Information

[]

__**Reinforcements**__ The Trojans received further aids, first from the [|Amazons] and later Ethiopians or Assyrians.The Amazon queen, [|Penthesileia], was a daughter of [|Ares], and sister of Hippolyte. When she arrived at Troy, she boast of her prowess. But Andromache, the newly-grieving widow of Hector, rebuked the Amazon Queen, asking her to be cautious and not to be boastful, since there are a number of great fighters among the Greeks. After Hector's funeral, the Greeks and the Trojans rejoined fighting out on the Trojan plains. But Achilles was still mourning over Patroclus. With Troy's new ally, the Amazons and their Queen drove back the Greeks. Penthesileia killed many Greeks before Achilles killed her. According to Apollodorus, among the Greeks to fall to her deadly spear, was the physician Machaon, the son of [|Asclepius]. When the Amazon Queen fell, Achilles stripped Penthesileia of her armour, he saw that the woman was young and very beautiful. He seemed to have fallen madly in love with her, and regret killing Penthesileia. One of the Greeks, named Theristes (the ugliest and lame fighter) mocked Achilles for his behaviour, because the hero was mourning his enemy. Enraged, Achilles killed Thersites with a single blow to his face. Thersites was quarrelsome and abusive in character, that only his cousin, [|Diomedes], mourned for him. Diomedes would have avenged Thersites, but the leaders persuaded their two of their best warriors from fighting among themselves. Diomedes took Penthesileia's body and threw it into the river. According to Quintus Smyrnaeus, the Greek leaders agreed to the boon of returning her body to the Trojans for her funeral pyre. Odysseus helped Achilles to be purified for the killing a fellow Greek. Odysseus took Achilles to the island of Lesbos, where he sacrificed to [|Leto] and her children, Apollo and Artemis. __**Death**__ The Trojans received new reinforcement from the Ethiopians or Assyrians. They were led by a prince, named [|Memnon], son of Tithonus and [|Eos], the goddess of dawn. Tithonus was Priam's brother. Memnon killed many Greeks, causing the Achaeans to retreat. In the confusion of the retreat, the aged [|Nestor] was surrounded by enemies, among them was Memnon. Antilochus tried to save his father, but he was killed. Nestor was grief-stricken over his son's death, and tried to confront the Ethiopian prince. Memnon, however, saw no honour in such combat against an old man, so he refused to fight with Nestor. Nestor lamented that he no longer has the strength of his youth. Nestor called upon Achilles to avenge Antiochus. [|Thetis], gifted with the oracle, had warned her son that he would die not long after Memnon. Heedless of his mother's warning Achilles killed Memnon, thereby avenging Antilochus. With Memnon's death, the Trojans lost heart, and fled back towards the city's walls, with Achilles in close pursuit. Achilles was at the Scaean Gate, when an arrow from [|Paris], guided by the archer god [|Apollo], pierced his heel. His heel was the only spot on his body that was vulnerable to weapon (hence the "Achilles' heel"). There was fierce fighting over Achilles' body. In the fighting, [|Telamonian Ajax] killed [|Glaucus] (Glaucos), the last leader of the Lycians. While Ajax carried Achilles' body back to camp, [|Odysseus] kept the Trojans back. There is another variation as to how Achilles died. Achilles had seen Polyxena, daughter of [|Priam] and [|Hecuba]. Achilles fell in love with her. Achilles secretly went to her home to ask for her hand in marriage. Polyxena's brothers, Paris and Deíphobus, awaiting his arrival, ambushed and slew him. The later classical authors had shown a less heroic ending for Achilles, but it would explain the earlier texts, why the ghost of Achilles wants to have the Greeks sacrifice Polyxena to him, after the [|Fall of Troy]. When the funeral was held in the Greek camp, [|Thetis] came with her sisters, the [|Nereids], mourning over the death of her son. A funeral pyre was lit, cremating his body. His ashes were placed in the same urn, as to that of his beloved friend, Patroclus. Arrangements were made for the funeral games to be held after the funeral. After the funeral, it was decided that the Achilles' armour, made by the god [|Hephaestus], should be awarded to the best warrior. Ajax and Odysseus both contest for the armour. The Greek leaders awarded the armour to Odysseus. Furious with the decisions of the judges, Ajax decided to kill Odysseus that night. His plan was thwarted, when he was driven mad by [|Athena], Odysseus' protector. Ajax started killing herd of sheep, imagining that he was killing the Greek leaders who awarded the armour to Odysseus. Ajax slaughtered a large ram, thinking that it was Odysseus. Returning to sanity, Ajax was mortified by what he done, and in his despair, Ajax killed himself with the sword that Hector had given him. According to the play written by Sophocles, [|Agamemnon] and his brother, [|Menelaüs] (Menelaus), wanted to expose Ajax's body to the dogs and vultures, refusing to allow the body to be