is the trojan war a real war

Full Answer

Was there really a Trojan War?

The Trojan War was a decade-long war started by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy. They sought war after Helen, queen of Sparta, was taken away from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta, by Paris of Troy. This war has been documented in a number of works of Greek literature. It also makes up the core of Homer’s Iliad.

Did the Trojan War actually happen?

Did the Trojan War really happen ? The short and fast answer to this question is: No. That is because the Trojan War story falls into the category of myth. Scholars who study the old stories divide them into three groups: myth, legend, and folktale. Myths generally involve the supernatural, in the form of gods, monsters and superheroes.

What are facts about the Trojan War?

Trojan War

• History of the Bronze Age and Troy. The Bronze Age was the first era known for humans to create tools and weapons made out of metal which replaced their stone ...
• Homer's Greek Gods. ...
• The Trojan horse. ...
• Allusions of the Trojan War. ...
• Trojan War in Pop Culture. ...
• Stories, books, movies. ...
• References. ...

Is the Trojan War a myth?

For most ancient Greeks, indeed, the Trojan War was much more than a myth. It was an epoch-defining moment in their distant past. As the historical sources – Herodotus and Eratosthenes – show, it...

Is there any evidence of the Trojan War?

The Greek epics, Hittite records, Luwian poetry, and archaeological remains provide evidence not of a single Trojan war but rather of multiple wars that were fought in the area that we identify as Troy and the Troad. As a result, the evidence for the Trojan War of Homer is tantalizing but equivocal.

Why do people think the Trojan War was real?

After Paris and Helen eloped, the Greeks wanted to punish the Trojans to get Helen back. The Greeks eventually won the war during what is known as the Sack of Troy. The story was so compelling that even the most respected ancient Greek historians believed that the war had actually happened.

Is the story of Troy true?

Much of it is no doubt fantasy. There is, for example, no evidence that Achilles or even Helen existed. But most scholars agree that Troy itself was no imaginary Shangri-la but a real city, and that the Trojan War indeed happened.

Who actually won the Trojan War?

The Greeks finally win the war by an ingenious piece of deception dreamed up by the hero and king of Ithaca, Odysseus – famous for his cunning. They build a huge wooden horse and leave it outside the gates of Troy, as an offering to the gods, while they pretend to give up battle and sail away.

Did Hector and Achilles really fight?

Achilles chased Hector back to Troy, slaughtering Trojans all the way. When they got to the city walls, Hector tried to reason with his pursuer, but Achilles was not interested. He stabbed Hector in the throat, killing him.

Did Trojan horse actually happen?

At the center of it all was the Greek siege of Troy, and we all know how that ended — with a giant wooden horse and a bunch of gullible Trojans. Or did it? Actually, historians are pretty much unanimous: the Trojan Horse was just a myth, but Troy was certainly a real place.

Was Helen of Sparta real?

There are many conflicting elements to the mythology that surround the figure of Helen, some interpretations of the myth even suggest that she was abducted by Paris. But ultimately, there was no real Helen in Ancient Greece, she is purely a mythological character.

Who Killed Paris of Troy?

archer PhiloctetesParis himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes.

Was Achilles real?

Most of us think he was a mythologic Greek hero (Figure 1). The truth is that there may well have been a real Thessalian warrior, later mythologized by his semi-literate people. The story goes that his mother, Thetis, made him invulnerable by dipping him in the River Styx while he was still an infant.

Who won Sparta or Troy?

Who won the Trojan War? The Greeks won the Trojan War. According to the Roman epic poet Virgil, the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse and pretended to sail for home. Unbeknown to the Trojans, the wooden horse was filled with Greek warriors.

What happened to Paris and Helen after Troy fell?

Ultimately, Paris was killed in action, and in Homer's account Helen was reunited with Menelaus, though other versions of the legend recount her ascending to Olympus instead. A cult associated with her developed in Hellenistic Laconia, both at Sparta and elsewhere; at Therapne she shared a shrine with Menelaus.

What happened to Helen of Troy after the war?

Menelaus and Helen then returned to Sparta, where they lived happily until their deaths. According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by the Rhodian queen Polyxo in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.

Is the Trojan Horse a myth?

But was it just a myth? Probably, says Oxford University classicist Dr Armand D'Angour: 'Archaeological evidence shows that Troy was indeed burned down; but the wooden horse is an imaginative fable, perhaps inspired by the way ancient siege-engines were clothed with damp horse-hides to stop them being set alight. '

Was Achilles based on a real person?

