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Trojan War
The Trojan War was a major event in Greek mythology. According to the stories, it was triggered when Paris, the prince of Troy, either seduced or kidnapped the beautiful Helen away from her husband, the king of Sparta. The war lasted twenty years.
1,190 Questions
What daughter of Zeus was the cause of the Trojan war?
The daughter of Zeus and Hera was Eris, the goddess of discord. She wasn't invited to a wedding so she brought a golden apple and said it was for the fairest goddess. Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena argued over it and asked Paris to make the decision. Paris chose Aphrodite because she promised he could marry the most beautiful girl in the world. He chose Helen but her husband didn't like the idea and the war started.
What two sides were involved in the Trojan War?
The Trojans were of the city of Troy on the Asian side of the Dardanelles Strait. The legend is that they had allies from other cities in Asia Minor. Their opponents were Greek raiders, who were conducting several years of coordinated piratical raids on cities on the west coast of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands. The legend is that, after n initial failed attempt on Troy, they pillaged the rest of the coast, and in the tenth year returned to beseige Troy, which they captured after several months.
What happened in the Trojan war?
The gods split into two sides Greeks and Trojans. Athena was on the Greek side and came up with a plan to hide some Greek soldiers into a wooden horse. they gave the horse to the Trojans and the Greek soldiers inside waited until all the Trojan soldiers fell asleep and attacked. then the Greeks won because of Athena's smart plan.Odysseus also was with the Trojan horse because Athena helped him come up with the idea so they both get credit on the idea.
How was the Trojan war started?
According to the mythology Eris (goddess of strife) wasn't invited to a wedding so she gate crashed. She left a golden apple that was labelled 'to the fairest' and there was a big fight between Aphrodite, Athena and Hera who all claimed the apple. None of the other gods wanted to choose sides so Zeus called a mortal called Paris, a Trojan, to decide. Each of the goddesses bribed him. Athena offered him wisdom and fighting skill, Hera offered control of Asia and Aphrodite offered Helen of Sparta, wife of the King of Sparta and the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris took Aphrodite's bribe even though Helen was married. Her husband was furious and invaded Troy so that he could take her back.
In what year did the Trojan War take place?
Legend has it that it was 10 years.
It is thought to have been in the 12th Century BCE.
Greeks:
Achilles; Ajax;
Menelaus; Agamemnon;
Odysseus; Telemachus;
Patroclus; Diomedes;
Trojans:
Hector; Paris;
Priam; Laocoon; Aeneas
For a solid background of what happened in the Trojan War, you may want to read:
The Iliad and the The Odyssey by Homer.
Achilles and Odysseus are credited as the most famous and main heroes of the Trojan War.
When was the Trojan horse built?
If it actually existed, the Trojan Horse was built on the plains of Anatolia in front of the City of Troy at the end of the Trojan War, somewhere around 1200 BC. There is no agreement on the actual year.
Who is the wife of Zeus and how did she feel about the Trojan War?
Zeus' wife is Hera the goddess of woman and fertility. Hera was angry that Paris did not choose her but instead chose Aphrodite.
The legend is that it ended when the Greeks captured the city through Odysseus' ruse of getting soldiers inside in the belly of a wooden horse-god, then opening the gates during the night. The reality is that we don't know just what really happened. Homer's story was written down in the later 8th C BCE (after writing was invented), four hundred years after the events reported. Homer's was but one version. The bards used to make up the story as they went along, each version therefore different but following a theme. The material covered spans an even longer period. The hero Ajax was dead before the war occurred. The boar tusk helmet mentioned was in fashion two centuries before the war, and a lot of the background setting reflects social and political conditions of Homer's 8th Century. Also remember that the Iliad is not the story of the Trojan War. It is a few weeks of the alleged tenth year, when the Greeks arrived at Troy to have a second go at it after an abortive attempt years earlier. Intervening raids on other cities and islands are mentioned. However the subject of Iliad is 'The Wrath of Achilles' - in other words a petty spat bettween Achilles and uber-King Agamemnon over a slave girl. It ends with Hector's death at Achilles' hand, but Troy still going strong. We have to piece in other later bits from fragmentary later sources including pottery depictions and later tragedy plays and minor epics. The best guess is that there was a decade of piratical raids by the Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor and the islands. When the countryside had been thoroughly looted, they had to try the harder targets of walled cities. Troy was an obvious one as it had good revenues from servicing the trading fleets which harboured waiting for the right winds and tides to get through the Dardanelles strait to and from the Black Sea. When Troy was looted, there was little else to do but go home.
