Sources Quoted
The Plan of Zeus
Zeus perceived overpopulation to be the greatest problem of the Heroic Age. Gaia groaned under the burden of too many mortals, and the demi-gods among them thought too highly of themselves to properly respect the gods.
With an inciting incident or two, all of Hellas could then be united in war against all of Phrygia, decimating the heroic population of both factions. The result would be a Theban War to serve as a proving ground for the Achaeans, followed by a Trojan War against Western Anatolia to draw the Fourth Age of Humanity to a close.
Zeus confers with Themis about the Trojan War.— Stasinus Cypria Argument
as cited in Proclus’s Chrestomathy
c. Late 7th Century BCE
West, p.69
Zeus, finding the race of heroes guilty of impiety, conferred with Themis about destroying them completely.— Stasinus Cypria Argument (papyri fragment)
c. Late 7th Century BCE
West, p.81
The story is found in Stasinus, the author of the Cypria, who says: There was a time when the countless races [of men] roaming [constantly] over the land were weighing down the [deep-]breasted earth’s expanse. Zeus took pity when he saw it, and in his complex mind he resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of mankind’s weight by fanning the great conflict of the Trojan War, to void the burden through death. So the warriors at Troy kept being killed, and Zeus’ plan was being fulfilled.— Stasinus Cypria fragment 1
as cited in D Scholia on Homer Iliad 1.5
c. Late 7th Century BCE
West, p.83
All the gods were divided in spirit in strife. For high-thundering Zeus was devising wondrous deeds then, to stir up trouble on the boundless earth; for he was already eager to annihilate most of the race of speech-endowed human beings, a pretext to destroy the lives of the semi-gods, ... Hence he established for immortals and for mortal human beings difficult warfare: for the ones he made pain upon pain. ... The bronze was going to send to Hades many heads of men, heroes falling in battle-strife; but he [Apollo] did not yet perceive the impulse of the father’s mind; but just as human beings who avoid death for their children are delighted, he was delighted by the rush of the thoughts of the mighty father who was planning great things for men.— Hesiod Catalogue of Women fragment 155 (papyri fragment)
c. 540-520 BCE
Most, pp.257, 259, 261
Others have said that Homer was referring to a myth. For they say that Earth, being weighed down by the multitude of people, there being no piety among humankind, asked Zeus to be relieved of the burden. Zeus firstly and at once brought about the Theban War, by means of which he destroyed very large numbers, and afterwards the Trojan one, with Cavil [god of ridicule] as his adviser, this being what Homer calls the plan of Zeus, seeing that he was capable of destroying everyone with thunderbolts or floods. Cavil prevented this, and proposed two ideas to him, the marriage of Thetis to a mortal and the birth of a beautiful daughter. From these two events war came about between Greeks and barbarians, resulting in the lightening of the earth as many were killed.— Unknown Sources
as cited in D Scholia on Homer Iliad 1.5
Before 5th-4th Century BCE
West, p81.
HELEN:
See, next, how further counsels of Zeus add to my misery. He loaded war upon the Hellenic land and on the unhappy Phrygians, thus to drain our mother earth of the burden and the multitude of human kind. Also he would advertise the greatest Hellene prince.— Euripides: Helen 36-41
c. 412 BC
Lattimore, p. 418.
APOLLO (to Menelaus and Orestes):
Since the gods by means of Helen’s loveliness drove Trojans and Greeks together in war and made them die, that earth might be lightened of her heavy burden of mortality.— Euripides: Orestes 1639-1642
c. 408 BCE
Arrowsmith, p.205.
For father Zeus planned these things, wanting evil for the Trojans and disaster for Greece.— Euripides Unidentified Plays fragment 1082
as cited in Strabo: Geography 4.1.7
c. Late 5th Century BCE
Collard and Cropp, p.609.
[Alexander abducted Helen], some say by Zeus’ will so that Europe and Asia would go to war and his daughter would become famous, or as others have said, so that the race of demigods might be ended.— Apollodorus Library E3.1
c. 61/60 BCE-2nd Century CE
Smith and Trzaskoma, p.77.
The Plan of Hera
Hera then insinuated her own jealous agenda into Zeus's plan. After Heracles ascended to godhood, he had taken Hebe, a daughter of Zeus and Hera, to be his wife. Hebe's duties as Cupbearer of Olympus had then been given to Ganymede, a Trojan youth. Because Ganymede had captured so much of her husband's affection, Hera determined that the war should end in the destruction of Troy, as punishment for that city's most honored son.
Hera, tortured by the beauty of Ganymede, and with the soul-consuming sting of jealousy in her heart, once spoke thus: “Troy gave birth to a male flame for Zeus; therefore I will send a flame to fall on Troy, Paris the bringer of woe. No eagle shall come again to the Trojans, but vultures to the feast, the day that the Danai gather the spoils of their labour.”— Antipater of Thessalonica from Greek Anthology 9.77
c. Late 1st Century BCE-Early 1st Century CE
Paton, p.41.
The Plan of Aphrodite
Starting with these broad strokes, the affair of Paris and Hellen fell on Aphrodite to arrange. The Cyprian love goddess was, however, already playing out her own long game to insinuate her offspring into the line of Anchises. Although she would pretend to take the side of Troy, the destruction of Ilion, and the line of Priam with it, would serve Aphrodite's agenda in the end.
When an oracle issued forth that those descended from Anchises would rule as kings over the Trojans after the dissolution of the monarchy of the House of Priam, Aphrodite had intercourse with Anchises who was already well past his prime. She bore Aeneas and, wishing to furnish a cause for the dissolution of the House of Priam, she threw into Alexander a longing for Helen. After Helen’s rape, she appeared to be an ally to the Trojans, but in truth she was consoling them in defeat lest they completely despair and deliver over Helen.— Acusilaus of Argos BNJ 2F39
as cited in Scholia on Homer Iliad 3.307
c. Mid-Late 6th Century BCE
Jacoby (BNJ database), David L. Toye (trans.), 2009
Comments