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Chapter 1 ABOUT TROY AND THE JOURNEY OF PARIS TO GREECE
On the northern shore of Asia Minor there lies a plateau watered by many small rivers and surrounded on all sides by mountains, only on the north it slopes gently to the sea. On this plateau, between the Simois and Scamandros rivers, in the oldest times there stood a very rich and powerful city, whose name was Troy. It was the capital of a large and fertile district, known as the Troad.
There, about 1200 B.C., reigned a king by the name of Priam, possessed of great power and boundless wealth. He had many sons and daughters. It was said, indeed, that he had fifty sons who were all married and living in their own homes, which they had built by the king's wish around the royal palace.
They were all handsome and heroic young men. One of the youngest, Paris, also named Alexandros, surpassed the others in beauty. He was a restless youth and not fond of his home, as were the others. He had set his heart on travelling and seeing strange countries and cities. King Priam was extremely fond of his large family, and took pride in having all his children about him, so that at first he was greatly opposed to the wishes of Paris.
But the youth was so persistent and unhappy that the king at last consented to let him go. Without delay, Paris called together a few friends with tastes as adventurous as his own. They embarked in a new ship well provided with all that travellers need, and set sail for the famous land on the shores of the ?gean Sea, of which they had heard so many wonderful things, and which was called Hellas.
Nearly in the middle of the plain which forms the southern part of Hellas was the city of Sparta. It was on the river Eurotas, and was the capital of a large district called Laced?mon, and it was to this city that Paris came.
Now, there was a mysterious reason for this strange desire of Paris-his passionate longing to travel. In his early youth, while he was still minding his herds on the rich pastures of Mount Ida, he received a visit from the three greatest goddesses of Olympos.
Hera, the queen of Heaven and consort of Zeus-Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Zeus's favorite daughter-and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, had a dispute among themselves.
Each thought herself the most beautiful of the three, and they would have come to high words about it had not Athena proposed that they should ask the handsomest man in the world to settle the question. This happened to be the young royal shepherd, Paris. So the three goddesses floated down to the slope of Mount Ida on a snowy cloud and placed the question before him, each promising to reward him royally if he gave his verdict in her favor.
Paris, as might have been expected, decided in favor of Aphrodite, who had promised him that the fairest woman living in the whole world should be his wife. This promise had to be kept, being given by a goddess, but it was the source of endless misfortune, for Paris had a young and lovely wife who was tenderly attached to him, while the fairest of living women-acknowledged as such by fame in all known countries-was Queen Helen of Sparta, herself the wife of another man.
Her husband was one of the most renowned heroes of Hellas, King Menelaos, a son of Atreus and brother of the leader of the Greek chiefs, Agamemnon, King of Mycen?. It was Aphrodite, then, who inspired Paris with an insane desire to forsake his parents, brothers, and wife. It was her secret guidance which led him across the seas and through the dangers lurking among the hundreds of islands of the Archipelagos straight to the land of Laced?mon. This is the central of the three peninsulas in which the Peloponnesus ends, and might be called the middle finger of that large hand of which Arcadia is the palm.
Paris landed, with all his companions, on the shores of Laced?mon, where the people received him kindly and helped him on his journey to Sparta, where Menelaos and Helen gave him a cordial welcome.
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Chapter 1 ABOUT TROY AND THE JOURNEY OF PARIS TO GREECE
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Chapter 2 THE FLIGHT OF HELEN
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Chapter 3 THE GREEKS SAIL FOR TROY
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Chapter 4 THE FALL OF TROY
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Chapter 5 ODYSSEUS ON THE ISLAND OF CALYPSO
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Chapter 6 ODYSSEUS CONSTRUCTS A RAFT AND LEAVES THE ISLAND
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Chapter 7 ODYSSEUS IS SAVED ON THE ISLAND OF SCHERIA
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Chapter 8 NAUSICA IS SENT TO THE RIVER BY ATHENA
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Chapter 9 ODYSSEUS ARRIVES AT THE PALACE OF ALKINO S
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Chapter 10 ODYSSEUS IN THE HALLS OF ALKINO S
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Chapter 11 THE BANQUET IN HONOR OF ODYSSEUS
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Chapter 12 ODYSSEUS RELATES HIS ADVENTURES
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Chapter 13 THE LOTUS-EATERS AND THE CYCLOPS
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Chapter 14 THE CAVE OF THE CYCLOPS
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Chapter 15 THE BLINDING OF THE CYCLOPS
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Chapter 16 ODYSSEUS AND HIS COMPANIONS LEAVE THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS
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Chapter 17 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS ON THE ISLAND OF OLUS
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Chapter 18 ODYSSEUS AT THE HOME OF CIRCè
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Chapter 19 CIRCè INSTRUCTS ODYSSEUS CONCERNING HIS DESCENT TO HADES
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Chapter 20 THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS IN HADES
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Chapter 21 ODYSSEUS CONVERSES WITH HIS MOTHER AND AGAMEMNON
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Chapter 22 CONVERSATION WITH ACHILLES AND OTHER HEROES
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Chapter 23 THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS TO THE ISLAND OF CIRCè
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Chapter 24 ODYSSEUS MEETS THE SIRENS, SKYLLA, AND CHARYBDIS
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Chapter 25 ODYSSEUS ON THE ISLAND OF HēLIOS
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Chapter 26 THE DEPARTURE OF ODYSSEUS FROM THE ISLAND OF SCHERIA
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Chapter 27 ODYSSEUS ARRIVES AT ITHACA
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Chapter 28 ODYSSEUS SEEKS THE SWINEHERD
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Chapter 29 ATHENA ADVISES TELEMACHOS
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Chapter 30 TELEMACHOS ASTONISHES THE WOOERS
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Chapter 31 PENELOPE'S WEB
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Chapter 32 THE JOURNEY OF TELEMACHOS
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Chapter 33 TELEMACHOS IN PYLOS
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Chapter 34 TELEMACHOS IN SPARTA
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Chapter 35 MENELAOS RELATES HIS ADVENTURES
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Chapter 36 THE CONSPIRACY OF THE SUITORS
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Chapter 37 TELEMACHOS RETURNS TO ITHACA
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Chapter 38 TELEMACHOS AND THE SWINEHERD
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Chapter 39 TELEMACHOS RECOGNIZES ODYSSEUS
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Chapter 40 TELEMACHOS RETURNS TO THE PALACE
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