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By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 31, 2023 | Original: December 18, 2009

Engraving After The Trojan Horse by Henri Paul MotteTHE TROJAN HORSE. AFTER A PAINTING BY HENRI MOTTE, CORCORAN GALLERY, WASHINGTON D.C.

The story of the Trojan War—the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece–straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired the greatest writers of antiquity, from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles to Virgil. Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C.—perhaps forming the basis for the tales recounted by Homer some 400 years later in the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.”

The Narrative of the Trojan War

According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her. Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles , Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, and accompanied by a fleet of more than a thousand ships from throughout the Hellenic world. They crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor to lay siege to Troy and demand Helen’s return by Priam, the Trojan king.

Did you know? Some traditions portray Homer as a blind poet, because the name Homer sounds like a word for "blind" in some Greek dialects. In the “Odyssey,” a blind bard appears telling stories of the war, which some interpret as a cameo by the poem's author.

The siege, punctuated by battles and skirmishes including the storied deaths of the Trojan prince Hector and the nearly-invincible Achilles, lasted more than 10 years until the morning the Greek armies retreated from their camp, leaving a large wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. After much debate (and unheeded warnings by Priam’s daughter Cassandra), the Trojans pulled the mysterious gift into the city. When night fell, the horse opened up and a group of Greek warriors, led by Odysseus, climbed out and sacked the Troy from within.

After the Trojan defeat, the Greeks heroes slowly made their way home. Odysseus took 10 years to make the arduous and often-interrupted journey home to Ithaca recounted in the “Odyssey.” Helen, whose two successive Trojan husbands were killed during the war, returned to Sparta to reign with Menelaus. After his death, some sources say she was exiled to the island of Rhodes, where a vengeful war widow had her hanged.

The Trojan War Epics

Little is known about the historical Homer. Historians date the completion of the “Iliad” to about 750 B.C., and the “Odyssey” to about 725. Both began within the oral tradition, and were first transcribed decades or centuries after their composition. Many of the most familiar episodes of the war, from the abduction of Helen to the Trojan Horse and the sack of Troy, come from the so-called “Epic Cycle” of narratives assembled in the sixth century B.C. from older oral traditions.

In the first century B.C. the Roman poet Virgil composed the “Aeneid,” the third great classical epic inspired by the Trojan War. It follows a group of Trojans led by the hero Aeneas who leave their destroyed city to travel to Carthage before founding the city of Rome. Virgil’s aim was in part to give Rome’s first imperial dynasty an origin story as impressive as that of the Greeks.

Is the Trojan War a Real War?

Many portions of the Trojan War epics are difficult to read historically. Several of the main characters are direct offspring of the Greek gods (Helen was fathered by Zeus, who disguised himself as a swan and raped her mother Leda), and much of the action is guided (or interfered with) by the various competing gods. For example, Paris supposedly won Helen’s love after awarding the Goddess Aphrodite the golden apple for her beauty (“The Judgment of Paris” tells the story of how Paris was asked to select the most beautiful goddess between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite by granting the winner a golden apple). Lengthy sieges were recorded in the era, but the strongest cities could only hold out for a few months, not 10 full years.

Major excavations at the site of Troy in 1870 under the direction of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann revealed a small citadel mound and layers of debris 25 meters deep. Later studies have document more than 46 building phases grouped into nine bands representing the site’s inhabitation from 3,000 B.C. until its final abandonment in A.D. 1350. Recent excavations have shown an inhabited area 10 times the size of the citadel, making Troy a significant Bronze Age city. Layer VIIa of the excavations, dated to about 1180 B.C., reveals charred debris and scattered skeletons—evidence of a wartime destruction of the city that may have inspired portions of the story of the Trojan War. In Homer’s day, 400 years later, its ruins would have still been visible.

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Essays on Trojan War

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The Trojan War: A New History

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In the light of Strauss’s primary source of evidence of the Trojan War, how convincing do you find Homer’s account of it?

Who is the better historian, Strauss or Homer? Consider the role of the historian in your answer.

To what extent are the characters and events in the ancient epics symbolic of the facts of the Trojan War that took place in the Bronze Age?

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Trojan War Essay

The Trojan War was an epic war fought between the city of Troy and the Greek states that occurred in the 13th or 12th century BC. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer’s ” Iliad. ” The Trojan War began when Paris, Prince of Troy, abducted Helen, Queen of Sparta, the wife of King Menelaus of Greece. The Greeks responded by preparing a huge force to attack Troy.

But before the Greeks could sail off toward Asia Minor, they had to stop in Thrace so that Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus and leader of the Greek forces, could be married to Clytemnestra. Outrage over this incident sparked what is known as the Trojan War. The Trojan War lasted ten years. It was fought on land and sea all around the coast of ancient Asia Minor (the area that now belongs to Turkey). The most important battles were fought at Troy itself, at the Greek camp near Tenedos, and on the plains of Thrace.

The Trojan War ended when the Greeks tricked the Trojan army into taking captured Trojan horse inside their city wall. When the horse was inside Troy, it was set on fire and broke down Troy’s walls, allowing the Greek army to sack Troy. The end of the Trojan War is told in several different ways in ancient mythological tales. Some say that Helen never returned to Sparta, staying with her Trojan husband instead. Others say that Paris was killed during a fight over Helen.

