Mrs Carter s Reading Homework 7.9.15 LO: To retrieve information accurately from a story with a historical setting. Success Criteria Read the text carefully; Read the questions; Highlight the key words in the question; Scan back through the text to find the part needed to answer the question; Re-read this part carefully; Answer the question, in a full sentence if necessary. Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was an ancient city named Troy. The city was surrounded by a gigantic wall, made of limestone which is extremely slippery so other armies could not climb up it when they chose to attack Troy. It also had two large gates which were guarded by powerful warriors. At the top of the wall there are places where the Trojan bowmen could stand so they could pull back their bowstrings and shoot any approaching warriors belonging to other armies. King Priam was the head of Troy and was extremely powerful. He believed that he owned the huge Aegean Sea which separated Troy from Greece and Sparta. One day King Priam decided that he wanted to marry Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world; however, she was already married to King Menealus. However, this would not stop the great Priam! He sent his greatest warriors to kidnap Helen! She was absolutely terrified as she was grabbed from the beautiful gardens of her home. She tried to scream for help but, one of Priam s most powerful, vicious warriors, placed his hand over her mouth to stop her screams. Later that day, when King Menelaus realised that his gorgeous wife had been kidnapped, he immediately climbed in his golden chariot and set off to travel to Greece. His brother, Agamemnon was the king of Greece at that time and had one of the greatest warriors in the world in his army the mighty. Menelaus stomped into Agamemnon s glorious palace and demanded, brother! I need your greatest commanders, warriors, chariots, horses and battleships! I need to get my beautiful Helen back from that evil man Priam! Agamemnon agreed without question and later that day, strong was ordered to gather his legion together. He ordered hundreds of warships to be filled with the strongest fighters from both Greece and Sparta, demanding that they all sharpen their swords, spears and arrows ready for battle. Soon they are ready to set off. After one hundred days travelling on the rough seas of the Aegean, and his men land on the glowing shores of Troy. They pile out onto the beach and walk to the dusty plains on the outskirts of the ancient city, where they begin to set up camp. The next day, the Trojan army leaves the city and comes to fight and his men. The battle is long and tough, it goes on for ten years! The Greeks could not get over the wall into Troy and they could not kill all of the Trojan warriors but the Trojans could not drive the Greeks away either. Year after year they fought. And year after year, neither side won.
Finally, as rose from a difficult sleep, he began to pull on his heavy armour and commented to one of his warrior generals, I have a tricky idea. Let's pretend to sail away; we'll leave a gift for Troy, a gift to announce the end of the war, a wooden horse with thirty men hidden inside. At night, these men can sneak out and open the gates of Troy!" The other Greeks thought that it was a brilliant idea. They had their best artists build the horse. It was a magnificent horse. When it was ready, the Greeks brought the huge wooden horse as close to Troy's city gates as they could get without being shot full of arrows. Then, the remaining Greeks pretended to sail away. When the Trojan archers at the top of the stairs saw the Greeks leaving, they could not believe their eyes. The next day, the Trojans went to investigate the dusty plain; it seemed as though and his men had finally surrendered. The Trojans could not understand why such a wonderful gift had been left for them but they decided that the horse could be given as a gift to Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom so they dragged the horse inside their city and closed the gates. Some people wanted to burn the horse because they thought it might be dangerous. was extremely suspicious but King Priam declared a party and the Trojans spent many hours feasting and celebrating around the wooden horse. That night, while the Trojan people slept soundly, exhausted from their celebrations, the Greek warriors hidden inside the wooden horse climbed out and opened the gates of Troy to let the remainder of the Greek army inside. They stormed round the city of Troy with torches made of fire. They flung their torches at buildings, setting them alight and causing the deaths of thousands of Trojans. though, knew that destroying the city of Troy was not enough, he needed to rescue Helen and return her safely to King Menelaus. He was a powerful warrior, with very strong muscles and the best set of weapons that the Greeks possessed. He climbed carefully into King Priam s palace, storming through the vast corridors, searching for the beautiful Helen. Eventually, found Helen; he flung her over his shoulder and carried her through Troy, which was quickly burning into the ground. When, Helen and the surviving Greek and Spartan armies returned home, both King Menelaus and King Agamemnon were extremely grateful to, they paid him handsomely, with hundreds of pieces of gold. He was seen as the great hero of Greece because it was his quick thinking that brought Troy to the ground, and saved Helen, the prettiest woman in the world.
1) Why couldn t armies get into the ancient city of Troy? The walls were too high The gate was locked They were lost Troy was too far away 2) Which Trojan warrior stopped Helen from screaming? Theseus King Menelaus 3) What did Helen do when she was kidnapped? She cried She laughed She screamed She kicked 4) Who did King Menelaus go to for help getting Helen back? King Priam King Agamemnon 5) What was tricky idea? Give up on the war Leave Helen in Troy Build a wooden horse Make a new weapon 6) Why couldn t armies get into the ancient city of Troy? (give two reasons)
7) Which Trojan warrior stopped Helen from screaming? Theseus King Menelaus 8) What did King Menelaus do when he realised that Helen was missing? 9) What three weapons did demand his army get ready for battle? 10) What was tricky idea? Why was it tricky? 11) Who did the Trojans decide to give the wooden horse to as a gift?
12) Which of the Trojan warriors did not approve of the wooden horse being brought into Troy? Why did he feel like this? 13) Why were the Trojans not able to fight back when the Greek and Spartan army attacked the city? 14) How did King Menelaus and King Agamemnon reward?