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Trojan War

October 28, 2023

For the 1997 film, see Trojan War (film).
"Fall of Troy" redirects here. For the American band, see The Fall of Troy (band). For other uses, see The Fall of Troy (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's 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. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.

The ancient Greeks believed that Troy was located near the Dardanelles and that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC. By the mid-19th century AD, both the war and the city were widely seen as non-historical, but in 1868, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was at what is now Hisarlik in Turkey.[1] On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars.[2][3]

Whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question. Many scholars believe that there is a historical core to the tale, though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various tales of sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean Greeks during the Bronze Age. Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War are derived from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the 12th or 11th century BC, often preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes, 1194–1184 BC, which roughly correspond to archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy VII,[4] and the Late Bronze Age collapse.

Sources

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.[5] 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.

Other parts of the Trojan War were told in the poems of the Epic Cycle, also known as the Cyclic Epics: the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. Though these poems survive only in fragments, their content is known from a summary included in Proclus' Chrestomathy.[6] The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is uncertain. It is generally thought that the poems were written down in the 7th and 6th century BC, after the composition of the Homeric poems, though it is widely believed that they were based on earlier traditions.[7]

Both the Homeric epics and the Epic Cycle take origin from oral tradition. Even after the composition of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Cyclic Epics, the myths of the Trojan War were passed on orally in many genres of poetry and through non-poetic storytelling. Events and details of the story that are only found in later authors may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as the Homeric poems. Visual art, such as vase painting, was another medium in which myths of the Trojan War circulated.[8]

In later ages playwrights, historians, and other intellectuals would create works inspired by the Trojan War. The three great tragedians of Athens, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, wrote a number of dramas that portray episodes from 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.

Legend

 
The Golden Apple of Discord by Jacob Jordaens

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 goddesses promised the young man a boon in return for his favour: power, wisdom, or love. The youth—in fact Paris, a Trojan prince who had been raised in the countryside—chose love, and awarded the apple to Aphrodite. As his reward, Aphrodite caused Helen, the Queen of Sparta, and most beautiful of all women, to fall in love with Paris. The judgement of Paris earned him the ire of both Hera and Athena, and when Helen left her husband, Menelaus, the Spartan king, for Paris of Troy, Menelaus called upon all the kings and princes of Greece to wage war upon Troy.

 
The Burning of Troy (1759/62), oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann

Menelaus' brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans, except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, Aphrodite's son and one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern-day Italy.

The following summary of the Trojan War follows the order of events as given in Proclus' summary, along with the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, supplemented with details drawn from other authors.

Origins of the war

Plan of Zeus

 
Polyxena Sarcophagus in Troy Museum

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[9] or Themis,[10] who was to use the Trojan War as a means to depopulate the Earth, especially of his demigod descendants.[11]

These can be supported by Hesiod's account:

Now all the gods were divided through strife; for at that very time Zeus who thunders on high was meditating marvelous deeds, even to mingle storm and tempest over the boundless earth, and already he was hastening to make an utter end of the race of mortal men, declaring that he would destroy the lives of the demi-gods, that the children of the gods should not mate with wretched mortals, seeing their fate with their own eyes; but that the blessed gods henceforth even as aforetime should have their living and their habitations apart from men. But on those who were born of immortals and of mankind verily Zeus laid toil and sorrow upon sorrow.[12]

Judgement of Paris

Main article: Judgement of Paris
 
The Judgement of Paris (1599) by Hendrick van Balen the Elder. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Zeus came to learn from either Themis[13] or Prometheus, after Heracles had released him from Caucasus,[14] that, like his father Cronus, he would be overthrown by one of his sons. Another prophecy stated that a son of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom Zeus fell in love after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast, would become greater than his father.[15] For one or both of these reasons,[16] either upon Zeus' orders,[17] or because she wished to please Hera, who had raised her, Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king, Peleus, son of Aeacus.[18]

All of the gods were invited to Peleus and Thetis' wedding and brought many gifts,[19] except Eris (the goddess of discord), who was stopped at the door by Hermes, on Zeus' order.

[20] Insulted, she threw from the door a gift of her own:[21] a golden apple (το μήλον της έριδος) on which was inscribed the word καλλίστῃ Kallistēi ("To the fairest").[22] The apple was claimed by Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They quarrelled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favouring one, for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually, Zeus ordered Hermes to lead the three goddesses to Paris, a prince of Troy, who, unaware of his ancestry, was being raised as a shepherd on Mount Ida,[23] because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy.[24] After bathing in the spring of Ida, the goddesses appeared to him naked, either for the sake of winning or at Paris' request. Paris was unable to decide among them, so the goddesses resorted to bribes. Athena offered Paris wisdom, skill in battle, and the abilities of the greatest warriors; Hera offered him political power and control of all of Asia; and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, and, after several adventures, returned to Troy, where he was recognised by his royal family.

 
Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus (detail of Attic black-figure hydria, 575–550 BC)
 
Musician figures from clay in Troy Museum.

Peleus and Thetis bore a son, whom they named Achilles. It was foretold that he would either die of old age after an uneventful life, or die young in a battlefield and gain immortality through poetry.[25] Furthermore, when Achilles was nine years old, Calchas had prophesied that Troy could not again fall without his help.[26] A number of sources credit Thetis with attempting to make Achilles immortal when he was an infant. Some of these state that she held him over fire every night to burn away his mortal parts and rubbed him with ambrosia during the day, but Peleus discovered her actions and stopped her.[27]

According to some versions of this story, Thetis had already killed several sons in this manner, and Peleus' action therefore saved his son's life.[28] Other sources state that Thetis bathed Achilles in the Styx, the river that runs to the underworld, making him invulnerable wherever he was touched by the water.[29] Because she had held him by the heel, it was not entirely immersed during the bathing and thus the heel remained mortal and vulnerable to injury (hence the expression "Achilles' heel" for an isolated weakness). He grew up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors. After Calchas' prophecy, Thetis hid Achilles in Skyros at the court of King Lycomedes, where he was disguised as a girl.[30] At a crucial point in the war, she assists her son by providing weapons divinely forged by Hephaestus (see below).

Elopement of Paris and Helen

 
The Abduction of Helen (1530–39) by Francesco Primaticcio, with Aphrodite directing

The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, one of the daughters of Tyndareus, King of Sparta. Her mother was Leda, who had been either raped or seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan.[31] Accounts differ over which of Leda's four children, two pairs of twins, were fathered by Zeus and which by Tyndareus. However, Helen is usually credited as Zeus' daughter,[32] and sometimes Nemesis is credited as her mother.[33] Helen had scores of suitors, and her father was unwilling to choose one for fear the others would retaliate violently.

Finally, one of the suitors, Odysseus of Ithaca, proposed a plan to solve the dilemma. In exchange for Tyndareus' support of his own suit towards Penelope,[34] he suggested that Tyndareus require all of Helen's suitors to promise that they would defend the marriage of Helen, regardless of whom he chose. The suitors duly swore the required oath on the severed pieces of a horse, although not without a certain amount of grumbling.[35]

Tyndareus chose Menelaus. Menelaus was a political choice on her father's part. He had wealth and power. He had humbly not petitioned for her himself, but instead sent his brother Agamemnon on his behalf. He had promised Aphrodite a hecatomb, a sacrifice of 100 oxen, if he won Helen, but forgot about it and earned her wrath.[36] Menelaus inherited Tyndareus' throne of Sparta with Helen as his queen when her brothers, Castor and Pollux, became gods,[37] and when Agamemnon married Helen's sister Clytemnestra and took back the throne of Mycenae.[38]

Paris, under the guise of a supposed diplomatic mission, went to Sparta to get Helen and bring her back to Troy. Before Helen could look up to see him enter the palace, she was shot with an arrow from Eros, otherwise known as Cupid, and fell in love with Paris when she saw him, as promised by Aphrodite. Menelaus had left for Crete[39] to bury his uncle, Crateus.[40]

According to one account, Hera, still jealous over the judgement of Paris, sent a storm.[39] The storm caused the lovers to land in Egypt, where the gods replaced Helen with a likeness of her made of clouds, Nephele.[41] The myth of Helen being switched is attributed to the 6th century BC Sicilian poet Stesichorus, while for Homer the Helen in Troy was one and the same. The ship then landed in Sidon. Paris, fearful of getting caught, spent some time there and then sailed to Troy.[42]

 
A map of Homeric Greece

Paris' abduction of Helen had several precedents. Io was taken from Mycenae, Europa was taken from Phoenicia, Jason took Medea from Colchis,[43] and the Trojan princess Hesione had been taken by Heracles, who gave her to Telamon of Salamis.[44] According to Herodotus, Paris was emboldened by these examples to steal himself a wife from Greece, and expected no retribution, since there had been none in the other cases.[45]

Gathering of Achaean forces and the first expedition

According to Homer, Menelaus and his ally, Odysseus, travelled to Troy, where they unsuccessfully sought to recover Helen by diplomatic means.[46]

Menelaus then asked Agamemnon to uphold his oath, which, as one of Helen's suitors, was to defend her marriage regardless of which suitor had been chosen. Agamemnon agreed and sent emissaries to all the Achaean kings and princes to call them to observe their oaths and retrieve Helen.[47]

Odysseus and Achilles

 
A scene from the Iliad where Odysseus (Ulysses) discovers Achilles dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses at the royal court of Skyros. A late Roman mosaic from La Olmeda, Spain, 4th–5th centuries AD

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. Odysseus turned aside, unwilling to kill his son, so revealing his sanity and forcing him to join the war.[39][48]

According to Homer, however, Odysseus supported the military adventure from the beginning, and travelled the region with Pylos' king, Nestor, to recruit forces.[49]

At Skyros, Achilles had an affair with the king's daughter Deidamia, resulting in a child, Neoptolemus.[50] Odysseus, Telamonian Ajax, and Achilles' tutor Phoenix went to retrieve Achilles. Achilles' mother disguised him as a woman so that he would not have to go to war, but, according to one story, they blew a horn, and Achilles revealed himself by seizing a spear to fight intruders, rather than fleeing.[26] According to another story, they disguised themselves as merchants bearing trinkets and weaponry, and Achilles was marked out from the other women for admiring weaponry instead of clothes and jewellery.[51]

Pausanias said that, according to Homer, Achilles did not hide in Skyros, but rather conquered the island, as part of the Trojan War.[52]

First gathering at Aulis

 
The Discovery of Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes (1664) by Jan de Bray

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.[53] Idomeneus was willing to lead the Cretan contingent in Mycenae's war against Troy, but only as a co-commander, which he was granted.[54] The last commander to arrive was Achilles, who was then 15 years old.

Following a sacrifice to Apollo, a snake slithered from the altar to a sparrow's nest in a plane tree nearby. It ate the mother and her nine chicks, then was turned to stone. Calchas interpreted this as a sign that Troy would fall in the tenth year of the war.[55]

Telephus

When the Achaeans left for the war, they did not know the way, and accidentally landed in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus, son of Heracles, who had led a contingent of Arcadians to settle there.[56] In the battle, Achilles wounded Telephus,[57] who had killed Thersander.[58] Because the wound would not heal, Telephus asked an oracle, "What will happen to the wound?". The oracle responded, "he that wounded shall heal". The Achaean fleet then set sail and was scattered by a storm. Achilles landed in Skyros and married Deidamia. A new gathering was set again in Aulis.[39]

Telephus went to Aulis, and either pretended to be a beggar, asking Agamemnon to help heal his wound,[59] or kidnapped Orestes and held him for ransom, demanding the wound be healed.[60] Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Odysseus reasoned that the spear that had inflicted the wound must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound, and Telephus was healed.[61] Telephus then showed the Achaeans the route to Troy.[59]

Some scholars have regarded the expedition against Telephus and its resolution as a derivative reworking of elements from the main story of the Trojan War, but it has also been seen as fitting the story-pattern of the "preliminary adventure" that anticipates events and themes from the main narrative, and therefore as likely to be "early and integral".[62]

Second gathering

 
A map of the Troäd (Troas)

Eight years after the storm had scattered them,[63] the fleet of more than a thousand ships was gathered again. When they had all reached Aulis, the winds ceased. The prophet Calchas stated that the goddess Artemis was punishing Agamemnon for killing either a sacred deer or a deer in a sacred grove, and boasting that he was a better hunter than she.[39] The only way to appease Artemis, he said, was to sacrifice Iphigenia, who was either the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra,[64] or of Helen and Theseus entrusted to Clytemnestra when Helen married Menelaus.[65]

Agamemnon refused, and the other commanders threatened to make Palamedes commander of the expedition.[66] According to some versions, Agamemnon relented and performed the sacrifice, but others claim that he sacrificed a deer in her place, or that at the last moment, Artemis took pity on the girl, and took her to be a maiden in one of her temples, substituting a lamb.[39] Hesiod says that Iphigenia became the goddess Hecate.[67]

The Achaean forces are described in detail in the Catalogue of Ships, in the second book of the Iliad. They consisted of 28 contingents from mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, the Dodecanese islands, Crete, and Ithaca, comprising 1186 pentekonters, ships with 50 rowers. Thucydides says[68] that according to tradition there were about 1200 ships, and that the Boeotian ships had 120 men, while Philoctetes' ships only had the fifty rowers, these probably being maximum and minimum. These numbers would mean a total force of 70,000 to 130,000 men. Another catalogue of ships is given by the Bibliotheca that differs somewhat but agrees in numbers. Some scholars have claimed that Homer's catalogue is an original Bronze Age document, possibly the Achaean commander's order of operations.[69][70][71] Others believe it was a fabrication of Homer.

The second book of the Iliad also lists the Trojan allies, consisting of the Trojans themselves, led by Hector, and various allies listed as Dardanians led by Aeneas, Zeleians, Adrasteians, Percotians, Pelasgians, Thracians, Ciconian spearmen, Paionian archers, Halizones, Mysians, Phrygians, Maeonians, Miletians, Lycians led by Sarpedon and Carians. Nothing is said of the Trojan language; the Carians are specifically said to be barbarian-speaking, and the allied contingents are said to have spoken many languages, requiring orders to be translated by their individual commanders.[72] The Trojans and Achaeans in the Iliad share the same religion, same culture and the enemy heroes speak to each other in the same language, though this could be dramatic effect.

Nine years of war

Philoctetes

 
Philoctetes on Lemnos, with Heracles' bow and quiver (Attic red-figure lekythos, 420 BC)

Philoctetes was Heracles' friend, and because he lit Heracles's funeral pyre when no one else would, he received Heracles' bow and arrows.[73] He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War, where he was planning on fighting for the Achaeans. They stopped either at Chryse Island for supplies,[74] or in Tenedos, along with the rest of the fleet.[75] Then Philoctetes was bitten by a snake. The wound festered and had a foul smell; on Odysseus's advice, the Atreidae ordered Philoctetes to stay on Lemnos.[39]

Medon took control of Philoctetes's men. While landing on Tenedos, Achilles killed king Tenes, son of Apollo, despite a warning by his mother that if he did so he would be killed himself by Apollo.[76] From Tenedos, Agamemnon sent an embassy to the Priam king of Troy composed of Menelaus and Odysseus, asking for Helen's return. The embassy was refused.[77]

Philoctetes stayed on Lemnos for ten years, which was a deserted island according to Sophocles' tragedy Philoctetes, but according to earlier tradition was populated by Minyans.[78]

Arrival

Calchas had prophesied that the first Achaean to walk on land after stepping off a ship would be the first to die.[79] Thus even the leading Greeks hesitated to land. Finally, Protesilaus, leader of the Phylaceans, landed first.[80] Odysseus had tricked him, in throwing his own shield down to land on, so that while he was first to leap off his ship, he was not the first to land on Trojan soil. Hector killed Protesilaus in single combat, though the Trojans conceded the beach. In the second wave of attacks, Achilles killed Cycnus, son of Poseidon. The Trojans then fled to the safety of the walls of their city.[81]

The walls served as sturdy fortifications for defence against the Greeks. The build of the walls was so impressive that legend held that they had been built by Poseidon and Apollo during a year of forced service to Trojan King Laomedon.[82] Protesilaus had killed many Trojans but was killed by Hector in most versions of the story,[83] though others list Aeneas, Achates, or Ephorbus as his slayer.[84] The Achaeans buried him as a god on the Thracian peninsula, across the Troäd.[85] After Protesilaus' death, his brother, Podarces, took command of his troops.

