Where was the Trojan War fought?
AnatoliaThe Trojan War was fought between Greeks and the defenders of the city of Troy in Anatolia sometime in the late Bronze Age.
Was the battle of Troy real?
Most historians now agree that ancient Troy was to be found at Hisarlik. Troy was real. Evidence of fire, and the discovery of a small number of arrowheads in the archaeological layer of Hisarlik that corresponds in date to the period of Homer's Trojan War, may even hint at warfare.
Was Achilles a real person?
There is no proof that Achilles existed or that any of Homer's other characters did. The long answer is that Homer's Achilles may have been based, at least in part, on a historical character; the same is true of the rest of Homer's characters.
Was Helen of Troy a real person?
Helen of Troy is a mythical figure from Greek mythology and literature, notably Homer's Iliad. She was not a real person.
Was the Trojan War a real war?
The story of the Trojan War comes from Greek mythology and literature but it may be based on real conflicts between Mycenaeans and Hittites during...
How did the Trojan War start?
The Trojan War started because the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaos, the king of Sparta. Menelaus persuaded his brother Agamemn...
Who fought in the Trojan War?
Many heroes fought in the Trojan War. On the Greek side were Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus and Ajax. The Trojans had Paris and Hector. The Olympian...
Who won the Trojan War?
The alliance of Greek cities won the Trojan War by eventually entering the city of Troy and looting it of its treasures.
How did the Greeks win the Trojan War?
The Greeks won the Trojan War by pretending to leave Troy but leaving behind a giant wooden horse. The Trojans thought this was a gift to the gods...
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...
Where was the Trojan War fought?
The Trojan War was fought between Greeks and the defenders of the city of Troy in Anatolia sometime in the late Bronze Age. The story has grabbed the imagination for millennia but a conflict between Mycenaeans and Hittites may well have occurred, even if its representation in epic literature such as Homer 's Iliad is almost certainly more myth ...
What is the Trojan War?
Trojan War: Art & Literature. Troy and the Trojan War became a staple myth of Classical Greek and Roman literature and were revisited many times by writers in works such as Aeschylus ' Agamemnon, Euripides ' Trojan Women, and Virgil 's Aenid.
What happened to Menelaus' sword?
However, Menelaus was not finished and with his sword he struck a fearful blow on the Trojan prince's helmet. The sword shattered, though, and fell in pieces into the dust. Menelaus then grabbed Paris' helmet with his bare hands and proceeded to drag him from the field.
How many days did the Trojan War last?
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. However, the war was also the subject of a long oral tradition prior to Homer's work, ...
Why did Zeus start 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 did the Greek gods protect against?
The gods had their favourites amongst the men fighting down on the plains of Troy & they often protected them by deflecting spears. Amongst the Greek warriors were some extra special heroes, leaders who were the greatest fighters and displayed the greatest courage on the battlefield.
Which city was the most likely candidate for the besieged city of Homer's Trojan War?
Of the several cities built on top of each other, Troy VI (c. 1750-1300 BCE) is the most likely candidate for the besieged city of Homer's Trojan War. Impressive fortification walls with several towers certainly fit the Homeric description of 'strong-built Troy'.
What was the Trojan War?
Trojan War, legendary conflict between the early Greeks and the people of Troy in western Anatolia, dated by later Greek authors to the 12th or 13th century bce. The war stirred the imagination of the ancient Greeks more than any other event in their history and was celebrated in the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, ...
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.
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 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.
Who was the fairest goddess in the Trojan War?
Another myth attributes the origin of the Trojan War to a quarrel between the goddesses Athena , Aphrodite, and Hera over who among them was the fairest. After Paris chose Aphrodite, Athena and Hera plotted against Troy.
Did Troy exist?
Archaeological finds in Turkey suggest that the city of Troy did exist but that a conflict on the immense scale of a 10-year siege may not have actually occurred. There is also contention over whether the ruins in Turkey represent the same Troy as the one Homer and others described in Greek mythology.
How did the Trojan War start?
According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her. Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, and accompanied by a fleet of more than a thousand ships from throughout the Hellenic world. They crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor to lay siege to Troy and demand Helen’s return by Priam, the Trojan king.
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 led the Greeks to the Trojan War?
When night fell, the horse opened up and a group of Greek warriors, led by Odysseus, climbed out and sacked the Troy from within. After the Trojan defeat, the Greeks heroes slowly made their way home. Odysseus took 10 years to make the arduous and often-interrupted journey home to Ithaca recounted in the “Odyssey.”.
Who inspired 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.
Who was the father of Helen in the Trojan War?
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.
What is the Trojan War?
The Trojan War. The Classical legends of the Trojan War developed continuously throughout Greek and Latin literature. In Homer ’s Iliad and Odyssey, the earliest literary evidence available, the chief stories have already taken shape, and individual themes were elaborated later, especially in Greek drama. The story of the Trojan origin, ...
What is the Troy legend?
Medieval European writers, unacquainted with Homer firsthand, found in the Troy legend a rich source of heroic and romantic storytelling and a convenient framework into which to fit their own courtly and chivalric ideals. The chief sources for medieval versions of the story were fictitious eyewitness accounts of the Trojan War by Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. The key work in the medieval exploitation of the Trojan theme was a French romance, the Roman de Troie (1154–60), by Benoît de Sainte-Maure.
What book of Virgil's Aeneid contains the best-known account of the sack
The story of the Trojan origin, through Aeneas, of Rome helped to inspire Roman interest; Book II of Virgil ’s Aeneid contains the best-known account of the sack of Troy. Finally there are the pseudo-chronicles that go under the names of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico: The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy. ...