buried. Ajax's half-brother, Teucer, bitterly accused them of sacrilege for not respecting one of their fallen leaders. Bloodshed was prevented between Teucer and the Atreidae (Agamemnon and Menelaüs), only through the intervention of Odysseus. Odysseus argued in favour of burying Ajax in full honour, because he believed that Ajax's bravery had earned that respect. Odysseus also told them that he would like to be given decent burial if he was killed. Agamemnon and Menelaüs had no choice but to respect Odysseus' decision. Odysseus told Teucer that he would not have contested Ajax, if he had realised how much Ajax wanted Achilles' armour. According to one story, the armour was buried with Ajax, but the more common version, say that Odysseus gave the armour to Achilles' son, [|Neoptolemus]. __**The Fall of Troy**__ The Greeks were dismayed by the deaths of two of their greatest fighters. The city seemed as invulnerable as ever. The Greek seer, named Calchas, told them Troy won't fall until Neoptolemus, son of Achilles join the war. Calchas also said that the bow and arrows of Heracles must be brought to Troy. Odysseus easily persuaded young Neoptolemus to join the Greeks. Neoptolemus was living with his mother Deídameia, daughter of Lycomedes, on the island of Scyrus. The bow of Heracles, however, belonged to one of the Greek leaders named [|Philoctetes], whom the Greeks had abandoned on the island of Lemnos due to the vile odour from snakebite. Philoctetes was bitter of the Greeks deserting him on the uninhabited island, and he refused to join the Greeks, when they arrived. Philoctetes want to kill [|Odysseus], [|Agamemnon] and [|Menelaus], because they were responsible for leaving him behind. Philoctetes would have killed Odysseus, until the appearance and intervention of [|Heracles] himself. Either Philoctetes or his father had lit the hero's funeral pyre; in return, Heracles had given his mighty bow to whoever had lit his pyre. Philoctetes or his father happened to be Heracles' friend. Heracles, now a god, persuaded his friend to return with Odysseus to Troy. Heracles assured his old friend that he would finally be healed. At Troy, Philoctetes was healed by one of the Greek healers, named Machaon, the son of [|Asclepius]. In the fighting, the first person Philoctetes mortally wounded with his arrow was [|Paris]. [|Paris] remembering his first wife's words, whom he had abandoned for Helen. Oenoe had told Paris before he left for Sparta that she would heal him if he was ever wounded. But the nymph could not forgive him for not returning earlier; she refused to heal Paris. Paris had no choice but to return to Troy to die. Oenone at once regret her decision, and went after Paris with drug to heal him of the Hydra's venom. But it was too late for Oenone to save him. In her grief, Oenone hanged herself. One last ally came to Troy's aid. Eurypylus, the son of [|Telephus], against his father's wishes, because Telephus had promised the Greeks he would not aid Troy in the war. Breaking Telephus' promises, Eurypylus arrived with new Mysian reinforcement. Eurypylus killed many Greeks, including the healer, Machaon. Neoptolemus killed Eurypylus, avenging Machaon's death. With Paris dead, his two brothers, [|Helenus] and [|Deïphobus] (Deiphobus), quarrelled over who would have Helen. The people of Troy decided in favour of Deïphobus, and forced Helen to marry him. Helenus left the city but was captured by Odysseus. Helenus was the son of [|Priam] and [|Hecuba], but he was also a seer, like his sister, [|Cassandra]. The Greeks somehow managed to persuade the seer to reveal the weakness of Troy. The Greeks learnt from Helenus, that Troy would not fall, while the Palladium, image or statue of Athena, remained within Troy's walls. One night, Odysseus and Diomedes slipped into Troy and stole the Palladium. The Greeks realised they would only be able to capture the city if they can get some forces within Troy. Odysseus later devised the stratagem on finally winning the war, by building a gigantic wooden horse, and leaving it on the beach. The wooden horse would have some selected men, led by Odysseus, hidden inside its belly. The main force of the Greeks would leave their camp and sailed their ships away, hiding behind the nearest island. A Greek spy, Sinon, was deliberately left behind, who would try to convince the Trojans that the Greeks had sailed home, and that Trojans should bring the horse inside their walls. The Trojan seers, Cassandra and Laocoön (Laocoon) tried to warn them not to listen to Sinon, but a sea-monster send by Poseidon, killed Laocoön and his two sons. The sea god's intervention had convinced the Trojans that they had won the war, so they brought the wooden horse within Troy's walls. (Follow this link, for the list Greek heroes who had hid inside the [|Wooden Horse] in Facts and Figures.) The Trojans celebrated their apparent victory before going to bed. The Greek warriors inside the wooden horse, climbed out of the hidden compartment, open the gate to allow the Greek army entrance into the sleeping city. Agamemnon returned with