Who won the Trojan War and why?
- Who Won the Trojan War? The Trojan War was a great series of battles fought between the Greeks and the Trojans sometime in the Late Bronze Age (1200–c. 500 BC). According to the stories from Homer’s Iliad, it was the greatest war of its time that included a multitude of exemplary warriors and even a few meddling Greek gods.
What is the Trojan War in the Iliad?
Trojan War. 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.
What were some of the major battles in the Iliad?
During this time, there were some key notable battles: Paris vs. Menelaus: Menelaus was the better warrior, but Aphrodite came to the aid of Paris and spirited him away. Hektor vs. Ajax: This battle ended in a stalemate because the other warriors called an end to it as night approached.
How did Odysseus win the Battle of the Trojan Horse?
But in the Aeneid by Virgil, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks at the behest of Odysseus constructed a huge wooden horse and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy.
Who won the battle in the Iliad?
The Greek army entered the gates and destroyed the Trojans. The Greeks had finally won the war. It is estimated that the Iliad was written around the 8th century BC.
Who Won the Trojan War Achilles?
When the Iliad begins, the Trojan War has been going on for nine years. Achilles, the poem's protagonist, has led one battle after another. He has met with great success–in fact, he is undefeated in battle–but the war itself has reached a stalemate.
Who won in the battle of Troy?
The GreeksThe 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.
Who killed Paris of Troy?
archer PhiloctetesParis himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes. The “judgment of Paris,” Hermes leading Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite to Paris, detail of a red-figure kylix by Hieron, 6th century bc; in the Collection of Classical Antiquities of the National Museums in Berlin.
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 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.
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.
How did Zeus become king?
According to Greek mythology, Zeus had become king of the gods by overthrowing his father Cronus; Cronus in turn had overthrown his father Uranus. Zeus was not faithful to his wife and sister Hera, and had many relationships from which many children were born. Since Zeus believed that there were too many people populating the earth, he envisioned Momus or Themis, who was to use the Trojan War as a means to depopulate the Earth, especially of his demigod descendants.
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.
Where did the Achaean army gather?
The Achaean forces first gathered at Aulis. All the suitors sent their forces except King Cinyras of Cyprus. Though he sent breastplates to Agamemnon and promised to send 50 ships, he sent only one real ship, led by the son of Mygdalion, and 49 ships made of clay. Idomeneus was willing to lead the Cretan contingent in Mycenae's war against Troy, but only as a co-commander, which he was granted. The last commander to arrive was Achilles, who was then 15 years old.
Who did Odysseus marry?
Since Menelaus's wedding, Odysseus had married Penelope and fathered a son, Telemachus. In order to avoid the war, he feigned madness and sowed his fields with salt. Palamedes outwitted him by placing Telemachus, then an infant, in front of the plough's path.
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 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, ...
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.
The Central Conflict of The Iliad: What Was the Reason for the Trojan War?
Homer’s epic centers on a conflict that arose after Paris, a Trojan prince, stole Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, and wife of the Greek King Menelaus, from Sparta. In response, an alliance of Greeks sailed to Troy to recapture Helen and destroy the city. Hence, the idiom “the face that launched one thousand ships” was born.
Trouble in The Greek Camp: Achilles & Agamemnon Quarrel
Book I of The Iliad opens with an altercation between Agamemnon, king of kings at the helm of the Greek alliance, and Achilles. The cause of this fight was Agamemnon’s usurpation of Briseis, a beautiful maiden whom Achilles had won from the spoils of victory in battle.
The Duel for Helen of Troy: Menelaus V. Paris
The Greek host described by Homer was enormous, far outnumbering the Trojans. But the Trojans had the advantage of being able to call on their many neighboring allies, such as the Phrygians and Lydians, and the walls of Priam had never before been breached.
The First Battle of the Trojan War
Athena and Hera, the daughter and wife of Zeus, both of whom were firmly allied with the Greeks, had been observing the happenings at Troy from the sky. They wanted to see Priam’s city destroyed, and so Athena resolved to interfere in the unfolding events before the Trojans could turn Helen over and allow the conflict to dissolve.
The Trojan Army Defends Troy: Hector V. Ajax
Keeping his promise to Thetis, Zeus ensured that the early battles of the war resulted in good outcomes for the Trojans. The laundry list of other gods who allied with Troy also helped in this cause. Ares remained glued to Hector.
Agamemnon Pleads With Achilles
Agamemnon sends envoys to Achilles with his terms of apology. He promises to return Briseis to him and to ensure that he is enriched from the spoils of Troy. But Achilles declines the king’s proposal, and the Achaeans continue to suffer at the hands of Hector. It isn’t until Book XIV that the tides begin to turn.
