Troy and the Trojan War

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.

Over the past years a lot of archaeological and literary evidence has helped us gain a better understanding of the history of Troy. Much hard work has gone into the excavations there by many archaeologists, and many interesting artefacts have been found. The story of the Ancient City of Troy is a great one, however many people believed it didn’t exist and that Homers Iliad, the story of the Trojan War was just some story. This has since been proved untrue as the city of Troy was discovered, and the pieces of this amazing puzzle have fallen together. Homer described Troy as an exceptionally large city with large high powerful walls, wide streets, twisting paths and large houses. Some of the archaeologists that have contributed to the

Homer stated that the Trojan War was a conflict that was created from the abduction of the queen of Sparta, defying the peace treaty between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Greeks and the Trojans previously fought constantly and finally agreed to cease the violence between the nation’s strongest armies. Although the Greeks were defeated after attempting to invade Troy’s walls with footmen, they defeated Troy during the night with a trick. In the book The Trojan War: A New History by Barry Strauss, the author creates an argument that undermines Homer’s credibility on his interpretation of the Trojan War. Strauss identifies that much of what we know about the Trojan War is false.

Virgil first depicts humans as unthoughtful through the ignorance of the Trojans. In Virgil’s story, during the Trojan War, the Greeks have a plan to hide their men inside of a giant wooden horse to get inside the city of Troy. When this enormous gift shows up in Troy, few people are suspicious, and most people want to accept the gift. The men of Troy receive many warnings, but still end up taking the horse into the walls of their city. Laocoön, a Trojan priest, tries to assist the Trojans and tells them, “Men of Troy, what madness has come over you?/Can you believe the enemy had truly gone?/A gift from the Danaans, and no ruse?” (II. 59-61) This priest was the first to legitimately question the gift, and even after hearing this warning from someone so wise, the Trojans decided to accept the gift into their city. If the Trojans would have listened to the priest, they could have won the war and saved many lives. Instead of thinking through why their enemy would give them such a present, the men acted impulsively and completely misjudged the situation. Not only did the Trojans receive warnings about the horse from their own friends, but the blindly trusted a man they knew nothing about. As the Trojans were contemplating their decision, the Greeks sent a secret weapon to trick them. Sinon, a sneaky Greek, showed up to the gates of Troy ready to convince the Trojans to accept the Greek’s gift. Sinon is introduced as an unknown prisoner and this causes the Trojans to sympathize

The Trojan War was commenced around 3000 BCE marking most memorable period in Greek Mythology. These events were presented in Homer’s lliad through poetry. The war began during the Bronze Age with Greeks and the defenders of the city of Troy fighting in Anatolia. Troy, today known as modern Turkey was in Anatolia i.e. at the eastern Shores of Aegean Sea. The city of Troy was colonized by 5000-10000 Trojans and was attacked many times by 5000 Mycenaeans who had crossed the Aegean Sea in hundred ships. Around 1200 BCE the city was destroyed by Mycenaean Greeks. The war was sophisticated to higher level by tactics and Magnificent Armors. Mycenaean Greece came under attack by both land and sea around 1200 BCE. (Dutton Marchand Harkness 27)

The Trojans and Greeks fought a frivolous war that began with a golden apple and a trio of precarious goddesses. It initiated when Prince Paris was given an apple from the “evil goddess of Discord, Eris,” and told him to choose the fairest goddess between three. Paris ludicrously chose the goddess who offered him the most beautiful woman. This woman was Helen, queen of Sparta. But Paris stole her from her husband and refused to give her back to Menelaus.

I disagree with this statement, there is evidence a Trojan War or Wars did happen, possibly around north-western Turkey. Eric Cline from the George Washington University says “The archaeological and textual evidence indicates that a Trojan War or Wars took place and that Homer chose to write about one or more of them making it into a great ten-year-long saga”.

