2. The 2004 film, Troy, is a British-
Maltese epic war film written by
David Benioff and directed by
Wolfgang Petersen. It is mainly based
on Homer’s Iliad, but has influences
from The Odyssey and The Aeneid as
well. It revolves around the10 year
Trojan War, in which Achilles leads
his Myrmidons, along with the rest of
the Greek army, in their invasion of
Troy, which is lead by Hector’s Trojan
army. The ending of the story (the
sacking of Troy) is taken from both
The Odyssey and The Aeneid.
3. The movie starts out with Trojan Princes Hector and his brother,
Paris, negotiating a peace treaty with Menelaus, king of Sparta.
On the same night, Paris sleeps with Helen, Menelaus’ wife, and
they decide to run away to Troy together. Infuriated by the taking
of his wife, Menelaus travels to Mycenae to ask Agamemnon, his
brother, to go to war with him against Troy. Agamemnon agrees
under the pretense of reclaiming Helen, but desires to conquer
Troy. This is where Nestor first appears, and convinces
Agamemnon to also recruit Achilles, as he is Greece’s finest warrior.
They decide to have Odysseus, king of Ithaca, visit Phtia to
persuade Achilles to fight. Achilles refuses to fight for
Agamemnon, but then goes to seek counsel from his mother,
Thetis. She tells him that if he stays that he will live a long,
prosperous life with a family but will not be remembered. If he
goes to Troy, he will find glory and be remembered but he will die.
This desire to be remembered is what makes Achilles decide to go.
4. The next morning after the Greeks land on Trojan soil at the
Temple of Apollo, the Greeks march on Troy. It is here that Paris
challenges Menelaus to single combat, in which the winner will
take Helen home to settle the conflict. Menelaus accepts, but
Agamemnon plans to attack regardless of the outcome. Menelaus
is about to kill Paris, but is instead killed himself when Hector
intervenes. Enraged, Agamemnon orders the attack, but are forced
to fall back. Ajax the Greater is slain by Hector during this battle.
It is after this battle that both Nestor and Odysseus persuade
Agamemnon to make peace with Achilles, as the Greeks will need
him in order to win the war. The next day, after the surprise attack
by the Trojans, Patroclus, disguised as Achilles, leads the
Myrmidons against them and fights Hector. Thinking he is
Achilles, Hector fights and defeats Patroclus. This infuriates
Achilles into challenging Hector to fight the following day. That
night, after Hector’s death, Priam visits Achilles and asks for his
son’s body so that he may have a proper burial service. They agree
to a twelve day truce, which enrages Agamemnon.
5. Seeing that Agamemnon would rather have all the Greeks
slaughtered before abandoning his ambition, Odysseus plans to
infiltrate the city by building a huge hollow wooden horse. The
Greeks hide their ships in a nearby cove, making is seem as if they
departed for home. The Trojans take the horse as an offering to
Poseidon for a safe voyage home, assume victory, and bring the
horse into the city. That night, the Greeks emerge form the horse,
open the gates, and begin the Sack of Troy. Andromache, Hector’s
wife, helps Helen and many others escape through the secret
passage which Hector had shown her. It is here that Paris finds
Aeneas and hands him the Sword of Troy, instructing him to lead
the Trojan people, then he rejoins the fight. Briseis then kills
Agamemnon by stabbing him in the back, then is rescued by
Achilles. Paris then shoots Achilles in the heel, then shoots him
several more times in the torso before Briseis manages to make him
stop. Achilles accepts his fate, and the funeral rituals are
performed for him in the ruins of Troy the next day.
6. The film ends with a speech from Odysseus: “If they
ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants.
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these
names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time
of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say, I lived, in the
time of Achilles.”
In the extended edition, the Trojan refugees including:
Helen ,Andromache, Paris, Briseis, and Aeneas are
seen escaping into the hinterlands of Troas, hinting at
the beginning of the Aeneid.
7. The film Troy is based mainly off of The Iliad, but is
influenced by The Odyssey and The Aeneid as well. The
obvious influence of these two works can be seen in the
last part of the film: The Sack of Troy. This is what
makes Odysseus famous in The Odyssey, but infamous
in The Aeneid. There are several differences, however,
with the film against the two novels. These differences
deal mainly with the fate of certain characters within the
film. The differences contradict what happens in The
Odyssey in relation to the status of these characters.
8. Here is a list of some important
characters and their differences
between the film, Troy, and The
Odyssey:
9. Menelaus – In the film,
Menelaus is shown being
killed by Hector. This is
contradictory to The
Odyssey, as Menelaus is
shown being alive and
well as he talks to
Telemachus about
Odysseus. It is also here
that the reader
encounters Menelaus’
wife, Helen.
10. Helen – Helen is last seen in
the film leaving Troy with
Andromache, along with
other characters, including
Aeneas. In Troy, this helps
to unify the “love” that her
and Paris share as she is now
“Helen of Troy”. This is also
contradictory to her being
seen in The Odyssey. But,
since Menelaus is dead, she
has to go somewhere.
11. Agamemnon –
Agamemnon is killed by
Briseis at the end of the
film. In The Odyssey,
Menelaus tells
Telemachus of how his
brother died. He states
that Agamemnon was
killed by his treacherous
wife when he returned
from the war.
12. Aeneas – The last person of major difference is the young
warrior, Aeneas, who is seen at the end of the film being
given the “Sword of Troy” by Paris, who states “As long as a
Trojan carries this sword, Troy will live on.” This is
referring to The Aeneid, which centers around Aeneas and
his adventures which conclude with the foundation of
Rome. Although it is a good reference to include, to show
the influence of all three texts, it is also an inaccurate
inclusion. During the epic, Aeneas is seen running all over
Troy, trying to escape with his loved ones, not leaving
orderly through a “secret passage”. He finds his own way
out of the city, but loses his wife in the process.
13. Although Troy is overall a great movie on it’s own, it is
not an accurate portrayal of the epics in respect to what
happens to the characters. Also, there is no inclusion of
the gods in regards to their involvement in the battles,
outcome of the war, ect. This alteration of character
outcome can be confusing to a person just coming into
Greek mythology. If a person sees the movie first, they
are likely to be confused when going to read The
Odyssey, as some of the characters are alive in the novel,
where as they have just been killed in the film, which
takes place just prior to the epic.
