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.

Background

Peleus and Thetis, the apple, and the judgment

:See also Judgement of Paris.

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According to Greek mythology, Zeus became king of the gods by overthrowing his father Cronus; Cronus in turn had overthrown his father Ouranos. Zeus came to learn of a prophecy that he himself would be overthrown by a son of his. (Within the extent of Greek myth, though, this never happened). Another prophecy said of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom Zeus had an affair, that her son would be greater than his father. Possibly for one or both of these reasons, Thetis was betrothed upon Zeus' orders to a now-elderly human king, Peleus. To Peleus and Thetis a son was born, named Achilles. It was prophesied that he would die, young, at Troy. Hoping to protect him, when he was an infant his mother bathed him in the river Styx, making him invincible everywhere except the heel by which she held him. He grew up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors.

Related Topics:
Zeus - Cronus - Ouranos - Prophecy - Thetis - Peleus - Achilles - Styx

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All of the gods were invited to Peleus and Thetis' wedding, except Eris, or Discord. Insulted, she attended invisibly and cast down upon the table a golden apple on which were inscribed the words Kallisti, (To the fairest one). The apple was claimed by Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite. They quarrelled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favouring one contender for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually, Zeus ordered the matter to be settled by the judgment of Paris, a prince of Troy, who was being raised as a shepherd because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy. The goddesses tried to bribe the boy. 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. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, and returned to Troy.

Related Topics:
Eris - Golden apple - Hera - Athene - Aphrodite - Paris - Troy - Shepherd - Asia

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The elopement of Helen

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 seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan; accounts differ over which of Leda's four children were fathered by Zeus and which by Tyndareus. 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, he suggested that Tyndareus require all of Helen's suitors to promise that they would defend the marriage of Helen, regardless of who she chose. The suitors duly swore the required oath, although not without a certain amount of grumbling.

Related Topics:
Helen - Tyndareus - Sparta - Leda - Swan - Odysseus - Ithaca - Penelope

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Helen chose Menelaus to wed. He had humbly not petitioned for her himself, but instead sent his brother Agamemnon on his behalf. The two brothers had been living at Tyndareus' court since being exiled from their homeland of Argos after their father, Atreus, was killed and had his throne usurped by his brother Thyestes and Thyestes' son Aigisthus. Menelaus inherited Tyndareus' throne of Sparta, with Helen as his queen, and Agamemnon married Helen's sister Clytemnestra and took back the throne of Argos.

Related Topics:
Agamemnon - Argos - Atreus - Thyestes - Aigisthus - Clytemnestra

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On a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris fell in love with Helen and, with Aphrodite's help, kidnapped or seduced her (accounts vary) and took her back to Troy as his wife. All the kings and princes of Greece were called upon to make good their oaths and retrieve Helen. The story of Helen is paralleled by the earlier elopement from Troy of the princess Hesione with Telamon of Salamis.

Related Topics:
Hesione - Telamon - Salamis

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The marshalling of the forces

Odysseus had by this time 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 putting his infant son in front of the plough, and Odysseus turned aside, unwilling to kill his son, and so revealed his sanity and joined the war.

Related Topics:
Odysseus - Penelope - Telemachus - Palamedes

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Calchas the oracle had stated that the Greeks would not win without Achilles. His mother Thetis, knowing that Achilles would die if he went to Troy, disguised him as a woman in the court of king Lycomedes in Scyros. There he had an affair with the king's daughter Deidamea, resulting in a child, Neoptolemus. Odysseus, Ajax the Greater, and Achilles's tutor Phoenix went to retrieve Achilles. According to one story they blew a horn, and Achilles revealed himself by seizing a spear to fight intruders rather than fleeing. According to another, they disguised themselves as merchants bearing trinkets and weaponry, and Achilles was marked out from the other women by admiring the wrong goods.

Related Topics:
Calchas - Achilles - Thetis - Lycomedes - Scyros - Deidamea - Neoptolemus - Odysseus - Ajax the Greater - Phoenix

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Eventually, a fleet of more than a thousand ships was gathered, commanded by Agamemnon. But when they reached Aulis, the winds ceased. The prophet Calchas stated that the goddess Artemis was punishing Agamemnon for killing a sacred deer (or a deer in a sacred grove) and boasting that he was a better hunter than she. The only way to appease Artemis, he said, was to sacrifice Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. According to some versions, he did so, but others claim that he sacrificed a deer in her place, or nothing, and that Iphigenia was taken by Artemis to the Crimea to prepare others for sacrifice to her. Hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate.

Related Topics:
Aulis - Artemis - Iphigenia - Crimea - Hesiod - Hecate

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The Greeks also brought the bones of Pelops, father of Atreus and grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus to help them win the war. An oracle said they would be necessary to win.

Related Topics:
Pelops - Atreus - Agamemnon - Menelaus - Oracle

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The Greek forces are described in detail in the Catalogue of Ships in the second book of the Iliad. They consist of 28 contingents from mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, the Dodecanese islands, Crete and Ithaca, amassing to a force of some 100,000 men.

Related Topics:
Catalogue of Ships - Peloponnese - Dodecanese - Crete - Ithaca

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The Trojan forces are also listed in the second book of the Iliad, consisting of the Trojans themselves, led by Hector, and various allies listed as Dardanians, Zeleians, Adrasteians, Percotians, Pelasgians, Thracians, Ciconian spearmen, Paionian archers, Halizones, Mysians, Phrygians, Maeonians, Miletians and Lycians.

Related Topics:
Hector - Dardanians - Zeleia - Adrasteia - Percotians - Pelasgian - Thracians - Ciconian - Paionia - Halizone - Mysia - Phrygia - Maeonia - Miletians - Lycia

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