Achilles' campaigns

 
Achilles' surrender of Briseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, 1st century AD, now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

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.[86] 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.[87]

Achilles and Ajax were the most active of the Achaeans, leading separate armies to raid lands of Trojan allies. According to Homer, Achilles conquered 11 cities and 12 islands.[88] According to Apollodorus, he raided the land of Aeneas in the Troäd region and stole his cattle.[89] He also captured Lyrnassus, Pedasus, and many of the neighbouring cities, and killed Troilus; it was said that if he reached 20 years of age, Troy would not fall. According to Apollodorus,

He also took Lesbos and Phocaea, then Colophon, and Smyrna, and Clazomenae, and Cyme; and afterwards Aegialus and Tenos, the so-called Hundred Cities; then, in order, Adramytium and Side; then Endium, and Linaeum, and Colone. He took also Hypoplacian Thebes and Lyrnessus, and further Antandrus, and many other cities.[90]

Kakrides comments that the list is wrong in that it extends too far into the south.[91] Other sources talk of Achilles taking Pedasus, Monenia,[92] Mythemna (in Lesbos), and Peisidice.[93]

Among the loot from these cities was Briseis, from Lyrnessus, who was awarded to him, and Chryseis, from Hypoplacian Thebes, who was awarded to Agamemnon.[39] Achilles captured Lycaon, son of Priam,[94] while he was cutting branches in his father's orchards. Patroclus sold him as a slave in Lemnos,[39] where he was bought by Eetion of Imbros and brought back to Troy. Only 12 days later Achilles slew him, after the death of Patroclus.[95]

Ajax and a game of petteia

Ajax, son of Telamon, laid waste the Thracian peninsula of which Polymestor, a son-in-law of Priam, was king. Polymestor surrendered Polydorus, one of Priam's children, of whom he had custody. He then attacked the town of the Phrygian king Teleutas, killed him in single combat and carried off his daughter Tecmessa.[96] Ajax also hunted the Trojan flocks, both on Mount Ida and in the countryside.

 
Achilles and Ajax engaged in a game, c. 540–530 BC, Vatican Museums

Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. At some point in the war Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game (petteia).[97][98] They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle.[99] The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were only saved by an intervention of Athena.[100]

Death of Palamedes

Odysseus was sent to Thrace to return with grain, but came back empty-handed. When scorned by Palamedes, Odysseus challenged him to do better. Palamedes set out and returned with a shipload of grain.[101]

Odysseus had never forgiven Palamedes for threatening the life of his son. In revenge, Odysseus conceived a plot[102] where an incriminating letter was forged, from Priam to Palamedes,[103] and gold was planted in Palamedes' quarters. The letter and gold were "discovered", and Agamemnon had Palamedes stoned to death for treason.

However, Pausanias, quoting the Cypria, says that Odysseus and Diomedes drowned Palamedes, while he was fishing, and Dictys says that Odysseus and Diomedes lured Palamedes into a well, which they said contained gold, then stoned him to death.[104]

Palamedes' father Nauplius sailed to the Troäd and asked for justice, but was refused. In revenge, Nauplius travelled among the Achaean kingdoms and told the wives of the kings that they were bringing Trojan concubines to dethrone them. Many of the Greek wives were persuaded to betray their husbands, most significantly Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, who was seduced by Aegisthus, son of Thyestes.[105]

Mutiny

Near the end of the ninth year since the landing, the Achaean army, tired from the fighting and from the lack of supplies, mutinied against their leaders and demanded to return to their homes. According to the Cypria, Achilles forced the army to stay.[39] According to Apollodorus, Agamemnon brought the Wine Growers, daughters of Anius, son of Apollo, who had the gift of producing by touch wine, wheat, and oil from the earth, in order to relieve the supply problem of the army.[106]

Iliad

Main article: Iliad
 
Chryses pleading with Agamemnon for his daughter (360–350 BC)

Chryses, a priest of Apollo and father of Chryseis, came to Agamemnon to ask for the return of his daughter. Agamemnon refused, and insulted Chryses, who prayed to Apollo to avenge his ill-treatment. Enraged, Apollo afflicted the Achaean army with plague. Agamemnon was forced to return Chryseis to end the plague, and took Achilles' concubine Briseis as his own. Enraged at the dishonour Agamemnon had inflicted upon him, Achilles decided he would no longer fight. He asked his mother, Thetis, to intercede with Zeus, who agreed to give the Trojans success in the absence of Achilles, the best warrior of the Achaeans.

After the withdrawal of Achilles, the Achaeans were initially successful. Both armies gathered in full for the first time since the landing. Menelaus and Paris fought a duel, which ended when Aphrodite snatched the beaten Paris from the field. With the truce broken, the armies began fighting again. Diomedes won great renown amongst the Achaeans, killing the Trojan hero Pandaros and nearly killing Aeneas, who was only saved by his mother, Aphrodite. With the assistance of Athena, Diomedes then wounded the gods Aphrodite and Ares. During the next days, however, the Trojans drove the Achaeans back to their camp and were stopped at the Achaean wall by Poseidon. The next day, though, with Zeus' help, the Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and were on the verge of setting fire to the Achaean ships. An earlier appeal to Achilles to return was rejected, but after Hector burned Protesilaus' ship, he allowed his companion Patroclus to go into battle wearing Achilles' armour and lead his army. Patroclus drove the Trojans all the way back to the walls of Troy, and was only prevented from storming the city by the intervention of Apollo. Patroclus was then killed by Hector, who took Achilles' armour from the body of Patroclus.

 
Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector's body around Troy, from a panoramic fresco of the Achilleion

Achilles, maddened with grief over the death of Patroclus, swore to kill Hector in revenge. The exact nature of Achilles' relationship to Patroclus is the subject of some debate.[107] Although certainly very close, Achilles and Patroclus are never explicitly cast as lovers by Homer,[108] but they were depicted as such in the archaic and classical periods of Greek literature, particularly in the works of Aeschylus, Aeschines and Plato.[109][110] He was reconciled with Agamemnon and received Briseis back, untouched by Agamemnon. He received a new set of arms, forged by the god Hephaestus, and returned to the battlefield. He slaughtered many Trojans, and nearly killed Aeneas, who was saved by Poseidon. Achilles fought with the river god Scamander, and a battle of the gods followed. The Trojan army returned to the city, except for Hector, who remained outside the walls because he was tricked by Athena. Achilles killed Hector, and afterwards he dragged Hector's body from his chariot and refused to return the body to the Trojans for burial. The body nevertheless remained unscathed as it was preserved from all injury by Apollo and Aphrodite. The Achaeans then conducted funeral games for Patroclus. Afterwards, Priam came to Achilles' tent, guided by Hermes, and asked Achilles to return Hector's body. The armies made a temporary truce to allow the burial of the dead. The Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector.

After the Iliad

Penthesilea and the death of Achilles

 
Achilles killing the Amazon Penthesilea

Shortly after the burial of Hector, Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, arrived with her warriors.[111] Penthesilea, daughter of Otrera and Ares, had accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte. She was purified from this action by Priam,[112] and in exchange she fought for him and killed many, including Machaon[113] (according to Pausanias, Machaon was killed by Eurypylus),[114] and according to one version, Achilles himself, who was resurrected at the request of Thetis.[115] In another version, Penthesilia was killed by Achilles,[116] who would later mourn her after her death. Thersites, a simple soldier and the ugliest Achaean, taunted Achilles over his grief[113] and gouged out Penthesilea's eyes.[117] Achilles slew Thersites, and after a dispute sailed to Lesbos, where he was purified for his murder by Odysseus after sacrificing to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto.[116]

While they were away, Memnon of Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Eos,[118] came with his host to help his stepbrother Priam.[119] He did not come directly from Ethiopia, but either from Susa in Persia, conquering all the peoples in between,[120] or from the Caucasus, leading an army of Ethiopians and Indians.[121] Like Achilles, he wore armour made by Hephaestus.[122] In the ensuing battle, Memnon killed Antilochus, who took one of Memnon's blows to save his father Nestor.[123] Achilles and Memnon then fought. Zeus weighed the fate of the two heroes; the weight containing that of Memnon sank,[124] and he was slain by Achilles.[116][125] Achilles chased the Trojans to their city, which he entered. The gods, seeing that he had killed too many of their children, decided that it was his time to die. He was killed after Paris shot a poisoned arrow that was guided by Apollo.[116][118][126] In another version he was killed by a knife to the back (or heel) by Paris, while marrying Polyxena, daughter of Priam, in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo,[127] the site where he had earlier killed Troilus. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valour, saying Achilles remained undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games were held.[128] Like Ajax, Achilles is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube River.[129][130]

Judgment of Arms

 
The suicide of Ajax depicted on Greek pottery by Exekias, now on display at the Château-musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer

A great battle raged around the dead Achilles. Ajax held back the Trojans, while Odysseus carried the body away.[131] When Achilles' armour was offered to the smartest warrior, the two that had saved his body came forward as competitors. Agamemnon, unwilling to undertake the invidious duty of deciding between the two competitors, referred the dispute to the decision of the Trojan prisoners, inquiring of them which of the two heroes had done most harm to the Trojans.[132] Alternatively, the Trojans and Pallas Athena were the judges[133][134] in that, following Nestor's advice, spies were sent to the walls to overhear what was said. A girl said that Ajax was braver:

For Aias took up and carried out of the strife the hero, Peleus'
son: this great Odysseus cared not to do.
To this another replied by Athena's contrivance:
Why, what is this you say? A thing against reason and untrue!
Even a woman could carry a load once a man had put it on her
shoulder; but she could not fight. For she would fail with fear
if she should fight. (Scholiast on Aristophanes, Knights 1056 and Aristophanes ib)

According to Pindar, the decision was made by secret ballot among the Achaeans.[135] In all story versions, the arms were awarded to Odysseus. Driven mad with grief, Ajax desired to kill his comrades, but Athena caused him to mistake for the Achaean warriors the cattle and their herdsmen.[136] In his frenzy he scourged two rams, believing them to be Agamemnon and Menelaus.[137] In the morning, he came to his senses and killed himself by jumping on the sword that had been given to him by Hector, so that it pierced his armpit, his only vulnerable part.[138] According to an older tradition, he was killed by the Trojans who, seeing he was invulnerable, attacked him with clay until he was covered by it and could no longer move, thus dying of starvation.[citation needed]

Prophecies

 
A fresco depicting Odysseus, Diomedes, and Cassandra, from Pompeii, Italy, 1st century BC – 1st century AD

After the tenth year, it was prophesied[139] that Troy could not fall without Heracles' bow, which was with Philoctetes in Lemnos. Odysseus and Diomedes[140] retrieved Philoctetes, whose wound had healed.[141] Philoctetes then shot and killed Paris.

According to Apollodorus, Paris' brothers Helenus and Deiphobus vied over the hand of Helen. Deiphobus prevailed, and Helenus abandoned Troy for Mount Ida. Calchas said that Helenus knew the prophecies concerning the fall of Troy, so Odysseus waylaid Helenus.[134][142] Under coercion, Helenus told the Achaeans that they would win if they retrieved Pelops' bones, persuaded Achilles' son Neoptolemus to fight for them, and stole the Trojan Palladium.[143]

The Greeks retrieved Pelops' bones,[144] and sent Odysseus to retrieve Neoptolemus, who was hiding from the war in King Lycomedes's court in Skyros. Odysseus gave him his father's arms.[134][145] Eurypylus, son of Telephus, leading, according to Homer, a large force of Kêteioi,[146] or Hittites or Mysians according to Apollodorus,[147] arrived to aid the Trojans. Eurypylus killed Machaon[114] and Peneleos,[148] but was slain by Neoptolemus.

Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus went to spy inside Troy, but was recognised by Helen. Homesick,[149] Helen plotted with Odysseus. Later, with Helen's help, Odysseus and Diomedes stole the Palladium.[134][150]

Trojan Horse

Main article: Trojan Horse
 
The earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse, from the Mykonos vase c. 670 BC

The end of the war came with one final plan. Odysseus devised a new ruse—a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by Epeius and guided by Athena,[151] from the wood of a cornel tree grove sacred to Apollo,[152] with the inscription: "The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home".[153] The hollow horse was filled with soldiers[154] led by Odysseus. The rest of the army burned the camp and sailed for Tenedos.[155]

When the Trojans discovered that the Greeks were gone, believing the war was over, they "joyfully dragged the horse inside the city",[156] while they debated what to do with it. Some thought they ought to hurl it down from the rocks, others thought they should burn it, while others said they ought to dedicate it to Athena.[157][158]

Both Cassandra and Laocoön warned against keeping the horse.[159] While Cassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, she was also cursed by Apollo never to be believed. Serpents then came out of the sea and devoured either Laocoön and one of his two sons,[157] Laocoön and both his sons,[160] or only his sons,[161] a portent which so alarmed the followers of Aeneas that they withdrew to Ida.[157] The Trojans decided to keep the horse and turned to a night of mad revelry and celebration.[134] Sinon, an Achaean spy, signalled the fleet stationed at Tenedos when "it was midnight and the clear moon was rising"[162] and the soldiers from inside the horse emerged and killed the guards.[163]

Sack of Troy

 
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, kills King Priam (detail of Attic black-figure amphora, 520–510 BC)

The Achaeans entered the city and killed the sleeping population. A great massacre followed which continued into the day.

Blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth,
As Trojans and their alien helpers died.
Here were men lying quelled by bitter death
All up and down the city in their blood.[164]

The Trojans, fuelled with desperation, fought back fiercely, despite being disorganised and leaderless. With the fighting at its height, some donned fallen enemies' attire and launched surprise counterattacks in the chaotic street fighting. Other defenders hurled down roof tiles and anything else heavy down on the rampaging attackers. The outlook was grim though, and eventually the remaining defenders were destroyed along with the whole city.

