The Trojan War was a ten-year-long war that was fought between an alliance of Mycenaean Greek city-states and an alliance of Asian states led by the prosperous Anatolian city-state of Troy from 1193 to 1183 BC. According to Greek mythology, the war began when the goddess of discord, Eris, proposed a beauty contest among the Hellenic goddesses, with Zeus deferring the choice to a human, Prince Paris of Troy. After the love goddess Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world in exchange for his vote, Paris chose Aphrodite, and Aphrodite caused Queen Helen of Sparta, the new wife of King Menelaus, to fall in love with Paris. Paris and Helen proceeded to elope to Troy, causing Menelaus to call on his brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and the other former suitors of Helen to honor their oath that they would provide military assistance to Helen's chosen husband if she was ever stolen by another. In reality, it may have been a trading rivalry that provoked the Trojan War, or the Hittites may have hired out Ahhiyawa (Achaean Greek) mercenaries to suppress a rebellion in Wilusa (Troy). In any case, a large Greek fleet sailed across the Aegean and besieged the city of Troy, while Troy called in allies from lands both near (Dardania, Thrace, and Lycia) and far (Aethiopia and the Amazons) to defend Troy against Greek invasion. According to Greek myth, the Greeks besieged the city for ten years, during which time Greek commanders such as Achilles sacked several Anatolian cities allied to Troy and engaged in failed attempts to take Troy by storm. In 1183 BC, the war climaxed with the arrival of Memnon's Ethiopians and Penthesilea's Amazons to relieve the Siege of Troy, only for Achilles to slay both of them and rout their armies. The Trojan prince Hector, Paris' older brother, challenged Achilles in single combat, but, while Achilles made preparations to leave the war due to quarrels with Agamemnon, his lover Patroclus took his stead and was slain by Hector. Infuriated, Achilles slew Hector, only to be shot through the heel by Paris, a skilled archer. The Greeks called a truce with the Trojans during Achilles' funeral games, during which time the Greek strategist Odysseus proposed a creative method to turn the tide of the war and prevent an all-out disaster. The Greeks constructed a wooden horse as a peace offering to the Trojans and the goddess Athena, supposedly abandoning the horse on the shore as their fleet sailed off. The Trojans brought the wooden horse into their city as they held a festival to celebrate their victory, only for their soldiers to become drunk and incapacitated. Greek soldiers who had hidden in the horse emerged at night, opened Troy's gates to the returning Greek fleet and army, and launched an assault on the city, massacring its inhabitants, while suffering heavy losses of their own as the Trojans fought for survival. The Greeks sacked and burned the city, destroying their main rival for hegemony in the Aegean, but the hubris of their leaders after this great victory led to the gods punishing them with challenging returns home, from Odysseus' ten more years of wandering to Agamemnon's murder by his wife Clytemnestra.
Background[]
Troy was a Greek city-state on the coast of Turkey, near modern-day Hisarlik. Years before the war, it was brought to its knees by King Agamemnon of Athens, who brought it under his control. One day, Queen Hecuba of Troy had a nightmare where the city would be destroyed, and the oracle Cassandra, whom nobody believed, preached that the return of the alienated Prince Paris of Troy would bring the ruin of the city. King Priam ignored her and welcomed his estranged son back to Troy with his sons Hector and Deiphobos. Prince Paris later visited Sparta, home of King Menelaus, whose wife Helen had beauty that put the prettiest flower to shame. Helen was either abducted by Paris or was seduced, and returned to Troy with him, abandoning Menelaus. Menelaus called upon his brother Agamemnon to form a coalition against Troy to get back Helen, and Agamemnon offered Troy's riches to those who followed him. Agamemnon, Menelaus of Sparta, Diomedes of Argos, Idomeneus of Crete, mighty Ajax, Palamedes, the young Prince Achilles, his companion Patroclus, and the old king Odysseus of Ithaca responded to the call, leading 100,000 troops aboard 1,000 ships to attack the Trojan Wall, an impregnable fortress.
War[]
Landings[]
The Greek ships sailing for Troy
The Trojans immediately contested the landings with hails of arrows and magnificent stone-throwers. As Agamemnon observed aboard his ship, his forces made land at the beach, led by Achilles. The Greeks pushed their way through Trojan militia, and shielded themselves from seemingly endless showers of arrows. They made it to the cliffs, and with the aid of Patroklos, Achilles pushed the mighty stone throwers off of the Trojan cliffs. With the landing secure, the Greeks set up a perimeter. However, there were Trojan villagers caught in the middle, so Prince Hector bravely rode out to rescue them, donning battle armor and saving the lives of over 30 villagers. When he returned victorious, he closed the gates, and the Trojans withstood several Greek attacks.
