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.

The aftermath

The ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding Polyxena, the Trojan princess, be sacrificed before anybody could leave. Neoptolemus did so.

Related Topics:
Polyxena - Neoptolemus

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According to the Odyssey, Menelaus's fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt where they were unable to sail away because the wind was calm. 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. Proteus also told Menelaus that he was destined for Elysium (Heaven) after his death. Menelaus returned to Sparta with Helen. 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 at this point. They had a daughter, Hermione.

Related Topics:
The Odyssey - Crete - Egypt - Proteus - Elysium - Sparta - Helen - Hermione

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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 was his son, whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed. The gods were angry at his murder of his own son and they sent him in exile to Calabria in Italy. (Aeneid III, 400). In an alternate version, his own subjects on Crete sent him into exile because he brought a plague with him from Troy. He fled to Calabria, and then Colophon, in Asia Minor, where he died. In yet a third version, used by Virgil, the plague was visited upon Crete as punishment for Idomeneus' act.

Related Topics:
Idomeneus - Poseidon - Calabria - Italy - Aeneid - Troy - Colophon - Asia Minor - Virgil

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Cassandra was raped by Ajax the lesser, then taken as a concubine by Agamemnon. Agamemnon returned home 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 according to different versions. Cassandra was also killed. Agamemnon's son Orestes, who had been away, returned and conspired with his sister Elektra to avenge their father. They killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Orestes married Hermione and retook Argos, becoming king over all the Peloponessus.

Related Topics:
Cassandra - Ajax the lesser - Concubine - Agamemnon - Argos - Clytemnestra - Helen - Aegisthus - Thyestes - Iphigenia - Orestes - Elektra - Hermione - Peloponessus

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Neoptolemus took Andromache and Helenus as slaves and married Andromache. He feuded with Orestes, because Menalaus had promised his daughter Hermione to him, but now wanted her to marry Neoptolemus. They fought, and Neoptolemus was killed. Helenus then married Andromache and they ruled over a colony of Trojan exiles in what had once been Achilles' kingdom. There Aeneas encountered them on his journey to Italy.

Related Topics:
Neoptolemus - Andromache - Helenus - Orestes - Hermione - Aeneas - Italy

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Queen Hecuba of Troy was enslaved by the Achaeans. Lycaon was enslaved by Achilles. He was later killed trying to escape. Since Antenor, Priam's brother-in-law, had supported giving Helen back to the Greeks, he was spared.

Related Topics:
Hecuba - Achaea - Lycaon - Achilles - Antenor - Helen

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Aeneas led a group of survivors away from the city, including his son Ascanius, his trumpeter Misenus, father Anchises, the healer Iapyx, all the Lares and Penates and Mimas as a guide. His wife Creusa was killed during the sack of the city. They fled Troy with a number of ships, seeking to establish a new homeland elsewhere. They landed in several nearby countries that proved inhospitable and finally were told by a Sibyl that they had to return to the land of their forebears. They first tried Crete, where Dardanus had once settled, but found it ravaged by the same plague that had driven Idomeneus away. They found the colony led by Helenus and Andromache, but declined to remain. After seven years they arrived in Carthage, where Aeneas had an affair with Dido. Eventually the gods ordered him to continue onward (Dido committed suicide), and he and his people arrived at the mouth of the Tiber in Italy. There a Sibyl took him to the underworld and foretold the majesty of Rome, which would be founded by his people. He negotiated a settlement with the local king, Lavinius, and was wed to his daughter, Lavinia. This triggered a war with other local tribes, which culminatied in the founding of the settlement of Alba Longa, ruled by Aeneas and Lavinia's son Silvius. Three hundred years later, according to Roman myth, his descendants Romulus and Remus founded Rome. The details of the journey of Aeneas, his affair with Dido, and his settling in Italy are the subject of the Roman epic poem the Aeneid by Virgil.

Related Topics:
Aeneas - Ascanius - Misenus - Anchises - Iapyx - Lares - Penates - Mimas - Creusa - Sibyl - Crete - Dardanus - Idomeneus - Helenus - Andromache - Carthage - Dido - Suicide - Tiber - Italy - Rome - Lavinius - Lavinia - Alba Longa - Silvius - Roman myth - Romulus - Remus - Aeneid - Virgil

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Odysseus, attempting to travel home, underwent a series of trials, tribulations and setbacks that stretched his journey to ten years' time. These are detailed in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey.

Related Topics:
Odysseus - The Odyssey

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