A short story about the Trojan War for school. The Trojan War and its heroes - myths and legends. Where was Troy?

The myths and legends of Ancient Greece represent a huge cultural layer that still excites the minds of scientists, historians, and archaeologists. The Trojan War, the most striking event that occurred in antiquity, was poetically described by the ancient Greek storyteller Homer in his works “Odyssey” and “Iliad”.

Trojan War - fact or myth?

Historians up to the 18th century. considered the Trojan War to be pure literary fiction, attempts to find traces of ancient Troy did not lead to results, but it is important to understand that a myth is a narrative based on real-life facts and people’s views on the world around them. From the sources it follows that the war began at the turn of the XIII - XII centuries. BC, when human thinking was mythological: in reality, a significant place was given to gods and spirits of nature.

The long-term Trojan War, the apple of discord, is the main mythological component of the plot of the fall of Troy. Otherwise, starting from the 19th century. Historians see events that actually took place in the Trojan War, but not in Troy itself. Different views of scientists:

1. F. Rückert (German researcher) suggested that the Trojan War happened, but its heroes were completely fictional by Achaean emigrants who decided to glorify their ancestors.
2. P. Kauer (German scientist) considered the Trojan War to be a disguised war between the Aeolian colonialists and the inhabitants of Asia Minor.

Myth of the Trojan War

The Greeks believed that Troy was built by the gods Poseidon and Apollo. King Priam, who ruled Troy, had enormous wealth and numerous offspring. Several sequential events are woven into the fabric of the myth of the Trojan War, which became one big reason for the fall of Troy:

1. Priam's pregnant wife, Hecuba, had a dream: during childbirth, she gave birth to a burning brand from which Troy was burned. The time came - Hecuba gave birth to a beautiful boy, Paris, and took him to the forest, where he was picked up and raised by a shepherd.
2. At the wedding of Argonaut Peleus and the nymph Thetis, they forgot to invite the goddess of discord Eris. In anger at the disrespect, Eris created the inscription "To the Most Beautiful", which became the cause of a dispute between the three: Aphrodite, Athena and Hera. Zeus instructed Hermes to find Paris so that he could decide who should give the fruit. Aphrodite got the apple in return for her promise to give Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. This marked the beginning of the Trojan War.

Myth about the beginning of the Trojan War

Helen the Beautiful, the mythological culprit of the Trojan War, was a married woman whose love Menelaus, the Spartan king, sought for a long time. Paris, having secured support, arrived in Sparta at the moment when Menelaus was supposed to sail to Crete to bury the remains of his grandfather Catreus. Menelaus received the guest with honor and set off. Helen, inflamed with feelings for Paris, went with him to Troy, taking with her her husband’s treasures.

Menelaus's sense of dignity suffered, and the pain of betraying the woman he loved is what started the Trojan War. Menelaus gathers an army to march on Troy. There is another reason for the Trojan War, more prosaic - Troy interfered with the exchange and trade of Ancient Greece with other countries.

How many years did the Trojan War last?

An army of more than 100,000 soldiers on 1,186 ships, led by Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, set off on a military campaign. There is a myth about how long the Trojan War lasted. When making a sacrifice to Ares, a snake crawled out from under the altar, climbed a tree into a sparrow's nest and ate the entire brood of 8 birds along with the female, then turned to stone. The priest Kalkhant predicted 9 years of war and on the tenth the fall of Troy.

Who won the Trojan War?

The history of the Trojan War began for the Greeks with a series of failures: the ships were taken in the other direction, to the lands of Mysia, and King Thersander, an ally of Sparta, was mistakenly killed; the people of Thebes went to war against the offenders. The army of Sparta suffered huge losses. Arriving in Troy, there was a heavy siege of the fortress for 9 years. Paris and Menelaus meet in a fierce duel, in which Paris dies.

Odysseus has a dream where Athena gives advice on how to capture Troy. The made wooden horse was left near the gates of the fortress, and the warriors themselves set sail from the shores of Troy. The joyful Trojans rolled the strange horse into the courtyard and began to celebrate their victory. At night, the “Trojan” horse swung open, warriors poured out, opened the gates of the fortress for the rest and massacred the sleepy inhabitants. Women and children were captured. Thus Troy fell.