Siege[]
The defenders of Troy at their walls
The Greeks hungered for the riches promised to them as years went by. Achilles refused to let his men remain idle and in three years conquered twelve cities which he claimed and plundered. Everything changed when he came to the outskirts of Lyrnessus. The Dardanian prince Aeneas, son of Aphrodite, held the grain-rich settlement. He refused to give up, and was bested in a duel with Achilles, but fled the tip of his sword. Achilles led his Greeks forwards into the city, capturing the granaries and town hall. He also slew Mynes, an elderly warrior who guarded the people of the city. The fall of Lyrnessos was a blow to Trojan morale, as yet another of their allies fell to the Greek army.
At the same time, King Theseus of Athens held Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons in Athens after capturing her. Her sister Penthesilea led a troop of Amazons to rescue her from imprisonment. However, in the attack, a javelin meant to kill Theseus was dodged and Hippolyte was pierced, killing her, and the Amazons left Athens to the Greeks after retreating.
Nine years after the siege of Troy began, every surrounding city of Troas was conquered by the Greeks, except for Troy and Thebe. Thebe, ruled by King Eetion, was the last ally of Troy, so Agamemnon and Prince Ajax sailed to the shores and besieged it. They gradually fought their way uphill through several Cilician troops and eventually killed Eetion in a duel, but Agamemnon unwisely angered the gods by refusing ransom from the high priest of Apollo's temple for his daughter, and they took all of the money and enslaved everyone except for the priest.
Soon after, a plague broke out in the Greek encampment outisde of Troy. Achilles and Patroklos headed to the Temple of Apollo to inquire why the curse was brought upon them, and Achilles' mother Thetis warned him not to kill Prince Troilus, as he was favored by Apollo. An arrogant Achilles ignored her and set out to accomplish his goal, to exterminate the house of Priam. He headed to the temple, where it is said that he fought a reanimated Statue of Apollo, and destroyed it. However, Agamemnon took Briseis as a captive and Achilles was forced to give her up to him, but warned him that he would never fight for him again.
Soon, Hektor and Deiphobos led their men out of Troy's walls, having believed that the gods were now in their favor. They pushed on the Greek wooden ramparts that the invaders cowered behind, and routed their foes. Agamemnon called upon Achilles to lead his men, giving him back Briseis, but when Achilles refused, Patroklos took Achilles' armor and led his troops across the river and attacked the Trojans. Hektor killed Patroklos in a duel, and an enraged Achilles swore vengeance.
Meanwhile, Aeneas was sent to find allies for Troy. He found Penthesilea, who wanted to die a warrior's death, and chose to join the Trojans with the Amazons. She was cleansed at a temple and led her women in support of Troy. Achilles charged onto the battlefield and slew Penthesilea in a duel, although he respected her reasons for battle. Then, he headed out to kill Hektor. After a duel, Achilles refused Hektor's arrangements that the dead's body would be taken back to his own lines, and dug a sword into his chest, before mutilating his dead body.
Paris mourned, and grew angry when the new hero, Memnon of Ethiopia (the Nile River), was also slain by Achilles. In a duel with Achilles, his brother Deiphobos was killed, but he shot Achilles with his arrows seven times. One such arrow hit his heel, his weak spot, enabling him to hole him several other times. Achilles died, and he redeemed himself for the gods, having judged Aphrodite fairest of the other goddesses. Ajax went mad when Achilles died and he carved his way through Trojan hordes and retrieved Achilles' body from the Trojans. He stole the Palladion from the Temple of Athena along with Odysseus, so allegedly Athena caused him to feel madness. He was mad that Odysseus got Achilles' armor and the palladion, and what was not given to Odysseus was given to Agamemnon. He was driven into a vision where he accidentally killed Menelaus by slamming him into a rock and then saw Achilles' body there. Odysseus had men attack Ajax, because he had killed the man he swore to protect, and he slew the attacking soldiers. However, when he awoke, he recognized that he had killed cattle, and jumped upon a sword that he had fixed into the ground.
Fall[]
The Trojan Horse
Having lost Ajax and Achilles, Odysseus decided on a ploy. He built a towering wooden horse that was supposed to be an offering for Athena in return for the stealing of the Palladion, and he sent troops inside of it as it entered Troy's walls. The Greeks left on their ships but returned quietly in the night and stormed the sleeping city of Troy, with the citizens sleeping as thick as the dead. Odysseus and Agamemnon hurried to the gate as the people of Troy celebrated. The slaughter was great, and Odysseus defeated Paris in a duel. Paris pleaded to Odysseus that Helen and his father be spared, but Menelaus dug into his chest with a sword. Helen was spared, but Agamemnon had Priam be killed, ignoring his pleas to let some Trojans remain in the land, but agreed to let him have a quick death. The spoils of Troy went to the Greeks, and with the oath fulfilled, the Greeks returned home, leaving the once-magnificent city of Troy in ruins.