Neoptolemus killed Priam, who had taken refuge at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard.[157][165] Menelaus killed Deiphobus, Helen's husband after Paris' death, and also intended to kill Helen, but, overcome by her beauty, threw down his sword[166] and took her to the ships.[157][167]

 
Menelaus captures Helen in Troy, Ajax the Lesser drags Cassandra from Palladium before the eyes of Priam (fresco from the Casa del Menandro, Pompeii)

Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra on Athena's altar while she was clinging to her statue. Because of Ajax's impiety, the Acheaens, urged by Odysseus, wanted to stone him to death, but he fled to Athena's altar, and was spared.[157][168]

Antenor, who had given hospitality to Menelaus and Odysseus when they asked for the return of Helen, and who had advocated so, was spared, along with his family.[169] Aeneas took his father on his back and fled, and, according to Apollodorus, was allowed to go because of his piety.[165]

The Greeks then burned the city and divided the spoils. Cassandra was awarded to Agamemnon. Neoptolemus got Andromache, wife of Hector, and Odysseus was given Hecuba, Priam's wife.[170]

The Achaeans[171] threw Hector's infant son Astyanax down from the walls of Troy,[172] either out of cruelty and hate[173] or to end the royal line, and the possibility of a son's revenge.[174] They (by usual tradition Neoptolemus) also sacrificed the Trojan princess Polyxena on the grave of Achilles.[175]

Aethra, Theseus' mother, and one of Helen's handmaids,[176] was rescued by her grandsons, Demophon and Acamas.[157][177]

Returns

Main article: Returns from Troy

The gods were very angry over the destruction of their temples and other sacrilegious acts by the Achaeans, and decided that most would not return home. A storm fell on the returning fleet off Tenos island. Additionally, Nauplius, in revenge for the murder of his son Palamedes, set up false lights in Cape Caphereus (also known today as Cavo D'Oro, in Euboea) and many were shipwrecked.[178]

  • Agamemnon had made it back to Argos safely with Cassandra in his possession after some stormy weather. He and Cassandra were slain by Aegisthus (in the oldest versions of the story) or by Clytemnestra or by both of them. Electra and Orestes later avenged their father, but Orestes was the one who was chased by the Furies.
  • Nestor, who had the best conduct in Troy and did not take part in the looting, was the only hero who had a fast and safe return.[179] Those of his army that survived the war also reached home with him safely, but later left and colonised Metapontium in Southern Italy.[180]
 
Poseidon smites Ajax the Lesser, by Bonaventura Genelli (1798–1868)
  • Ajax the Lesser, who had endured more than the others the wrath of the Gods, never returned. His ship was wrecked by a storm sent by Athena, who borrowed one of Zeus' thunderbolts and tore the ship to pieces. The crew managed to land in a rock, but Poseidon struck it, and Ajax fell in the sea and drowned. He was buried by Thetis in Myconos[181] or Delos.[182]
  • Teucer, son of Telamon and half-brother of Ajax, stood trial by his father for his half-brother's death. He was disowned by his father and wasn't allowed back on Salamis Island. He was at sea near Phreattys in Peiraeus.[183] He was acquitted of responsibility but found guilty of negligence because he did not return his dead body or his arms. He left with his army (who took their wives) and founded Salamis in Cyprus.[184] The Athenians later created a political myth that his son left his kingdom to Theseus' sons (and not to Megara).
  • Neoptolemus, following the advice of Helenus, who accompanied him when he travelled over land, was always accompanied by Andromache. He met Odysseus and they buried Achilles' teacher Phoenix on the land of the Ciconians. They then conquered the land of the Molossians (Epirus) and Neoptolemus had a child by Andromache, Molossus, to whom he later gave the throne.[185] Thus the kings of Epirus claimed their lineage from Achilles, and so did Alexander the Great, whose mother was of that royal house. Alexander the Great and the kings of Macedon also claimed to be descended from Heracles. Helenus founded a city in Molossia and inhabited it, and Neoptolemus gave him his mother Deidamia as wife. After Peleus died he succeeded Phtia's throne.[186] He had a feud with Orestes (son of Agamemnon) over Menelaus' daughter Hermione, and was killed in Delphi, where he was buried.[187] In Roman myths, the kingdom of Phtia was taken over by Helenus, who married Andromache. They offered hospitality to other Trojan refugees, including Aeneas, who paid a visit there during his wanderings.
  • Diomedes was first thrown by a storm on the coast of Lycia, where he was to be sacrificed to Ares by king Lycus, but Callirrhoe, the king's daughter, took pity upon him, and assisted him in escaping.[188] He then accidentally landed in Attica, in Phaleron. The Athenians, unaware that they were allies, attacked them. Many were killed, and Demophon took the Palladium.[189] He finally landed in Argos, where he found his wife Aegialeia committing adultery. In disgust, he left for Aetolia.[190] According to later traditions, he had some adventures and founded Canusium and Argyrippa in Southern Italy.[191]
  • Philoctetes, due to a sedition, was driven from his city and emigrated to Italy, where he founded the cities of Petilia, Old Crimissa, and Chone, between Croton and Thurii.[192] After making war on the Leucanians he founded there a sanctuary of Apollo the Wanderer, to whom also he dedicated his bow.[193]
  • According to Homer, Idomeneus reached his house safe and sound.[194] Another tradition later formed. After the war, Idomeneus's ship hit a horrible storm. Idomeneus promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw when he returned home if Poseidon would save his ship and crew. The first living thing he saw was his son, whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed. The gods were angry at his murder of his own son and they sent a plague to Crete. His people sent him into exile to Calabria in Italy,[195] and then to Colophon, in Asia Minor, where he died.[196] Among the lesser Achaeans very few reached their homes.

House of Atreus

 
The murder of Agamemnon (1879 illustration from Alfred Church's Stories from the Greek Tragedians)

According to the Odyssey, Menelaus's fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt, where they were unable to sail away because the winds were calm.[197] Only five of his ships survived.[179] Menelaus had to catch Proteus, a shape-shifting sea god, to find out what sacrifices to which gods he would have to make to guarantee safe passage.[198] According to some stories the Helen who was taken by Paris was a fake, and the real Helen was in Egypt, where she was reunited with Menelaus. Proteus also told Menelaus that he was destined for Elysium (Heaven) after his death. Menelaus returned to Sparta with Helen eight years after he had left Troy.[199]

Agamemnon returned home with Cassandra to Argos. His wife Clytemnestra (Helen's sister) was having an affair with Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, Agamemnon's cousin who had conquered Argos before Agamemnon himself retook it. Possibly out of vengeance for the death of Iphigenia, Clytemnestra plotted with her lover to kill Agamemnon. Cassandra foresaw this murder, and warned Agamemnon, but he disregarded her. He was killed, either at a feast or in his bath,[200] according to different versions. Cassandra was also killed.[201] Agamemnon's son Orestes, who had been away, returned and conspired with his sister Electra to avenge their father.[202] He killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and succeeded to his father's throne.[203][204]

Odyssey

Main article: Odyssey
 
Odysseus and Polyphemus by Arnold Böcklin: the Cyclops' curse delays the homecoming of Odysseus for another ten years

Odysseus' ten-year journey home to Ithaca was told in Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus and his men were blown far off course to lands unknown to the Achaeans; there Odysseus had many adventures, including the famous encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus, and an audience with the seer Teiresias in Hades. On the island of Thrinacia, Odysseus' men ate the cattle sacred to the sun-god Helios. For this sacrilege Odysseus' ships were destroyed, and all his men perished. Odysseus had not eaten the cattle, and was allowed to live; he washed ashore on the island of Ogygia, and lived there with the nymph Calypso. After seven years, the gods decided to send Odysseus home; on a small raft, he sailed to Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians, who gave him passage to Ithaca.

Once in his home land, Odysseus travelled disguised as an old beggar. He was recognised by his dog, Argos, who died in his lap. He then discovered that his wife, Penelope, had been faithful to him during the 20 years he was absent, despite the countless suitors that were eating his food and spending his property. With the help of his son Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the swineherd, he killed all of them except Medon, who had been polite to Penelope, and Phemius, a local singer who had only been forced to help the suitors against Penelope. Penelope tested Odysseus with his unstrung recurve bow to ensure it was him, and he forgave her.[205] The next day the suitors' relatives tried to take revenge on him but they were stopped by Athena.

Telegony

Main article: Telegony

The Telegony picks up where the Odyssey leaves off, beginning with the burial of the dead suitors, and continues until the death of Odysseus.[206] Some years after Odysseus' return, Telegonus, the son of Odysseus and Circe, came to Ithaca and plundered the island. Odysseus, attempting to fight off the attack, was killed by his unrecognised son. After Telegonus realised he had killed his father, he brought the body to his mother Circe, along with Telemachus and Penelope. Circe made them immortal; then Telegonus married Penelope and Telemachus married Circe.

Aeneid

 
Aeneas Flees Burning Troy (1598) by Federico Barocci
Main article: Aeneid

The journey of the Trojan survivor Aeneas and his resettling of Trojan refugees in Italy are the subject of the Latin epic poem the Aeneid by Virgil. Writing during the time of Augustus, Virgil has his hero give a first-person account of the fall of Troy in the second of the Aeneid's twelve books; the Trojan Horse, which does not appear in the Iliad, became legendary from Virgil's account.

Aeneas leads a group of survivors away from the city, among them his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus), his trumpeter Misenus, father Anchises, the healer Iapyx, his faithful sidekick Achates, and Mimas as a guide. His wife Creusa is killed during the sack of the city. Aeneas also carries the Lares and Penates of Troy, which the historical Romans claimed to preserve as guarantees of Rome's own security.

The Trojan survivors escape with a number of ships, seeking to establish a new homeland elsewhere. They land in several nearby countries that prove inhospitable, and are finally told by an oracle that they must return to the land of their forebears. They first try to establish themselves in Crete, where Dardanus had once settled, but find it ravaged by the same plague that had driven Idomeneus away. They find the colony led by Helenus and Andromache, but decline to remain. After seven years they arrive in Carthage, where Aeneas has an affair with Queen Dido (since according to tradition Carthage was founded in 814 BC, the arrival of Trojan refugees a few hundred years earlier exposes chronological difficulties within the mythic tradition). Eventually the gods order Aeneas to continue onward, and he and his people arrive at the mouth of the Tiber River in Italy. Dido commits suicide, and Aeneas's betrayal of her was regarded as an element in the long enmity between Rome and Carthage that expressed itself in the Punic Wars and led to Roman hegemony.

At Cumae, the Sibyl leads Aeneas on an archetypal descent to the underworld, where the shade of his dead father serves as a guide; this book of the Aeneid directly influenced Dante, who has Virgil act as his narrator's guide. Aeneas is given a vision of the future majesty of Rome, which it was his duty to found, and returns to the world of the living. He negotiates a settlement with the local king, Latinus, and was wed to his daughter, Lavinia. This triggered a war with other local tribes, which culminated in the founding of the settlement of Alba Longa, ruled by Aeneas and Lavinia's son Silvius. Roman myth attempted to reconcile two different founding myths: three hundred years later, in the more famous tradition, Romulus founded Rome after murdering his brother Remus. The Trojan origins of Rome became particularly important in the propaganda of Julius Caesar, whose family claimed descent from Venus through Aeneas's son Iulus (hence the Latin gens name Iulius), and during the reign of Augustus (see for instance the Tabulae Iliacae and the "Troy Game" presented frequently by the Julio-Claudian dynasty).

Dates of the Trojan War

Since this war was considered among the ancient Greeks as either the last event of the mythical age or the first event of the historical age, several dates are given for the fall of Troy. They usually derive from genealogies of kings. Ephorus gives 1135 BC,[207] Sosibius 1172 BC,[208] Eratosthenes 1184 BC/1183 BC,[209] Timaeus 1193 BC,[210] the Parian marble 1209 BC/1208 BC,[211] Dicaearchus 1212 BC,[212] Herodotus around 1250 BC,[213] Eretes 1291 BC,[214] while Douris gives 1334 BC.[215] As for the exact day Ephorus gives 23/24 Thargelion (May 6 or 7), Hellanicus 12 Thargelion (May 26)[216] while others give the 23rd of Sciroforion (July 7) or the 23rd of Ponamos (October 7).

The glorious and rich city Homer describes was believed to be Troy VI by many twentieth century AD authors, and destroyed about 1275 BC, probably by an earthquake. Its successor, Troy VIIa, was destroyed around 1180 BC; it was long considered a poorer city, and dismissed as a candidate for Homeric Troy, but since the excavation campaign of 1988, it has come to be regarded as the most likely candidate.[217][218][219]

Historical basis

See also: Historicity of the Iliad
 
Map showing the Hittite Empire, Ahhiyawa (possibly the Achaeans (Homer) and Wilusa (Troy)

The historicity of the Trojan War, including whether it occurred at all and where Troy was located if it ever existed, is still subject to debate. Most classical Greeks thought that the war was a historical event, but many believed that the Homeric poems had exaggerated the events to suit the demands of poetry. 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 AD 100, Dio Chrysostom argued that while the war was historical, it ended with the Trojans winning, and the Greeks attempted to hide that fact.[220] Around 1870 it was generally agreed in Western Europe that the Trojan War had never happened and Troy never existed.[221] Then Heinrich Schliemann popularised his excavations at Hisarlik, Çanakkale, 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.

In November 2001, geologist John C. Kraft and classicist John V. Luce presented the results of investigations into the geology of the region that had started in 1977.[222][223][224] The geologists compared the present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in the Iliad and other classical sources, notably Strabo's Geographica. Their conclusion was that there is regularly a consistency between the location of Troy as identified by Schliemann (and other locations such as the Greek camp), the geological evidence, and descriptions of the topography and accounts of the battle in the Iliad, although of course this could be a coincidence.

In the twentieth century AD, scholars have attempted to draw conclusions based on Hittite and Egyptian texts that date to the time of the Trojan War. While they give a general description of the political situation in the region at the time, their information on whether this particular conflict took place is limited. Andrew Dalby notes that while the Trojan War most likely did take place in some form and is therefore grounded in history, its true nature is unknown.[225] The Tawagalawa letter mentions a kingdom of Ahhiyawa (Achaea, or Greece) that lies beyond the sea (that would be the Aegean) and controls Milliwanda, which is identified with Miletus. Also mentioned in this and other letters is the Assuwa confederation made of 22 cities and countries which included the city of Wilusa (Ilios or Ilium). The Milawata letter implies this city lies on the north of the Assuwa confederation, beyond the Seha river. While the identification of Wilusa with Ilium (that is, Troy) is always controversial, in the 1990s it gained majority acceptance. In the Alaksandu treaty (c. 1280 BC) the king of the city is named Alaksandu, and Paris's name in the Iliad (among other works) is Alexander. The Tawagalawa letter (dated c. 1250 BC) which is addressed to the king of Ahhiyawa actually says: "Now as we have reached agreement on the matter of Wilusa over which we went to war-..."[226]

Formerly under the Hittites, the Assuwa confederation defected after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites (c. 1274 BC). In 1230 BC Hittite king Tudhaliya IV (c. 1240–1210 BC) campaigned against this federation. Under Arnuwanda III (c. 1210–1205 BC) the Hittites were forced to abandon the lands they controlled in the coast of the Aegean. It is possible that the Trojan War was a conflict between the king of Ahhiyawa and the Assuwa confederation. This view has been supported in that the entire war includes the landing in Mysia (and Telephus' wounding), Achilles's campaigns in the North Aegean and Telamonian Ajax's campaigns in Thrace and Phrygia. Most of these regions were part of Assuwa.[70][227] That most Achaean heroes did not return to their homes and founded colonies elsewhere was interpreted by Thucydides as being due to their long absence.[228] Nowadays the interpretation followed by most scholars is that the Achaean leaders driven out of their lands by the turmoil at the end of the Mycenaean era preferred to claim descent from exiles of the Trojan War.[229]

In popular culture

Main article: Trojan War in literature and the arts

The inspiration provided by these events produced many literary works, far more than can be listed here. The siege of Troy provided inspiration for many works of art, most famously Homer's Iliad, set in the last year of the siege. Some of the others include Troädes by Euripides, Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare, Iphigenia and Polyxena by Samuel Coster, Palamedes by Joost van den Vondel and Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz.

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.

