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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
Why the Trojan War take place?
Oral epics such as those recorded by Homer typically have their roots in real events. Often archaeologists can eventually corroborate some of the details of oral traditions with archaeological finds. This is the case with Troy. Evidence over the past century suggests that ancient Troy was located at the current day site of Hisarlik in Turkey. [http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientgreece/a/homeric1.htm] [http://archaeology.about.com/od/hterms/g/troy.htm]
Who was the brother of the Trojan war hero Achilles?
== == None, but he was raised with females, which could lead to the misconception of him having siblings. He did, however, have a cousin named Patroclus. Achilles was known to love Patroclus as a brother.
What role did Ulysses have in the Trojan war?
Ulysses, or Odysseus, was the King of Ithaca who led his men as an ally to Agamemnon and Menelaus (along with the other members of the Oath of the Horse). He was also the mastermind behind the Trojan Horse.
How many people died in the Trojan war?
One heck of a lot. 10 years of slaughter's worth. Read the Iliad it names and gives a history to half of them!
What was Odysseus' role in the Trojan war?
He was one if Helen's old suitors, all of which has sworn an oath to back Helen's husband to defend her honour, so when Paris abducted Helen he was forced to fight in the war. Odysseus led the armies of Ithaca in a pact to retrieve the kidnapped wife of Menelaus (Helen) back from the Trojan prince Paris. Odysseus is the iconic bronze-age Greek hero. Although physically shorter in stature than some of the other prominent heroes of the Trojan War, he was broadly-built and extremely crafty. It is this characteristic of cunning which is Odysseus' hallmark. The ruse of the Trojan Horse was the product of Odysseus' skillful imagination.
Why were the gods angry with the Greeks after the Trojan War?
The gods were mad becaue a girl was killed in a temple of gods, after it was requested that she lived.
The war began 1193 BC.
The war went on for 9 years without much change but the ninth year Achilles nearly threw faith in the Trojans.
The war finished in the tenth year; 1203 BC.
BCE (BC) time counts down. if the year began in 1193, it should have ended in 1183, not 1203....
are your dates accurate?
Thanks
MrJ: His starting year is close enough to what I have heard and yes the ending year is in the wrong direction. But Barry Strauss, a military historian at Cornell has said that nine years might not mean that, had it started in 1194 BCE, Homer would have picked up the story in 1183 BCE. He says that in Greek society of the time Homer (whoever/whatever he was), somewhere around the 8th C. BCE, to say something had been going on for nine years meant that it had been going on for a long time. I think this sounds much better given the number of men that went with them was not very many for a 10 year siege (70-130,000, which sounds like a lot, but if Thucydides can be trusted, the Greeks left without much supply, intending to live off the lands they raided and essentially settled while they besieged Troy). EDIT 4-2-12: This isn't to say that Strauss is right, but it is an interesting thought and anytime numbers are involved in myth, there is typically a reason for the number other than accuracy. Numerology has always been a big thing in most societies.
Are you sure?
O RLY?
The Trojan horse was first proposed towards the end of the Trojan war, it is unclear specifically when this was. First proposed by Odysseus to gain entry to the city of troy under the ruse of it being a statue to their patron god of the sea posiden. The Trojan horse conatined greek soldiers, which, once inside the city set in motion the destruction of the city of troy.
I believe the Trojan War was fought in today's Western Europe. That's were Troy was located back then. Another answer: The Trojan War was fought in Homer's the Iliad. That is a work of fiction. Trying to find out if such a thing has really occurred, archeologists have found remains of a city that might have been Troy in today's Turkey, which is in Asia.
The Ancient Greeks thought that it took place in the 13th or 12th century BC. Those who believe the Trojan War existed date it to 12th or 11th century BC.
Often people accept 1194-1184 BC which was given by Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
In 1870, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated an area which He identified as Troy. Most scholars today accept this claim.
However, whether there is an real historicity to the Trojan War remains still an open question.