the main body of the Greek army, and entered the city. Fighting erupted during the night inside Troy. Although the Trojans fought well in their city, too many of the Trojans were killed in the first hour of attack. Only two Trojan (Dardanian) leaders survived. [|Antenor] and his family were protected by Menelaüs and Odysseus, who hanged a panther's hide outside of Antenor's door. This warned the Greeks not to harm anyone inside Antenor's home. Before the war had begun, it was Antenor who advised Priam in returning Helen to Menelaüs. Antenor protected the Greek embassy from attack, when another elder wished to murder them. (See [|Arrival in Troy] about Antenor helping the Greek embassy.) Antenor had a son, named Helicaon, and was wounded in the fighting. Odysseus seeing and recognising the son of Antenor, rescued the young Dardanian warrior, and took him to safety. Helicaon was married to Laodice, daughter of Priam and Heccuba. Before any Greek could capture her, according to Apollodorus, the earth opened up and swallowed her. The other leader of Troy who had escaped, was another Dardanian, named [|Aeneas], the son of Anchises and goddess Aphrodite. Aeneas survived and escaped with his father and son. Other Trojans, who had survived the fall of Troy, joined him at Mount Ida. Others say that Aeneas was captured and became slave of Neoptolemus. According to the Roman sources, Aeneas migrated to Italy, and settled near Rome, but according to some sources, he actually founded Rome, naming after a woman, named Rhome. See [|Aeneas] and the [|Aeneid] for different versions of Aeneas' fate. By the early morning, Troy had fallen. Neoptolemus had killed Priam either in the palace or at the temple of Zeus. Menelaüs or Odysseus (or both) killed Helen's new husband, Deïphobus. Astyanax, Hector's son, was flung to his death at the top of Troy's wall. According to //The Sack of Ilium//, it was Odysseus who murdered Astyanax, but Pausanias, with Lescheus as his source, says that it was Neoptolemus, who was responsible for Astyanax's killing. The ghost of Achilles appeared before the Greeks demanding the sacrifice of Priam's youngest daughter, Polyxena, to appease his spirit. Polyxena preferred death to slavery, willingly allowed Neoptolemus to cut her throat upon Achilles' grave. (See [|Death of Achilles] for the possible cause for Polyxena's sacrifice.) Aethra, mother of [|Theseus], had served [|Helen] as slave since the [|Dioscuri] captured her. Aethra's grandsons, Demophon and Acamas, freed her and took her back to their ships. (See [|Theseus], about Aethra). Disaster fell upon the Greeks, during the sacking and looting of the great city. The seeress [|Cassandra], daughter of Priam and Hecuba, clung to the statute of Athena, but the [|Lesser Ajax] raped her. Odysseus, unsuccessfully, tried to persuade the Greek leaders to put [|Ajax] to death, by stoning the Locrian leader. Odysseus hoped to divert the goddess' anger. Ajax, however, saved himself by throwing himself upon the very image he had just desecrated. See [|Aftermath of the War], about the death of Lesser Ajax and the fates of the other Greek leaders. The Trojan women were to become slaves and concubines to the Greek leaders. Among the most notable, Neoptolemus took Andromache, while Cassandra became Agamemnon's concubine, and [|Hecuba] became Odysseus' slave.

__**A Change in Pace.**__ The next day, the Greeks suffered a reversal in fortune. Zeus had decided to honour his promise to [|Thetis]. Zeus ordered all of the gods and goddesses not to take part in the war. With Zeus favouring the Trojans, the Greeks were routed back, and forced to take shelter behind their newly made wall. That night, [|Nestor] persuaded [|Agamemnon] to apologise to Achilles, asking the hero to return to the fighting. Agamemnon agreed to return Achilles' concubine, as well as offering gold to Achilles, as compensation for the hero's injured pride. Agamemnon sent Nestor, [|Odysseus] and [|Ajax] as embassy to Achilles. Although the three leaders were friends of Achilles, the hero refused to return to the war. Achilles told the embassy that he would not return, even if Agamemnon had offered all the treasure of Egypt. Achilles even threatened to return home. Ajax was less than diplomatic, rebuked his cousin. Agamemnon was still upset with the news and was seriously thinking of ending the war and return home. Nestor suggested that they should send two warriors to gather intelligence and gauge the morale on the Trojan camp. Odysseus and [|Diomedes] volunteered for the reconnaissance. At the same time the Trojans sent their own spy, named Dolon, to the Greek camp. Odysseus and Diomedes captured Dolon, and found out that Rhesus, the king of the Thracians had recently arrived with his contingents. Rhesus had brought a beautiful gold chariot, drawn by two immortal horses. Once they had this information, Odysseus and Diomedes murdered Dolon, before sneaking into the Thracian camp. Diomedes killed twelve sleeping nobles as well as Rhesus. Diomedes and Odysseus then stole Rhesus' immortal horses and returned to their camp.

