  

1. The Iliad: The Story of the Trojan War

The Iliad does not cover the entire Trojan War; instead, it focuses on just a few intense weeks near the end of the 10-year siege of Troy.

The Plot

• The Conflict: A Trojan prince named Paris falls in love with (or kidnaps) Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world and the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. To avenge this insult, the Greeks sail a massive fleet across the sea to lay siege to the walled city of Troy.
  
  
• The Pride of Achilles: The story centers largely on Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, and Agamemnon, the proud leader of the Greek army. After a bitter dispute over a prize of war, a furious Achilles withdraws his troops from battle, leaving the Greeks vulnerable.
  
  
• The Turning Point: Without Achilles, the Greeks suffer heavy losses. Eventually, Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus, begs to wear Achilles' armor to terrify the Trojans. Patroclus is killed in battle by the Trojan prince Hector.
  
  
• The Resolution: Devastated and consumed by grief, Achilles returns to the battlefield to avenge his friend. He slays Hector and desecrates his body. Later, the grieving Trojan King Priam secretly visits Achilles to beg for his son’s body. Touched by the old king's sorrow, Achilles relents, and the epic ends with Hector’s funeral.
  
  

2. The Odyssey: The Journey Home

The Odyssey follows the long, hazardous journey of one clever Greek hero trying to get back to his family after the fall of Troy.

The Plot

• The Long Delay: Odysseus, King of Ithaca, takes ten years to fight the Trojan War and another ten years to sail home. During this time, his kingdom assumes he is dead, and aggressive suitors overrun his palace, trying to force his faithful wife, Penelope, to marry one of them.
  
  
• Monsters and Gods: On his voyage home, Odysseus and his crew face incredible perils. They encounter the man-eating Cyclops (a one-eyed giant), the enchantress Circe (who turns men into animals), the deadly Sirens, and the terrifying sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis.
  
  
• Wrath of Poseidon: Odysseus incurs the anger of Poseidon, the god of the sea (especially after blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus), which makes his voyage a grueling trial of endurance.
  
  
• The Homecoming: Odysseus finally reaches Ithaca disguised as a beggar to protect himself. With the help of his brave son, Telemachus, and a loyal swineherd, he reveals his identity, defeats the greedy suitors, and is joyfully reunited with Penelope.
  
  

Key Characters

The Greeks (The Achaeans)

• Achilles: The greatest Greek warrior. Half-divine, fierce, and proud, but plagued by a tragic fate (his only weak spot is his heel).
  
  
• Agamemnon: The commander-in-chief of the Greek forces. Powerful and ambitious, but often arrogant and stubborn.
  
  
• Odysseus: The king of Ithaca. Famous for his unmatched intellect, cunning plans (like the Trojan Horse), and perseverance.
  
  
• Menelaus: King of Sparta and Helen's rightful husband, whose outrage sparked the war.
  
  
• Helen: The face that launched a thousand ships; her abduction by Paris triggered the conflict.
  
  
• Penelope: Odysseus's remarkably clever and loyal wife, who brilliantly stalls her aggressive suitors for years.
  
  
• Telemachus: Odysseus and Penelope’s son, who grows from a boy into a brave man while searching for news of his father.
  
  

The Trojans

• Hector: The greatest Trojan warrior and prince. Noble, loving to his family, and deeply patriotic—he fights because it is his duty, even knowing Troy will fall.
  
  
• Paris: Hector’s younger brother. Handsome, charming, but somewhat cowardly and reckless; his vanity starts the war.
  
  
• Priam: The elderly, dignified king of Troy, respected even by his enemies for his deep love and compassion.
  
  
• Andromache: Hector’s devoted and tragic wife, who represents the innocent victims caught in the brutal crossfire of war.

There were several other ancient sources for the Trojan War and its aftermath. In fact, Homer’s epics were just the most famous part of a massive oral tradition.

Other ancient writers and poets filled in the gaps—covering everything from how the war started to what happened after Homer's stories ended.

1. The Epic Cycle (The Lost Pre-quels and Sequels)

In ancient Greece, Homer's poems were part of a larger collection called the Epic Cycle. While most of these poems are lost today, we have summaries of them. They offered different or expanded versions of events:

• The Cypria: This lost epic told the backstory. It explained how the goddess Eris threw a golden apple marked "To the fairest," sparking a beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite that led to the Judgment of Paris and the abduction of Helen.
  