Which Greek Hero is the greatest Trojan Hero?
Heroes and gods are not the same thing. The gods did participate in the Trojan War to a degree, but they are divine, and did divine things. The heroes were just mortal men (despite some of them having divine heritage).
What hero settled in Italy after Trojan war?
According to Virgil, Diomedes escaped the destruction of Troy and settled in Italy. According to the legend, he founded the city of Argyria in Apulia.
Who controlled Greece after the Trojan war?
Ancient Greece was divided into city-states and leagues which continually vied for power with each other, but one of them ever became strong enough to control all of Greece. Later Greece was controlled by the Macedonian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Finally in the 19th Century Greece became an independent country which controlled itself, and a united country for the first time in history.
Wife of Menelaus cause of Trojan War?
Helene Queen of Sparta, also called Helene of Troy for her marriage to Prince Paris and Prince Deiphobus, sons of Priam King of Troy.
Why do the Achaeans took so long to defeat the Trojans?
We do not know much about the actual timing of the Trojan War, so this will focus on what is written in The Iliad and The Odyssey. The first issue is that the beachhead was difficult for the Greeks to take. The ground was strongly sloped and the Trojans had the high-ground. The second major issues is that Ancient Greeks did not have sophisticated siege weaponry, which meant that it was effectively impossible for them to breach the Trojan Walls surrounding the city until Odysseus came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, which allowed for the Trojans to "self-breach" the city walls.
Why might the account of the Trojan War in the Illiad be unreliable?
It was sung by the strolling bards for 400 years before it was written down. Each bard had his own version, so what came down had myriad variations. The written version by Homer was itself published over the years in many differing versions. Where facts lie is a guess. It is fairly well recognised that stories over three generations become so distorted that it is difficult to know what is fact and what is fiction. There is a game you can play today - sit 12 people around a room and whisper a story to one, and this story is passed around the participants. When it comes back to the originator, it is materially different. How much so after hundreds of years?
Is Achilles act of killing Hector justifiable?
They were both warriors and fought each other, so death was a natural outcome. Whether the was was justified is another matter. The Greeks were looting western Asia Minor and Troy was one of the targets. Work out what was 'justified' in that.
Who are the second two greatest Greek warriors during the Trojan war?
After Achilles, the greatest two other warriors were Telamonian Ajax (Greater Ajax) and Odysseus. These two warriors competed to see who was the braver warrior.
Which book tells the story of one Greek hero trying to get home after the Trojan War?
The Iliad tells a story of a few weeks towards the end of a decade-long Greek piratical raid on the coast of Asia Minor. Other poems, tales and pottery tell more bits about it. There is no book about the Trojan story from antiquity.
What did menelaus did during the Trojan war?
All of the suitors of Helen, which was essentially every king in Greece, took a vow that they would defend the honor of whomever was chosen as her husband, so as to prevent war from breaking out over the quest for her hand.
When she was spirited away by Paris, Menelaus forced them to fulfill their oaths. They laid siege to Troy for 10 years before finally defeating the city and razing it to the ground.
What happens to Menelaus after the Trojan war?
Of the major Greek heroes at the siege of Troy, Menelaus has one of the thinnest stories after the fall of the city.
Menelaus appears in Homer's Odyssey (IV) back home in Sparta, re-united with his wife Helen. Helen is unable to bear a son to Menelaus, and the king himself seems tortured by memories of the futility and destructiveness of the war. Like most of the Greek heroes, Menelaus found the journey home difficult, and in fact was stranded in Egypt for several years.
According to Euripides' Helen, Menelaus and Helen are re-united after death on the Isles of the Blessed. But Menelaus is as unhappy with his reconditioned wife after death as he was while she lived.
Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae, leader of the Achaeans, and the older brother of Menelaus. Paris was a prince of Troy and therefore not under any obligation to listen to Agamemnon. As long as Troy was willing to defend against the Achaeans, Paris did not need to return Helen.