The Trojan War and its heroes

Homer's works describe the dramatic events of those years as a confrontation, each defending his rightness in the struggle for power and happiness. Famous heroes of the Trojan War:

1. Odysseus- the king of Ithaca, together with his friend Sinon, embodied the idea of ​​​​the “Trojan” horse.
2. Hector- Commander-in-Chief of Troy. He killed Achilles' friend Patroclus.
3. Achilles the hero of the Trojan War killed 72 soldiers during the siege of the fortress. Paris is mortally wounded in the heel by an arrow from Apollo.
4. Menelaus kills Paris, frees Helen and goes to Sparta.

TROJAN WAR

The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it occurred around the turn of the 13th-12th centuries. BC e., and began with it a new - “Trojan” era: the ascent of the tribes inhabiting Balkan Greece to a higher level of culture associated with life in cities. The campaign of the Achaean Greeks against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the Asia Minor peninsula - Troas, was told by numerous Greek myths, later united into a cycle of legends - cyclical poems. The most authoritative for the Hellenes was the epic poem “The Iliad,” attributed to the great Greek poet Homer, who lived in the 8th century. BC e. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion - this is the name of this Asia Minor city in the poem.

What do ancient legends tell about the Trojan War? It began by the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except Eris, the goddess of discord. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription “To the Most Beautiful” to the feasting gods. Three Olympic goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, argued about which of them it was intended for. Zeus ordered young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince was tending flocks, and each tried to seduce him with gifts. Paris preferred the love of Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, offered to him by Aphrodite, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who came as a guest to the house of Menelaus, took advantage of his absence and, with the help of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave her husband and go with him to Troy. The fugitives took with them slaves and treasures of the royal house. Myths tell different stories about how Paris and Helen got to Troy. According to one version, three days later they arrived safely in Paris’s hometown. According to another, the goddess Hera, hostile to Paris, raised a storm at sea, his ship was carried to the shores of Phenicia, and only a long time later the fugitives finally arrived in Troy. There is another option: Zeus (or Hera) replaced Helen with a ghost, which Paris took away. During the Trojan War, Helen herself was in Egypt under the protection of the wise old man Proteus. But this is a late version of the myth; the Homeric epic does not know it.

The Trojan prince committed a serious crime - he violated the law of hospitality and thereby brought a terrible disaster to his hometown. The offended Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return his unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who had once wooed Elena and swore an oath to defend her honor came to the brothers’ call. The most famous Achaean heroes and kings: Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Oilides, Philoctetes, the wise old man Nestor and many others brought their squads. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, the most courageous and powerful of the heroes, also took part in the campaign. According to the prediction of the gods, the Greeks could not conquer Troy without his help. Odysseus, as the smartest and most cunning, managed to persuade Achilles to take part in the campaign, although it was predicted that he would die under the walls of Troy. Agamemnon was elected leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.

The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, gathered at Aulis, a harbor in Boeotia. To ensure the fleet's safe voyage to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasures peacefully. The experienced diplomat Odysseus and the insulted husband Menelaus went as envoys to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war began for both sides. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo - the Trojans.

The Greeks were unable to immediately take Troy, which was surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to ravage the outskirts of the city and attack the allies of the Trojans. In the tenth year of the siege, a dramatic event occurred that resulted in serious failures for the Achaeans in battles with the defenders of Troy. Agamemnon insulted Achilles by taking away his captive Briseis, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. No amount of persuasion could convince Achilles to abandon his anger and take up arms. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the bravest and strongest of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by the eldest son of King Priam, Hector. The king himself was old and could not take part in the war. The Trojans were also helped by the general fatigue of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years. When Agamemnon, testing the morale of the warriors, feignedly offered to end the war and return home, the Achaeans greeted the proposal with delight and rushed to their ships. And only the decisive actions of Odysseus stopped the warriors and saved the situation.

The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and nearly burned their ships. Achilles's closest friend, Patroclus, begged the hero to give him his armor and chariot and rushed to the aid of the Greek army. Patroclus stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend makes Achilles forget about the insult. The thirst for revenge inspires him. The Trojan hero Hector dies in a duel with Achilles. The Amazons come to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles kills their leader Penthesilea, but soon dies himself, as predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo. Achilles' mother Thetis, trying to make her son invulnerable, dipped him into the waters of the underground river Styx. She held Achilles by the heel, which remained the only vulnerable place on his body. God Apollo knew where to direct Paris's arrow. Humanity owes the expression “Achilles’ heel” to this episode of the poem.

