Trojan War

History -- Military History -- War

The Trojan War is the legendary Greek siege of the city of Troy (or Troas or Ilium), located on the close vicinity of the Dardanelles strait in present-day Turkey. The war took place around 1200 BC, when cities all across the eastern Mediterranean Sea were being destroyed by various attackers -- including those of the Achaeans, so despite the version remembered in Greek mythology Troy was more likely taken by northern Greeks. The city itself was wealthy and had control of the Dardanelles, a point of great strategic and commercial importance (both Persian and Greek armies would later use this route to dominate the area), so it was a prime target.

The Wedding of Peleus And Thetis

The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite had been invited along with the rest of Olympus to the forced wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles, but Eris (the goddess of strife) had been snubbed because of her troublemaking inclinations.

Eris therefore tossed into the party a golden apple inscibed "Kallisti" -- "For the most beautiful one"-- provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient. The hapless Paris, Prince of Troy, was appointed to select the most beautiful. Greek mythological morality being what it was, each of the three goddesses immediately attempted to bribe Paris to choose her. Hera offered political power and control of all of Asia, Athena skill in battle, wisdom and the abilities of the greatest warriors, and Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. Paris was a red-blooded young man, and while the length of time he meditated on this problem is not recorded, he did eventually award the apple to Aphrodite.

Since Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, she had had many suitors. To keep the peace between them, Odysseus made them all promise to defend the marriage of Helen and whomever she chose. She chose Menelaus and when Paris kidnapped her (according to some, she fell in love with Paris and left willingly), all of Greece attacked Troy -- the Trojan War.

The War

Telephus

When the Greeks left for the [[Trojan War], they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the battle, Achilles wounded Telephus. The would not heal and Telephus asked an oracle whi claimed "he that wounded shall heal").

According to others' reports about Euripides' lost play about Telephus, he went to Aulis, pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to help heal his wound. Acchilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held Orestes for ransom, the ransom being Achilles' aid in healing the wound. Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound and the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound, and Telephus healed. This is an example of sympathetic magic.

Agamemnon and Iphigenia

Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a (sacred) deer in a (sacred) grove and boasted he was a better hunter than her. On his way to Troy to participate in the Trojan War, Agamemnon's ships were suddenly motionless as Artemis stopped the wind in Aulis. An oracle named Calchis told Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice Iphigenia, his daughter. According to some versions, he did so, but others claims that he sacrificed a deer in her place and Iphigenia was taken to Crimea to prepare others for sacrifice to Artemis. Still others sources claim he was prepared to but Artemis whisked her to Taurus in Crimea. Hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate.

The Role of Helenus and Other Oracles

Philoctetes

Philoctetes was Heracles' friend and, because he lit Heracles' funeral pyre when no one else would, he recieved Heracles' bow and arrows.

He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War, where he was planning on fighting for the Greeks. They stopped on Chryse for supplies and Philoctetes was bit by a snake. The wound festered and smelled horrible; Odysseus advised and the Atreidae ordered Philoctetes to stay on Lemnos. Medon took control Philoctetes' men. He was there on Lemnos, alone, for ten years.

Later, though, Helenus, son of King Priam of Troy, was tortured until he revealed that one of the conditions of the Greeks winning the Trojan War was that they had the bow and arrows of Heracles. Odysseus and Neoptolemus retrieved Philoctetes from Lemnos. Philoctetes' wound was healed by Machaon or Asclepius. Philoctetes then killed Paris.

Achilles Joins The War

An oracle, Calchas, stated that the Greeks would not win without Achilles but his mother, Thetis, knew he would die there. His mother thus hid him at the court of Lycomedes in Scyros, disguised as a woman. There he had an affair with Deidamea resulting in a child, Neoptolemus. He was found out, however, by Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix, who arrived disguised as a peddler with trinkets and weaponry. Achilles was marked out from the other women by admiring the wrong goods. Alternatively, he was found out by a blast of the trumpet, whence instead of cowering he grabbed a spear to ward off the attackers. From there he needed little convincing to go to Troy, accompanied by his best friend Patroclus and his tutor, Phoenix (this is the same Phoenix that accompanied Odysseus to Scyros in a different, much later version).

The Death of Patroclus

Chryseis/Briseis

Achilles abducted a woman named Briseis to keep as a concubine. After an oracle forced Agamemnon to give up a woman he had captured, Chryseis, Agamemnon took Briseis to compensate himself. Apollo forced Agamemnon to do this because he had taunted Chryseis' father, Chryses, when he tried to buy his daughter back. Achilles pouted and refused to fight.

Achilles and Patroclus

Achilles and Agamemnon argued and Achilles refused to fight any longer; Patroclus donned his armor and took his place and was killed by Hector (who also took Achilles' armor). Enraged, Achilles killed Hector (after his mother acquired new armor from Hephaestus and Hector was injured by Ajax) and dragged his body around Troy three times before allowing Priam (Hector's father and king of Troy) to bury it.

Xanthus

During the Trojan War, Xanthus, a magical horse was rebuked by Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be killed. Xanthus responded by saying that a god had killed Patroclus and a god would soon kill Achilles too. The Erinyes struck the horse dumb.

The Death Of Achilles

Shortly after the death of Hector, Achilles defeated Memnon of Ethiopia, Cycnus of Colonae and the Amazonian warrior Penthesilia (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). He was very soon after killed by Paris- either by an arrow to the heel, or in an older version by a knife to the back while visiting a Trojan princess. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valor, and Achilles remains undefeated on the battlefield. His bones are mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games are held. Like Ajax; he is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube.

Achilles' Armor/Death of Ajax

Achilles' armor was the object of a fued between Odysseus and Ajax. They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself.

Diomedes

Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite, Aeneas' mother, saved him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to Mt. Olympus. Aeneas was then eneveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Tory. Artemis healed Aeneas there.

Later in the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares, the war-god, fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares' body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.

The Trojan Horse

The Greek seige of Troy had lasted for ten years. The Greeks devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. The Trojans celebrated hugely and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greek warriors opened the city gates to allow the rest of the army access and the city was ruthlessly pillaged

The Death of Palamedes

Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for sending him to the Trojan War (Palamedes exposed Odysseus as a fake when he pretended to be insane). When Palamedes advised the Trojans to return home, Odysseus accused him of being a traitor and forged false evidence and found a fake witness to testify against him. Palamedes was stoned to death.

The Aftermath

Hecuba was enslaved by the Achaeans.

Lycaon was enslaved by Achilles. He was later killed trying to escape.

Cassandra was raped by Ajax the lesser, then taken as a concubine by Agamemnon.

Neoptolemus took Andromache and Helenus as slaves and married Andromache.

Creusa was killed escaping Troy. Her husband, Aeneas, and son Ascanius escaped with Aeneas' father, Anchises to Italy with the help of Mimas. Aeneas went on to found Rome, making this one of the most important events of the Trojan War.

The Trojan War In Art

The story of the siege of Troy provided inspiration for many pieces of art other than those of Homer. Some of these are Troades by Euripides, Troilus & Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer and Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz (1855-1858).

Participants

Participants on the Greek Side

Participants on the Trojan Side

Armies on the Greek Side

Armies on the Trojan Side

Participant/Murderer

Unknown Side (Someone help?)

Ascalaphus
Mentes, King of the Cicones
Mentes, King of the Taphians

Links:

The Trojan War: an illustrated companion has many excellent reproductions of classical art representing the Trojan War