The Trojan war ended when the Greeks left a huge wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. (The Greeks couldn't get past the walls of Troy) The Trojans, seeing the horse, thought it was an offering to the Gods, and wheeled it into the city; they saw that the Greeks were gone, so presumed they had given up and gone home. There were great celebrations; the Trojans didn't realize that the horse had a hollow belly, and that inside, were Greek soldiers waiting until nightfall to emerge from the horse. Night came, and the Trojans were all asleep and drunk from the celebrations, so they didn't notice as the Greeks came out from the horse, and slaughtered them all while they were unconscious. Some women were taken by the Greeks to go back to Sparta etc. as spoils (too unpleasant to mention,) particularly King Priam's (Troy's king) daughters, and wife. King Priam was killed, along with his sons. Helen (the woman the war was fought about - supposedly daughter of Zeus (in swan form) and the queen of Sparta; because of her supposed astounding beauty,) was taken back by Menelaus, and she lived out her days with her abandoned daughter Hermione and her husband (Menelaus.) Troy was razed to the ground; burned by the Greeks.
The Trojan war was probably real but not exactly as Homer (a greek poet) or the Greeks that wrote it down told it.
The Greeks went on a 10 year looting expedition around the Aegean Sea littoral, eventually capturing the richest prize - Troy - in the final year.
The traditional belief is that it never happened. The abundance of gods and heroes in the story, as well as the lack of physical evidence of the battle aided that, along with the fact that the only account is Homer's that would have been written years after. However, artifacts that could be from Troy and that battle have been found, so the official belief may change.
Another view:
It became too well entrenched to be entirely fictional. The theatre which developed around the story is probably based on a seris of Greek piratical looting of the whole area of western Asia Minor including destruction of a rich city called Troy. Excavations of Troy show a middle level which was burnt and may have been the city concerned. Otherwise, a legend continually embellished in theatrical performances for four hundred years before alphabetic writing became avaliable, and even after that many variations continued to appear.
Legend has it that Helen was wife of King Menelaos of Sparta; she ran off with visiting Trojan prince Paris (Alexander); she compounded the problem by taking a lot of Menelaos' property with her. The Greeks under King Agamemnon of Argos mounted an expedition to recover her and, more importantly, the property.
The reality is more like the Greeks (Achaians) organised a coordinated series of pirate raids on the coast and islands of Asia Minor for slaves and loot. After an initial attempt on Troy, they pillaged the rest of the area over a period of about ten years, and then came back for another go at Troy, which succeeded.
What were some major events of the Trojan War?
1.The beginning of the story all started with Paris, prince of Troy and how Zeus made him chose which goddess he should give a golden apple to. The apple said "to the fairest goddess". Of course all the goddesses there went crazy! Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all thought they should get the apple. Each of them offered him something, Hera said he would be the greatest ruler of all time, Athena offered to make him the wisest man in all of Greece, and Aphrodite offered him a beautiful maiden named Hellen. Paris chose to take Hellen.
2. Hellen was married to a king named Menelaus. Paris fell in love with Hellen and ran away with her. Menelaus decided to attack Troy for stealing his wife.
3. A very heroic fighter named Achillies was fighting with the Greeks, he did not take orders from them, he just fought with them. That is important.
4. When Achillies was a baby, his mother dipped him in the River Styx, which could make any man an imortal being. His mother held him by the heel, thus making his heel the only vulnerable spot.