After the death of Achilles, a dispute begins among the Achaeans over the possession of his armor. They go to Odysseus, and, offended by this outcome, Ajax Telamonides commits suicide.

A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Achilles Neoptolemus to the Achaean camp. Philoctetes kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills the Trojans' ally, the Mysian Eurinil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in the open field. But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a selected detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army, in order to convince the Trojans that the Achaeans were going home, burned their camp and sailed on ships from the coast of Troas. In fact, the Achaean ships took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos.

Surprised by the wooden monster left behind, the Trojans gathered around it. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. The priest Laocoon, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: “Fear the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts!” (This phrase also became popular over time.) But the priest’s speech did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hidden in the belly of the horse come out and open the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans burst into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants, taken by surprise, begins. Menelaus, with a sword in his hands, is looking for his unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Helen, he is unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy perishes, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received a command from the gods to flee from the captured city and revive its glory elsewhere (see article “Ancient Rome”). The women of Troy faced a no less sad fate: they all became captives and slaves of the victors. The city was destroyed by fire.

After the destruction of Troy, strife began in the Achaean camp. Ajax Oilid brings the wrath of the goddess Athena upon the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odysseus are carried by a storm to distant lands. Odysseus's wanderings after the end of the Trojan War are sung in Homer's second poem, The Odyssey. It also tells about the return of Menelaus and Helen to Sparta. The epic treats this beautiful woman favorably, since everything that happened to her was the will of the gods, which she could not resist. The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphantly, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.

As already said, the ancient Greeks did not doubt the historical reality of the Trojan War. Even such a critically thinking ancient Greek historian as Thucydides, who did not take anything for granted, was convinced that the ten-year siege of Troy described in the poem was a historical fact, only embellished by the poet. Indeed, there is very little fairy-tale fantasy in the poem. If you isolate from it scenes with the participation of the gods, which is what Thucydides does, then the story will look quite reliable. Certain parts of the poem, such as the “catalog of ships” or the list of the Achaean army under the walls of Troy, are written as a real chronicle.

European historical science of the modern era treated Greek myths differently. She saw in them only legends and fairy tales that did not contain real information. Historians of the 18th-19th centuries. were convinced that there was no Greek campaign against Troy and that the heroes of the poem were mythical, not historical figures. The only European who believed the epic was Heinrich Schliemann. He was not a professional scientist, and for him Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus and the beautiful Helen were living people, and he experienced the drama that played out under the walls of Troy as events of his own life. For many years Schliemann dreamed of finding the legendary city.

Having become a very rich man, in 1871 he began excavating the Hisarlik hill in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, identifying it as the location of ancient Troy. At the same time, Schliemann was guided by the descriptions of the city of Priam given in the poem. Luck awaited him: the hill hid the ruins of not just one, but nine urban settlements that had succeeded each other for at least twenty centuries - two to three millennia.

Schliemann recognized the Troy described in the poem in a settlement located in the second layer from the bottom. Here he found, in his opinion, the Scaean Gate, the tower from which Helen and the Trojan elders watched the progress of the battles, Priam’s palace and even treasures - “Priam’s treasure”: magnificent gold and silver jewelry.

Then, following the directions of the poem, Heinrich Schliemann conducted archaeological excavations in the “gold-abundant” Mycenae. In one of the royal graves discovered there lay - for Schliemann there was no doubt about this - the remains of Agamemnon and his companions, strewn with gold jewelry; Agamemnon's face was covered with a golden mask. Among the numerous and rich funeral offerings, magnificent weapons worthy of mighty heroes were discovered.

Heinrich Schliemann's discoveries shocked the world community. There was no doubt that Homer's poem contained information about the events that actually took place and their real heroes. Myths do not lie, they contain truth about the distant past. Schliemann's success inspired many archaeologists. The Englishman Arthur Evans went to the island of Crete to look for the residence of the mythical king Minos and found there the beautiful palace of the Minotaur. In 1939, American archaeologist Carl Blegen discovered the “sandy” Pylos, the habitat of the wise old man Nestor on the western coast of the Peloponnese. The correctness of the geographical indications of the poem triumphed again. But a strange thing: the number of discoveries increased, and the situation with the Trojan War and Troy itself became more and more unclear. Already during the excavations Schliemann began to experience some anxiety. When professional archaeologists came to the Hissarlik Hill and Mycenae, they established that the city, mistaken by Schliemann for Troy, existed a thousand years before the Trojan War. The graves in Mycenae contained the remains of people who lived several centuries earlier than the heroes of the poem. After the first delight and excitement, it was time for a new, even greater shock. It turned out that Schliemann discovered a new world, a previously unknown civilization, about which even the ancient Greeks knew nothing. This world was completely different from what the myths and heroic epics told about.