References

  1. ^ Bryce, Trevor (2005). The Trojans and their neighbours. Taylor & Francis. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-415-34959-8.
  2. ^ Rutter, Jeremy B. "Troy VII and the Historicity of the Trojan War". from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  3. ^ In the second edition of his In Search of the Trojan War, Michael Wood notes developments that were made in the intervening ten years since his first edition was published. Scholarly skepticism about Schliemann's identification has been dispelled by the more recent archaeological discoveries, linguistic research, and translations of clay-tablet records of contemporaneous diplomacy. Wood, Michael (1998). "Preface". In Search of the Trojan War (2 ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-520-21599-0. Now, more than ever, in the 125 years since Schliemann put his spade into Hisarlik, there appears to be a historical basis to the tale of Troy
  4. ^ Wood (1985: 116–118)
  5. ^ Wood (1985: 19)
  6. ^ It is unknown whether this Proclus is the Neoplatonic philosopher, in which case the summary dates to the 5th century AD, or whether he is the lesser-known grammarian of the 2nd century AD. See Burgess, p. 12.
  7. ^ Burgess, pp. 10–12; cf. W. Kullmann (1960), Die Quellen der Ilias.
  8. ^ Burgess, pp. 3–4.
  9. ^ Scholium on Homer A.5.
  10. ^ Plato, Republic 2,379e.
  11. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.1, Hesiod Fragment 204,95ff.
  12. ^ Berlin Papyri, No. 9739; Hesiod. Catalogue of Women Fragment 68. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914
  13. ^ Apollonius Rhodius 4.757.
  14. ^ Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 767.
  15. ^ Scholiast on Homer's Iliad; Hyginus, Fabulae 54; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.217.
  16. ^ Apollodorus, Library 3.168.
  17. ^ Pindar, Nemean 5 ep2; Pindar, Isthmian 8 str3–str5.
  18. ^ Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 57; Cypria fr. 4.
  19. ^ Photius, Myrobiblion 190.
  20. ^ P.Oxy. 56, 3829 (L. Koppel, 1989)
  21. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 92.
  22. ^ Apollodorus Epitome E.3.2
  23. ^ Pausanias, 15.9.5.
  24. ^ Euripides Andromache 298; Div. i. 21; Apollodorus, Library 3.12.5.
  25. ^ Homer Iliad I.410
  26. ^ a b Apollodorus, Library 3.13.8.
  27. ^ Apollonius Rhodius 4.869–879 18 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine; Apollodorus, Library 3.13.6 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  28. ^ Frazer on Apollodorus, Library 3.13.6 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  29. ^ Alluded to in Statius, Achilleid 1.269–270 15 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 96.
  31. ^ Apollodorus 3.10.7.
  32. ^ Pausanias 1.33.1; Apollodorus, Library 3.10.7.
  33. ^ Apollodorus, Library 3.10.5; Hyginus, Fabulae 77.
  34. ^ Apollodorus, Library 3.10.9.
  35. ^ Pausanias 3.20.9.
  36. ^ Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 4 (as summarized in Photius, Myriobiblon 190).
  37. ^ Pindar, Pythian 11 ep4; Apollodorus, Library 3.11.15.
  38. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 2.15.
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Proclus Chrestomathy 1
  40. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.3.
  41. ^ Euripides, Helen 40.
  42. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.4.
  43. ^ Herodotus, Histories 1.2.
  44. ^ Apollodorus, Library 3.12.7.
  45. ^ Herodotus, 1.3.1.
  46. ^ Il. 3.205-6; 11.139
  47. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.6.
  48. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.7.
  49. ^ Il.11.767–770, (lines rejected by Aristophanes and Aristarchus)
  50. ^ Statius, Achilleid 1.25
  51. ^ Scholiast on Homer's Iliad 19.326; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.162 ff.
  52. ^ Pausanias, 1.22.6.
  53. ^ Homer, Iliad 11.19 ff.; Apollodurus, Epitome 3.9.
  54. ^ Philostratus, Heroicus 7.
  55. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.15.
  56. ^ Pausanias, 1.4.6.
  57. ^ Pindar, Isthmian 8.
  58. ^ Pausanias, 9.5.14.
  59. ^ a b Apollodorus, Epitome 3.20.
  60. ^ Aeschylus fragment 405–410
  61. ^ Pliny, Natural History 24.42, 34.152.
  62. ^ Davies, esp. pp. 8, 10.
  63. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.19.
  64. ^ Philodemus, On Piety.
  65. ^ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 27.
  66. ^ Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History 5 (as summarized in Photius, Myriobiblon 190).
  67. ^ Pausanias, 1.43.1.
  68. ^ History of the Pelloponesian War 1,10.
  69. ^ Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους (History of the Greek Nation) vol. A, Ekdotiki Athinon, Athens 1968.
  70. ^ a b Pantelis Karykas, Μυκηναίοι Πολεμιστές (Mycenian Warriors), Athens 1999.
  71. ^ Vice Admiral P.E. Konstas R.H.N.,Η ναυτική ηγεμονία των Μυκηνών (The naval hegemony of Mycenae), Athens 1966
  72. ^ Homer, Iliad Β.803–806.
  73. ^ Diodorus iv, 38.
  74. ^ Pausanias 8.33.4
  75. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.27.
  76. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.26.
  77. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.28.
  78. ^ Herodotus 4.145.3.
  79. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.29.
  80. ^ Pausanias 4.2.7.
  81. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.31.
  82. ^ Cartwright, Mark (2 August 2012). "Troy". World History Encyclopedia. from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  83. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.30.
  84. ^ Eustathius on Homer, Iliad ii.701.
  85. ^ Scholiast on Lycophron 532.
  86. ^ Thucydides 1.11.
  87. ^ Papademetriou Konstantinos, "Τα όπλα του Τρωϊκού Πολέμου" ("The weapons of the Trojan War"), Panzer Magazine issue 14, June–July 2004, Athens.
  88. ^ Iliad IX.328
  89. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.32 19 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine
  90. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.33; translation, Sir James George Frazer.
  91. ^ Volume 5 p. 80
  92. ^ Demetrius (2nd century BC) Scholium on Iliad Z,35
  93. ^ Parthenius Ερωτικά Παθήματα 21
  94. ^ Apollodorus, Library 3.12.5.
  95. ^ Homer, Iliad Φ 35–155.
  96. ^ Dictis Cretensis ii. 18; Sophocles, Ajax 210.
  97. ^ . Archived from the original on 9 December 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  98. ^ . Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  99. ^ . Archived from the original on 15 September 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  100. ^ Kakrides vol. 5 p. 92.
  101. ^ Servius, Scholium on Virgil's Aeneid 2.81
  102. ^ According to other accounts Odysseus, with the other Greek captains, including Agamemnon, conspired together against Palamedes, as all were envious of his accomplishments. See Simpson, Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, p. 251.
  103. ^ According to Apollodorus Epitome 3.8, Odysseus forced a Phrygian prisoner, to write the letter.
  104. ^ Pausanias 10.31.2; Simpson, Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, p. 251.
  105. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.9.
  106. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.10
  107. ^ See Achilles and Patroclus for details.
  108. ^ Fox, Robin (2011). The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind. Harvard University Press. p. 223. ISBN 9780674060944.
  109. ^ Fantuzzi, Marco (20 December 2012). Achilles in Love: Intertextual Studies. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-162611-1.
  110. ^ "Aeschines, Against Timarchus, section 133". from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021..
  111. ^ Scholiast on Homer, Iliad. xxiv. 804.
  112. ^ Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica i.18 ff.
  113. ^ a b Apollodorus, Epitome 5.1.
  114. ^ a b Pausanias 3.26.9.
  115. ^ Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Bk6 (as summarized in Photius, Myriobiblon 190)
  116. ^ a b c d Proclus, Chrestomathy 2, Aethiopis.
  117. ^ Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 999.
  118. ^ a b Apollodorus, Epitome 5.3.
  119. ^ Tzetzes ad Lycophroon 18.
  120. ^ Pausanias 10.31.7.
  121. ^ Dictys Cretensis iv. 4.
  122. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 8.372.
  123. ^ Pindarus Pythian vi. 30.
  124. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus ii. 224.
  125. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.75.4.
  126. ^ Pausanias 1.13.9.
  127. ^ Euripides, Hecuba 40.
  128. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iv. 88–595.
  129. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.5.
  130. ^ Pausanias 3.19.13.
  131. ^ Argument of Sophocles' Ajax
  132. ^ Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey λ.547.
  133. ^ Homer, Odyssey λ 542.
  134. ^ a b c d e Proclus, Chrestomathy 3, Little Iliad.
  135. ^ Pindar, Nemean Odes 8.46(25).
  136. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.6.
  137. ^ Zenobius, Cent. i.43.
  138. ^ Sophocles, Ajax 42, 277, 852.
  139. ^ Either by Calchas, (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.8; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 9.325–479), or by Paris' brother Helenus (Proclus, Chrestomathy 3, Little Iliad; Sophocles, Philoctetes 604–613; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 571–595).
  140. ^ This is according to Apollodorus, Epitome 5.8, Hyginus, Fabulae 103, Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 9.325–479, and Euripides, Philoctetes—but Sophocles, Philoctetes says Odysseus and Neoptolemus, while Proclus, Chrestomathy 3, Little Iliad says Diomedes alone.
  141. ^ Philoctetes was cured by a son of Asclepius, either Machaon, (Proclus, Chrestomathy 3, Little Iliad; Tzetzes, Posthomerica 571–595) or his brother Podalirius (Apollodorus, Epitome 5.8; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 9.325–479).
  142. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.9.
  143. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.10; Pausanias 5.13.4.
  144. ^ Pausanias 5.13.4–6, says that Pelop's shoulder-blade was brought to Troy from Pisa, and on its return home was lost at sea, later to be found by a fisherman, and identified as Pelop's by the Oracle at Delphi.
  145. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.11.
  146. ^ Odyssey λ.520
  147. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.12.
  148. ^ Pausanias 9.5.15.
  149. ^ Homer, Odyssey 4.242 ff.
  150. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.13.
  151. ^ Homer, Odyssey 8.492–495; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.14.
  152. ^ Pausanias, 3.13.5.
  153. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15, Simpson, p. 246.
  154. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.14, says the hollow horse held 50, but attributes to the author of the Little Iliad a figure of 3,000, a number that Simpson, p. 265, calls "absurd", saying that the surviving fragments only say that the Greeks put their "best men" inside the horse. Tzetzes, Posthomerica 641–650, gives a figure of 23, while Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xii.314–335, gives the names of thirty, and says that there were more. In late tradition it seems it was standardized at 40.
  155. ^ Homer, Odyssey 8.500–504; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.15.
  156. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.16, as translated by Simpson, p. 246. Proculus, Chrestomathy 3, Little Iliad, says that the Trojans pulled down a part of their walls to admit the horse.
  157. ^ a b c d e f g Proclus, Chrestomathy 4, Iliou Persis.
  158. ^ Homer, Odyssey 8.505 ff.; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.16–15.
  159. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.17 says that Cassandra warned of an armed force inside the horse, and that Laocoön agreed.
  160. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 2.199–227; Hyginus, Fabulae 135;
  161. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xii.444–497; Apollodorus, Epitome 5.18.
  162. ^ Scholiast on Lycophroon, 344.
  163. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.19–20.
  164. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.100–104, Translation by A.S. Way, 1913.
  165. ^ a b Apollodorus. Epitome 5.21.
  166. ^ Aristophanes, Lysistrata 155; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.423–457.
  167. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.22.
  168. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.22; Pausanias 10.31.2; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.462–473; Virgil, Aeneid 403–406. The rape of Cassandra was a popular theme of ancient Greek paintings, see Pausanias, 1.15.2, 5.11.6, 5.19.5, 10.26.3.
  169. ^ Homer, Iliad 3.203–207, 7.347–353; Apollodorus, Epitome, 5.21; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.322–331, Livy, 1.1; Pausanias, 10.26.8, 27.3 ff.; Strabo, 13.1.53.
  170. ^ Apollodorus. Epitome 5.23.
  171. ^ Proclus, Chrestomathy 4, Ilio Persis, says Odysseus killed Astyanax, while Pausanias, 10.25.9, says Neoptolemus.
  172. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.23.
  173. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.279–285.
  174. ^ Euripides, Trojan Women 709–739, 1133–1135; Hyginus, Fabulae 109.
  175. ^ Euripides, Hecuba 107–125, 218–224, 391–393, 521–582; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.193–328.
  176. ^ Homer, Iliad 3.144.
  177. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 5.22; Pausanias, 10.25.8; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.547–595.
  178. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.11.
  179. ^ a b Apollodorus, Epitome 5.24.
  180. ^ Strabo, 6.1.15.
  181. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.6.
  182. ^ Scholiast on Homer, Iliad 13.66.
  183. ^ Pausanias, 1.28.11.
  184. ^ Pausanias, 8.15.7
  185. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.12
  186. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.13.
  187. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.14.
  188. ^ Plutarch, 23.
  189. ^ Pausanias, 1.28.9.
  190. ^ Tzetzes ad Lycophroon 609.
  191. ^ Strabo, 6.3.9.
  192. ^ Strabo, 6.1.3.
  193. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.15b; Strabo, 6.1.3.
  194. ^ Homer, Odyssey 3.191.
  195. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 3.400
  196. ^ Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 13.259.
  197. ^ Homer, Odyssey 4.360.
  198. ^ Homer, Odyssey 4.382.
  199. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.29.
  200. ^ Pausanias, 2.16.6.
  201. ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 6.23.
  202. ^ Homer, Odyssey 1.30, 298.
  203. ^ Pausanias, 2.16.7.
  204. ^ Sophocles, Electra 1405.
  205. ^ Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1831, Emory and Waugh, NY, volume III p. 244
  206. ^ Proclus Chrestomathy 2, Telegony
  207. ^ FGrHist 70 F 223
  208. ^ FGrHist 595 F 1
  209. ^ Chronographiai FGrHist 241 F 1d
  210. ^ FGrHist 566 F 125
  211. ^ FGrHist 239, §24
  212. ^ Bios Hellados
  213. ^ Histories 2,145
  214. ^ FGrHist 242 F 1
  215. ^ FGrHist 76 F 41
  216. ^ FGrHist 4 F 152
  217. ^ Latacz, Troy and Homer, p. 286.
  218. ^ Strauss, The Trojan War, p. 10.
  219. ^ Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, pp. 114–116.
  220. ^ "LacusCurtius • Dio Chrysostom — Discourse 11". penelope.uchicago.edu.
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  227. ^ Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους (History of the Greek Nation) Volume A. Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon, 1968.
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  229. ^ Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths, "The Returns".

Further reading

 
Tabula Iliaca, a 1st-century BC Roman bas-relief depicting scenes from Trojan War narratives

Ancient authors

  • Apollodorus, Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, translated by Michael Simpson, The University of Massachusetts Press, (1976). ISBN 0-87023-205-3.
  • Apollodorus, Apollodorus: The Library 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, translated by Sir James George Frazer, two volumes, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press and London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Volume 1: ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Volume 2: ISBN 0-674-99136-2.
  • Euripides, Andromache 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, in Euripides: Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. (1996). ISBN 0-674-99533-3.
  • Euripides, Helen 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, in The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1. Helen, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
  • Euripides, Hecuba 19 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, in The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1. Hecuba, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
  • Herodotus, Histories 1 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece 25 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, (Loeb Classical Library) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918). Vol 1, Books I–II, ISBN 0-674-99104-4; Vol 2, Books III–V, ISBN 0-674-99207-5; Vol 3, Books VI–VIII.21, ISBN 0-674-99300-4; Vol 4, Books VIII.22–X, ISBN 0-674-99328-4.
  • Proclus, Chrestomathy, in Fragments of the Kypria 20 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain).
  • Proclus, Proclus' Summary of the Epic Cycle 9 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, trans. Gregory Nagy.
  • Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica, in Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy 1 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Arthur Sanders Way (Ed. & Trans.), Loeb Classics #19; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA. (1913). (1962 edition: ISBN 0-674-99022-6).
  • Strabo, Geography 9 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924)

Modern authors

  • Burgess, Jonathan S. 2004. The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle (Johns Hopkins). ISBN 0-8018-7890-X.
  • Castleden, Rodney. The Attack on Troy. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Books, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 1-84415-175-1).
  • Davies, Malcolm (2000). "Euripides Telephus Fr. 149 (Austin) and the Folk-Tale Origins of the Teuthranian Expedition" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 133: 7–10. (PDF) from the original on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2007.
  • Durschmied, Erik. The Hinge Factor:How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History. Coronet Books; New Ed edition (7 Oct 1999).
  • Frazer, Sir James George, Apollodorus: The Library 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, two volumes, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press and London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Volume 1: ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Volume 2: ISBN 0-674-99136-2.
  • Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths, Penguin (Non-Classics); Cmb/Rep edition (April 6, 1993). ISBN 0-14-017199-1.
  • Kakridis, J., 1988. Ελληνική Μυθολογία ("Greek mythology"), Ekdotiki Athinon, Athens.
  • Karykas, Pantelis, 2003. Μυκηναίοι Πολεμιστές ("Mycenean Warriors"), Communications Editions, Athens.
  • Latacz, Joachim. Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery. New York: Oxford University Press (US), 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 0-19-926308-6).
  • Simpson, Michael. Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus, The University of Massachusetts Press, (1976). ISBN 0-87023-205-3.
  • Strauss, Barry. The Trojan War: A New History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7432-6441-X).
  • Thompson, Diane P (2004). The Trojan War: Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1737-4.
  • Troy: From Homer's Iliad to Hollywood Epic, edited by Martin M. Winkler. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 1-4051-3182-9; paperback, ISBN 1-4051-3183-7).
  • Wood, Michael. In Search of the Trojan War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-21599-0); London: BBC Books, 1985 (ISBN 0-563-20161-4).