Most of us think he was a mythologic Greek hero (Figure 1). The truth is that there may well have been a real Thessalian warrior, later mythologized by his semi-literate people. The story goes that his mother, Thetis, made him invulnerable by dipping him in the River Styx while he was still an infant.

How was the Trojan War documented?

The main source for our knowledge of the Trojan War is Homer's Iliad (written sometime in the 8th century BCE) where he recounts 52 days during the final year of the ten-year conflict. The Greeks imagined the war to have occurred some time in the 13th century BCE.

How much of the Iliad is true?

The Iliad as partly historical. As mentioned above, though, it is most likely that the Homeric tradition contains elements of historical fact and elements of fiction interwoven. Homer describes a location, presumably in the Bronze Age, with a city. This city was near Mount Ida in northwest Turkey.

What started the Trojan War?

According to the ancient Greek epic poet Homer, the Trojan War was caused by Paris, son of the Trojan king, and Helen, wife of the Greek king Menel...

Was the Trojan War real?

There has been much debate over historical evidence of the Trojan War. Archaeological finds in Turkey suggest that the city of Troy did exist but t...

Who won the Trojan War?

The Greeks won the Trojan War. According to the Roman epic poet Virgil, the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse...

What happened to Achilles in the Trojan War?

The death of Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior of the Trojan War, is not described in Homeric works. In Arctinus’s Aethiopis, Achilles is said t...

What started the Trojan War?

According to the ancient Greek epic poet Homer, the Trojan War was caused by Paris, son of the Trojan king, and Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus, when they went off together to Troy. To get her back, Menelaus sought help from his brother Agamemnon, who assembled a Greek army to defeat Troy.

Who won the Trojan War?

The Greeks won the Trojan War. According to the Roman epic poet Virgil, the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse and pretended to sail for home. Unbeknown to the Trojans, the wooden horse was filled with Greek warriors. They sacked Troy after the Trojans brought the horse inside the city walls.

What happened when the Trojans brought the horse into their city?

When the Trojans brought the horse into their city, the hidden Greeks opened the gates to their comrades, who then sacked Troy, massacred its men, and carried off its women. This version was recorded centuries later; the extent to which it reflects actual historical events is not known. Trojan War.

How did the Trojans defeat the Greeks?

According to the Roman epic poet Virgil, the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse and pretended to sail for home. Unbeknown to the Trojans, the wooden horse was filled with Greek warriors. They sacked Troy after the Trojans brought the horse inside the city walls.

Who was the Trojan king's son?

In the traditional accounts, Paris, son of the Trojan king, ran off with Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, whose brother Agamemnon then led a Greek expedition against Troy. The ensuing war lasted 10 years, finally ending when the Greeks pretended to withdraw, leaving behind them a large wooden horse with a raiding party concealed inside. When the Trojans brought the horse into their city, the hidden Greeks opened the gates to their comrades, who then sacked Troy, massacred its men, and carried off its women. This version was recorded centuries later; the extent to which it reflects actual historical events is not known.

Who killed Achilles in the Trojan War?

In Arctinus’s Aethiopis, Achilles is said to have been killed by Paris of Troy. In the traditional accounts, Paris, son of the Trojan king, ran off with Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, whose brother Agamemnon then led a Greek expedition ...

Who painted the Trojan Horse?

The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy from Two Sketches Depicting the Trojan Horse, oil on canvas by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, c. 1760; in the National Gallery, London.

What is the Trojan War?

The events of the Trojan War are found in many works of Greek literature and depicted in numerous works of Greek art. There is no single, authoritative text which tells the entire events of the war. Instead, the story is assembled from a variety of sources, some of which report contradictory versions of the events. The most important literary sources are the two epic poems traditionally credited to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed sometime between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. Each poem narrates only a part of the war. The Iliad covers a short period in the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey concerns Odysseus's return to his home island of Ithaca following the sack of Troy and contains several flashbacks to particular episodes in the war.

Who wrote the dramas of the Trojan War?

Among Roman writers the most important is the 1st century BC poet Virgil; in Book 2 of his Aeneid, Aeneas narrates the sack of Troy.

How long did the Achaeans besiege Troy?

