The Trojan War Facts

Because so many authors have written about the Trojan War, there are conflicting versions of events. However, we can compare the different versions and conclude that anything that is repeated in each of the sources actually happened. At the most basic level, we can say that the Trojan War was a pan-hellenic assault on the city of Troy, which after a protracted siege, the attackers were the victors. (If we do not take it for granted that the Trojan War was an attack on the Trojans, then there is very little reason for calling it the “Trojan War”.)

The trojan war took place in 1250 B.C.E. As this war has little evidence that it happened, it was passed down through many generations that this war took place. Many stories have the war happening in the city of Troy. Two famous poets wrote about this war, Homer and Sophocles, which wrote the Iliad & Odyssey. These poems are part of evidence that this war took place. One of the stories has a Wooden Horse as a gift to the Trojans, and when the horse was in the city the Spartans invaded Troy. This war was to believe to be started by the kidnapping of the Spartan Queen, Helen, by the Trojan prince, Paris. This ended with the Greeks winning and in some stories, the death of the Trojan prince.

The Greek forces won the Trojan War. The story of the war is a cornerstone of Greek legend, and pervaded Greek literature and culture. Though the evidence for the Trojan War as historical fact is scarce, it was a formative event in Greek cultural memory, producing some of the classical world’s most famous heroes and narratives. The War was won, Helen was retrieved from Paris, whose violation of ξενία was redressed, the heroes attained the κλέος that many of them fought for – and yet the positive outcomes of the Trojan War are difficult to grasp. For the victims of the Trojan War, the tragedy is obvious; the War ended in genocide and total cultural destruction. But such a war, burnt into legend, should have left the victors far better off; and yet, the Greek heroes only suffer because of it. They die tragic, dishonourable deaths; their households are left in ruin; their families are torn apart. From both modern and classical perspectives, the Trojan War is a tragedy, a “harrowing destruction of life” (Euripides, Andromache, 291). The victory is pyrrhic, the loss of life is horrific, the reparations non-existent.

Homer’s interpretation of The Trojan War stated that the war was provoked solely by Paris, who stole Helen from Greece. Prince Paris was invited to a dinner where the Greeks and the Trojans were celebrating their alliance with one another. Paris caught eyes with Helen and they were immediately in love with one another, and Paris abducted her and brought her back to Troy to become her husband. By describing the story in this manner, Homer writes to the conventions of the Bronze Age Era, prioritizing romanticism over political objectives.

Barry Strauss organizes his summary of the Trojan War by referencing Homer 's the Iliad and the Odyssey and compares it to the historical contexts of what he thinks happened. Most scholars agree that the Trojan War dates back around 1200 B.C. during the Bronze Age. The most popular tale of how the Trojan War starts is when Paris, Prince of Troy, goes to visit Sparta to mend relations. In Sparta, Paris is welcomed by Menelaus, King of Sparta and his beautiful wife Helen. According to ancient sources, Menelaus went to Crete for business and foolishly left Helen all alone with Paris (Strauss, 15). Afterward, Helen is seduced by Paris and flees Sparta to accompany him back to Troy, along with bountiful treasures.

The Trojan war was a ten year siege on the city of the city of Troy at the hands of the Greek forces led by a psychopathic king, Agamemnon. This conflict, which took place about 1200 B.C has become one of the most well known Greek mythology events in history. In the 13th century B.C, Troy and Sparta had stopped their wars and become allies, this was until Paris the youngest prince of Troy seduced Helen, the Queen of Sparta and left with her back to Troy. When Menelaos (The King of Sparta) found out what had happened, he vowed

The war began with a grand wedding between Peleus, the son of Aeacus, and Thetis, the sea-goddess. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding. Enraged at this, she stormed into the wedding and threw a golden apple of discord on a table. The apple had the inscription “For the fairest” a quarrel soon arose between three powerful goddesses. The three goddesses; Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all wanted the title of fairest. They wanted to Zeus to be the judge of this contest. Not wanting to be involved in the quarrel, Zeus sent Hermes to get Paris, the Trojan prince, so that he could judge the three ("History of the Trojan War").

