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 War

Telephus

When the Greeks left for the war, they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the battle, Achilles wounded Telephus, who killed Thersander. The wound would not heal and Telephus asked an oracle who claimed "he that wounded shall heal".

Related Topics:
Mysia - Telephus - Thersander

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

Related Topics:
Aulis - Orestes - Odysseus

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Philoctetes

Philoctetes was Heracles's friend and, because he lit Heracles's funeral pyre when no one else would, he received Heracles's bow and arrows. He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War, where he was planning on fighting for the Greeks. They stopped on Chryse for supplies, and Philoctetes was bitten by a snake. The wound festered and smelled horrible; Odysseus advised and the Atreidae ordered Philoctetes to stay on Lemnos. Medon took control of Philoctetes's men. Philoctetes stayed alone on Lemnos for ten years.

Related Topics:
Heracles - Chryse - Odysseus - Atreidae - Lemnos - Medon

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Arrival

An oracle had prophesied that the first Greek to walk on the land after stepping off a ship in the Trojan War would be the first to die. Protesilaus, leader of the Phylaceans, fulfilled this prophesy. His wife, Laodamia, followed him to his death. Alternatively, Hector killed Protesilaus and Laodamia killed herself in grief. After Protesilaus' death, his brother, Podarces, joined the war in his place.

Related Topics:
Protesilaus - Phylace - Laodamia - Hector - Podarces

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The Greeks besieged Troy for nine years. There were occasional skirmishes, both with Troy and her allies. At one point, Greek forces sacked a nearby town and Agamemnon took as his slave-girl Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. When Chryses tried to buy her back, he was rebuked, so he prayed to Apollo to punish the Greeks, and the army was struck by a plague.

Related Topics:
Chryseis - Chryses - Apollo - Plague

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Chryseis and Briseis

The events of the Iliad begin at this point. For more information, see that article.

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An oracle told Agamemnon he must give up Chryseis. Furious at this, and at Achilles who had guaranteed the oracle his own protection, Agamemnon took Achilles' concubine Briseis as his own. Achilles and Agamemnon argued and Achilles refused to fight any longer. Although the Greeks were destined to win the war, Achilles begged his mother Thetis to intervene with Zeus and ensure that the Greeks did badly until Agamemnon apologized to Achilles. The next day the Greeks were badly beaten in open battle, and all of the major warriors but Ajax were eventually injured too seriously to continue. The Trojans, led by Hector, advanced steadily on the Greek position.

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Seeing the danger, Achilles let his comrade Patroclus borrow his armour, and lead his troops into battle. Patroclus was killed by Hector who then took Achilles' armour. Maddened with grief, Achilles swore revenge. He donned new armour from Hephaestus brought to him by thetis, and killed Hector, then dragged his body from his chariot around Troy three times. He refused to return it to the Trojans for funeral rites. Priam personally came and begged to have it back, at which point Achilles relented, and a truce was called for twelve days while Hector was buried.

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The narrative of the Iliad ends here.

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Xanthus

During the Trojan War, Xanthus, a magical horse, was rebuked by Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be killed. Xanthus responded by saying that a god had killed Patroclus and a god would soon kill Achilles too. The Erinyes struck the horse dumb.

Related Topics:
Xanthus - Erinyes

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The death of Achilles

Shortly after the death of Hector, Achilles defeated Memnon of Ethiopia, Cycnus of Colonae and the Amazonian warrior Penthesilia (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). He was very soon killed by Paris — either by a poisoned arrow (the arrow was guided by Apollo; Paris did not do it by himself), or in an older version by a knife to the back (or heel), while visiting a Trojan princess, Polyxena, during a truce. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valour, saying Achilles remains undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games were held. Like Ajax, he is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube.

Related Topics:
Hector - Memnon - Ethiopia - Cycnus - Colonae - Amazonian - Penthesilia - Paris - Polyxena - Leuke - Danube

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Achilles' armour/death of Ajax

Achilles' armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Ajax. They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself.

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The Greeks captured Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy, a prophet, and tortured him until he told them under what circumstances they could take Troy. Helenus said they would win if they retrieved Heracles' arrows (which were in Philoctetes's possession); steal the Trojan Palladium (they accomplished this with the Trojan Horse; or Odysseus and Diomedes did so one night) and persuade Achilles' son (Neoptolemus) to join the war. Neoptolemus was hiding from the war at Scyros but the Greeks retrieved him. Alternatively, he told them that they could win if Troilius, Helenus' half-brother, son of Apollo and Hecuba, was killed before he turned twenty. Achilles ambushed Troilius.

Related Topics:
Helenus - Priam - Heracles - Philoctetes - Palladium - Odysseus - Diomedes - Neoptolemus - Scyros - Troilius - Apollo - Hecuba

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Odysseus and Neoptolemus retrieved Philoctetes from Lemnos. Philoctetes' wound was healed by Machaon or Asclepius. Philoctetes then killed Paris.

Related Topics:
Machaon - Asclepius

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Diomedes

Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite, Aeneas's mother, saved him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to Mount Olympus. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there.

Related Topics:
Aeneas - Aphrodite - Mount Olympus - Pergamos - Artemis

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Later in the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares, the war-god, fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares's mother, saw Ares's interference and asked Zeus, Ares's father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares's body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mount Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.

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The Trojan Horse

The end of the war came with one final plan. The Greeks (or, in some records, Odysseus on their behalf) devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans that the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. The Trojans, who were understandably overjoyed that the ten-year siege had lifted, entered a night of mad revelry and celebration, and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greeks opened the city gates to allow their fellow soldiers in, and the city was utterly destroyed--every single man and boy killed (including infants), every woman and girl enslaved, all its wealth pillaged, and the city itself reduced to rubble.

Related Topics:
Odysseus - Epeius - Sinon - Laocoon - Cassandra

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There is much question as to whether a wooden horse was even created. Homer's stories are believed by many to be the merging of many wars fought on Troy. In his merging, he creates many characters out of the gods and uses many metaphors. It is suggested that the Trojan Horse actually represents an earthquake that occurred between the wars that could have weakened Troy's walls and left them open for attack. Structural damage on the city believed to be Troy - its location being the same as that represented in Homer's Iliad and the artifacts found there suggesting it was a place of great trade and power - shows signs that there was indeed an earthquake. Other scholars, including several ancient sources, suggest that the "Trojan horse" was in fact a battering ram.

Related Topics:
Metaphor - Earthquake

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The death of Palamedes

Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for sending him to the Trojan War. (Palamedes exposed Odysseus as a fake when he pretended to be insane). When Palamedes advised the Greeks to return home, Odysseus accused him of being a traitor and forged false evidence and found a fake witness to testify against him. Palamedes was stoned to death.

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