Troy's ruins
As the Greeks scourged and burnt the city of Troy, Aeneas secured his friends and family in hopes of fleeing burning Troy. He carried his ailing father away, and escaped to some ships, after which they fled to a new Mediterranean peninsula: Italy.
Aftermath[]
The Greeks leaving Troy
The Greeks fell into trouble as they left Troy, having upset the gods. Menelaus and Helen's ships were blown away to Egypt for eight years, while Odysseus was stuck in the Mediterranean for ten years, having made land in southern France, North Africa, the western coastline of Italy, and having defeated the cyclops Polyphemus on his island, now known as Sicily.
Timeline[]
Background[]
- 1221 BC - Abduction of Helen, the most beautiful girl in Greece, by Theseus and Pirithous.
- 1216 BC - Marriage of King Peleus of Phthia to the sea-nymph Thetis. All the gods of Mount Olympus attended the wedding, but Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited, leading to her showing up to the wedding and casting a golden apple among the other goddesses. The apple was inscribed with "to the fairest", causing the goddesses to quarrel about who most deserved it.
- 1215 BC - Agamemnon becomes King of Mycenae; Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra's husband and took her for himself, leading to the Dioscuri of Sparta marching on Mycenae to avenge their sister's honor. Agamemnon appeals to King Tyndareus, who ends the quarrel by consenting to their marriage.
- 1213 BC - Marriage of Helen to Menelaus of Sparta; on the advice of Odysseus of Ithaca, King Tyndareus made Helen's suitors swear to support Helen's husband in his rights. Tyndareous chose Menelaus as Helen's husband, and then abdicated in favor of Menelaus.
- 1204 BC - Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite brought the golden apple fo the Trojan prince Paris so that he could judge which of them won it. Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen) for his wife, and he awarded her the apple.
- 1203 BC - Abduction of Helen by Paris, who takes Helen to Troy. Menelaus invokes the suitors' oath, and the combined forces of Greece gathered at Aulis under Agamemnon's command.
- 1201 BC - First gathering at Aulis
- 1193 BC - Second gathering at Aulis
War[]
- Year One: 1193-1192 BC - The Greeks reach Asia and besieged Troy, raiding and sacking many coastal Asian cities allied to Troy. Achilles sacks many cities allied with Troy to gather resources for the massive Greek army besieging Troy and to weaken sources of aid to Troy; Chyseis and Briseis are taken captive.
- Year Two: 1191 BC - The Myrmidons raid Colophon in Lydia, but withdraw after losing several men to an earthquake. Adramyttium in Mysia, Cyme in Mysia, and Lyrnessos in Phrygia have been sacked by this time. The Myrmidons sack Smyrna in Lydia and Colonae in Phrygia, attacking Colophon again before being repelled thanks to Kynthia's heroics.
- Year Three: 1190 BC - War continues, with neither side gaining lasting advantage.
- Year Four: 1189 BC - The Greeks sack Tenos in the Cyclades and Clazomenae in Ionia.
- Year Five: 1188 BC - The Greeks sack Aegialus, near Mount Halys, leading to the Hittites mobilizing soldiers to reinforce and expand their coastal holdings.
- Year Six: 1187 BC - The Greeks sack Hypoplacian Thebe in Mysia and the island of Lesbos. Colophon's reinforcements reach Thebe too late and take heavy losses. Due to King Eetion's fall in Thebe, Colophono redoubled its military preparations, expecting to be called to Troy. The Hittites' expansion sparked a war with the Amazons of Themiscyra.
- Year Seven: 1186 BC - War continues
- Year Eight: 1185 BC - War continues
- Year Nine: 1184 BC - King Priam sends for aid from King Memnon of Ethiopia, but Cassandra prophesies Memnon's death if he comes
- Year Ten: 1183 BC - The Greek camp suffers plague sent by Apollo and Artemis. Colophon prepares to sail for Troy. Achilles withdraws from battle due to a quarrel with Agamemnon. Patroclus takes the field wearing Achilles' armor and is killed by Hector; Achilles rejoins the war to avenge his cousin, killing Hector. Penthesilea accidentally shoots and kills her sister Hippolyta back in Themiscyra, forcing her into exile. Penthesilea and a dozen companions make for Troy, where she and her companions fought in the city's defense. Achilles kills Penthesilea and Memnon after they arrive, but is killed by Paris, who fires an arrow at his heel. The Greeks and Trojans call a truce for the duration of Achilles' funeral games. Odysseus creates a plan to build a giant wooden horse, infiltrating the city during a Trojan festival and opening the gates of Troy to the rest of the Greek army. The Greek army destroys Troy, and Priam, Paris, and almost all of the other Trojan leaders and heroes are destroyed. Aeneas escapes Troy with a band of Trojan refugees, the Aeneads, and wander for seven years before settling in Latium, Italy, where they become the ancestors of the Romans.