  
• The Aethiopis: This picked up right where the Iliad left off. It detailed the arrival of the Amazon queen Penthesileia and the Ethiopian king Memnon (both fighting for Troy) and how Achilles was finally killed by Paris and Apollo.
  
  
• The Little Iliad & The Sack of Troy (Iliupersis): These covered the creation of the Trojan Horse, the night Troy fell, and the brutal aftermath—including the Greeks desecrating temples and angering the gods.
  
  
• The Nostoi (The Returns): This detailed the hazardous journeys home for all the Greek heroes, not just Odysseus (such as Agamemnon’s tragic murder by his wife upon his return).
  
  

2. Virgil’s The Aeneid (The Roman Version)

Written by the Roman poet Virgil several centuries after Homer, the Aeneid tells the story from the perspective of the Trojans.

• The Version: It follows Aeneas, a surviving Trojan prince and relative of Hector, who escapes the burning city of Troy carrying his elderly father on his back.
  
  
• The Twist: Virgil essentially mirrored Homer in reverse: the first half of the book is Aeneas's wandering sea journey (like the Odyssey), and the second half is a bloody war in Italy to find a new home (like the Iliad). The ultimate goal of the poem was to tie Trojan mythology into the founding of Rome.
  
  

3. Greek Tragedy (The Darker Psychological Version)

In the 5th century BCE, Athenian playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides wrote famous plays based on the Trojan War, often portraying the characters in a much darker, morally complex light:

• Agamemnon and the Oresteia: Instead of a simple heroic return, Aeschylus focused on Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, murdering him in the bath to avenge the sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia.
  
  
• The Madness of Ajax: Plays like Sophocles' Ajax explored the tragic suicide of the great Greek warrior Ajax after he went mad with jealousy because the Greek armor of Achilles was awarded to Odysseus instead of him.
  
  

Why call them "Greeks"? 

While the conflict started because of Sparta (since Helen was the queen of Sparta), it wasn't just Sparta fighting.

• The "Pan-Hellenic" Force: In the Iliad, the attackers are called Achaeans, Argives, or Danaans—which were terms Homer used for the collective Bronze Age Greek civilization. They were an alliance of independent kingdoms from all over the Greek mainland and islands who united under Agamemnon, King of Mycenae.

• Did Athens participate? Yes! Athens did send ships and men to the Trojan War, led by their king at the time, Menestheus. However, Athens wasn't the dominant cultural or political powerhouse during the Bronze Age (the era of the Trojan War) that it later became in the 5th century BCE. Back then, cities like Mycenae, Sparta, and Pylos were much more powerful, which is why heroes like Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Nestor take center stage.

Where was Troy? 

Troy was not in Greece.

• The Location: Ancient Troy was located on the northwestern coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), overlooking the strategic Dardanelles strait that connects the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea.

• The Distance: If you sail from the Peloponnese (southern Greece, where Sparta and Ithaca were) across the Aegean Sea to northwestern Turkey, it is roughly a few hundred miles. Under normal circumstances in the ancient world, a ship could make that voyage in a week or two.

Paris traveled from Troy to Sparta on what was supposed to be a diplomatic mission, but it was driven by personal desire and divine meddling.

The story unfolds through a few key steps:

• The Divine Setup (The Golden Apple): Before the journey even started, a beauty contest was held between three powerful goddesses: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They asked Paris (a Trojan prince) to judge who was the fairest. To bribe him, Aphrodite promised Paris the love of Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman in the world. Paris awarded the golden apple to Aphrodite.

• The Diplomatic Mission: Under the guise of a formal state visit, Paris sailed across the Aegean Sea from Troy to the Peloponnese in Greece. He arrived in Sparta and was welcomed as a guest by its king, Menelaus, following the ancient Greek custom of xenia (sacred hospitality).

• The Elopement / Abduction: While staying as a guest in Menelaus's palace, Paris and Helen fell in love (aided by Aphrodite’s magic) or, in some versions, Paris violently kidnapped her while Menelaus was away. Either way, Paris loaded Helen and a massive amount of Spartan treasure onto his ships and sailed back to Troy, triggering the ultimate betrayal of hospitality that started the war.

• Despite starting the entire war, Paris does not survive to see its end, and he dies before the famous Trojan Horse is ever built.