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trojan War.
  • Was There a Trojan War? 2012-12-28 at the Wayback Machine Maybe so. From Archeology, a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. May/June 2004
  • The Trojan War at Greek Mythology Link
  • . Archived from the original on 28 October 2007.
  • . Archived from the original on 19 December 2014.
  • The location of Troy and possible connections with the city of Teuthrania. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011.
  • The Greek Age of Bronze "Trojan war"
  • . Archived from the original on 19 April 2019.
  • BBC audio podcast Melvyn Bragg interviews Edith Hall and others on historicity, history and archaeology of the war. [Play]
  • Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (about 2500 images related to the Trojan War)
  • A New Astronomical Dating Of The Trojan War's End, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 28 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine

October 28, 2023
trojan, 1997, film, film, fall, troy, redirects, here, american, band, fall, troy, band, other, uses, fall, troy, disambiguation, greek, mythology, waged, against, city, troy, achaeans, greeks, after, paris, troy, took, helen, from, husband, menelaus, king, sp. For the 1997 film see Trojan War film Fall of Troy redirects here For the American band see The Fall of Troy band For other uses see The Fall of Troy disambiguation In Greek mythology the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans Greeks after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature most notably Homer s 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 Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid The ancient Greeks believed that Troy was located near the Dardanelles and that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC By the mid 19th century AD both the war and the city were widely seen as non historical but in 1868 the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert who convinced Schliemann that Troy was at what is now Hisarlik in Turkey 1 On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others this claim is now accepted by most scholars 2 3 Whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question Many scholars believe that there is a historical core to the tale though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various tales of sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean Greeks during the Bronze Age Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War are derived from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the 12th or 11th century BC often preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes 1194 1184 BC which roughly correspond to archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy VII 4 and the Late Bronze Age collapse Contents 1 Sources 2 Legend 2 1 Origins of the war 2 1 1 Plan of Zeus 2 1 2 Judgement of Paris 2 1 3 Elopement of Paris and Helen 2 2 Gathering of Achaean forces and the first expedition 2 2 1 Odysseus and Achilles 2 2 2 First gathering at Aulis 2 2 3 Telephus 2 3 Second gathering 2 4 Nine years of war 2 4 1 Philoctetes 2 4 2 Arrival 2 4 3 Achilles campaigns 2 4 4 Ajax and a game of petteia 2 4 5 Death of Palamedes 2 4 6 Mutiny 2 5 Iliad 2 6 After the Iliad 2 6 1 Penthesilea and the death of Achilles 2 6 2 Judgment of Arms 2 6 3 Prophecies 2 6 4 Trojan Horse 2 7 Sack of Troy 2 8 Returns 2 8 1 House of Atreus 2 9 Odyssey 2 10 Telegony 2 11 Aeneid 3 Dates of the Trojan War 4 Historical basis 5 In popular culture 6 References 7 Further reading 7 1 Ancient authors 7 2 Modern authors 8 External linksSourcesThe 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 5 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 Other parts of the Trojan War were told in the poems of the Epic Cycle also known as the Cyclic Epics the Cypria Aethiopis Little Iliad Iliou Persis Nostoi and Telegony Though these poems survive only in fragments their content is known from a summary included in Proclus Chrestomathy 6 The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is uncertain It is generally thought that the poems were written down in the 7th and 6th century BC after the composition of the Homeric poems though it is widely believed that they were based on earlier traditions 7 Both the Homeric epics and the Epic Cycle take origin from oral tradition Even after the composition of the Iliad Odyssey and the Cyclic Epics the myths of the Trojan War were passed on orally in many genres of poetry and through non poetic storytelling Events and details of the story that are only found in later authors may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as the Homeric poems Visual art such as vase painting was another medium in which myths of the Trojan War circulated 8 In later ages playwrights historians and other intellectuals would create works inspired by the Trojan War The three great tragedians of Athens Aeschylus Sophocles and Euripides wrote a number of dramas that portray episodes from 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 Legend nbsp The Golden Apple of Discord by Jacob JordaensTraditionally 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 goddesses promised the young man a boon in return for his favour power wisdom or love The youth in fact Paris a Trojan prince who had been raised in the countryside chose love and awarded the apple to Aphrodite As his reward Aphrodite caused Helen the Queen of Sparta and most beautiful of all women to fall in love with Paris The judgement of Paris earned him the ire of both Hera and Athena and when Helen left her husband Menelaus the Spartan king for Paris of Troy Menelaus called upon all the kings and princes of Greece to wage war upon Troy nbsp The Burning of Troy 1759 62 oil painting by Johann Georg TrautmannMenelaus brother Agamemnon king of Mycenae led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris insult After the deaths of many heroes including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax and the Trojans Hector and Paris the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves and desecrated the temples thus earning the gods wrath Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas Aphrodite s son and one of the Trojans who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy The following summary of the Trojan War follows the order of events as given in Proclus summary along with the Iliad Odyssey and Aeneid supplemented with details drawn from other authors Origins of the war Plan of Zeus nbsp Polyxena Sarcophagus in Troy MuseumAccording 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 9 or Themis 10 who was to use the Trojan War as a means to depopulate the Earth especially of his demigod descendants 11 These can be supported by Hesiod s account Now all the gods were divided through strife for at that very time Zeus who thunders on high was meditating marvelous deeds even to mingle storm and tempest over the boundless earth and already he was hastening to make an utter end of the race of mortal men declaring that he would destroy the lives of the demi gods that the children of the gods should not mate with wretched mortals seeing their fate with their own eyes but that the blessed gods henceforth even as aforetime should have their living and their habitations apart from men But on those who were born of immortals and of mankind verily Zeus laid toil and sorrow upon sorrow 12 Judgement of Paris Main article Judgement of Paris nbsp The Judgement of Paris 1599 by Hendrick van Balen the Elder Gemaldegalerie BerlinZeus came to learn from either Themis 13 or Prometheus after Heracles had released him from Caucasus 14 that like his father Cronus he would be overthrown by one of his sons Another prophecy stated that a son of the sea nymph Thetis with whom Zeus fell in love after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast would become greater than his father 15 For one or both of these reasons 16 either upon Zeus orders 17 or because she wished to please Hera who had raised her Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king Peleus son of Aeacus 18 All of the gods were invited to Peleus and Thetis wedding and brought many gifts 19 except Eris the goddess of discord who was stopped at the door by Hermes on Zeus order 20 Insulted she threw from the door a gift of her own 21 a golden apple to mhlon ths eridos on which was inscribed the word kallistῃ Kallistei To the fairest 22 The apple was claimed by Hera Athena and Aphrodite They quarrelled bitterly over it and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favouring one for fear of earning the enmity of the other two Eventually Zeus ordered Hermes to lead the three goddesses to Paris a prince of Troy who unaware of his ancestry was being raised as a shepherd on Mount Ida 23 because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy 24 After bathing in the spring of Ida the goddesses appeared to him naked either for the sake of winning or at Paris request Paris was unable to decide among them so the goddesses resorted to bribes Athena offered Paris wisdom skill in battle and the abilities of the greatest warriors Hera offered him political power and control of all of Asia and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world Helen of Sparta Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite and after several adventures returned to Troy where he was recognised by his royal family nbsp Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus detail of Attic black figure hydria 575 550 BC nbsp Musician figures from clay in Troy Museum Peleus and Thetis bore a son whom they named Achilles It was foretold that he would either die of old age after an uneventful life or die young in a battlefield and gain immortality through poetry 25 Furthermore when Achilles was nine years old Calchas had prophesied that Troy could not again fall without his help 26 A number of sources credit Thetis with attempting to make Achilles immortal when he was an infant Some of these state that she held him over fire every night to burn away his mortal parts and rubbed him with ambrosia during the day but Peleus discovered her actions and stopped her 27 According to some versions of this story Thetis had already killed several sons in this manner and Peleus action therefore saved his son s life 28 Other sources state that Thetis bathed Achilles in the Styx the river that runs to the underworld making him invulnerable wherever he was touched by the water 29 Because she had held him by the heel it was not entirely immersed during the bathing and thus the heel remained mortal and vulnerable to injury hence the expression Achilles heel for an isolated weakness He grew up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors After Calchas prophecy Thetis hid Achilles in Skyros at the court of King Lycomedes where he was disguised as a girl 30 At a crucial point in the war she assists her son by providing weapons divinely forged by Hephaestus see below Elopement of Paris and Helen nbsp The Abduction of Helen 1530 39 by Francesco Primaticcio with Aphrodite directingThe most beautiful woman in the world was Helen one of the daughters of Tyndareus King of Sparta Her mother was Leda who had been either raped or seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan 31 Accounts differ over which of Leda s four children two pairs of twins were fathered by Zeus and which by Tyndareus However Helen is usually credited as Zeus daughter 32 and sometimes Nemesis is credited as her mother 33 Helen had scores of suitors and her father was unwilling to choose one for fear the others would retaliate violently Finally one of the suitors Odysseus of Ithaca proposed a plan to solve the dilemma In exchange for Tyndareus support of his own suit towards Penelope 34 he suggested that Tyndareus require all of Helen s suitors to promise that they would defend the marriage of Helen regardless of whom he chose The suitors duly swore the required oath on the severed pieces of a horse although not without a certain amount of grumbling 35 Tyndareus chose Menelaus Menelaus was a political choice on her father s part He had wealth and power He had humbly not petitioned for her himself but instead sent his brother Agamemnon on his behalf He had promised Aphrodite a hecatomb a sacrifice of 100 oxen if he won Helen but forgot about it and earned her wrath 36 Menelaus inherited Tyndareus throne of Sparta with Helen as his queen when her brothers Castor and Pollux became gods 37 and when Agamemnon married Helen s sister Clytemnestra and took back the throne of Mycenae 38 Paris under the guise of a supposed diplomatic mission went to Sparta to get Helen and bring her back to Troy Before Helen could look up to see him enter the palace she was shot with an arrow from Eros otherwise known as Cupid and fell in love with Paris when she saw him as promised by Aphrodite Menelaus had left for Crete 39 to bury his uncle Crateus 40 According to one account Hera still jealous over the judgement of Paris sent a storm 39 The storm caused the lovers to land in Egypt where the gods replaced Helen with a likeness of her made of clouds Nephele 41 The myth of Helen being switched is attributed to the 6th century BC Sicilian poet Stesichorus while for Homer the Helen in Troy was one and the same The ship then landed in Sidon Paris fearful of getting caught spent some time there and then sailed to Troy 42 nbsp A map of Homeric GreeceParis abduction of Helen had several precedents Io was taken from Mycenae Europa was taken from Phoenicia Jason took Medea from Colchis 43 and the Trojan princess Hesione had been taken by Heracles who gave her to Telamon of Salamis 44 According to Herodotus Paris was emboldened by these examples to steal himself a wife from Greece and expected no retribution since there had been none in the other cases 45 Gathering of Achaean forces and the first expedition According to Homer Menelaus and his ally Odysseus travelled to Troy where they unsuccessfully sought to recover Helen by diplomatic means 46 Menelaus then asked Agamemnon to uphold his oath which as one of Helen s suitors was to defend her marriage regardless of which suitor had been chosen Agamemnon agreed and sent emissaries to all the Achaean kings and princes to call them to observe their oaths and retrieve Helen 47 Odysseus and Achilles nbsp A scene from the Iliad where Odysseus Ulysses discovers Achilles dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses at the royal court of Skyros A late Roman mosaic from La Olmeda Spain 4th 5th centuries ADSince 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 Odysseus turned aside unwilling to kill his son so revealing his sanity and forcing him to join the war 39 48 According to Homer however Odysseus supported the military adventure from the beginning and travelled the region with Pylos king Nestor to recruit forces 49 At Skyros Achilles had an affair with the king s daughter Deidamia resulting in a child Neoptolemus 50 Odysseus Telamonian Ajax and Achilles tutor Phoenix went to retrieve Achilles Achilles mother disguised him as a woman so that he would not have to go to war but according to one story they blew a horn and Achilles revealed himself by seizing a spear to fight intruders rather than fleeing 26 According to another story they disguised themselves as merchants bearing trinkets and weaponry and Achilles was marked out from the other women for admiring weaponry instead of clothes and jewellery 51 Pausanias said that according to Homer Achilles did not hide in Skyros but rather conquered the island as part of the Trojan War 52 First gathering at Aulis nbsp The Discovery of Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes 1664 by Jan de BrayThe 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 53 Idomeneus was willing to lead the Cretan contingent in Mycenae s war against Troy but only as a co commander which he was granted 54 The last commander to arrive was Achilles who was then 15 years old Following a sacrifice to Apollo a snake slithered from the altar to a sparrow s nest in a plane tree nearby It ate the mother and her nine chicks then was turned to stone Calchas interpreted this as a sign that Troy would fall in the tenth year of the war 55 Telephus When the Achaeans left for the war they did not know the way and accidentally landed in Mysia ruled by King Telephus son of Heracles who had led a contingent of Arcadians to settle there 56 In the battle Achilles wounded Telephus 57 who had killed Thersander 58 Because the wound would not heal Telephus asked an oracle What will happen to the wound The oracle responded he that wounded shall heal The Achaean fleet then set sail and was scattered by a storm Achilles landed in Skyros and married Deidamia A new gathering was set again in Aulis 39 Telephus went to Aulis and either pretended to be a beggar asking Agamemnon to help heal his wound 59 or kidnapped Orestes and held him for ransom demanding the wound be healed 60 Achilles refused claiming to have no medical knowledge Odysseus reasoned that the spear that had inflicted the wound must be able to heal it Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed 61 Telephus then showed the Achaeans the route to Troy 59 Some scholars have regarded the expedition against Telephus and its resolution as a derivative reworking of elements from the main story of the Trojan War but it has also been seen as fitting the story pattern of the preliminary adventure that anticipates events and themes from the main narrative and therefore as likely to be early and integral 62 Second gathering nbsp A map of the Troad Troas Eight years after the storm had scattered them 63 the fleet of more than a thousand ships was gathered again When they had all reached Aulis the winds ceased The prophet Calchas stated that the goddess Artemis was punishing Agamemnon for killing either a sacred deer or a deer in a sacred grove and boasting that he was a better hunter than she 39 The only way to appease Artemis he said was to sacrifice Iphigenia who was either the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra 64 or of Helen and Theseus entrusted to Clytemnestra when Helen married Menelaus 65 Agamemnon refused and the other commanders threatened to make Palamedes commander of the expedition 66 According to some versions Agamemnon relented and performed the sacrifice but others claim that he sacrificed a deer in her place or that at the last moment Artemis took pity on the girl and took her to be a maiden in one of her temples substituting a lamb 39 Hesiod says that Iphigenia became the goddess Hecate 