Trojan War is a war that was fought between the Greek and Trojan armies. Trojan War took place in either 1274 BC or 1193 BC, which have been said to have written by Homer during 700s B. C. This would have taken place nine years after Greek victory in The First Messenian War with Sparta, when King Agamemnon wants more land from Lacedaemonians In the Trojan War there were ten years of fighting eventually leading up to Trojan War [1]. Agamemnon wants more Trojan land from Priam [2].

During the Trojan War there is a long siege on Troy in August in 1184 BC [3]. Ten-year siege turns into a battle with Trojan horse that leaves Trojan War with Trojan victory [4]. Trojan War leaves Trojan victory and Greek defeat. There is a Trojan horse that comes into Trojan War which ends Trojan victory and Greek defeat [5]. The Trojan Horse was built by Odysseus, who has been said to have the idea, and it is filled with Spartan soldiers [6]. Lasting for ten years, Trojan War turns into a battle between the Greeks and Trojans in August 1184 BC [7].

Trojan war includes siege on Troy within nine years of Greek victory in First Messenian war after Agamemnon wants more land from Lacedaemonians [8]. Considered to be written by Homer during 700s B. C. , Trojan War lasts for ten years of Trojan Horse that leaves Trojan victory and Greek defeat [10]. The Trojan war lasted for 10 years, involving a Trojan horse which ultimately led to Trojan victory and Greek defeat. Ancient Greece is dated back between about 2000BC-1500 BC. The Trojan War included many events such as the Trojan War itself and the Trojan Horse, building up to Trojan victory and Greek defeat.

The Trojan War was fought between Greece and Troy for Helen of Troy, a Trojan woman taken by Paris as his wife after he arrived in Troy to be judged in the Trojan Horse episode. The Greeks besieged the city of Troy three times before it fell – all because of a woman! However, this woman was extremely beautiful and caught the attention of both kings: Agamemnon and Menelaus. After Menelaus heard that his brother had been taken as prisoner after visiting Sparta for his wife’s name day, he gathered an army to invade Troy’s borders and free their ruler from imprisonment. However, when they got there, he found that Helen was already gone, leaving an enormous wooden horse as an explanation.

When the Greeks arrived at the Trojan city, they began to build a huge Trojan Horse with which they intended to break into Troy’s fortress… But it was all a trick! The Trojan Horse was built with soldiers inside of it and, when night came, these Greek soldiers sneaked out of their Trojan trap and burned most of Troy. And so ended the Trojan War. Though it may seem like only with words can you end a war (and this is true), this war was finished by firing arrows until there were no more arrows to fire.

The Trojan War lasted 10 years. It is thought that about 1 million people in those wars – either from Greece or from Troy – died during the Trojan War.

After the Trojan War, Menelaus became king of Sparta. He was not a very good ruler and ruled for only 7 years before his brother took over. Then Agamemnon proceeded to kill every Trojan he could find in order to get revenge on Paris for kidnapping Helen, but this caused more war so the Trojan Greeks made a decision to move them instead of killing them all.

Many names of heroes and mythical creatures appear in this Trojan conflict. Popular characters such as Achilles, Hector, Paris, and Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) all make an appearance in this legendary war. And if one is to believe Homer’s tale of tragedy and sorrow, they also died due to circumstances brought upon by mortals who fought against the will of gods.

The Trojan War began when a Trojan prince named Paris abducted Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta. Because Paris was such a popular Trojan prince, there were three Trojan warriors (Achilles, Aeneas, and Ajax) who fought to defend his honor. These Trojan heroes would eventually fall in battle to Greek warrior kings such as Agamemnon and Odysseus himself.

To this day it remains unclear why Helen was abducted or by whom, but what is certain is that ancient Greece was awakened because of the Trojan War. Ancient Greeks created many accounts about how the Trojan War began and ended. Many myths tried to explain why all this carnage occurred for ten years.

Some believed that it started as an argument between two gods: Athena and Poseidon. The Trojan War would then begin during the Trojan prince Paris’ judgment of goddesses: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris, being a Trojan man overwhelmed by his own sexual desires, chose Aphrodite to be his lover. It seemed logical because Aphrodite was known as the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

After choosing Aphrodite as his mistress, Paris would then repay her by stealing Helen away from her husband Menelaus in Sparta (an ancient Greek city-state). After this bold move, Menelaus called upon king Agamemnon to help him overthrow Troy and win back Helen. Although there were many other reasons behind this Trojan conflict (such as Trojan pride), it seems like Menelaus and Agamemnon both had more than one reason to hate the Trojan people.

On the Trojan side, there were Trojan warriors such as Aeneas and Hector who also fought for Paris during his 10-year war with the Greeks. Although some Trojan men were not brave enough to fight against their Greek enemies, most of them did by supplying Trojan soldiers or even fighting in battle themselves. The Trojan prince Paris was known for his bravery on the battlefield; but it would be Achilles, one of Troy’s greatest allies, who would eventually slay him after Paris fatally wounded Achilles’ friend Patroclus.

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