what were the main causes of the trojan war

The entire cause of the Trojan War

is the result of the greedy and cowardly behavior of Paris. There are many factors that had sparked the war, including the interference of the gods; however Motivations for War in The Iliad Wars are often complex in nature and are fought for diverse reasons.

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What is the mythical cause of the Trojan War?

The mythical cause of the Trojan War is said to have begun with a beauty competition between Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera. Homer’s Iliad is a partial account of the Trojan War. By: kanvag. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, sexual desire, eroticism, and female power.

What do historians believe caused the Trojan War?

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. After Paris chose Aphrodite, Athena and Hera plotted against Troy.

What was the effect of the Trojan War?

View more on it here. Furthermore, what was the main effect of the Trojan War? The Trojan War, in Greek tradition, started as a way for Zeus to reduce the ever-increasing population of humanity and, more practically, as an expedition to reclaim Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta and brother of Agamemnon.

What was the purpose of the Trojan War?

Why is Hercules a hero? What was the purpose of the Trojan War? The Trojan War, in Greek tradition, started as a way for Zeus to reduce the ever-increasing population of humanity and, more practically, as an expedition to reclaim Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta and brother of Agamemnon.

What was the cause of the war between the Trojans and the Greeks?

The abduction of Helena, if it really existed, would only have been the trigger for the conflict. The root cause of the war was the rivalry that existed between Achaean Greeks and Trojans for control of the Strait of Dardanelles , which connected the Aegean with the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Black Sea.

Why did the Trojans fight?

C. for the control of the commercial routes that led to the Black Sea.

How did the Trojan War end?

The historical cause of the fall of Troy is not known. According to Homeric narratives, the siege of Troy lasted for 10 years.

What were the consequences of the Trojan War?

Among the main consequences of the Trojan War are the following: 1 The destruction of the city of Troy , which was taken and burned by the Achaean Greeks. 2 A large number of dead, both Trojans and Achaeans. 3 The looting of the riches of Troy , which were distributed among the Achaean kings who survived the war. 4 The control by the Achaean Greeks of the trade routes that went from the Aegean to the Black Sea. 5 The weakening of the Achaean kingdoms , due to the large number of warriors killed in combat. This weakness would have been one of the causes of the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, when towards 1200 a. Doria warriors carrying iron weapons stormed the Achaean palaces.

What war did the Achaean Greeks fight?

War conflict in which Achaean Greeks fought against Trojans. Causes and consequences of Trojan War

What civilization did the Achaeans develop?

Around 1600 a. C., the Achaeans developed an urban civilization known as Achaean or Mycenaean, in which there were small kingdoms that sometimes united and sometimes fought with each other. Among them, the most prominent were Pylos, Sparta and Mycenae. Causes and consequences of Trojan War.

What happened to Troy?

The destruction of the city of Troy , which was taken and burned by the Achaean Greeks. A large number of dead, both Trojans and Achaeans. The looting of the riches of Troy , which were distributed among the Achaean kings who survived the war.

What was the Trojan War?

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.

What is the mythical story of the Trojan War?

mythical story of the Trojan War, it would be difficult to ignore the tragedy that the story emanates in its character’s actions and their consequences. Homer’s Iliad explores the tragedy of Achilles, whose preoccupation with glory has its tragic consequences of death and grief. It also shows the War’s resounding effect on those outside of the battlefield and the families of the warriors, as does Euripides’ Women of Troy, reflecting on family as the unforeseen victims of war. Furthermore, the play

What is the Iliad about?

The Iliad was one of the first great stories of war and was composed three hundred years ago. It illustrates the cause and effects of the Trojan War. After all that time we wonder why so many military schools and scholars still refer to it for a background reference to what is to know about war. Many believe the war was glorified in this tale and others believe it was not. If it wasn’t a war of glory, why is it such

Why are the Iliad Wars so complex?

In the Iliad, powerful gods, great nations, and heroic people all fight for different reasons. Each has private motivations to fight the war. These private motivations are of special interest, because they help define the consequences and outcomes of the war. The universal war of the gods, social war of the Greeks and Trojans, and the war for Achilles' honor

What caused the Greeks to take over the city of Troy?

To begin with, there were a few causes that led up to Greece taking over. The main cause that brought the Greeks to take over was the influence of the gods. “And as for Helen, why are you angry with her? It is not she, it is not Paris, that has brought this great city of Troy to ruin; it is the anger of the gods” (Church 15). Queen Helen was captured by Paris so, Helen’s husband, Menelaus, lead an expedition to find her. With the help of Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon, they made it to Asia minor, to lay siege to Troy and requested for Helen’s return by Priam and

What is the most famous myth of Greek mythology?

the mot famous myths of Greek mythology is the Trojan War. Game of Thrones is one of the most popular TV shows and book series of today. As a modern retelling of Hamilton’s Trojan War, Robert’s Rebellion from Game of Thrones demonstrates the power of love to generate conflict, to connect people, and to inspire archetypal heroism. The Trojan War, one of the greatest conflicts in mythology, was caused by the love between two characters. The famous war begins with the Greek goddesses Athena, Hera,

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.

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 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.

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 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.

Who decided the Theban War?

The scholion indirectly infers that the Theban War was decided by Zeus without consulting Momus, since the two prerequisites introduced by Momus (Thetis’ alliance to a mortal and Helen’s birth) can by no means be attached to Thebes.