[]

__**Dieffernt versions of how the war started.**__ Likewise it may be argued that [|Paris]' seduction of [|Helen] could have remained without consequences, had not the [|SUITORS OF HELEN] previously taken The Oath of [|Tyndareus], which [|Odysseus] conceived because of his falling in love with [|Penelope]. For it is through this oath that the rulers of Hellas were forced to join the coalition against [|Troy]; and without the oath no alliance, and without alliance no war. To these few set of causes yet a multitude could be added; and many have indeed been added in the course of time. So, for example, those who believe Gold to be the cause of every dispute, being unable to conceive the abduction of a queen to be cause enough, have asserted, in more recent times, that commercial interests were behind this huge conflict which caused the ruin of so many realms, both in Hellas and Asia. Still others think that all things begin in heaven, and accordingly they say that this war took place because such was the will of [|Zeus], who wished his daughter [|Helen] to become famous for having caused a conflict between Europe and Asia. And yet others, also claiming to have penetrated the minds of the gods, affirm that this war was ordained by heaven in order to exalt the race of the demigods. And since those who claim knowledge of divine providence often deem their own level of enlightenment higher than anyone else's, there is seldom agreement among the members of this well informed breed of mortals about the will of the gods and their intentions towards mankind. __**Death of Achilles**__ It is now that [|Achilles], nurturing a grief greater than his wrath, came to life again, and while Thetis fetched the new armour for his son, he called a council and in it, without asking anything in return, ended his feud with [|Agamemnon], who acknowledging that he himself had been the one whom the gods blinded, declared that he was ready to make amends and pay [|Achilles] the compensation of the seven tripods, the seven women, the seven cities and all other magnificent gifts which included [|Achilles]' sweetheart [|Briseis]. And when the new armour arrived [|Achilles] sought [|Hector 1] and killed him and outraged many times his body, intending to give it to the dogs, until by the will of the gods he was convinced to accept a ransom from King [|Priam 1] of [|Troy], who humiliated himself in front of the warrior who had killed his son. And as it had been predicted, shortly after the death of [|Hector 1], [|Achilles] was killed. And what brave [|Hector 1], though he was the pillar of [|Troy], could not accomplish in close combat, was done by [|Paris] from the distance. For it was he who, using weapons adapted to what has been thought to be his less audacious nature, put an end to [|Achilles]' life, shooting him in the ankle and thus avenging the brother who had once despised him. The Achaeans then proceeded to slaughter the people in their own beds. King [|Priam 1] himself was killed by [|Neoptolemus] while [|Ajax 2] found the confusion favourable in order to rape the princess and seeress [|Cassandra], who was clinging to the wooden image of [|Athena], which is believed to have been knocked over from its stand, as he dragged her away from the sanctuary. Little Astyanax 2, the child of [|Hector 1] and [|Andromache], was thrown from the battlements and slaughtered, and [|Priam 1]'s daughter [|Polyxena 1] was sacrificed on the grave of [|Achilles]. [|Cassandra] and [|Andromache] were given respectively to [|Agamemnon] and [|Neoptolemus] as special awards, and Queen [|Hecabe 1] sailed away with [|Odysseus], to whom she had been assigned in servitude; and when they were passing the Hellespont, she threw herself into the sea and, according to some, she was turned into a bitch. [|Menelaus] led [|Helen] to the ships after killing Deiphobus 1 who had married her after [|Paris], and the sons of [|Theseus], Demophon 1 and Acamas 1, liberated Aethra 2, [|Theseus]' mother, who had become [|Helen]'s slave years ago. When the Achaeans had divided the spoil, they put fire to the city.
 * __The Sack of Troy__**

[] __**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 killed by Paris — either by a poisoned arrow (the arrow was guided by Apollo; Paris did not do it by himself), or in an older version by a knife to the back (or heel), while visiting a Trojan princess, [|Polyxena], during a truce. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valour, saying Achilles remains undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games were held. Like Ajax, he is represented as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube. The end of the war came with one final plan. The Greeks (or, in some versions of the tale, Odysseus on their behalf) devised a new ruse — a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by [|Epeius] and filled with Greek archers 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 that the horse was a gift despite the warnings of [|Laocoon] and [|Cassandra]. The Trojans, who were understandably overjoyed that the ten-year siege had lifted, entered a night of mad revelry and celebration, and when the Greeks archers emerged from the horse they killed the guards. The Greeks opened the city gates to allow their fellow soldiers in, and the city was utterly destroyed — every single man and boy killed (including infants), every woman and girl enslaved, all its wealth pillaged, and the city itself reduced to rubble. There is much question as to whether a wooden horse was even created. Homer's stories are believed by many to be the merging of many wars fought on Troy. In his merging, he creates many characters out of the gods and uses many metaphors. It is suggested that the Trojan Horse actually represents an earthquake that occurred between the wars that could have weakened Troy's walls and left them open for attack. Structural damage on the city believed to be Troy — its location being the same as that represented in Homer's Iliad and the artifacts found there suggesting it was a place of great trade and power — shows signs that there was indeed an earthquake. Other scholars, including several ancient sources, suggest that the "Trojan horse" was in fact a battering ram.