The Greeks arrived and fought control over the pushing the Trojans back to walls, and to the Trojans firing a barrage of arrows holding them off for long periods of time. With there being some battles fought on chariots, and with the aid of some on their feet, the war went on for 9 years going back and forth on the

Prior to the Trojan War, Helen, the Queen of Sparta, was abducted by the Prince of Troy. Bound by honour, Odysseus led a fleet of twelve ships to Troy and battled for Helen for a decade. The war finally ended when Odysseus outwitted the enemy by feigning retreat and leaving a giant wooden horse behind, called the “Trojan Horse”. The Greeks hid in the horse which the Trojans took in. After the Trojans celebrated their false victory and went to sleep, the Greeks snuck out of the wooden horse and wreaked havoc within the city. Odysseus’ sharp

The Trojan War is described as one of histories most legendary battles. This battle is told to have lasted ten years, resulting in the eventual collapse of Troy, under the siege of Greek forces. Modern knowledge of the Trojan War has survived mainly through the account given in Homer’s Illiad, and while having proved to be a rich source of inspiration for other writers, artists, and even filmmakers in recent history, much speculation still exists surrounding his account. I will analyze modern interpretations of the Trojan War and examine both speculation and support for Homer’s account. Concluding with sufficient evidence that has been collected surrounding this epic battle, proving Homer’s account of a massive battle between these two powerful city states to not be just a tale of myth and legend, but actual history.

The epic began with the description of an internal conflict in the Achaian forces. The king Agamemnon's desire for a woman who had the gods on her side forced the great leader to dishonor one of his fighters by taking the fighters woman. We soon learn, in book 3, that the reason that the Achaians were fighting the Trojans was because a the Trojan prince Paris stole Helen from her Achaian husband Menelaos. During the confrontation a one-vs-one combat was proposed and a character, Alexandros the godlike answered the call for the Trojans. When Menelaos steps forward for the Achaians, Alexandros retreats. Alexandros was then scolded for his cowardice and we learn the cause of the battle, “And now you would not stand up against warlike Menelaos?

The Trojan War had mythology in it so none of it is actually history but it has history in it. There was a war but the greeks thought that they needed to make a sacrifice to the god of the wind to cross the sea to get to troy. How it started.

The Trojan War was during the Bronze Age in the 12th or 13th century BC. It was between Greece and Troy. The Trojan War mainly started when the Greeks brought a wooden horse over to Troy as a sign of “peace.” However, it was used to take over Troy since there were many armed men in the horse. A downfall the Trojans had that led up to this point in time was that they were foolish, “Four times did the Horse halt as they dragged it, before it passed through the gate, and each time their might have been heard a great clashing of arms within” (Church 9). In the Horse, there were sounds being made but the Trojans did not pay attention to these signs and Troy suffered as a result. Overall, the Trojan War was created due to many gods fighting over Helen and because of this Troy was taken over by Greece and Aeneas and his crew had to relocate and find a new safe place to live with the help of Venus and Apollo by their side.

I have just read your article on the Trojan War. The article was very convincing and helpful. You made it clear that the Trojan War quite possibly could have occurred. I wanted to thank you for having an open mind and examining the facts. When the question of if the Trojan War really happened comes up, many professors simply answer that it is a myth and leave it at that. Your answer of, “Why not” was very refreshing and good to hear. Since I learned about the Trojan War and the Trojan Horse, I have always assumed that the Iliad by Homer was at least somewhat true. It was such a great and well told story, and we even learn about it at school.

Barry Strauss, professor of classics at Cornell University attempts to redefine a one of history’s biggest love affairs, the Trojan War. Strauss explains how certain events and characters from Homers “The Odyssey” might have actually existed, but also uses modern discoveries from the Bronze Age to compare Homers account to those of Egypt, the Middle East, and etc. While Homer’s epic should not be read as a historical document which recounts the Trojan War hundred percent accurately, it can still be seen as document which embodies some historical truth. The novel as a whole explains the customs, economic standing, fighting styles and beliefs of the Greeks. Strauss’s writing style allows for the book to be accessible to both students and historians. He argues that just like Franz Ferdinand was the spark which ignited World War 1, Helen on the other hand was just a spark which escalated an existing tension between the Greeks and Trojans. Strauss’s personal input on the war itself gives the novel a different outlook on the Trojan War because, it allows for readers to see beyond the facts and make connections with ideas that Strauss had made with recent discoveries and Homers epic.