Hector Kills Patroclus
Hector and the Trojans had set the Greek encampment ablaze. Out of the wild conflagration came Patroclus charging toward the Trojans and cutting them down left and right. When he reached Sarpedon, a son of Zeus and king of Lycia, the pair faced off. Patroclus killed him, and, as a result, sent Hector into a rage.
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.”.
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 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.
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 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.
Who killed Agamemnon in the Iliad?
When Agamemnon returned victorious from the Trojan War, he was murdered in his bath by Clytemnestra, his vengeful wife. During the Trojan War, one of Agamemnon’s most famous episodes in the Iliad is his conflict with Achilles over Briseis, a captured ‘spoil of war’. Ultimately, Agamemnon was forced to return Briseis.
Who was the Trojan ally who killed the king?
A Trojan ally, Rhesus and his company arrived on Troy’s shores late during the siege, aiming to liberate Priam’s people. After discovering the arrival of Rhesus and hearing word of his famous horses, one night Odysseus and Diomedes infiltrated Rhesus ’ camp, killed the king while he slept and stole his steeds.
Why was Diomedes so famous?
Alongside Odysseus, Diomedes was famous for his cunning and swiftness of foot. He famously aided Odysseus not only in stealing Rhesus’ horses, but also the Palladium wooden statue. Returned to Argos after the Trojan War to discover his wife had been unfaithful.
What was Odysseus' most famous venture?
At the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus angered the god Poseidon with his hubristic attitude, signalling the start of his most famous venture: The Odyssey.
What was Aeneas famous for?
Aeneas became famous for the legendary myth about what happened to him following the fall of Troy. Immortalised in Virgil’s Aeneid , he escaped and traversed much of the Mediterranean, ultimately settling with his Trojan exiles in central Italy. There he became king of the Latins and ancestor of the Romans.
How many heroes are there in the Iliad?
Often depicted as semi-mythological, extraordinary warriors, their stories often intertwine with various gods and goddesses. Here are 15 heroes from Homer’s Iliad.
Who was Ajax in the Trojan War?
Ajax ‘the Greater’. Attic amphora by Exekias depicting Achilles and Ajax playing a game during the Trojan War. Also known as Ajax ‘the Great’. Famous for his size and strength; one of the Greeks’ greatest fighters. Ajax fought Hector in several duels of varying outcomes (including one where Hector forced Ajax to flee).
Who warned the Trojans?
While questioning Sinon, the Trojan priest Laocoön guesses the plot and warns the Trojans, in Virgil's famous line Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ("I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts"), Danai ( acc Danaos) or Danaans (Homer's name for the Greeks) being the ones who had built the Trojan Horse.
Who wrote that Epeius's work was a contrivance to make a breach in the Trojan
Pausanias , who lived in the 2nd century AD, wrote in his book Description of Greece, "That the work of Epeius was a contrivance to make a breach in the Trojan wall is known to everybody who does not attribute utter silliness to the Phrygians "; by the Phrygians, he meant the Trojans.
What is the oldest known depiction of the Trojan Horse?
The earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse, on a bronze fibula (ca. 700 BC), note the wheels and the square openings on the horse's side. The Mykonos vase (750 to 650 BC), with one of the earliest known renditions of the Trojan Horse, (note the depiction of the faces of hidden warriors shown on the horse's side)
What was the Trojan horse used for?
The Trojan Horse was the wooden horse used by the Greeks, during the Trojan War, to enter the city of Troy and win the war. There is no Trojan Horse in Homer's Iliad, with the poem ending before the war is concluded. But in the Aeneid by Virgil, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks at the behest of Odysseus constructed a huge wooden horse ...
What did Epeius make with Athena's help?
But come now, change thy theme, and sing of the building of the horse of wood, which Epeius made with Athena 's help, the horse which once Odysseus led up into the citadel as a thing of guile, when he had filled it with the men who sacked Ilios.
What does Sinon tell the Trojans about the horse?
Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse is an offering to the goddess Athena, meant to atone for the previous desecration of her temple at Troy by the Greeks and ensure a safe journey home for the Greek fleet.
What is the horse called in the Odyssey?
As Odysseus was the chief architect of the Trojan Horse, it is also referred to in Homer 's Odyssey. In the Greek tradition, the horse is called the "wooden horse" ...
How Did The Trojan War Begin?
Here Is The Story According to Greek Tradition
Who Took Part in The Trojan War
The Trojan Army and Defenses
How Long Did The War Last?
Who Won The Trojan War?
- The Greeks, being unable to penetrate the walls of the city, found a way to have the Trojans invite them in, unknowingly. They built a huge wooden horse and disappeared within it. The Trojans, on finding the horse and seeing no Greeks, assumed the horse was a gift from the gods who had struck down all their enemies in the night. They brought the ho...
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