Nostoi Trivia Quiz

Answer: Agamemnon

When the Trojan War ended and Agamemnon left for Mycenae, he took the Trojan princess Cassandra with him. Cassandra told him many times that his return home was doomed, but, as she was the cursed fallen prophet of Apollo and no one could believe her, Agamemnon ignored her warnings. Upon his return home, his wife Clytemnestra ushered him into their bathhouse so he could bathe before his welcoming feast.

As soon as his foot was in the bath, Clytemnestra threw a net over him and, along with her lover Aegisthus, hacked at him with an ax until he died. Clytemnestra then proclaimed herself and Aegisthus rulers of Mycenae with no contest.

Answer: Locrian Ajax

Ajax the Lesser was denied his return home when the Greek seer Calchas informed Athena that Ajax had raped the priestess Cassandra in Athena's temple. Athena was furious with what Ajax had done and vowed to destroy the Greeks' ships if they didn't kill him. To avoid being killed by the Greeks, he hid at an altar in a Greek deity's temple. The Greeks left without him, but that wasn't enough for Athena. Athena persuaded Zeus to send a powerful storm to sink their ships.

In most myths, as Ajax was leaving Troy, Athena wrecked his ship and Ajax took refuge on a rock. Poseidon was poised to save him until Ajax offended him by declaring that the sea couldn't harm him. Poseidon used his trident to split the rock under Ajax, who was then swallowed by the sea. In other stories he made it closer to home before Athena killed him and his body crashed into the rocks.

Answer: Menelaus

There are several varied and contradictory stories about where Menelaus's wife, Helen, was during the Trojan War, and how they were reunited after the fall of Troy. In some myths, Helen was safe in Egypt during the war and they were reunited there when Menelaus went to find her.

In other myths, Helen was at Troy for the duration of the war and expected Menelaus to kill her when he found her. In all myths, Menelaus expressed his love for Helen upon their reunion and they returned to rule Sparta together as if the war never happened.

Answer: Odysseus

The famous tale of Odysseus's return home is told in Homer's "The Odyssey". While Odysseus did eventually return safely to his wife Penelope in Ithaca, it took him ten years and many trials to get there. Odysseus had to survive the Cicones, the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops, the isle of Aeolus, the giant Laestrygonians, the witch Circe, the Underworld, the Sirens, the monster Scylla, the whirlpool Charybdis, the isle of the Helios, and the nymph Calypso.

Upon his return to Ithaca he then had to prove to his wife and her many suitors that he was the true king. He proved his identity to his wife by correctly telling her their bed was built into a tree, and famously proved himself to her suitors by shooting an arrow straight through a dozen ax heads.

Answer: Achilles

Achilles's mother, Thetis, did everything she could to protect her son, from dipping him in the River Styx as a baby, offering him near-invincibility, to dressing him as a girl in an attempt to disguise him from Odysseus and keep him from going to Troy. She had been told by an oracle that if Achilles went to Troy he would never return home. Young Achilles wanted to fight, though, and left for Troy knowing he would die there.

At Troy, Achilles refused to fight for Agamemnon on principal, but once his companion, Patroclus, was killed and Achilles took revenge on Prince Hector of Troy, his fate was sealed. During the Sack of Troy, Achilles was slain after an arrow was shot into his vulnerable heel by Prince Paris, with the help of the Trojans' patron god, Apollo. Paris's first arrow removed the protection of the Styx from Achilles, and his second arrow pierced Achilles's heart, killing him.

Answer: Nestor

Nestor was near the age of 70 during the Trojan war and had been an Argonaut. He became the king of Pylos after his father and all of his siblings were killed by Herakles when King Neleus refused to cleanse Herakles of a blood-debt. Nestor's main role during the Trojan war was to advise the Greek soldiers, and it was Nestor who convinced Patroclus to disguise himself as Achilles. Nestor did not engage in combat during the war, as he was too old to fight, and he did not participate in the looting of the fallen Troy.

As such, the gods allowed him a safe journey home.

Answer: Neoptolemus

Ten years into the Trojan War, the Greeks captured a Trojan seer named Helenus and forced him to tell them how they could take Troy. Helenus revealed to the Greeks that they could only defeat Troy if they had the poisoned arrows of Herakles, if they stole the Palladium, and if they brought Achilles's son, Neoptolemus into the war. As a result of the seer's words, Odysseus was sent to retrieve Neoptolemus from the island of Scyros.

After being brought to Troy, Neoptolemus participated in the sacking of the city, killing King Priam, Eurypylus, Plyxena, Polites, and Astyanax, the infant son of Prince Hector and his wife, Andromache. There are two different tales of his murder after his return home. In one, he was murdered by Orestes after attempting to take Menelaus's daughter, Hermione, from him. In the other, he was murdered by priests of Apollo at Delphi after denouncing Apollo for killing his father.

Answer: Diomedes

Diomedes was the commander of 80 Argive ships during the Trojan War. He was most famous for wounding Aphrodite and stealing the Trojan Palladium during the fall of Troy. The Palladium was a sacred wooden statue of Pallas Athena that was said to have fallen from heaven, and it protected the city of Troy. With the help of Helen and Odysseus, Diomedes seized the statue and snuck it out of Troy. Diomedes managed to get home to Argos only four days after leaving the fallen Troy. According to some stories, Diomedes took the Palladium on to Italy, while other stories instead credit Aeneas with bringing the statue to Rome.

Answer: Philoctetes

Philoctetes was a Greek prince and a famed archer. He came to posses the bow and poisoned arrows (dipped in hydra blood) of Herakles after gaining the hero's favor. Philoctetes was called to service in the Trojan war to help Menelaus reclaim Helen, but was stranded on the island of Lemnos before ever reaching the Trojan shores. There are several different stories about what happened to him on Lemnos, but they all indicate that he had a serious wound on his foot. One of the more popular myths claims that he was bitten by a snake sent by Hera for his service to Herakles.

When Diomedes was sent to fetch the bow and arrows of Herakles from Philoctetes, he refused to bring them back to Troy without also bringing the exiled Philoctetes with him. In popular myth, he was chosen as one of the men to hide in the Trojan horse, and he shot and killed Paris during the sacking of Troy. He was returned home after the war with the aid of Achilles's son Neoptolemus. Eventually he ended up in southern Italy, where he was killed in battle.

Answer: Teucer

Teucer was the second son of King Telamon of Salamis, and the younger half-brother of Ajax. He was an excellent archer, rivaling Philoctetes. During the Trojan War, he fought alongside his brother, and attempted on many occasions to shoot Prince Hector, though no arrow would hit the Trojan as he was being protected by Apollo. Following the death of Ajax the Great, Teucer took command of the Salamineans.

As he was not among the Greeks who committed sacrilege at Troy, his return home was quick and uneventful.

He did not have a warm welcome at home, however, as his father blamed him for the death of Ajax and for failing to bring his brother's body home.