 * __Over throw of Troy__**

[] The legend of how the Trojan War started says the cause of the fight between the Mycenaeans and the Trojans was Helen of Sparta. At the wedding party of Peleus, the King Pithia, and the goddess of the sea, Thetis, every god and goddess was invited except Eris, the goddess of disagreement and conflict. Eris was angry at them, so she threw a golden apple into the center of the party. On the apple were the words "to the most beautiful." More than one goddess declared that they should own the apple. Hera, Aphrodite, and Anthena all wanted it. To help decide who was the most beautiful Paris, the King of Troy, was going to be the judge. The goddesses tempted Paris with lots of gifts like power and love. In the end Paris picked Aphrodite because she gave the most beautiful gift of all. Woman on the Earth. Everyone knew at the time that Helen was the most beautiful woman. She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta, so Aphrodite put a spell on Helen to fall in love with Paris. Paris came to visit and then Helen left with him to go back to Troy. Now Aphrodite would not have to worry about Helen being in the way, and she would be the most beautiful. As soon as King Menelaus heard the news he was furious. He sent a thousand ships to Troy to go get Helen back. Before King Menelaus came to Troy Agamemnon, a commander and chief of the Achaeans in the Trojan War, said he would sacrifice his daughter in order for the king’s ships to have a safe ride.When the Achaeans knew they could not take over the city of Troy by fighting them constantly in a war, they decided to play a trick on the Trojans. They built a huge wooden horse and placed it at the huge wooden gates of Troy, then they sailed away. The Trojans took what they thought was a gift into their city. What they didn’t know was that inside the horses were soldiers. They soldiers defeated Troy, destroyed almost everything, and then came back as heroes.

[] 1.The gods Apollo and Poseidon, during a time when they were being punished by having to work among men, built the city of Troy for Priam's father, Laomedon. They invited the mortal man Aeacus (the son of Zeus and Aegina and grandfather of Achilles) to help them, since destiny had decreed that Troy would one day be captured in a place built by human hands (so a human being had to help them). 2. When newly constructed, Troy was attacked and captured by Herakles (Hercules), Telamon (brother of Peleus and therefore the uncle of Achilles and father of Telamonian Ajax and Teucros), and Peleus (son of Aeacus and father of Achilles), as a punishment for the fact that Laomedon had not given Hercules a promised reward of immortal horses for rescuing Laomedon's daughter Hesione. Telamon killed Laomedon and took Hesione as a concubine (she was the mother of Teucros). 3. Priam, King of Troy and son of Laomedon, had a son from his wife Hekabe (or Hecuba), who dreamed that she had given birth to a flaming torch. Cassandra, the prophetic daughter of Priam, foretold that the new-born son, Paris (also called Alexandros or Alexander), should be killed at birth or else he would destroy the city. Paris was taken out to be killed, but he was rescued by shepherds and grew up away from the city in the farms by Mount Ida. As a young man he returned to Troy to compete in the athletic games, was recognized, and returned to the royal family. 4. Peleus (father of Achilles) fell in love with the sea nymph Thetis, whom Zeus, the most powerful of the gods, also had designs upon. But Zeus learned of an ancient prophecy that Thetis would give birth to a son greater than his father, so he gave his divine blessing to the marriage of Peleus, a mortal king, and Thetis. All the gods were invited to the celebration, except, by a deliberate oversight, Eris, the goddess of strife. She came anyway and brought a golden apple, upon which was written "For the fairest." Hera (Zeus's wife), Aphrodite (Zeus's daughter), and Athena (Zeus's daughter) all made a claim for the apple, and they appealed to Zeus for judgment. He refused to adjudicate a beauty contest between his wife and two of his daughters, and the task of choosing a winner fell to Paris (while he was still a herdsman on Mount Ida, outside Troy). The goddesses each promised Paris a wonderful prize if he would pick her: Hera offered power, Athena offered military glory and wisdom, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife. In the famous Judgement of Paris, Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. 5. Helen, daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, was also the daughter of Zeus, who had made love to Leda in the shape of a swan (she is the only female child of Zeus and a mortal). Her beauty was famous throughout the world. Her father Tyndareus would not agree to any man's marrying her, until all the Greeks warrior leaders made a promise that they would collectively avenge any insult to her. When the leaders made such an oath, Helen then married Menelaus, King of Sparta. Her twin (non-divine) sister Klytaimnestra (Clytaemnestra), born at the same time as Helen but not a daughter of Zeus, married Agamemnon, King of Argos, and brother of Menelaus. Agamemnon was the most powerful leader in Hellas (Greece). 