What year is the Iliad set in?
The Iliad, which is set in the 10th year of the war, tells of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, who was the finest Greek warrior, and the consequent deaths in battle of (among others) Achilles’ friend Patroclus and Priam’s eldest son, Hector. After Hector’s death the Trojans were joined by two exotic allies, Penthesilea, ...
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. The Trojan War fought between the Greeks and Troy originated in the following manner. King Priam of Troy was wealthy and powerful; by his wife Hecuba ...
Who killed Penthesilea?
Achilles killing Penthesilea during the Trojan War, interior of an Attic cup, c. 460 bce; in the Antikensammlungen, Munich. The few Trojan survivors included Aeneas, whose descendants continued to rule the Trojans; later tradition took Aeneas’s Trojans to Italy as the ancestors of the Romans.
Who wrote the book of Troye?
The French author Raoul Le Fèvre’s Recueil des histoires de Troye (1464), an account based on Guido, was translated into English by William Caxton and became the first book to be printed in English as The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye (c. 1474).
What is the Trojan War?
Trojan War. One of the most well-known tales ever narrated (most notably in Homer’s “Iliad”), the Trojan War is undoubtedly the greatest war in classical mythology. Waged by an Achaean alliance against the city of Troy, the war originated from a quarrel between three goddesses ( Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite) over a golden apple, ...
How long was the Trojan War?
Even though Homer’s “ Iliad ” describes just a short period of about fifty days during the tenth year of the Trojan War (with the bulk of it focusing on no more than five), it is, unquestionably, the most well-known primary source for the conflict. The epic ends with the burial of Hector ’s body, and to learn what happened next (including the famous Trojan Horse ploy), you must consult the second book of Virgil’s “Aeneid.” Most of the epitome of Apollodorus’ “Library” narrates the events of the Trojan War – from its mythological background through a summary of the “Iliad” and the lost epic “The Sack of Troy ” and all the way to the ill-fated returns of the heroes to Greece.
Why did the Greeks not sail from Aulis?
However, the Greeks now faced an even bigger problem: even though they finally knew the way to Troy, they were unable to set sail from Aulis because, for most of the time, there was no wind of any kind, let alone favorable one. The seer Calchas realized that this must be some kind of retribution from the goddess Artemis, furious at Agamemnon for killing one of her sacred deer. Artemis ’ demand for appeasement was an unspeakably cruel one: the sacrifice of Agamemnon 's virgin daughter, Iphigenia. After some deliberation, Odysseus lured Iphigenia to Aulis on the pretext of marriage with Achilles. After finding out that he had been used in such a vicious ruse, Achilles tried to save Iphigenia ’s life, only to learn that all of the other Greek commanders and soldiers are in support of the sacrifice. Bereaved of options, Iphigenia gracefully accepted her fate and placed herself on the altar. Some say that, unfortunately, that was the end of her; others, however, claim that just as Calchas was about to sacrifice her, Artemis substituted Iphigenia for a deer and took her to Tauris where she became the goddess' high priestess.
Where did the Achaeans land in Troy?
There was no time for losing: the Achaeans immediately set sail for Troy, even though no one knew the exact way. So, by mistake, they landed too far to the south, in the land of Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. The battle which ensued took the life of many a great Greek warrior, all the while highlighting Achilles ’ superhuman strength: in addition to killing numerous Mysians, Achilles (who was barely fifteen at the time!) managed to also wound their king Telephus, a son of Heracles. And as Telephus found out from an oracle soon after the Achaean ships left Mysia, this wound was so unique that it could only be cured by the one who had caused it. Eight years did Telephus search for Achilles, and, eventually, he found him in Aulis, where the Achaean leaders had gathered once again for a consultation, despairing over their incapability of reaching Troy. Now, Achilles had no medical knowledge whatsoever, so he was quite surprised when Telephus approached him with his request. Always shrewder than everybody, Odysseus realized that the prophecy might not refer to the man – but to the weapon which had inflicted the wound; heeding his advice, Achilles scraped off the rust of his Pelian spear over Telephus ’ wound, and, just like that, it stopped bleeding. Out of gratitude, Telephus agreed to tell the Greeks the route to Troy.
How long did the siege of Troy last?
The siege of Troy lasted for nine years , but the Trojans – able to maintain trade links with other Asian cities, in addition to getting constant reinforcements – firmly held their ground. Near the end of the ninth year, the exhausted Achaean army mutinied and demanded to return home; Achilles, however, boosted their morale and convinced them to stay a bit longer.
What did the Achaeans do to the city?
The Achaeans raided the city and set it afire, slaughtering scores of innocent people and desecrating too many ha llowed grounds to escape the subsequent wrath of the gods. As a result, few of them managed to return safely to their homes; and those who did may have been the less fortunate ones.
Who were Zeus and Thetis in love with?
Peleus and Thetis. The genesis of the Trojan War goes all the way back to a divine love contest, and a prophecy concerning the very foundations of the Olympian order. Namely, decades before its commencement, both Zeus and Poseidon fell in love with a beautiful sea-nymph named Thetis.
Trojan War
Virgil, the Roman poet and historian, gave words to his countrymen’s fascination with Troy in his famous work The Aeneid. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the 12th Century English chronicler, even claimed that a legendary descendant of Troy founded the English monarchy!
Trojan War
Enough remains, however, of Homer’s Troy to give anchor to his words. To stand in the actual corridor of the east gate, to touch the stones of the massive east tower, or to walk alongside the retaining wall of Priam’s palace seems to put one into direct contact with events that occurred here.