67 The Achaean forces are described in detail in the Catalogue of Ships in the second book of the Iliad They consisted of 28 contingents from mainland Greece the Peloponnese the Dodecanese islands Crete and Ithaca comprising 1186 pentekonters ships with 50 rowers Thucydides says 68 that according to tradition there were about 1200 ships and that the Boeotian ships had 120 men while Philoctetes ships only had the fifty rowers these probably being maximum and minimum These numbers would mean a total force of 70 000 to 130 000 men Another catalogue of ships is given by the Bibliotheca that differs somewhat but agrees in numbers Some scholars have claimed that Homer s catalogue is an original Bronze Age document possibly the Achaean commander s order of operations 69 70 71 Others believe it was a fabrication of Homer The second book of the Iliad also lists the Trojan allies consisting of the Trojans themselves led by Hector and various allies listed as Dardanians led by Aeneas Zeleians Adrasteians Percotians Pelasgians Thracians Ciconian spearmen Paionian archers Halizones Mysians Phrygians Maeonians Miletians Lycians led by Sarpedon and Carians Nothing is said of the Trojan language the Carians are specifically said to be barbarian speaking and the allied contingents are said to have spoken many languages requiring orders to be translated by their individual commanders 72 The Trojans and Achaeans in the Iliad share the same religion same culture and the enemy heroes speak to each other in the same language though this could be dramatic effect Nine years of war Philoctetes nbsp Philoctetes on Lemnos with Heracles bow and quiver Attic red figure lekythos 420 BC Philoctetes was Heracles friend and because he lit Heracles s funeral pyre when no one else would he received Heracles bow and arrows 73 He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War where he was planning on fighting for the Achaeans They stopped either at Chryse Island for supplies 74 or in Tenedos along with the rest of the fleet 75 Then Philoctetes was bitten by a snake The wound festered and had a foul smell on Odysseus s advice the Atreidae ordered Philoctetes to stay on Lemnos 39 Medon took control of Philoctetes s men While landing on Tenedos Achilles killed king Tenes son of Apollo despite a warning by his mother that if he did so he would be killed himself by Apollo 76 From Tenedos Agamemnon sent an embassy to the Priam king of Troy composed of Menelaus and Odysseus asking for Helen s return The embassy was refused 77 Philoctetes stayed on Lemnos for ten years which was a deserted island according to Sophocles tragedy Philoctetes but according to earlier tradition was populated by Minyans 78 Arrival Calchas had prophesied that the first Achaean to walk on land after stepping off a ship would be the first to die 79 Thus even the leading Greeks hesitated to land Finally Protesilaus leader of the Phylaceans landed first 80 Odysseus had tricked him in throwing his own shield down to land on so that while he was first to leap off his ship he was not the first to land on Trojan soil Hector killed Protesilaus in single combat though the Trojans conceded the beach In the second wave of attacks Achilles killed Cycnus son of Poseidon The Trojans then fled to the safety of the walls of their city 81 The walls served as sturdy fortifications for defence against the Greeks The build of the walls was so impressive that legend held that they had been built by Poseidon and Apollo during a year of forced service to Trojan King Laomedon 82 Protesilaus had killed many Trojans but was killed by Hector in most versions of the story 83 though others list Aeneas Achates or Ephorbus as his slayer 84 The Achaeans buried him as a god on the Thracian peninsula across the Troad 85 After Protesilaus death his brother Podarces took command of his troops Achilles campaigns nbsp Achilles surrender of Briseis to Agamemnon from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii fresco 1st century AD now in the Naples National Archaeological MuseumThe 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 86 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 87 Achilles and Ajax were the most active of the Achaeans leading separate armies to raid lands of Trojan allies According to Homer Achilles conquered 11 cities and 12 islands 88 According to Apollodorus he raided the land of Aeneas in the Troad region and stole his cattle 89 He also captured Lyrnassus Pedasus and many of the neighbouring cities and killed Troilus it was said that if he reached 20 years of age Troy would not fall According to Apollodorus He also took Lesbos and Phocaea then Colophon and Smyrna and Clazomenae and Cyme and afterwards Aegialus and Tenos the so called Hundred Cities then in order Adramytium and Side then Endium and Linaeum and Colone He took also Hypoplacian Thebes and Lyrnessus and further Antandrus and many other cities 90 Kakrides comments that the list is wrong in that it extends too far into the south 91 Other sources talk of Achilles taking Pedasus Monenia 92 Mythemna in Lesbos and Peisidice 93 Among the loot from these cities was Briseis from Lyrnessus who was awarded to him and Chryseis from Hypoplacian Thebes who was awarded to Agamemnon 39 Achilles captured Lycaon son of Priam 94 while he was cutting branches in his father s orchards Patroclus sold him as a slave in Lemnos 39 where he was bought by Eetion of Imbros and brought back to Troy Only 12 days later Achilles slew him after the death of Patroclus 95 Ajax and a game of petteia Ajax son of Telamon laid waste the Thracian peninsula of which Polymestor a son in law of Priam was king Polymestor surrendered Polydorus one of Priam s children of whom he had custody He then attacked the town of the Phrygian king Teleutas killed him in single combat and carried off his daughter Tecmessa 96 Ajax also hunted the Trojan flocks both on Mount Ida and in the countryside nbsp Achilles and Ajax engaged in a game c 540 530 BC Vatican MuseumsNumerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions At some point in the war Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game petteia 97 98 They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle 99 The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes who were only saved by an intervention of Athena 100 Death of Palamedes Odysseus was sent to Thrace to return with grain but came back empty handed When scorned by Palamedes Odysseus challenged him to do better Palamedes set out and returned with a shipload of grain 101 Odysseus had never forgiven Palamedes for threatening the life of his son In revenge Odysseus conceived a plot 102 where an incriminating letter was forged from Priam to Palamedes 103 and gold was planted in Palamedes quarters The letter and gold were discovered and Agamemnon had Palamedes stoned to death for treason However Pausanias quoting the Cypria says that Odysseus and Diomedes drowned Palamedes while he was fishing and Dictys says that Odysseus and Diomedes lured Palamedes into a well which they said contained gold then stoned him to death 104 Palamedes father Nauplius sailed to the Troad and asked for justice but was refused In revenge Nauplius travelled among the Achaean kingdoms and told the wives of the kings that they were bringing Trojan concubines to dethrone them Many of the Greek wives were persuaded to betray their husbands most significantly Agamemnon s wife Clytemnestra who was seduced by Aegisthus son of Thyestes 105 Mutiny Near the end of the ninth year since the landing the Achaean army tired from the fighting and from the lack of supplies mutinied against their leaders and demanded to return to their homes According to the Cypria Achilles forced the army to stay 39 According to Apollodorus Agamemnon brought the Wine Growers daughters of Anius son of Apollo who had the gift of producing by touch wine wheat and oil from the earth in order to relieve the supply problem of the army 106 Iliad Main article Iliad nbsp Chryses pleading with Agamemnon for his daughter 360 350 BC Chryses a priest of Apollo and father of Chryseis came to Agamemnon to ask for the return of his daughter Agamemnon refused and insulted Chryses who prayed to Apollo to avenge his ill treatment Enraged Apollo afflicted the Achaean army with plague Agamemnon was forced to return Chryseis to end the plague and took Achilles concubine Briseis as his own Enraged at the dishonour Agamemnon had inflicted upon him Achilles decided he would no longer fight He asked his mother Thetis to intercede with Zeus who agreed to give the Trojans success in the absence of Achilles the best warrior of the Achaeans After the withdrawal of Achilles the Achaeans were initially successful Both armies gathered in full for the first time since the landing Menelaus and Paris fought a duel which ended when Aphrodite snatched the beaten Paris from the field With the truce broken the armies began fighting again Diomedes won great renown amongst the Achaeans killing the Trojan hero Pandaros and nearly killing Aeneas who was only saved by his mother Aphrodite With the assistance of Athena Diomedes then wounded the gods Aphrodite and Ares During the next days however the Trojans drove the Achaeans back to their camp and were stopped at the Achaean wall by Poseidon The next day though with Zeus help the Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and were on the verge of setting fire to the Achaean ships An earlier appeal to Achilles to return was rejected but after Hector burned Protesilaus ship he allowed his companion Patroclus to go into battle wearing Achilles armour and lead his army Patroclus drove the Trojans all the way back to the walls of Troy and was only prevented from storming the city by the intervention of Apollo Patroclus was then killed by Hector who took Achilles armour from the body of Patroclus nbsp Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector s body around Troy from a panoramic fresco of the AchilleionAchilles maddened with grief over the death of Patroclus swore to kill Hector in revenge The exact nature of Achilles relationship to Patroclus is the subject of some debate 107 Although certainly very close Achilles and Patroclus are never explicitly cast as lovers by Homer 108 but they were depicted as such in the archaic and classical periods of Greek literature particularly in the works of Aeschylus Aeschines and Plato 109 110 He was reconciled with Agamemnon and received Briseis back untouched by Agamemnon He received a new set of arms forged by the god Hephaestus and returned to the battlefield He slaughtered many Trojans and nearly killed Aeneas who was saved by Poseidon Achilles fought with the river god Scamander and a battle of the gods followed The Trojan army returned to the city except for Hector who remained outside the walls because he was tricked by Athena Achilles killed Hector and afterwards he dragged Hector s body from his chariot and refused to return the body to the Trojans for burial The body nevertheless remained unscathed as it was preserved from all injury by Apollo and Aphrodite The Achaeans then conducted funeral games for Patroclus Afterwards Priam came to Achilles tent guided by Hermes and asked Achilles to return Hector s body The armies made a temporary truce to allow the burial of the dead The Iliad ends with the funeral of Hector After the Iliad Penthesilea and the death of Achilles nbsp Achilles killing the Amazon PenthesileaShortly after the burial of Hector Penthesilea queen of the Amazons arrived with her warriors 111 Penthesilea daughter of Otrera and Ares had accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte She was purified from this action by Priam 112 and in exchange she fought for him and killed many including Machaon 113 according to Pausanias Machaon was killed by Eurypylus 114 and according to one version Achilles himself who was resurrected at the request of Thetis 115 In another version Penthesilia was killed by Achilles 116 who would later mourn her after her death Thersites a simple soldier and the ugliest Achaean taunted Achilles over his grief 113 and gouged out Penthesilea s eyes 117 Achilles slew Thersites and after a dispute sailed to Lesbos where he was purified for his murder by Odysseus after sacrificing to Apollo Artemis and Leto 116 While they were away Memnon of Ethiopia son of Tithonus and Eos 118 came with his host to help his stepbrother Priam 119 He did not come directly from Ethiopia but either from Susa in Persia conquering all the peoples in between 120 or from the Caucasus leading an army of Ethiopians and Indians 121 Like Achilles he wore armour made by Hephaestus 122 In the ensuing battle Memnon killed Antilochus who took one of Memnon s blows to save his father Nestor 123 Achilles and Memnon then fought Zeus weighed the fate of the two heroes the weight containing that of Memnon sank 124 and he was slain by Achilles 116 125 Achilles chased the Trojans to their city which he entered The gods seeing that he had killed too many of their children decided that it was his time to die He was killed after Paris shot a poisoned arrow that was guided by Apollo 116 118 126 In another version he was killed by a knife to the back or heel by Paris while marrying Polyxena daughter of Priam in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo 127 the site where he had earlier killed Troilus Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valour saying Achilles remained undefeated on the battlefield His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus and funeral games were held 128 Like Ajax Achilles is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube River 129 130 Judgment of Arms nbsp The suicide of Ajax depicted on Greek pottery by Exekias now on display at the Chateau musee de Boulogne sur MerA great battle raged around the dead Achilles Ajax held back the Trojans while Odysseus carried the body away 131 When Achilles armour was offered to the smartest warrior the two that had saved his body came forward as competitors Agamemnon unwilling to undertake the invidious duty of deciding between the two competitors referred the dispute to the decision of the Trojan prisoners inquiring of them which of the two heroes had done most harm to the Trojans 132 Alternatively the Trojans and Pallas Athena were the judges 133 134 in that following Nestor s advice spies were sent to the walls to overhear what was said A girl said that Ajax was braver For Aias took up and carried out of the strife the hero Peleus son this great Odysseus cared not to do To this another replied by Athena s contrivance Why what is this you say A thing against reason and untrue Even a woman could carry a load once a man had put it on her shoulder but she could not fight For she would fail with fear if she should fight Scholiast on Aristophanes Knights 1056 and Aristophanes ib According to Pindar the decision was made by secret ballot among the Achaeans 135 In all story versions the arms were awarded to Odysseus Driven mad with grief Ajax desired to kill his comrades but Athena caused him to mistake for the Achaean warriors the cattle and their herdsmen 136 In his frenzy he scourged two rams believing them to be Agamemnon and Menelaus 137 In the morning he came to his senses and killed himself by jumping on the sword that had been given to him by Hector so that it pierced his armpit his only vulnerable part 138 According to an older tradition he was killed by the Trojans who seeing he was invulnerable attacked him with clay until he was covered by it and could no longer move thus dying of starvation citation needed Prophecies nbsp A fresco depicting Odysseus Diomedes and Cassandra from Pompeii Italy 1st century BC 1st century ADAfter the tenth year it was prophesied 139 that Troy could not fall without Heracles bow which was with Philoctetes in Lemnos Odysseus and Diomedes 140 retrieved Philoctetes whose wound had healed 141 Philoctetes then shot and killed Paris According to Apollodorus Paris brothers Helenus and Deiphobus vied over the hand of Helen Deiphobus prevailed and Helenus abandoned Troy for Mount Ida Calchas said that Helenus knew the prophecies concerning the fall of Troy so Odysseus waylaid Helenus 134 142 Under coercion Helenus told the Achaeans that they would win if they retrieved Pelops bones persuaded Achilles son Neoptolemus to fight for them and stole the Trojan Palladium 143 The Greeks retrieved Pelops bones 144 and sent Odysseus to retrieve Neoptolemus who was hiding from the war in King Lycomedes s court in Skyros Odysseus gave him his father s arms 134 145 Eurypylus son of Telephus leading according to Homer a large force of Keteioi 146 or Hittites or Mysians according to Apollodorus 147 arrived to aid the Trojans Eurypylus killed Machaon 114 and Peneleos 148 but was slain by Neoptolemus Disguised as a beggar Odysseus went to spy inside Troy but was recognised by Helen Homesick 149 Helen plotted with Odysseus Later with Helen s help Odysseus and Diomedes stole the Palladium 134 150 Trojan Horse Main article Trojan Horse nbsp The earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse from the Mykonos vase c 670 BCThe end of the war came with one final plan Odysseus devised a new ruse a giant hollow wooden horse an animal that was sacred to the Trojans It was built by Epeius and guided by Athena 151 from the wood of a cornel tree grove sacred to Apollo 152 with the inscription The Greeks dedicate this thank offering to Athena for their return home 153 The hollow horse was filled with soldiers 154 led by Odysseus The rest of the army burned the camp and sailed for Tenedos 155 When the Trojans discovered that the Greeks were gone believing the war was over they joyfully dragged the horse inside the city 156 while they debated what to do with it Some thought they ought to hurl it down from the rocks others thought they should burn it while others said they ought to dedicate it to Athena 157 158 Both Cassandra and Laocoon warned against keeping the horse 159 While Cassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo she was also cursed by Apollo never to be believed Serpents then came out of the sea and devoured either Laocoon and one of his two sons 157 Laocoon and both his sons 160 or only his sons 161 a portent which so alarmed the followers of Aeneas that they withdrew to Ida 157 The Trojans decided to keep the horse and turned to a night of mad revelry and celebration 134 Sinon an Achaean spy signalled the fleet stationed at Tenedos when it was midnight and the clear moon was rising 162 and the soldiers from inside the horse emerged and killed the guards 163 Sack of Troy nbsp Neoptolemus