Having abandoned unconditional trust in the mythological basis, some historians nevertheless continue to believe that grains of truth can still be extracted from it. After all, the author of the poem really knew the location of the most important political centers of Achaean Greece in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Many of the everyday and military realities described in the poem coincide in detail with archaeological finds. For example, the “Nestor Cup” found by Schliemann in Mycenae; “a helmet made of boar’s tusks,” which belonged, as they say in Ilia, to the Cretan hero Merion; a tower-like shield that covered the hero’s entire body; finally, war chariots, which classical Greece did not know. This means that in the oral tradition of the people, the memory of long-past times and events was preserved, and the poems recorded it. Obviously, they achieved prosperity at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC e. The states of the Greek-Achaeans sought with united forces to carry out large military expeditions to the region of Asia Minor. One of them was the siege of Troy. The Achaeans were unable to firmly consolidate their influence in the Troad region, even after destroying Troy. Their own world was under threat from the invasion of barbarians, and they had to think about security, and not about conquest.

But skeptics argue that these examples do not prove anything. The realities of Mycenaean culture, which was part of the culture of Achaean Greece, are present in the poems as echoes of a distant and completely unfamiliar era to the poet. He has no idea how war chariots, the main striking force in the battles of Mycenaean Greece, operated. For the author, this is simply a means of transport: the hero rides a chariot to the place of battle, and then fights on foot. The description of the royal palaces in the poem “Odyssey” shows that the author knows nothing about the water supply system, or about the frescoes that decorated the walls of the Mycenaean palaces, or about the writing that disappeared with the death of the Achaean culture. The creation of epic poems is separated from real events by four to five centuries. Until this time, legends about the Trojan War were passed down orally from generation to generation by Aedi singers. Each storyteller and each new generation contributed their own understanding of the events and actions of the heroes. Thus, errors accumulated, new plot details appeared, significantly distorting the original meaning. One event, absorbing others and acquiring poetic “details,” could gradually turn into a grandiose campaign of the Achaean Greeks against Troy, which could never have happened. Moreover, archaeological finds made on the Hissarlik hill do not prove that the settlement found is Troy.

True, it is impossible to generally deny the existence of the city of Troy somewhere in the northwestern region of Asia Minor. Documents from the archives of the Hittite kings indicate that the Hittites knew both the city of Troy and the city of Ilion (in the Hittite version of “Truis” and “Wilus”), but, apparently, as two different cities located nearby, and not one under a double title, as in a poem. The Hittites also knew the country of Ahhiyawa, a powerful state with which they competed for dominance over these cities. Scientists believe that Akhhiyawa is the country of the Achaeans, but it is not yet clear where it was located. Maybe this is the western part of Asia Minor, or the islands closest to it, or all of Balkan Greece. There was a conflict between the Hittite power and Ahhiyawa over the city of Ilion, but it was settled peacefully. The Hittite documents do not talk about any large-scale military clash between the Achaeans and Troy.

What conclusion can be drawn by comparing data from the archive of the Hittite kings and the poetic narrative about the campaign against Troy? Some connection can be traced between them, but it is very unclear, since there are no exact matches. Apparently, in the oral folk art underlying the poem, events from different times were compressed together: the failed attempt of the Achaean Greeks to subjugate the Troas region (this can be traced through the tragic fate of the Achaean heroes after the capture of Troy) and the death of the cities of Ilion and Troy as a result of the invasion of the so-called “peoples of the sea”, which shook the entire ancient world of the Mediterranean at the end of the 12th century. BC e.

1. Encyclopedia for children. World History 1996 (eleven)

   Abstract >> Astronomy

   E.) (see article " Trojan war"). Trojan war turned out to be the last event of a pan-Achaean scale... n. e. the Ptolemaic dynasty. TROJAN WAR Trojan war, according to the ancient Greeks... increased, and the situation with Trojan war and became Troy itself...

2. M. Montaigne Experiments

   Abstract >> Pedagogy

   King Agamemnon, supreme leader of the Greeks Trojan war, and Clytemnestra. According to legend, ... King Agamemnon, the supreme leader of the Greeks in Trojan war, and Clytemnestra. According to legend, ... a dispute between three goddesses, which led to Trojan war. 49. Plutarch says... - Oh...