What is the complex condition in Iliad 1.5?

The complex condition referred to in the scholion on Iliad 1.5 appears much more generalizing in the prooimion of the Cypria. The consultation of Momus is, of course, totally absent, and the action is subject to the general sequence resulting from Earth’s over-burdening. But this action is undertaken by Zeus himself who pities Earth spontaneously and not on Earth’s request. According to Proclus, the marriage of Thetis and Peleus (Momus’ first prerequisite) was celebrated somewhere at the beginning of the poem, but whether the capture of Thetis by Peleus and her metamorphoses, depicted in various literary and iconographic sources, were also mentioned remains unclear. What is clear, however, and even textually preserved in our fragments of the Cypria (fr. 10 West, 7 Davies) is Zeus’ action aiming at the birth of Helen (Momus’ second prerequisite). In the light of these verses we know that the Cypria did not follow the well-known version (related by Apollodorus, 3.10.7 and alluded to by Homer, Od. 11.298) according to which Leda was Helen’s mother, but mentioned Nemesis as Helen’s mother, whom Zeus had to pursue in spite of her various metamorphoses, her only and vain way to resist.

What did Homer say about Zeus?

Others have said that Homer was referring to a myth. For they say that Earth, being weighed down by the multitude of people, there being no piety among humankind, asked Zeus to be relieved from the burden. Zeus firstly and at once brought about the Theban War, by means of which he destroyed very large numbers, and afterwards the Trojan one, with Cavil [Momos] as his adviser, this being what Homer calls the plan of Zeus, seeing that he was capable of destroying everyone with thunderbolts or floods. Cavil prevented this, and proposed two ideas to him, the marrying of Thetis to a mortal and the birth of a beautiful daughter. From those two events war came about between Greeks and barbarians, resulting in the lightening of Earth as many were killed. The story is found in Stasinus, the author of the Cypria, who says:

Is the Trojan War more directly ascribed to human action than the Theban War?

If this is the case, then the Trojan War is more directly ascribed to human action than the Theban War. It is clear that Momus’ advice transfers a great part of the responsibility for men’s destruction to men themselves: it is no longer Zeus but men who decide to make the war, and it is men again who should therefore be held responsible for the disasters brought about by the war. This is as far as the scholion goes regarding human freedom or responsibility. But what is more, by relating Zeus’ boulê to Momus’ advice, the scholiast seems to overlook a more direct relation prevailing in the Iliad between Zeus’ boulê and Achilles’ wrath as well as Thetis’ subsequent request, namely the two basic underlying mythemes in the plot of the Iliad. One could reasonably argue that, in the Iliadic prooimion at least, Zeus’ boulê seems to have smaller range and cover only the consequences of Achilles’ mênis for the Achaeans, without expanding to include the larger causality of the whole war. [ 5] In terms of pure logic, if the main aim was to relieve Earth through the death of as many men as possible, then this aim could be achieved as well by Achilles’ wrath as without it, perhaps even better so, with his killing activity. In the first case the loss of men would count against the Achaean side, in the second it would count against the Trojan side, but in both cases the relief of Earth could be taken for granted. Given the specific conditions set forth in the prooimion of the Iliad, the consequences of the mênis itself seem to be received in a more Hellenocentric spirit regarding the catastrophe experienced by the Achaeans. If a hint at the whole war’s causality can be detected within the Iliadic context, this would not necessarily be located in the prooimion but, with much more probability, in Priam’s words to Helen in 3.164–165, where the gods—and not Helen—are held responsible for the Trojan War:

Who is responsible for the war aiming at Earth's relief?

In Euripides’ Helen (36–40) only the idea of an over-burdened Earth is mentioned, but in this case, the will of Zeus alone is held responsible for the war aiming at Earth’s relief:

Is Thetis a myth?

Thetis’ metamorphoses are often mentioned in literature and popular in vase painting and seem to correspond to a capacity often attributed to maritime deities (such as, for instance, Proteus in Odyssey 4.456–458). By contrast, Nemesis’ metamorphoses are not attested in other narratives and it is quite possible that they have been created under the influence of Thetis’ myth which is, together with Helen’s birth, involved in the causality of the Trojan War and, in particular, to its very beginning. Metamorphoses are, anyway, a folk-tale theme rather popular in epic narrative. It is, indeed, tempting to see a brilliant use of the metamorphosis theme in Helen’s voice-mimicry in Odyssey 4 (imitation of the voice of the Greek heroes’ wives in front of the Trojan horse) a story with no relation either to Nemesis (who does not seem to be Helen’s mother in the Odyssey) or to Thetis. As is well-known, a comparison between Thetis and Helen is sketched as early as Alcaeus’ poetry. [ 7] It is difficult to say whether the presence of Themis (all manuscripts of Proclus’ summary read Thetis) in the origin of Zeus’ boulê may have favored the choice of Nemesis for the role of Helen’s mother and, consequently, the narration of her metamorphoses (be they a replica of Thetis’ or not). In Pindar, however, Themis is the one who prevents Thetis’ union to Zeus or to Poseidon ( Isthm. VIII 29–38).

Background to The Trojan War

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Causes and Consequences of The Trojan War

How Did The Trojan War End?

Protagonists of The Trojan War