PROLOGUE:
When Trojan King Priam’s daughter, Cassandra (also a prophetess, but no one paid attention to her), was dragged from Athena’s temple by Ajax (a lesser chieftain with the same name as the great Ajax) after the fall of Troy, the gods were outraged. Athena asked for Poseidon’s help:
Help me to vengeance . . .
Give the Greeks a bitter homecoming.
Stir up your waters with wild whirlwinds when they sail.
Let dead men choke the bays and line the shores and reefs.
(Hamilton, p. 203)
Poseidon laid aside his anger against the Trojans and stirred up a tempest after the Greeks set sail for home. Agamemnon (King of Mycenaie) came close to losing all his ships; Menelaus (King of Sparta) was blown to Egypt; Ajax was drowned. (The Prologue is taken from THE TROJAN WOMEN by Euripides.)