6. Paris, back in the royal family at Troy, made a journey to Sparta as a Trojan ambassador, at a time when Menelaus was away. Paris and Helen fell in love and left Sparta together, taking with them a vast amount of the city's treasure and returning to Troy via Cranae, an island off Attica, Sidon, and Egypt, among other places. The Spartans set off in pursuit but could not catch the lovers. When the Spartans learned that Helen and Paris were back in Troy, they sent a delegation (Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and Menelaus, the injured husband) to Troy demanding the return of Helen and the treasure. When the Trojans refused, the Spartans appealed to the oath which Tyndareus had forced them all to take (see 5 above), and the Greeks assembled an army to invade Troy, asking all the allies to meet in preparation for embarkation at Aulis. Some stories claimed that the real Helen never went to Troy, for she was carried off to Egypt by the god Hermes, and Paris took her double to Troy. 7. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, was educated as a young man by Chiron, the centaur (half man and half horse). One of the conditions of Achilles's parents' marriage (the union of a mortal with a divine sea nymph) was that the son born to them would die in war and bring great sadness to his mother. To protect him from death in battle his mother bathed the infant in the waters of the river Styx, which conferred invulnerability to any weapon. And when the Greeks began to assemble an army, Achilles's parents hid him at Scyros disguised as a girl. While there he met Deidameia, and they had a son Neoptolemos (also called Pyrrhus). Calchas, the prophet with the Greek army, told Agamemnon and the other leaders that they could not conquer Troy without Achilles. Odysseus found Achilles by tricking him; Odysseus placed a weapon out in front of the girls of Scyros, and Achilles reached for it, thus revealing his identity. Menoitios, a royal counsellor, sent his son Patroclus to accompany Achilles on the expedition as his friend and advisor. 8. The Greek fleet of one thousand ships assembled at Aulis. Agamemnon, who led the largest contingent, was the commander-in-chief. The army was delayed for a long time by contrary winds, and the future of the expedition was threatened as the forces lay idle. Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artemis by an impious boast, and Artemis had sent the winds. Finally, in desperation to appease the goddess, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia. Her father lured her to Aulis on the pretext that she was to be married to Achilles (whose earlier marriage was not known), but then he sacrificed her on the high altar. One version of her story claims that Artemis saved her at the last minute and carried her off to Tauris where she became a priestess of Artemis in charge of human sacrifices. While there, she later saved Orestes and Pylades. In any case, after the sacrifice Artemis changed the winds, and the fleet sailed for Troy. 9. On the way to Troy, Philoctetes, the son of Poeas and leader of the seven ships from Methone, suffered a snake bite when the Greeks landed at Tenedos to make a sacrifice. His pain was so great and his wound so unpleasant (especially the smell) that the Greek army abandoned him against his will on the island. 10. The Greek army landed on the beaches before Troy. The first man ashore, Protesilaus, was killed by Hector, son of Priam and leader of the Trojan army. The Greeks sent another embassy to Troy, seeking to recover Helen and the treasure. When the Trojans denied them, the Greek army settled down into a siege which lasted many years. 11. In the tenth year of the war (where the narrative of the //Iliad// begins), Agamemnon insulted Apollo by taking as a slave-hostage the girl Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, a prophet of Apollo, and refusing to return her when her father offered compensation. In revenge, Apollo sent nine days of plague down upon the Greek army. Achilles called an assembly to determine what the Greeks should do. In that assembly, he and Agamemnon quarrelled bitterly, Agamemnon confiscated from Achilles his slave girl Briseis, and Achilles, in a rage, withdrew himself and his forces (the Myrmidons) from any further participation in the war. He asked his mother, Thetis, the divine sea nymph, to intercede on his behalf with Zeus to give the Trojans help in battle, so that the Greek forces would recognize how foolish Agamemnon had been to offend the best soldier under his command. Thetis made the request of Zeus, reminding him of a favour she had once done for him, warning him about a revolt against his authority, and he agreed. 12. During the course of the war, numerous incidents took place, and many died on both sides. Paris and Menelaus fought a duel, and Aphrodite saved Paris just as Menelaus was about to kill him. Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, slew Cycnus, Troilus, and many others. He also, according to various stories, was a lover of Patroclus, Troilus, Polyxena, daughter of Priam, Helen, and Medea. Odysseus and Diomedes slaughtered thirteen Thracians (Trojan allies) and stole the horses of King Rhesus in a night raid. Telamonian Ajax (the Greater Ajax) and Hector fought a duel with no decisive result. A common soldier, Thersites, challenged the authority of Agamemnon and demanded that the soldiers abandon the expedition. Odysseus beat Thersites into obedience. In the absence of Achilles and following Zeus's promise to Thetis (see 11), Hector enjoyed great success against the Greeks, breaking through their defensive ramparts on the beach and setting the ships on fire. 13. While Hector was enjoying his successes against the Greeks, the latter sent an embassy to Achilles, requesting him to return to battle. Agamemnon offered many rewards in compensation for his initial insult (see 11). Achilles refused the offer but did say that he would reconsider if Hector ever reached the Greek ships. When Hector did so, Achilles's friend Patroclus (see 7) begged to be allowed to return to the fight. Achilles gave him permission, advising Patroclus not to attack the city of Troy itself. He also gave Patroclus his own suit of armour, so that the Trojans might think that Achilles had returned to the war. Patroclus resumed the fight, enjoyed some dazzling success (killing one of the leaders of the Trojan allies, Sarpedon from Lykia), but he was finally killed by Hector, with the help of Apollo. 14. In his grief over the death of his friend Patroclus, Achilles decided to return to the battle. Since he had no armour (Hector had stripped the body of Patroclus and had put on the armour of Achilles), Thetis asked the divine artisan Hephaestus, the crippled god of the forge, to prepare some divine armour for her son. Hephaestus did so, Thetis gave the armour to Achilles, and he returned to the war. After slaughtering many Trojans, Achilles finally cornered Hector alone outside the walls of Troy. Hector chose to stand and fight rather than to retreat into the city, and he was killed by Achilles, who then mutilated the corpse, tied it to his chariot, and dragged it away. Achilles built a huge funeral pyre for Patroclus, killed Trojan soldiers as sacrifices, and organized the funeral games in honour of his dead comrade. Priam travelled to the Greek camp to plead for the return of Hector's body, and Achilles relented and returned it to Priam in exchange for a ransom. 15. In the tenth year of the war the Amazons, led by Queen Penthesilea, joined the Trojan forces. She was killed in battle by Achilles, as was King Memnon of Ethiopa, who had also recently reinforced the Trojans. Achilles's career as the greatest warrior came to an end when Paris, with the help of Apollo, killed him with an arrow which pierced him in the heel, the one vulnerable spot, which the waters of the River Styx had not touched because his mother had held him by the foot (see 7) when she had dipped the infant Achilles in the river. Telamonian Ajax, the second greatest Greek warrior after Achilles, fought valiantly in defense of Achilles's corpse. At the funeral of Achilles, the Greeks sacrificed Polyxena, the daughter of Hecuba, wife of Priam. After the death of Achilles, Odysseus and Telamonian Ajax fought over who should get the divine armour of the dead hero. When Ajax lost the contest, he went mad and committed suicide. In some versions, the Greek leaders themselves vote and decide to award the armour to Odysseus. 16. The Greeks captured Helenus, a son of Priam, and one of the chief prophets in Troy. Helenus revealed to the Greeks that they could not capture Troy without the help of Philoctetes, who owned the bow and arrows of Hercules and whom the Greeks had abandoned on Tenedos (see 9 above). Odysseus and Neoptolemus (the son of Achilles) set out to persuade Philoctetes, who was angry at the Greeks for leaving him alone on the island, to return to the war, and by trickery they succeeded. Philoctetes killed Paris with an arrow shot from the bow of Hercules. 17. Odysseus and Diomedes ventured into Troy at night, in disguise, and stole the Palladium, the sacred statue of Athena, which was supposed to give the Trojans the strength to continue the war. The city, however, did not fall. Finally the Greeks devised the strategy of the wooden horse filled with armed soldiers. It was built by Epeius and left in front of Troy. The Greek army then withdrew to Tenedos (an island off the coast), as if abandoning the war. Odysseus went into Troy disguised, and Helen recognized him. But he was sent away by Hecuba, the wife of Priam, after Helen told her. The Greek soldier Sinon stayed behind when the army withdrew and pretended to the Trojans that he had deserted from the Greek army because he had information about a murder Odysseus had committed. He told the Trojans that the horse was an offering to Athena and that the Greeks had built it to be so large that the Trojans could not bring it into their city. The Trojan Laocoon warned the Trojans not to believe Sinon ("I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts"); in the midst of his warnings a huge sea monster came from the surf and killed Laocoon and his sons. 18. The Trojans determined to get the Trojan Horse into their city. They tore down a part of the wall, dragged the horse inside, and celebrated their apparent victory. At night, when the Trojans had fallen asleep, the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse came out, opened the gates, and gave the signal to the main army which had been hiding behind Tenedos. The city was totally destroyed. King Priam was slaughtered at the altar by Achilles's son Neoptolemos. Hector's infant son, Astyanax, was thrown off the battlements. The women were taken prisoner: Hecuba (wife of Priam), Cassandra (daughter of Priam), and Andromache (wife of Hector). Helen was returned to Menelaus. 