5. After some fighting, Achillies stole the king of Troy's daughter. They fell in love and Achillies did not want to fight anymore. Achillies's cousin, decided to take Achillies place in war and act like Achillies, for the Greeks would not fight without Achillies. When at war, Achillies's cousin was killed by Paris's brother, Hector. When Achillies found out, he marched up to the castle, and fought Hector. Sadly, Hector was killed.
6. Now that Achillies killed his lover's cousin, she decided to leave for Troy. Achillies was heart broken.
7. To break the mighty walls of Troy a very wise man, Odysseus made a plan.
8. He made a giant woden horse and set it in front of the walls of Troy. There where hundreds of men in the horse waiting to be taken into the city of Troy and make a surprise attack. The king of Troy took the horse as a gift and brought it inside Troy. At night, all the men ( including Achillies ) jumped out of the horse and set fire to Troy. Paris ended up killing Achillies with an arrow to his heel, and Paris also died in war, leaving Hellen with King Menelaus.
What was the Trojan War about?
The stories in the epics are a product of the bards who made them up. This is based on bardic material first written down about 725 BCE, but stretching back for about six hundred years before. Like all such traditions, it is difficult to separate out fact from fiction and embellishment.
From internal evidence in the epics and later traditions, correlated with archaeological evidence, it seems that there was an extended period of piratical raids by Greek peoples throughout the Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor. The final target was Troy, which had grown rich on supplying and taxing the commercial ships which lay up in the Dardanelles waiting favourable tides and winds. As for all the rest, the bards made it what it came down to us as, and very popular their performances were in a pre-television era. And just as people today think what they see on television is true, so with the audiences of the bards.
How did the Trojan War start and end?
The Achaean Greeks mounted a looting expedition into Asia Minor, starting with the richest city-state Troy. When this failed, they spent nine years working over the rest of the cities and came back far a successful crack at Troy. So the story goes.
How did the Trojan war affect Greece?
It diverted attention to looting Asia Minor and the Islaands for a decade, which was what it was all about. Meanwhile there were other movements of peoples happening in the area which saw the arrival of other Greek peoples who displaced many of the Achaeans. It was a time of turmoil about which we have limited specific knowledge, but it presaged the Dark of Greece for five hundred years.
What roles did Ajax and Achilles have in the Trojan war?
ajax and diomedes are considered the second best Greeks next to Achilles, however both of these heroes are more noble, brave and respectful than Achilles. ajax fights hector to duel early in the iliad, and through out the book both heroes try to kill each, both are unsuccesful, though on occassions both heroes get the upper hand on one another, hector forces ajax to retreat several times and also breaks ajax's spear. however ajax also forces hector to retreat on one occasion when he throws a huge boulder at hector. diomedes is also a great fighter but not as good in my opinion as ajax or hector, he always needs the help of odyesseus and like wise odyesseus always needs diomedes's help. ajax and hector fight alone, relying on their own skill. Achilles i would like to point out is not brave, he doesnt fight for most of the iliad, and has no fear of death, that by definition does not define a hero, he doesnt care about anyone or anything expect his feelings and perhaps patroclus.
What is the name of the Trojan warrior who killed Achilles in the Trojan War?
Paris killed Achilles, with an arrow (in his heel, the only vulnerable spot on his body).
or the other legend is that Paris stabbed Achillies in the back with a dagger.
How old was Achilles during Trojan war?
he was about 15 when the Trojan war started and it lasted around 9 years so near the end of the war Achilles was 24
Present day Greece against present day Turkey. It was over a girl that was said to be the most beautiful named Helen.
I had to do an assignment on it and i found out that the war was between the city of troy by th achaens after Paris of troy took Helen from her husband menelaus, the king of Sparta
The city of Troy was in Turkey NOT Greece. The statement that the Trojan War was against the Trojans and the Greeks is true but there were many different Greek cities. Odysseus was the King of Ithaca, Menelaus was the king of Sparta, Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae, Achilles was the king of the Myrmidons, and the Achaeans were from Thessaly. I don't remember where the Dorians and the Minoans fit in but I think they attacked Troy at one point.