The Achaeans besieged Troy for nine years. This part of the war is the least developed among surviving sources, which prefer to talk about events in the last year of the war. After the initial landing the army was gathered in its entirety again only in the tenth year. Thucydides deduces that this was due to lack of money. They raided the Trojan allies and spent time farming the Thracian peninsula. Troy was never completely besieged, thus it maintained communications with the interior of Asia Minor. Reinforcements continued to come until the very end. The Achaeans controlled only the entrance to the Dardanelles, and Troy and her allies controlled the shortest point at Abydos and Sestos and communicated with allies in Europe.

What movies were based on the Trojan War?

Films based on the Trojan War include Helen of Troy (1956) , The Trojan Horse (1961) and Troy (2004) . The war has also been featured in many books, television series, and other creative works.

How long was the Iliad?

The core of the Iliad (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments.

Where did the war of the goddesses originate?

Legend has it that the war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris of Troy, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus of Sparta, fall in love with Paris, who absconded with her from Sparta and returned to Troy.

Was the Trojan War a true event?

For instance, the historian Thucydides, who is known for being critical, considers it a true event but doubts that 1,186 ships were sent to Troy. Euripides started changing Greek myths at will, including those of the Trojan War. Near year 100 AD, Dio Chrysostom argued that while the war was historical, it ended with the Trojans winning, and the Greeks attempted to hide that fact. Around 1870 it was generally agreed in Western Europe that the Trojan War had never happened and Troy never existed. Then Heinrich Schliemann popularized his excavations at Hisarlik, Canakkale, which he and others believed to be Troy, and of the Mycenaean cities of Greece. Today many scholars agree that the Trojan War is based on a historical core of a Greek expedition against the city of Troy, but few would argue that the Homeric poems faithfully represent the actual events of the war.

What was the Trojan War?

The story of the Trojan War—the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece–straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired the greatest writers of antiquity, from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles to Virgil. Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C.—perhaps forming the basis for the tales recounted by Homer some 400 years later in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”

When was the Trojan War epic written?

The Trojan War Epics. Little is known about the historical Homer. Historians date the completion of the “Iliad” to about 750 B.C., and the “Odyssey” to about 725. Both began within the oral tradition, and were first transcribed decades or centuries after their composition.

How long did the siege of Troy last?

The siege, punctuated by battles and skirmishes including the storied deaths of the Trojan prince Hector and the nearly-invincible Achilles, lasted more than 10 years until the morning the Greek armies retreated from their camp, leaving a large wooden horse outside the gates of Troy.

When was Troy destroyed?

Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C. —perhaps forming the basis for the tales recounted by Homer some 400 years later in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”.

Who discovered the citadel in Troy?

Major excavations at the site of Troy in 1870 under the direction of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann revealed a small citadel mound and layers of debris 25 meters deep.

Is the Trojan War a Real War?

Many portions of the Trojan War epics are difficult to read historically. Several of the main characters are direct offspring of the Greek gods (Helen was fathered by Zeus, who disguised himself as a swan and raped her mother Leda), and much of the action is guided (or interfered with) by the various competing gods. For example, Paris supposedly won Helen’s love after awarding the Goddess Aphrodite the golden apple for her beauty (“The Judgment of Paris” tells the story of how Paris was asked to select the most beautiful goddess between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite by granting the winner a golden apple). Lengthy sieges were recorded in the era, but the strongest cities could only hold out for a few months, not 10 full years.

What is the Trojan War?

Technically speaking, the Trojan War falls under the category of a myth. Myths typically involve the supernatural in the form of gods, monsters, and heroes. According to Ancient Greek mythology, Paris, the Trojan Prince, ran off with Helen, the wife of Menelaus (King of Sparta). Menelaus’s brother Agamemnon then led a Greek expedition against Troy to avenge his brother.

Why is the Trojan War a part of Greek literature?

Part of the Trojan War’s retelling in Greek literature is because the ancient Greeks absolutely believed the Trojan War had been a historical event in the past. In the 5th Century BCE, for example, Herodotus, the so-called “father of history,” dated the Trojan War to about 800 years before his own lifetime. Similarly, ancient Greek mathematician Eratosthenes came up with a much more specific date range, stating that the Trojan War took place sometime around 1184 BCE.

What is the name of the ancient civilization that depicted the Trojan War?

There are also inscriptions made by the ancient Hittites (an ancient civilization based in central Turkey) that depict a Trojan conflict. These inscriptions describe a dispute over Troy, which they knew as “Wilusa,” and “Ahhiyawa,” which could be a Hittisied version of the Greek name “Achaia” — a term associated with the Greeks in Homer.

