Trojan War

Because the Trojan prince Paris had seduced Helen, wife of king Menelaus of Sparta, and abducted her to Troy. Before Helen married Menelaus, a great number of royal suitors had tried to marry her. When she finally had chosen one, the others swore a solemn oath to come to the aid of the bridegroom if anyone picked a quarrel with him. That was the reason that so many Greek kings and heroes and their warriors participated in the Trojan war.

The Iliad covered the last few weeks in the Greek looting expedition to Asia Minor. The Odyssey makes references to aspects of the War but is principally about Odysseus' return trip home.

The story was that Helen ran off with Paris to Troy, stealing the treasure of Sparta to take with her, and the Spartan king, her husband, organised an expedition of the Greek cities to go to loot Troy and the other cities in Asia Minor in reprisal.

The 10 year looting expedition included two attempts on Troy itself - one in Year 1, the second in Year 10. When the second one failed, the Greeks resorted to a ruse, appearing to abandon the attack and leave, but leaving behind a wooden horse full of soldiers - the Trojans thought it was a god, brought it inside their walls, and the soldiers opened the gates to the returning Greek ships while the Trojans were partying on about their apparent success in seeing off the Greeks..

The history of mankind is littered with looting expeditions.

Greed is good, killing is good. Good life lessons?

The Greeks had carried out their object of looting western Asia Minor, and were turning back for second crack at the richest part of all - Troy.

A consortium of Greek city-states looting the rich cities of Asia Minor.

Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, Odysseus.

His relative and boyfriend Patroclus.

The strolling bards sag their versions of the story as they moved around. In a pre-television age, it was a much anticipated entertainment, and to avoid repetitiveness each bard invented several versions to deliver on subsequent turns around the circuit.

During the 12 Century BCE - the year is unknown.

The images we have do not depict animals, and are too late to be authentic representations.

It was the source of revenue for strolling bards singing their versions of the story, and it provided great entertainment for people in an era before movies and electronic entertainment.

King Agamemnon did win the Trojan War. The Greeks were able to break into the walls of Troy by building the famous Trojan Horse. Greeks opened the gates in the middle of the night and were able to storm the city.

Hera was the Roman goddess Juno, and also the patron goddess of Carthage under another name (Tanit). (Greeks and Romans considered that the gods were the same everywhere, but different cities worshiped them under different names).

She was also patron of the city-states of Argos and Mycenae (and many other places).

As Tanit / Juno - Hera attempted to impede Aeneas' escape from Troy to Italy;- knowing that Aeneas' descendants would found Rome, which would in time destroy her holy city of Carthage.

The Aeneid has Juno as a major character, acting mainly as Aeneas' antagonist.

disgorged greek warriors

Sometime between 1260 and 1184 BC.

Hector was killed in single combat with Achilles according to the Iliad.

Agamemnon - king of Thebes - was commander in chief of the Greek forces.

Troy's commander in chief was King Priam, but the army was under the control of his son Hector. What precisely happened to the Trojan command structure after Hector was killed by Achilles is not entirely clear from the stories we have, but Aeneas was in command of the city defenses, and probably took an even more senior role after the death of his commander.

Odysseus is the one who comes up with the plan.