son of Achilles kills King Priam detail of Attic black figure amphora 520 510 BC The Achaeans entered the city and killed the sleeping population A great massacre followed which continued into the day Blood ran in torrents drenched was all the earth As Trojans and their alien helpers died Here were men lying quelled by bitter death All up and down the city in their blood 164 The Trojans fuelled with desperation fought back fiercely despite being disorganised and leaderless With the fighting at its height some donned fallen enemies attire and launched surprise counterattacks in the chaotic street fighting Other defenders hurled down roof tiles and anything else heavy down on the rampaging attackers The outlook was grim though and eventually the remaining defenders were destroyed along with the whole city Neoptolemus killed Priam who had taken refuge at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard 157 165 Menelaus killed Deiphobus Helen s husband after Paris death and also intended to kill Helen but overcome by her beauty threw down his sword 166 and took her to the ships 157 167 nbsp Menelaus captures Helen in Troy Ajax the Lesser drags Cassandra from Palladium before the eyes of Priam fresco from the Casa del Menandro Pompeii Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra on Athena s altar while she was clinging to her statue Because of Ajax s impiety the Acheaens urged by Odysseus wanted to stone him to death but he fled to Athena s altar and was spared 157 168 Antenor who had given hospitality to Menelaus and Odysseus when they asked for the return of Helen and who had advocated so was spared along with his family 169 Aeneas took his father on his back and fled and according to Apollodorus was allowed to go because of his piety 165 The Greeks then burned the city and divided the spoils Cassandra was awarded to Agamemnon Neoptolemus got Andromache wife of Hector and Odysseus was given Hecuba Priam s wife 170 The Achaeans 171 threw Hector s infant son Astyanax down from the walls of Troy 172 either out of cruelty and hate 173 or to end the royal line and the possibility of a son s revenge 174 They by usual tradition Neoptolemus also sacrificed the Trojan princess Polyxena on the grave of Achilles 175 Aethra Theseus mother and one of Helen s handmaids 176 was rescued by her grandsons Demophon and Acamas 157 177 Returns Main article Returns from Troy The gods were very angry over the destruction of their temples and other sacrilegious acts by the Achaeans and decided that most would not return home A storm fell on the returning fleet off Tenos island Additionally Nauplius in revenge for the murder of his son Palamedes set up false lights in Cape Caphereus also known today as Cavo D Oro in Euboea and many were shipwrecked 178 Agamemnon had made it back to Argos safely with Cassandra in his possession after some stormy weather He and Cassandra were slain by Aegisthus in the oldest versions of the story or by Clytemnestra or by both of them Electra and Orestes later avenged their father but Orestes was the one who was chased by the Furies Nestor who had the best conduct in Troy and did not take part in the looting was the only hero who had a fast and safe return 179 Those of his army that survived the war also reached home with him safely but later left and colonised Metapontium in Southern Italy 180 nbsp Poseidon smites Ajax the Lesser by Bonaventura Genelli 1798 1868 Ajax the Lesser who had endured more than the others the wrath of the Gods never returned His ship was wrecked by a storm sent by Athena who borrowed one of Zeus thunderbolts and tore the ship to pieces The crew managed to land in a rock but Poseidon struck it and Ajax fell in the sea and drowned He was buried by Thetis in Myconos 181 or Delos 182 Teucer son of Telamon and half brother of Ajax stood trial by his father for his half brother s death He was disowned by his father and wasn t allowed back on Salamis Island He was at sea near Phreattys in Peiraeus 183 He was acquitted of responsibility but found guilty of negligence because he did not return his dead body or his arms He left with his army who took their wives and founded Salamis in Cyprus 184 The Athenians later created a political myth that his son left his kingdom to Theseus sons and not to Megara Neoptolemus following the advice of Helenus who accompanied him when he travelled over land was always accompanied by Andromache He met Odysseus and they buried Achilles teacher Phoenix on the land of the Ciconians They then conquered the land of the Molossians Epirus and Neoptolemus had a child by Andromache Molossus to whom he later gave the throne 185 Thus the kings of Epirus claimed their lineage from Achilles and so did Alexander the Great whose mother was of that royal house Alexander the Great and the kings of Macedon also claimed to be descended from Heracles Helenus founded a city in Molossia and inhabited it and Neoptolemus gave him his mother Deidamia as wife After Peleus died he succeeded Phtia s throne 186 He had a feud with Orestes son of Agamemnon over Menelaus daughter Hermione and was killed in Delphi where he was buried 187 In Roman myths the kingdom of Phtia was taken over by Helenus who married Andromache They offered hospitality to other Trojan refugees including Aeneas who paid a visit there during his wanderings Diomedes was first thrown by a storm on the coast of Lycia where he was to be sacrificed to Ares by king Lycus but Callirrhoe the king s daughter took pity upon him and assisted him in escaping 188 He then accidentally landed in Attica in Phaleron The Athenians unaware that they were allies attacked them Many were killed and Demophon took the Palladium 189 He finally landed in Argos where he found his wife Aegialeia committing adultery In disgust he left for Aetolia 190 According to later traditions he had some adventures and founded Canusium and Argyrippa in Southern Italy 191 Philoctetes due to a sedition was driven from his city and emigrated to Italy where he founded the cities of Petilia Old Crimissa and Chone between Croton and Thurii 192 After making war on the Leucanians he founded there a sanctuary of Apollo the Wanderer to whom also he dedicated his bow 193 According to Homer Idomeneus reached his house safe and sound 194 Another tradition later formed After the war Idomeneus s ship hit a horrible storm Idomeneus promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw when he returned home if Poseidon would save his ship and crew The first living thing he saw was his son whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed The gods were angry at his murder of his own son and they sent a plague to Crete His people sent him into exile to Calabria in Italy 195 and then to Colophon in Asia Minor where he died 196 Among the lesser Achaeans very few reached their homes House of Atreus nbsp The murder of Agamemnon 1879 illustration from Alfred Church s Stories from the Greek Tragedians According to the Odyssey Menelaus s fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt where they were unable to sail away because the winds were calm 197 Only five of his ships survived 179 Menelaus had to catch Proteus a shape shifting sea god to find out what sacrifices to which gods he would have to make to guarantee safe passage 198 According to some stories the Helen who was taken by Paris was a fake and the real Helen was in Egypt where she was reunited with Menelaus Proteus also told Menelaus that he was destined for Elysium Heaven after his death Menelaus returned to Sparta with Helen eight years after he had left Troy 199 Agamemnon returned home with Cassandra to Argos His wife Clytemnestra Helen s sister was having an affair with Aegisthus son of Thyestes Agamemnon s cousin who had conquered Argos before Agamemnon himself retook it Possibly out of vengeance for the death of Iphigenia Clytemnestra plotted with her lover to kill Agamemnon Cassandra foresaw this murder and warned Agamemnon but he disregarded her He was killed either at a feast or in his bath 200 according to different versions Cassandra was also killed 201 Agamemnon s son Orestes who had been away returned and conspired with his sister Electra to avenge their father 202 He killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and succeeded to his father s throne 203 204 Odyssey Main article Odyssey nbsp Odysseus and Polyphemus by Arnold Bocklin the Cyclops curse delays the homecoming of Odysseus for another ten yearsOdysseus ten year journey home to Ithaca was told in Homer s Odyssey Odysseus and his men were blown far off course to lands unknown to the Achaeans there Odysseus had many adventures including the famous encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus and an audience with the seer Teiresias in Hades On the island of Thrinacia Odysseus men ate the cattle sacred to the sun god Helios For this sacrilege Odysseus ships were destroyed and all his men perished Odysseus had not eaten the cattle and was allowed to live he washed ashore on the island of Ogygia and lived there with the nymph Calypso After seven years the gods decided to send Odysseus home on a small raft he sailed to Scheria the home of the Phaeacians who gave him passage to Ithaca Once in his home land Odysseus travelled disguised as an old beggar He was recognised by his dog Argos who died in his lap He then discovered that his wife Penelope had been faithful to him during the 20 years he was absent despite the countless suitors that were eating his food and spending his property With the help of his son Telemachus Athena and Eumaeus the swineherd he killed all of them except Medon who had been polite to Penelope and Phemius a local singer who had only been forced to help the suitors against Penelope Penelope tested Odysseus with his unstrung recurve bow to ensure it was him and he forgave her 205 The next day the suitors relatives tried to take revenge on him but they were stopped by Athena Telegony Main article Telegony The Telegony picks up where the Odyssey leaves off beginning with the burial of the dead suitors and continues until the death of Odysseus 206 Some years after Odysseus return Telegonus the son of Odysseus and Circe came to Ithaca and plundered the island Odysseus attempting to fight off the attack was killed by his unrecognised son After Telegonus realised he had killed his father he brought the body to his mother Circe along with Telemachus and Penelope Circe made them immortal then Telegonus married Penelope and Telemachus married Circe Aeneid nbsp Aeneas Flees Burning Troy 1598 by Federico BarocciMain article Aeneid The journey of the Trojan survivor Aeneas and his resettling of Trojan refugees in Italy are the subject of the Latin epic poem the Aeneid by Virgil Writing during the time of Augustus Virgil has his hero give a first person account of the fall of Troy in the second of the Aeneid s twelve books the Trojan Horse which does not appear in the Iliad became legendary from Virgil s account Aeneas leads a group of survivors away from the city among them his son Ascanius also known as Iulus his trumpeter Misenus father Anchises the healer Iapyx his faithful sidekick Achates and Mimas as a guide His wife Creusa is killed during the sack of the city Aeneas also carries the Lares and Penates of Troy which the historical Romans claimed to preserve as guarantees of Rome s own security The Trojan survivors escape with a number of ships seeking to establish a new homeland elsewhere They land in several nearby countries that prove inhospitable and are finally told by an oracle that they must return to the land of their forebears They first try to establish themselves in Crete where Dardanus had once settled but find it ravaged by the same plague that had driven Idomeneus away They find the colony led by Helenus and Andromache but decline to remain After seven years they arrive in Carthage where Aeneas has an affair with Queen Dido since according to tradition Carthage was founded in 814 BC the arrival of Trojan refugees a few hundred years earlier exposes chronological difficulties within the mythic tradition Eventually the gods order Aeneas to continue onward and he and his people arrive at the mouth of the Tiber River in Italy Dido commits suicide and Aeneas s betrayal of her was regarded as an element in the long enmity between Rome and Carthage that expressed itself in the Punic Wars and led to Roman hegemony At Cumae the Sibyl leads Aeneas on an archetypal descent to the underworld where the shade of his dead father serves as a guide this book of the Aeneid directly influenced Dante who has Virgil act as his narrator s guide Aeneas is given a vision of the future majesty of Rome which it was his duty to found and returns to the world of the living He negotiates a settlement with the local king Latinus and was wed to his daughter Lavinia This triggered a war with other local tribes which culminated in the founding of the settlement of Alba Longa ruled by Aeneas and Lavinia s son Silvius Roman myth attempted to reconcile two different founding myths three hundred years later in the more famous tradition Romulus founded Rome after murdering his brother Remus The Trojan origins of Rome became particularly important in the propaganda of Julius Caesar whose family claimed descent from Venus through Aeneas s son Iulus hence the Latin gens name Iulius and during the reign of Augustus see for instance the Tabulae Iliacae and the Troy Game presented frequently by the Julio Claudian dynasty Dates of the Trojan WarSince this war was considered among the ancient Greeks as either the last event of the mythical age or the first event of the historical age several dates are given for the fall of Troy They usually derive from genealogies of kings Ephorus gives 1135 BC 207 Sosibius 1172 BC 208 Eratosthenes 1184 BC 1183 BC 209 Timaeus 1193 BC 210 the Parian marble 1209 BC 1208 BC 211 Dicaearchus 1212 BC 212 Herodotus around 1250 BC 213 Eretes 1291 BC 214 while Douris gives 1334 BC 215 As for the exact day Ephorus gives 23 24 Thargelion May 6 or 7 Hellanicus 12 Thargelion May 26 216 while others give the 23rd of Sciroforion July 7 or the 23rd of Ponamos October 7 The glorious and rich city Homer describes was believed to be Troy VI by many twentieth century AD authors and destroyed about 1275 BC probably by an earthquake Its successor Troy VIIa was destroyed around 1180 BC it was long considered a poorer city and dismissed as a candidate for Homeric Troy but since the excavation campaign of 1988 it has come to be regarded as the most likely candidate 217 218 219 Historical basisSee also Historicity of the Iliad nbsp Map showing the Hittite Empire Ahhiyawa possibly the Achaeans Homer and Wilusa Troy The historicity of the Trojan War including whether it occurred at all and where Troy was located if it ever existed is still subject to debate Most classical Greeks thought that the war was a historical event but many believed that the Homeric poems had exaggerated the events to suit the demands of poetry 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 AD 100 Dio Chrysostom argued that while the war was historical it ended with the Trojans winning and the Greeks attempted to hide that fact 220 Around 1870 it was generally agreed in Western Europe that the Trojan War had never happened and Troy never existed 221 Then Heinrich Schliemann popularised 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 In November 2001 geologist John C Kraft and classicist John V Luce presented the results of investigations into the geology of the region that had started in 1977 222 223 224 The geologists compared the present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in the Iliad and other classical sources notably Strabo s Geographica Their conclusion was that there is regularly a consistency between the location of Troy as identified by Schliemann and other locations such as the Greek camp the geological evidence and descriptions of the topography and accounts of the battle in the Iliad although of course this could be a coincidence In the twentieth century AD scholars have attempted to draw conclusions based on Hittite and Egyptian texts that date to the time of the Trojan War While they give a general description of the political situation in the region at the time their information on whether this particular conflict took place is limited Andrew Dalby notes that while the Trojan War most likely did take place in some form and is therefore grounded in history its true nature is unknown 225 The Tawagalawa letter mentions a kingdom of Ahhiyawa Achaea or Greece that lies beyond the sea that would be the Aegean and controls Milliwanda which is identified with Miletus Also mentioned in this and other letters is the Assuwa confederation made of 22 cities and countries which included the city of Wilusa Ilios or Ilium The Milawata letter implies this city lies on the north of the Assuwa confederation beyond the Seha river While the identification of Wilusa with Ilium that is Troy is always controversial in the 1990s it gained majority acceptance In the Alaksandu treaty c 1280 BC the king of the city is named Alaksandu and Paris s name in the Iliad among other works is Alexander The Tawagalawa letter dated c 1250 BC which is addressed to the king of Ahhiyawa actually says Now as we have reached agreement on the matter of Wilusa over which we went to war 226 Formerly under the Hittites the Assuwa confederation defected after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites c 1274 BC In 1230 BC Hittite king Tudhaliya IV c 1240 1210 BC campaigned against this federation Under Arnuwanda III c 1210 1205 BC the Hittites were forced to abandon the lands they controlled in the coast of the Aegean It is possible that the Trojan War was a conflict between the king of Ahhiyawa and the Assuwa confederation This view has been supported in that the entire war includes the landing in Mysia and Telephus wounding Achilles s campaigns in the North Aegean and Telamonian Ajax s campaigns in Thrace and Phrygia Most of these regions were part of Assuwa 70 227 That most Achaean heroes did not return to their homes and founded colonies elsewhere was interpreted by Thucydides as being due to their long absence 228 Nowadays the interpretation followed by most scholars is that the Achaean leaders driven out of their lands by the turmoil at the end of the Mycenaean era preferred to claim descent from exiles of the Trojan War 229 In popular cultureMain article Trojan War in literature and the arts The inspiration provided by these events produced many literary works far more than can be listed here The siege of Troy provided