What evidence is there against the Trojan War?

Evidence against the Trojan War. Although there are a few tidbits of historical evidence supporting some sort of conflict in Troy, there is more evidence that goes against a Trojan War. The first gaping hole is that there is no Greek or Mycenaean archaeological evidence to suggest the destruction of Troy.

How long did the Trojan War last?

The Trojan War was said to have lasted for 10 years until the Greeks pretended to withdraw, leaving behind a large wooden horse. Concealed in this horse was a raiding party. When the Trojans brought the horse into their city, the hidden Greeks opened the gates to their Greek comrades waiting on the other side, who then sacked Troy and won the Trojan War.

What event led to the Trojan War?

Painting of Paris kidnapping Helen — the event which led to the Trojan War. (Photo Credit: Heritage Images/ Getty Images)

How many Troys are there?

According to University of Amsterdam researcher Gert Jan van Wijngaarden, there are at least 10 Troys, lying in layers on top of each other.

What is the Trojan horse?

The Trojan horse was likely a metaphor for Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. What do horses have to do with the ocean and earthquakes? I’ve got no clue, but the comparison would’ve made sense to ancient Greeks—the horse was Poseidon’s animal. Also, Poseidon’s pro-wrestling stage name was “Earth shaker.”.

What did the Trojan Horse represent?

The Trojan Horse, therefore, would have represented an earthquake, sent by Poseidon, to destroy the city of Troy once and for all.

Was the Trojan War real?

If you had been around to read the Iliad when it first came out, you would’ve been familiar with a great, lost city, perhaps called Troy, and the story of a great war that had destroyed it. The ruins of this great city were visible and still very impressive in Homer’s day. These ruins would have been inspiring—inspiring enough to encourage, say, a bard to write a very long poem creating a mythos around said ruins.

Why did Homer write the Iliad?

Seeing this, Homer may have been awe-struck, his imagination fueled by the mystery of this once-great city, inspiring him to write the Iliad, as the mystery of these ruins demanded a story to explain them. Homer may have heard tales of a terrific earthquake or great battle. And both may have been true, albeit for different iterations of the lost city.

How many cities were there in Troy?

The short answer? Kind of. Troy might have been upward of 10 actual cities, combined into one, using a little epic poetic license.

Did Schliemann find the city of Troy?

That is to say, he recklessly dug deeper and deeper—right through the ruins that were most likely the Troy he was looking for, until he found a city that predated the Trojan war by at least 1,000 years. There’s even a big gap in the excavation map where King Priam’s palace was found. Schliemann removed it and threw it away. So we can all thank Schliemann for everything we do and don’t know about these ruins. He discovered the site, then demolished a lot of the important bits with his hamfisted approach.

When was Troy destroyed?

The city that Homer called Troy was probably destroyed around 1200 BCE, following a battle. Afterward, it was inhabited by Greeks and Romans, who renamed the city Ilios, or Ilium, respectively. Ilium, in turn, faded into obscurity by about 500 BCE, until it was discovered by archaeologists in the 1870s.

When did the Trojan War happen?

For one thing, the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, date to around the eighth century BC or thereabouts, but the Trojan War is supposed to have happened in the early twelfth century BC. That means that the Iliad and the Odyssey date to roughly 400 years after the events they purport to describe. While oral traditions can survive for hundreds of years, they cannot do so without major distortion—often distortion beyond all recognition.

What was Troy VIIb destroyed by?

The destruction of Troy VIIb appears to have been by fire, which is consistent with an invasion. Therefore, if anything resembling the Trojan War really did take place, Troy VIIb is the best candidate for the city of the Trojan War.

What are some examples of real names in the Iliad?

For instance, the names Achilleus (i.e. Achilles) and Agamemnon seem to have been real names that were used during the Mycenaean Period. Another example comes from the fact that the Homeric heroes are accurately described as fighting using primarily bronze weapons, rather than iron weapons as were used during the eighth century BC.

What is the Iliad's most famous example of false archaism?

This is a phenomenon known as “false archaism.” The most infamous example of false archaism in the Iliad is the poem’s portrayal of how chariots were used in warfare.

How were chariots used in the Iliad?