19. The gods regarded the sacking of Troy and especially the treatment of the temples as a sacrilege, and they punished many of the Greek leaders. The fleet was almost destroyed by a storm on the journey back. Menelaus's ships sailed all over the sea for seven years—to Egypt (where, in some versions, he recovered his real wife in the court of King Proteus—see 6 above). Agamemnon returned to Argos, where he was murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Cassandra, whom Agamemnon had claimed as a concubine after the destruction of Troy, was also killed by Clytaemnestra. Aegisthus was seeking revenge for what the father of Agamemnon (Atreus) had done to his brother (Aegisthus' father) Thyestes. Atreus had given a feast for Thyestes in which he fed to him the cooked flesh of his own children (see the family tree of the House of Atreus given below). Clytaemnestra claimed that she was seeking revenge for the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigeneia (see 8 above). 20. Odysseus (called by the Romans Ulysses) wandered over the sea for many years before reaching home. He started with a number of ships, but in a series of misfortunes, lasting ten years because of the enmity of Poseidon, the god of the sea, he lost all his men before returning to Ithaca alone. His adventures took him from Troy to Ismareos (land of the Cicones); to the land of the Lotos Eaters, the island of the cyclops (Poseidon, the god of the sea, became Odysseus's enemy when Odysseus put out the eye of Polyphemus, the cannibal cyclops, who was a son of Poseidon); to the cave of Aeolos (god of the winds), to the land of the Laestrygonians, to the islands of Circe and Calypso, to the underworld (where he talked to the ghost of Achilles); to the land of the Sirens, past the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, to the pastures of the cattle of Helios, the sun god, to Phaiacia. Back in Ithaca in disguise, with the help of his son Telemachus and some loyal servants, he killed the young princes who had been trying to persuade his wife, Penelope, to marry one of them and who had been wasting the treasure of the palace and trying to kill Telemachus. Odysseus proved who he was by being able to string the famous bow of Odysseus, a feat which no other man could manage, and by describing for Penelope the secret of their marriage bed, that Odysseus had built it around an old olive tree. 21. After the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytaemnestra (see 19 above), his son Orestes returned with a friend Pylades to avenge his father. With the help of his sister Electra (who had been very badly treated by her mother, left either unmarried or married to a poor farmer so that she would have no royal children), Orestes killed his mother and Aegisthus. Then he was pursued by the Furies, the goddesses of blood revenge. Suffering fits of madness, Orestes fled to Delphi, then to Tauri, where, in some versions, he met his long-lost sister, Iphigeneia. She had been rescued from Agamemnon's sacrifice by the gods and made a priestess of Diana in Tauri. Orestes escaped with Iphigeneia to Athens. There he was put on trial for the matricide. Apollo testified in his defense. The jury vote was even; Athena cast the deciding vote in Orestes's favour. The outraged Furies were placated by being given a permanent place in Athens and a certain authority in the judicial process. They were then renamed the Eumenides (The Kindly Ones). Orestes was later tried for the same matricide in Argos, at the insistence of Tyndareus, Clytaemnestra's father. Orestes and Electra were both sentenced to death by stoning. Orestes escaped by capturing Helen and using her as a hostage. 22. Neoptolemus, the only son of Achilles, married Hermione, the only daughter of Helen and Menelaus. Neoptolemus also took as a wife the widow of Hector, Andromache. There was considerable jealously between the two women. Orestes had wished to marry Hermione; by a strategy he arranged it so that the people of Delphi killed Neoptolemus. Then he carried off Hermione and married her. Menelaus tried to kill the son of Neoptolemus, Molossus, and Andromache, but Peleus, Achilles's father, rescued them. Andromache later married Helenus. Orestes's friend Pylades married Electra, Orestes sister. 23. Aeneas, the son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite and one of the important Trojan leaders in the Trojan War, fled from the city while the Greeks were destroying it, carrying his father, Anchises, his son Ascanius, and his ancestral family gods with him. Aeneas wandered all over the Mediterranean. On his journey to Carthage, he had an affair with Dido, Queen of Carthage. He abandoned her without warning, in accordance with his mission to found another city. Dido committed suicide in grief. Aeneas reached Italy and there fought a war against Turnus, the leader of the local Rutulian people. He did not found Rome but Lavinium, the main centre of the Latin league, from which the people of Rome sprang. Aeneas thus links the royal house of Troy with the Roman republic. media type="youtube" key="q16-qfEMK3g" height="340" width="560"

media type="youtube" key="ddu5fmInCUM" height="340" width="560"