Trojan War

The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Achaeans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. The war figures centrally in Greek mythology and was narrated in a cycle of epic poems of which only two, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, survive intact. The Iliad describes an episode late in this war, and the Odyssey describes the journey home of one of the Greek leaders, Odysseus. Other parts of the story, and different versions, were elaborated by later Greek poets, and by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid.

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Ancient Greeks believed that the events Homer related were basically true. They believed that this war took place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and that Troy was located in the vicinity of the Dardanelles in what is now north-western Turkey. By modern times both the war and the city were widely believed to be mythological. In 1870, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site in this area which he believed to be the site of Troy, and at least some archaeologists agree. There remains no certain evidence that Homer's Troy ever existed, still less that any of the events of the Trojan War cycle ever took place. Many historians believe that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various stories of sieges and expeditions by the Greeks of the Bronze Age or Mycenean period, and do not describe actual events. Those who think that the stories of the Trojan War derive from some specific actual conflict usually date it to between 1300 BC and 1200 BC.

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Troy: :This article is about the city of Troy / Ilion as described in the works of Homer, and the location of an ancient city associated with it. For other uses see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation)....

Asia Minor: REDIRECT Anatolia...

Kidnapping: :For other uses of related terms, see or see Kidnapper the song by American band Blondie....

Trojan War related Images and Photos (experimental)

Trojan War (Rescue Me) (DVD)	In Search of the Trojan War (DVD)	Memnon Killed by Achilles During the Trojan War is Mourned by His Mother Aurora Goddess of the Dawn	Detail of an Attic Red-Figure Cup of Scenes from the Trojan War circa 490 BC (Pottery)
War	War (Hardcover) Book	Trojan Horse	Trojan Horse
D-War	War Bride	The War	War Scene I