In the Iliad, chariots are portrayed as merely a means of transportation to carry warriors to the battlefield. The warriors do not actually fight in their chariots. Instead, they ride in their chariots to battle and then climb down off their chariots in order to fight on foot, much like modern golfers who use golf carts to get to the next hole but then climb out of their carts in order to golf.

Did the springs in Troy exist?

No evidence to support the existence of either of these springs has ever been uncovered. In fact, as I discuss in this article I wrote in September 2019, it was the absence of these springs which led Schliemann to doubt that Hisarlik was really the site of Troy before he started excavating. Frank Calvert, however, managed to convince him that perhaps the springs had dried up. Now we know that it is highly unlikely that the springs ever existed.

Was the Trojan War a real war?

It has been immortalized through songs, poems, novels, and paintings. Yet, here is a startling question: did it ever really happen at all? We know Troy was a real city, but that does not mean the Trojan War itself really happened and very few Homeric scholars would try to argue that the Iliad or the Odyssey in any way resemble historical narratives—yet many laypeople still view them this way.

What is the real story of the Trojan War?

The Real Story of the Trojan War: Truth of Troy. The Real Story of the Trojan War: In ancient times the Greeks before Christians had no Bible equivalent or anything like that. If there was anything nearest to the Bible, it was Homer.

How long did the Trojan War last?

The war of the Greeks lasted ten years. There is no evidence or traces of even such a big war. For all the sceptical people who doubt only the basic truth of the Trojan War is a myth, all of this is very disturbing.

Why did the Greeks suspect Homer?

The Greeks also suspect Homer for lack of evidence. Determining the period and theme of these epics is a matter which has been disputed.

Why is Homer's world immortal?

In short, it can be said that the world of Homer is immortal, certainly because it was never outside the epics, nor in the oral tradition nor in the editions that followed.

Where did Schliemann find Troy?

He excavated Mycena, the capital of the Agamenon Empire, and apparently Troy. For his discovery, Schliemann followed only the signs left by the ancient Greeks. It was unfortunate that he made many serious mistakes in Hisarlik, in today’s southwestern Turkey, and became the reason for the archaeological mistake.

What is the story of the Odyssey?

The Odyssey has the story of the hero’s journey and his poignant agony as he struggles to return to his ancestral Ithaca empire from Troy.

Who was the Queen of Sparta during the Trojan War?

According to the sixth-century BC Sicilian-Greek poet Stasicorus, Queen Helena of Sparta, who according to the epics took the besieged abducted prince Paris to Troy, was actually in Egypt during the Trojan War and took only one image of her soul.

Who played the Trojan women?

The Trojan Women (1971), an adaptation of Euripides ' play directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Katharine Hepburn as Hecuba, Vanessa Redgrave as Andromache, Geneviève Bujold as Cassandra and Irene Papas as Helen.

What is the Seege of Troye based on?

The Seege of Troye, a Middle English poem based on "Dares" and Benoît.

What episode of Time Tunnel is the final stage of the war?

The Time Tunnel episode "Revenge Of The Gods" (aired 21 October 1966) involves the American protagonists arriving at the final stage of the war and helping the Greeks to conquer and destroy Troy.

When was the first book of Troye published?

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, published in 1474, the first printed book to be published in English, containing Caxton 's translation of Raoul le Fevre 's work, in turn derived from Guido and, ultimately, Benoît.

Who wrote Roman de Troie?

Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (ca. 1160), derived from Dictys and Dares.

Who wrote the Greek Generals Talk?

The Greek Generals Talk (1986) and The Trojan Generals Talk collections of short stories by Phillip Parotti.

What is the book Ransom about?

It tells the story of Priam as he goes to Achilles to plead for the return of the body of Hector.

Overview

Legend

Traditionally, the Trojan War arose from a sequence of events beginning with a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and so arrived bearing a gift: a golden apple, inscribed "for the fairest". Each of the goddesses claimed to be the "fairest", and the rightful owner of the apple. They submitted the judgment to a shepherd they encountered tending his flock. Each of the god…

Sources

Dates of the Trojan War

Historical basis

In popular culture

Further reading

External links

The Narrative of The Trojan War

The Trojan War Epics

Is The Trojan War A Real War?

• Many portions of the Trojan War epics are difficult to read historically. Several of the main characters are direct offspring of the Greek gods(Helen was fathered by Zeus, who disguised himself as a swan and raped her mother Leda), and much of the action is guided (or interfered with) by the various competing gods. For example, Paris supposedly won...

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