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The Trojan War and The Iliad. The gods Apollo and Poseidon built the city of Troy. Priam , the King of Troy had a son named Paris . A prophet foretold that Paris would destroy the city.
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The gods Apollo and Poseidon built the city of Troy. • Priam, the King of Troy had a son named Paris. • A prophet foretold that Paris would destroy the city.
Paris was taken out to be killed, but was rescued by shepherds and grew up away from the city. As a young man he returned to Troy to compete in the athletic games, was recognized, and returned to the royal family.
Meanwhile, Thetis (a sea goddess), and a mortal decided to marry. All the gods were invited to the celebration, except, Eris, the goddess of strife. She came anyway and brought a golden apple, upon which was written "For the Fairest."
Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all fought for the apple, and came to Zeus for judgment. He refused to judge a beauty contest between his wife and two of his daughters, and the task of choosing fell to Paris. They each bribed him: Hera offered power, Athena offered military glory and wisdom, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. In the end, he gave the apple to Aphrodite.
Helen, whose beauty was famous throughout the world, was that woman. The Greek leaders made a promise that they would collectively avenge any insult to her. When the leaders made such an oath, Helen then married Menelaus, King of Sparta. Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus was the most powerful leader in Greece.
Paris made a journey to Sparta as a Trojan ambassador at a time when Menelaus was away. Aphrodite made Helen fall in love with Paris and they left Sparta together, returning to Troy where they were protected by Priam (the King) and Hector (oldest son and best warrior). The Greeks assembled an army to invade Troy. *Christopher Marlow called Helen “The face that launched a thousand ships.”
Achilles, the son of Thetis and the Greeks best warrior, although half god, was mortal. To protect him from death his mother bathed him in the waters of the river Styx holding him by the heel, which made him invulnerable. A prophet with the Greek army, told Agamemnon and the other leaders that they could not conquer Troy without him.
The Greek army landed on the beaches before Troy. The Greeks sent an embassy to Troy, seeking to recover Helen and the treasure. When the Trojans denied them, the Greek army settled down into a siege which lasted many years.
In the tenth year of the war, Agamemnon insulted Apollo by taking a slave-hostage girl, the daughter of a prophet of Apollo. In revenge, Apollo sent nine days of plague down upon the Greek army. Achilles called an assembly to determine what the Greeks should do. In that assembly, he and Agamemnon quarreled bitterly, Agamemnon confiscated Achilles slave girl , and Achilles, in a rage, withdrew himself and his forces from battle.
In Achilles absence, the Trojans enjoyed great success against the Greeks, breaking through their defensive ramparts on the beach and setting the ships on fire.
While Hector was enjoying his successes against the Greeks, Achilles' friend Patroclus begged to be allowed to return to the fight. Achilles gave him permission, advising him not to attack the city of Troy itself. He also gave Patroclus his own suit of armor, so that the Trojans might think that Achilles had returned to the war. Patroclus resumed the fight, enjoyed some dazzling success, but he was finally killed by Hector.
In his grief over the death of Patroclus, Achilles decided to return to the battle. Since he had no armor, Thetis asked Hephaestus, the crippled god of the forge, to prepare some divine armor for her son. Hephaestus did so, and Achilles returned to the war.
After slaughtering many Trojans, Achilles finally cornered Hector alone outside the walls of Troy. Hector chose to stand and fight rather than to retreat into the city, and he was killed by Achilles, who then mutilated the corpse, tied it to his chariot, and dragged it three times around the city walls.
Achilles' career as the greatest warrior came to an end when Paris, with the help of Apollo, killed him with an arrow which pierced him in the heel, the one vulnerable spot. .
Finally the Greeks, under the plan of Odysseus, devised the strategy of filling a giant wooden horse with armed soldiers. They built it and left it in front of the city. The Greek army then withdrew as if abandoning the war. Although warned not to accept gifts from the Greeks, The Trojans tore down a part of the wall, dragged the horse inside, and celebrated their apparent victory.
When the Trojans had fallen asleep, the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse came out, and gave the signal to the main army which had been hiding. The city was totally destroyed. The women were taken prisoner, and Helen was returned to Menelaus.
The gods regarded the sacking of Troy and especially the treatment of the temples as a sacrilege, and they punished many of the Greek leaders.
Odysseus (called by the Romans Ulysses) wandered over the sea for many years before reaching home. He started with a number of ships, but in a series of misfortunes, lasting ten years because of the anger of Poseidon, the god of the sea, he lost all his men before returning to Ithaca alone.
