The TrojanWar: History orMyth?


The story of the TrojanWar has been a part of the public sphere of knowledge for thousands of years. Today, it is likely that if you stopped a random person on the street and asked what they knew about this ancient conlict, they would, at the very least, be able to recall something about Helen of Troy and the Trojan Horse. Some might be able to go further and talk of the war’s heroes on both sides or the horrors of the sack of Troy. The Iliad, arguably the most famous work about the Trojan War, does not portray any of these famous events or even the majority of the war’s ten-year duration. Instead, it presents a span of about 40 days that took place towards thewar’s end. Yet, despite the short amount of time presented, Homer’s epic manages to both capture the tragedy of the bloodshed and transport “the ancient tale of this particular Bronze AgeWar… into a sublime and sweeping evocation of the devastation of all war of any time” (Caroline


Alexander, TheWar that Killed Achilles)


The Greek Ships Sail for Troy as imagined in the 2004 ilmTroy.


aftermath, including the Odyssey, the Aeneid, The TrojanWomen,Hecuba and theOrestia. Like the Iliad, none of these works presents the whole story of thewar. Instead, each focuses on the fates of those scattered from both the winning and losing sides.


The story of the TrojanWarwas approximately 500 years old before Homer began to tell his version of it. It had been passed down through oral tradition and would continue to be told both during and long after Homer’s time, subsequently inspiring countless poems, plays, and eventually books and movies. Many other classical works tell the stories of the war’s


Here is the story of the TrojanWar, according to legend: www.perseus.tufts.edu


The Judgment of Paris, FromVase ca 440 BCE


The gods and goddesses of the Greekworldwere having a celebration. The goddess of discord, Eris, was not invited, which angered her. Out of spite, she tossed a golden apple inscribed with “to the fairest” into the middle of the feast. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite each claimed the apple as their own and asked Zeus to judge between them. He refused and instead gave the task of judgment to Paris, a prince of Troy. Each of the goddesses offered a bribe, but it was Aphrodite’s promise of the love of themost beautiful woman in the world towhich Paris succumbed.


Themost beautifulwoman in theworldwas Helen of Sparta,whowould later be called Helen of Troy, and shewas alreadymarried toMenelaus, the king of Sparta.Different versions of the story claimthat Paris either stole or seduced her, and brought her back to Troywith himalongwith riches fromher husband’s palace.


Helen, beforemarryingMenelaus, hadmany suitors, each ofwhompledged to defend her if necessary.Many of these former suitorswere nowkings and rulers of Greece and so joinedwithMenelaus and his brother Agamemnon, King ofMycenae, to go to Troy and get Helen back. And so began the TrojanWar.


After more than nine years of ighting, the war was ended by a trick. The Greeks pretended to sail back to Greece, leaving behind a giant wooden horse. The Trojans wheeled the horse into their city and began celebrating the end of the war. That night, the Achaeans, who had hidden inside the horse at the bidding of Odysseus, leapt out and opened the gates of Troy to the rest of the Achaean army. The city was sacked, itsmen killed and its women taken as slaves by the victors.


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