  His fate unfolds across the later myths and the lost parts of the Epic Cycle:

  1. His Greatest Moment (Killing Achilles)

  Before his own death, Paris manages to kill the mighty Greek hero Achilles. Because Paris was primarily an archer rather than a frontline melee fighter, he shoots an arrow that strikes Achilles in his only vulnerable spot—his heel. In many versions of the myth, the god Apollo guides the arrow to ensure it hits its mark.

  2. His Death by a Poisoned Arrow

  Paris is killed later in the war by a Greek archer named Philoctetes. Philoctetes uses the legendary bow and poisoned arrows of Hercules. When Paris is struck by one of these toxic arrows, the wound is incurable by normal means.

  3. The Rejection and Final Moments

  As the poison overtakes him, Paris remembers his very first lover—a mountain nymph named Oenone, whom he had abandoned for Helen.

  • Paris has himself carried up to Mount Ida to beg Oenone to use her magical healing powers to save him.

  • Still deeply bitter and heartbroken over being abandoned, Oenone refuses and turns him away.

  • Regretting her choice almost immediately, Oenone rushes back to save him, but she is too late—Paris dies from the poison. (In some versions, overcome with grief, she then throws herself onto his funeral pyre).

  With Paris dead, Troy lost one of its central defenders just before the Greeks finally breached the city using the Trojan Horse.

Helen's fate after the fall of Troy is one of the most fascinating plot twists in Greek mythology. Instead of being punished or executed for starting a war that cost thousands of lives, she ends up right back where she started.

Here is what happened to her:

1. The Fall of Troy and the Reunion

When the Greeks finally burst out of the Trojan Horse and sack the city, Menelaus storms through Troy determined to execute Helen as a traitor.

• According to legend, when Menelaus tracks her down and raises his sword to strike her, he catches sight of her breathtaking, ageless beauty and is completely disarmed.
  
  
• Overwhelmed by love (or the lingering magic of Aphrodite), Menelaus drops his weapon, forgives her instantly, and takes her back.
  
  

2. The Journey Home

Unlike the tragic or brutal fates of other Trojan War figures, Helen and Menelaus survive a long and difficult voyage back home. After spending years wandering and visiting places like Egypt (where some alternate myths say a phantom Helen went to Troy while the real Helen waited safely), they finally return to Sparta.

3. A Peaceful (and Semi-Divine) Ending

Back in Sparta, Helen and Menelaus live out their days in peace, reigning as king and queen once more.

• Because Helen was considered the daughter of the god Zeus (who visited her mother in the form of a swan), her ultimate fate transcends ordinary death.
  
  
• According to later myth (such as in Euripides' plays), Helen is granted immortality by the gods. After her mortal life ends, she is translated directly to Elysium (the Greek heaven) to live forever alongside her husband Menelaus.

The end of Odysseus depends on which ancient source you look at, as different writers gave him very different final chapters.

Two major versions describe his end:

1. The Peaceful Ending (Homer’s Odyssey)

In Homer’s original epic, Odysseus does not die in the story. Instead, after he defeats the suitors and reunites with Penelope, peace is restored to Ithaca with the help of the goddess Athena.

• Earlier in the poem, the blind prophet Tiresias prophesies Odysseus's ultimate fate: he will eventually take an oar, walk inland until people mistake it for a winnowing fan (a tool for grain), make a sacrifice to Poseidon, and then live to a ripe old age.

• He is supposed to die a "gentle old age" surrounded by a prosperous kingdom, far away from the sea.

2. The Tragic and Bizarre Ending (The Telegony)

In another ancient epic from the Epic Cycle called the Telegony (which served as a sequel to the Odyssey), Odysseus meets a much more dramatic and ironic fate:

• The Unknown Son: Years after returning home, a young man named Telegonus arrives in Ithaca. He is the son Odysseus never knew he had, born from his past encounter with the enchantress Circe.

• The Accidental Death: Telegonus is searching for his father, but when he lands, he is forced to raid local cattle for food. Odysseus, defending his island, fights the stranger. In the scuffle, Telegonus accidentally kills Odysseus using a spear tipped with the venomous spine of a stingray.

• The Twist Ending: As Odysseus lies dying, father and son realize the terrible truth. Stricken with grief, Telegonus takes Odysseus's body back, along with Penelope and Telemachus, to Circe's island. In a strange final twist, Circe grants Penelope and Telegonus immortality, and Telemachus marries Circe.