After the readings, I believe that there was not a historical Trojan War. I believe Homer’s poems were historically inaccurate and just a fictional form of writing. These poems were mythical and made as a story for the public. Also, archaeological evidence fails to show proof of a major war, but instead shows that Troy may have been a major trade center which can cause tension and conflict between societies.

The stories and myths that we hear about the Trojan War are truly exciting and interesting, but have you ever heard the story explaining why this war was fought in the first place? Odds are you probably have not. Truth is, the reason this war was fought was because of the poor judgement of a young prince.

People in ancient Greece, although the fear of the gods, they are more love life, cherish own life, their heart is filled with the affirmation of the self. “The ancient Greeks believe in fate, but they never negatively to succumb to fate. Greek myth of the Trojan war is human mix with Gods, Zeus decided the fate of the war, every big war god omen, seems to be the fate of the success and failure is inevitable, but the hero still depend on own strength to gain victory. They also dare to god only on and support each other, win, establish feats, heroes never lost will to fight for each other is god only, they even beat god head, fled back to Mount Olympus to

After the siege of Troy, the ruins and smolder of the devastation leave a limited number of survivors homeless. One such Troyian is a young teenager named Qadir Khan. Qadir lost his entire family in the siege. Qadir prayed to the gods for forgiveness and an ability for him to avenge his fallen comrades, family and home. After a year the shambles still lay and small tents reside around the ruins. After constant deaths from marauders, disease and the heat Qadir was one of two left him and another young teen named Alkaram. Alkaram had an idea to set sail for Northern Cyprus in a chance for a new life, so one night he robbed all of Qadirs clothes, food, tools and belongings and set sail with a small rebuilt cargo boat to Northern Cyprus.

Our Trojan War is a unique theatrical production that uses scenes from ancient texts written by Sophocles, Homer, Plato and Euripides, to discuss modern political questions on democracy. The opening scene, “In the First Version of the Story,” introduces the audience to a procession of U.S. soldiers who are dressed in camouflage. Each soldier presents a different view of Odysseus at war. In their differing points of view, Odysseus is sometimes seen as a hero while at other times he is seen as a disgrace. The group of U.S. soldiers is sent on a mission to search a home in the Middle East. The soldiers break into the house of a teacher and find a collection of hidden books of the most renounced ancient texts. After the teacher is criticized for

Is Troy a historical event? Such a question in most cases would be an easy yes or no. In the case of the Trojan War however, the answer to this question can take many different stances depending on who, and when you asked them. When referring to the Trojan War, we are often times talking about Homers account of a great war in the city of Troy written about primarily in the Iliad. Ideologies about wheather Homers Trojan War being a historical event can be separated into two catiglories, pre and post excavation of Troy. Today the general consensious on the existance of Troy is agreed apon, but Troy existing does not neccessaryly extend to the Trojan War as described by Homer existing. Nonetheless, after further research archeologist found what

This was basically a conflict going on with the two kingdoms many years ago, The Trojans and the Greek. They’ve been at war for a pretty long time. Why you ask? Well the Trojans captured the Greek Princess named Helen in their city of Troy. Anyways the Greeks been trying to find a way to defeat the Trojan kingdom and get the Princess back. The Greeks camped on a beach near the city hoping to get in but, they failed after days, weeks, and months to get inside of the big strong walls on the Trojan kingdom. It was impossible. They then began to stop trying to defeat them with their physical strength, but with their brains. A very brave Greek soldier named Odysseus had a smart idea. It was to build and hide in a giant horse and once the Trojans

The Trojan Wars began because the prince of Troy, Paris, seduced another man’s wife in his absence. When Menelaus returned home and found his wife gone, he wanted revenge on Paris so he vowed to conquer Troy and obtain his wife, Helen, but she will have to be punished for her dishonor. This is similar to the American-Indian Wars because the Indians were trying to recover land that had been stolen from them by the American settlers. American settlers were trying to expand their territories, thus pushing indigenous people westward. This led the groups of people to battle. Both of these battles raged on for numerous years. In conclusion, future leaders can learn from both wars; Do not take possession of objects that do not belong to you. Conflict