inspiration for many works of art most famously Homer s Iliad set in the last year of the siege Some of the others include Troades by Euripides Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare Iphigenia and Polyxena by Samuel Coster Palamedes by Joost van den Vondel and Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz 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 References Bryce Trevor 2005 The Trojans and their neighbours Taylor amp Francis p 37 ISBN 978 0 415 34959 8 Rutter Jeremy B Troy VII and the Historicity of the Trojan War Archived from the original on 9 January 2023 Retrieved 31 January 2022 In the second edition of his In Search of the Trojan War Michael Wood notes developments that were made in the intervening ten years since his first edition was published Scholarly skepticism about Schliemann s identification has been dispelled by the more recent archaeological discoveries linguistic research and translations of clay tablet records of contemporaneous diplomacy Wood Michael 1998 Preface In Search of the Trojan War 2 ed Berkeley CA University of California Press p 4 ISBN 0 520 21599 0 Now more than ever in the 125 years since Schliemann put his spade into Hisarlik there appears to be a historical basis to the tale of Troy Wood 1985 116 118 Wood 1985 19 It is unknown whether this Proclus is the Neoplatonic philosopher in which case the summary dates to the 5th century AD or whether he is the lesser known grammarian of the 2nd century AD See Burgess p 12 Burgess pp 10 12 cf W Kullmann 1960 Die Quellen der Ilias Burgess pp 3 4 Scholium on Homer A 5 Plato Republic 2 379e Apollodorus Epitome 3 1 Hesiod Fragment 204 95ff Berlin Papyri No 9739 Hesiod Catalogue of Women Fragment 68 Translated by Evelyn White H G Loeb Classical Library Volume 57 London William Heinemann 1914 Apollonius Rhodius 4 757 Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 767 Scholiast on Homer s Iliad Hyginus Fabulae 54 Ovid Metamorphoses 11 217 Apollodorus Library 3 168 Pindar Nemean 5 ep2 Pindar Isthmian 8 str3 str5 Hesiod Catalogue of Women fr 57 Cypria fr 4 Photius Myrobiblion 190 P Oxy 56 3829 L Koppel 1989 Hyginus Fabulae 92 Apollodorus Epitome E 3 2 Pausanias 15 9 5 Euripides Andromache 298 Div i 21 Apollodorus Library 3 12 5 Homer Iliad I 410 a b Apollodorus Library 3 13 8 Apollonius Rhodius 4 869 879 Archived 18 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine Apollodorus Library 3 13 6 Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Frazer on Apollodorus Library 3 13 6 Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine Alluded to in Statius Achilleid 1 269 270 Archived 15 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Hyginus Fabulae 96 Apollodorus 3 10 7 Pausanias 1 33 1 Apollodorus Library 3 10 7 Apollodorus Library 3 10 5 Hyginus Fabulae 77 Apollodorus Library 3 10 9 Pausanias 3 20 9 Ptolemy Hephaestion New History 4 as summarized in Photius Myriobiblon 190 Pindar Pythian 11 ep4 Apollodorus Library 3 11 15 Apollodorus Epitome 2 15 a b c d e f g h i j Proclus Chrestomathy 1 Apollodorus Epitome 3 3 Euripides Helen 40 Apollodorus Epitome 3 4 Herodotus Histories 1 2 Apollodorus Library 3 12 7 Herodotus 1 3 1 Il 3 205 6 11 139 Apollodorus Epitome 3 6 Apollodorus Epitome 3 7 Il 11 767 770 lines rejected by Aristophanes and Aristarchus Statius Achilleid 1 25 Scholiast on Homer s Iliad 19 326 Ovid Metamorphoses 13 162 ff Pausanias 1 22 6 Homer Iliad 11 19 ff Apollodurus Epitome 3 9 Philostratus Heroicus 7 Apollodorus Epitome 3 15 Pausanias 1 4 6 Pindar Isthmian 8 Pausanias 9 5 14 a b Apollodorus Epitome 3 20 Aeschylus fragment 405 410 Pliny Natural History 24 42 34 152 Davies esp pp 8 10 Apollodorus Epitome 3 19 Philodemus On Piety Antoninus Liberalis Metamorphoses 27 Ptolemy Hephaestion New History 5 as summarized in Photius Myriobiblon 190 Pausanias 1 43 1 History of the Pelloponesian War 1 10 Istoria toy Ellhnikoy E8noys History of the Greek Nation vol A Ekdotiki Athinon Athens 1968 a b Pantelis Karykas Mykhnaioi Polemistes Mycenian Warriors Athens 1999 Vice Admiral P E Konstas R H N H naytikh hgemonia twn Mykhnwn The naval hegemony of Mycenae Athens 1966 Homer Iliad B 803 806 Diodorus iv 38 Pausanias 8 33 4 Apollodorus Epitome 3 27 Apollodorus Epitome 3 26 Apollodorus Epitome 3 28 Herodotus 4 145 3 Apollodorus Epitome 3 29 Pausanias 4 2 7 Apollodorus Epitome 3 31 Cartwright Mark 2 August 2012 Troy World History Encyclopedia Archived from the original on 23 April 2021 Retrieved 23 April 2021 Apollodorus Epitome 3 30 Eustathius on Homer Iliad ii 701 Scholiast on Lycophron 532 Thucydides 1 11 Papademetriou Konstantinos Ta opla toy Trwikoy Polemoy The weapons of the Trojan War Panzer Magazine issue 14 June July 2004 Athens Iliad IX 328 Apollodorus Epitome 3 32 Archived 19 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine Apollodorus Epitome 3 33 translation Sir James George Frazer Volume 5 p 80 Demetrius 2nd century BC Scholium on Iliad Z 35 Parthenius Erwtika Pa8hmata 21 Apollodorus Library 3 12 5 Homer Iliad F 35 155 Dictis Cretensis ii 18 Sophocles Ajax 210 Petteia Archived from the original on 9 December 2006 Retrieved 11 December 2006 Greek Board Games Archived from the original on 8 April 2009 Retrieved 11 December 2006 Latrunculi Archived from the original on 15 September 2006 Retrieved 11 December 2006 Kakrides vol 5 p 92 Servius Scholium on Virgil s Aeneid 2 81 According to other accounts Odysseus with the other Greek captains including Agamemnon conspired together against Palamedes as all were envious of his accomplishments See Simpson Gods amp Heroes of the Greeks The Library of Apollodorus p 251 According to Apollodorus Epitome 3 8 Odysseus forced a Phrygian prisoner to write the letter Pausanias 10 31 2 Simpson Gods amp Heroes of the Greeks The Library of Apollodorus p 251 Apollodorus Epitome 6 9 Apollodorus Epitome 3 10 See Achilles and Patroclus for details Fox Robin 2011 The Tribal Imagination Civilization and the Savage Mind Harvard University Press p 223 ISBN 9780674060944 Fantuzzi Marco 20 December 2012 Achilles in Love Intertextual Studies OUP Oxford ISBN 978 0 19 162611 1 Aeschines Against Timarchus section 133 Archived from the original on 20 October 2021 Retrieved 21 February 2021 Scholiast on Homer Iliad xxiv 804 Quintus of Smyrna Posthomerica i 18 ff a b Apollodorus Epitome 5 1 a b Pausanias 3 26 9 Ptolemy Hephaestion New History Bk6 as summarized in Photius Myriobiblon 190 a b c d Proclus Chrestomathy 2 Aethiopis Tzetzes Scholiast on Lycophron 999 a b Apollodorus Epitome 5 3 Tzetzes ad Lycophroon 18 Pausanias 10 31 7 Dictys Cretensis iv 4 Virgil Aeneid 8 372 Pindarus Pythian vi 30 Quintus Smyrnaeus ii 224 Diodorus Siculus Library of History 4 75 4 Pausanias 1 13 9 Euripides Hecuba 40 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica iv 88 595 Apollodorus Epitome 5 5 Pausanias 3 19 13 Argument of Sophocles Ajax Scholiast on Homer s Odyssey l 547 Homer Odyssey l 542 a b c d e Proclus Chrestomathy 3 Little Iliad Pindar Nemean Odes 8 46 25 Apollodorus Epitome 5 6 Zenobius Cent i 43 Sophocles Ajax 42 277 852 Either by Calchas Apollodorus Epitome 5 8 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica 9 325 479 or by Paris brother Helenus Proclus Chrestomathy 3 Little Iliad Sophocles Philoctetes 604 613 Tzetzes Posthomerica 571 595 This is according to Apollodorus Epitome 5 8 Hyginus Fabulae 103 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica 9 325 479 and Euripides Philoctetes but Sophocles Philoctetes says Odysseus and Neoptolemus while Proclus Chrestomathy 3 Little Iliad says Diomedes alone Philoctetes was cured by a son of Asclepius either Machaon Proclus Chrestomathy 3 Little Iliad Tzetzes Posthomerica 571 595 or his brother Podalirius Apollodorus Epitome 5 8 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica 9 325 479 Apollodorus Epitome 5 9 Apollodorus Epitome 5 10 Pausanias 5 13 4 Pausanias 5 13 4 6 says that Pelop s shoulder blade was brought to Troy from Pisa and on its return home was lost at sea later to be found by a fisherman and identified as Pelop s by the Oracle at Delphi Apollodorus Epitome 5 11 Odyssey l 520 Apollodorus Epitome 5 12 Pausanias 9 5 15 Homer Odyssey 4 242 ff Apollodorus Epitome 5 13 Homer Odyssey 8 492 495 Apollodorus Epitome 5 14 Pausanias 3 13 5 Apollodorus Epitome 5 15 Simpson p 246 Apollodorus Epitome 5 14 says the hollow horse held 50 but attributes to the author of the Little Iliad a figure of 3 000 a number that Simpson p 265 calls absurd saying that the surviving fragments only say that the Greeks put their best men inside the horse Tzetzes Posthomerica 641 650 gives a figure of 23 while Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xii 314 335 gives the names of thirty and says that there were more In late tradition it seems it was standardized at 40 Homer Odyssey 8 500 504 Apollodorus Epitome 5 15 Apollodorus Epitome 5 16 as translated by Simpson p 246 Proculus Chrestomathy 3 Little Iliad says that the Trojans pulled down a part of their walls to admit the horse a b c d e f g Proclus Chrestomathy 4 Iliou Persis Homer Odyssey 8 505 ff Apollodorus Epitome 5 16 15 Apollodorus Epitome 5 17 says that Cassandra warned of an armed force inside the horse and that Laocoon agreed Virgil Aeneid 2 199 227 Hyginus Fabulae 135 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xii 444 497 Apollodorus Epitome 5 18 Scholiast on Lycophroon 344 Apollodorus Epitome 5 19 20 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 100 104 Translation by A S Way 1913 a b Apollodorus Epitome 5 21 Aristophanes Lysistrata 155 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 423 457 Apollodorus Epitome 5 22 Apollodorus Epitome 5 22 Pausanias 10 31 2 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 462 473 Virgil Aeneid 403 406 The rape of Cassandra was a popular theme of ancient Greek paintings see Pausanias 1 15 2 5 11 6 5 19 5 10 26 3 Homer Iliad 3 203 207 7 347 353 Apollodorus Epitome 5 21 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 322 331 Livy 1 1 Pausanias 10 26 8 27 3 ff Strabo 13 1 53 Apollodorus Epitome 5 23 Proclus Chrestomathy 4 Ilio Persis says Odysseus killed Astyanax while Pausanias 10 25 9 says Neoptolemus Apollodorus Epitome 5 23 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 279 285 Euripides Trojan Women 709 739 1133 1135 Hyginus Fabulae 109 Euripides Hecuba 107 125 218 224 391 393 521 582 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiv 193 328 Homer Iliad 3 144 Apollodorus Epitome 5 22 Pausanias 10 25 8 Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica xiii 547 595 Apollodorus Epitome 6 11 a b Apollodorus Epitome 5 24 Strabo 6 1 15 Apollodorus Epitome 6 6 Scholiast on Homer Iliad 13 66 Pausanias 1 28 11 Pausanias 8 15 7 Apollodorus Epitome 6 12 Apollodorus Epitome 6 13 Apollodorus Epitome 6 14 Plutarch 23 Pausanias 1 28 9 Tzetzes ad Lycophroon 609 Strabo 6 3 9 Strabo 6 1 3 Apollodorus Epitome 6 15b Strabo 6 1 3 Homer Odyssey 3 191 Virgil Aeneid 3 400 Scholiast on Homer s Odyssey 13 259 Homer Odyssey 4 360 Homer Odyssey 4 382 Apollodorus Epitome 6 29 Pausanias 2 16 6 Apollodorus Epitome 6 23 Homer Odyssey 1 30 298 Pausanias 2 16 7 Sophocles Electra 1405 Adam Clarke Commentary on the Bible 1831 Emory and Waugh NY volume III p 244 Proclus Chrestomathy 2 Telegony FGrHist 70 F 223 FGrHist 595 F 1 Chronographiai FGrHist 241 F 1d FGrHist 566 F 125 FGrHist 239 24 Bios Hellados Histories 2 145 FGrHist 242 F 1 FGrHist 76 F 41 FGrHist 4 F 152 Latacz Troy and Homer p 286 Strauss The Trojan War p 10 Wood In Search of the Trojan War pp 114 116 LacusCurtius Dio Chrysostom Discourse 11 penelope uchicago edu Yale University Introduction to Ancient Greek History Lecture 2 Archived from the original on 5 February 2011 Retrieved 29 July 2011 Kraft J C Rapp G Rip Kayan I Luce J V 2003 Harbor areas at ancient Troy Sedimentology and geomorphology complement Homer s Iliad Geology 31 2 163 Bibcode 2003Geo 31 163K doi 10 1130 0091 7613 2003 031 lt 0163 HAAATS gt 2 0 CO 2 Geologists show Homer got it right Archived from the original on 2 April 2003 Retrieved 9 February 2008 Iliad Archived 7 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine Discovery Wilson Emily Was The Iliad written by a woman Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Slate Magazine December 12 2006 Accessed June 30 2008 Bryce Trevor 2004 Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age Routledge p 198 ISBN 978 1 134 57586 2 Archived from the original on 5 April 2023 Retrieved 1 April 2023 Istoria toy Ellhnikoy E8noys History of the Greek Nation Volume A Athens Ekdotiki Athinon 1968 Thucydides The Peloponnesian War 1 12 2 Graves Robert The Greek Myths The Returns Further reading nbsp Tabula Iliaca a 1st century BC Roman bas relief depicting scenes from Trojan War narrativesAncient authors Apollodorus Gods amp Heroes of the Greeks The Library of Apollodorus translated by Michael Simpson The University of Massachusetts Press 1976 ISBN 0 87023 205 3 Apollodorus Apollodorus The Library Archived 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine translated by Sir James George Frazer two volumes Cambridge MA Harvard University Press and London William Heinemann Ltd 1921 Volume 1 ISBN 0 674 99135 4 Volume 2 ISBN 0 674 99136 2 Euripides Andromache Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine in Euripides Children of Heracles Hippolytus Andromache Hecuba with an English translation by David Kovacs Cambridge Harvard University Press 1996 ISBN 0 674 99533 3 Euripides Helen Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine in The Complete Greek Drama edited by Whitney J Oates and Eugene O Neill Jr in two volumes 1 Helen translated by E P Coleridge New York Random House 1938 Euripides Hecuba Archived 19 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine in The Complete Greek Drama edited by Whitney J Oates and Eugene O Neill Jr in two volumes 1 Hecuba translated by E P Coleridge New York Random House 1938 Herodotus Histories Archived 1 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine A D Godley translator Cambridge Harvard University Press 1920 ISBN 0 674 99133 8 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias Description of Greece Archived 25 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Loeb Classical Library translated by W H S Jones Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1918 Vol 1 Books I II ISBN 0 674 99104 4 Vol 2 Books III V ISBN 0 674 99207 5 Vol 3 Books VI VIII 21 ISBN 0 674 99300 4 Vol 4 Books VIII 22 X ISBN 0 674 99328 4 Proclus Chrestomathy in Fragments of the Kypria Archived 20 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine translated by H G Evelyn White 1914 public domain Proclus Proclus Summary of the Epic Cycle Archived 9 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine trans Gregory Nagy Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica in Quintus Smyrnaeus The Fall of Troy Archived 1 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Arthur Sanders Way Ed amp Trans Loeb Classics 19 Harvard University Press Cambridge MA 1913 1962 edition ISBN 0 674 99022 6 Strabo Geography Archived 9 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine translated by Horace Leonard Jones Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press London William Heinemann Ltd 1924 Modern authors Burgess Jonathan S 2004 The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle Johns Hopkins ISBN 0 8018 7890 X Castleden Rodney The Attack on Troy Barnsley South Yorkshire UK Pen and Sword Books 2006 hardcover ISBN 1 84415 175 1 Davies Malcolm 2000 Euripides Telephus Fr 149 Austin and the Folk Tale Origins of the Teuthranian Expedition PDF Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 133 7 10 Archived PDF from the original on 14 June 2007 Retrieved 10 April 2007 Durschmied Erik The Hinge Factor How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History Coronet Books New Ed edition 7 Oct 1999 Frazer Sir James George Apollodorus The Library Archived 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine two volumes Cambridge MA Harvard University Press and London William Heinemann Ltd 1921 Volume 1 ISBN 0 674 99135 4 Volume 2 ISBN 0 674 99136 2 Graves Robert The Greek Myths Penguin Non Classics Cmb Rep edition April 6 1993 ISBN 0 14 017199 1 Kakridis J 1988 Ellhnikh My8ologia Greek mythology Ekdotiki Athinon Athens Karykas Pantelis 2003 Mykhnaioi Polemistes Mycenean Warriors Communications Editions Athens Latacz Joachim Troy and Homer Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery New York Oxford University Press US 2005 hardcover ISBN 0 19 926308 6 Simpson Michael Gods amp Heroes of the Greeks The Library of Apollodorus The University of Massachusetts Press 1976 ISBN 0 87023 205 3 Strauss Barry The Trojan War A New History New York Simon amp Schuster 2006 hardcover ISBN 0 7432 6441 X Thompson Diane P 2004 The Trojan War Literature and Legends from the Bronze Age to the Present Jefferson NC McFarland ISBN 0 7864 1737 4 Troy From Homer s Iliad to Hollywood Epic edited by Martin M Winkler Oxford Blackwell Publishers 2007 hardcover ISBN 1 4051 3182 9 paperback ISBN 1 4051 3183 7 Wood Michael In Search of the Trojan War Berkeley University of California Press 1998 paperback ISBN 0 520 21599 0 London BBC Books 1985 ISBN 0 563 20161 4 External linksThis section s use of external links may not follow Wikipedia s policies or guidelines Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references February 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trojan War Was There a Trojan War Archived 2012 12 28 at the Wayback Machine Maybe so From Archeology a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America May June 2004 The Trojan War at Greek Mythology Link The Legend of the Trojan War Archived from the original on 28 October 2007 Mortal Women of the Trojan War Archived from the original on 19 December 2014 The Historicity of the Trojan War The location of Troy and possible connections with the city of Teuthrania Archived from the original on 23 November 2011 The Greek Age of Bronze Trojan war The Trojan War A Prologue to Homer s Iliad Archived from the original on 19 April 2019 BBC audio podcast Melvyn Bragg interviews Edith Hall and others on historicity history and archaeology of the war Play Warburg Institute Iconographic Database about 2500 images related to the Trojan War A New Astronomical Dating Of The Trojan War s End Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry Archived 28 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Trojan War amp oldid 1179494770, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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