3. About the city of God. OK. 426 AD (Augustine the Blessed)

   Book >> Religion and Mythology

   They will explain the strangeness that the gods Trojan perjuries were punished, but the Romans loved them... they were able to preserve their kingdoms for a long time Trojan, nor Lavinia, founded by himself ... Trojan gods was destroyed by his daughter city. And so that after wars

Many works of Greek literature and art are devoted to the description of the siege of Troy. However, there is no single authoritative source describing all the events of that war. The story is scattered across the works of many authors, sometimes contradicting each other. The most important literary sources telling about the events are two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the authorship of which is traditionally attributed to Homer. Each poem tells only part of the war: the Iliad covers the short period leading up to the siege of Troy and the war itself, while the Odyssey tells the story of the return of one of the heroes of the epic to their native Ithaca after the capture of the city.

Other events of the Trojan War are reported in the so-called “Cyclic Epic” - a whole group of poems, the authorship of which was also initially attributed to Homer. However, it later turned out that their authors were followers of Homer, who used his language and style. Most of the works chronologically complete the Homeric epic: “Aethiopida”, “Small Iliad”, “Returns”, “Telegony” and others describe the fate of Homer’s heroes after the end of the siege of Troy. The only exception is “Cyprius,” which tells about the pre-war period and the events that caused the conflict. Most of these works have survived to this day only partially.

Preconditions for war

It is believed that the cause of the conflict was the abduction of the beautiful Helen, who was the wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus, by the Trojan prince Paris. Elena was so beautiful that her father, King Tyndareus, could not decide to marry her off, fearing the revenge of rejected suitors. Then a decision, unheard of at that time, was made to allow the girl to choose her betrothed. In order to avoid a possible conflict, all potential suitors bound themselves with an oath not to pursue the lucky one who would be chosen by the princess, and subsequently to help him in every possible way if necessary. Helen chose Menelaus and became his wife.

However, even earlier, the three most powerful goddesses of Olympus - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - argued over a golden apple thrown by the goddess of discord Eris. There was only one word on the apple - “most beautiful”, but it was this that became the cause of further events. Each goddess believed that the apple rightfully belonged to her and did not want to give in to her rivals. The male gods refused to get involved in female feuds, but man did not have enough wisdom. The goddesses asked Paris, the son of King Priam, who ruled Troy, to judge them. Each promised something in return: Hera - power, Athena - military glory, and Aphrodite - the love of any woman he desired. Paris chose Aphrodite, making two of the most powerful enemies for himself and the people of Troy.

The Trojan prince arrived in Sparta, where, in the absence of Menelaus, he persuaded Helen to flee with him (according to other sources, he kidnapped). Perhaps things would not have come to such a large-scale conflict if the fugitives had not taken Menelaus’ treasures with them. The offended husband could no longer bear this and called out all of Elena’s former suitors, who had once bound themselves by an oath.

Siege of Troy

The Greek army, totaling 100 thousand people, boarded ships and set off for Troy. The Achaeans were led by Menelaus and the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, who was his brother. After the Greeks camped under the walls of the city, it was decided to try to resolve the matter peacefully, for which purpose they would send envoys to Troy. However, the Trojans did not agree to the terms of the Greeks, counting on the strength of the fortress walls and their army. The siege of the city began.

Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon

According to the prediction, the war was supposed to last 9 years, and only in the 10th year was the fall of Troy promised. All these years, the Achaeans were engaged in petty robbery and raids on nearby cities. During one of the campaigns, Chryseis, the daughter of the priest Chryses, and Briseis, the daughter of King Briseis, became the prey of the Greeks. The first went to the king of Mycenae Agamemnon, and the second to Achilles, the famous Greek hero.

Soon a pestilence began in the Greek camp, which was interpreted by the soothsayer Calchas as the wrath of the god Apollo, to whom the saddened father of Chryseis turned. The Greeks demanded that Agamemnon return the captive to her father, and he reluctantly agreed, but in return began to demand Briseis, the legal captive of Achilles, for himself. A verbal skirmish ensued, in which Achilles accused Agamemnon of greed, and he, in turn, called the great hero a coward. As a result, the offended Achilles refused to participate in the further siege of the city, and besides, he asked his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to beg Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans in order to punish the presumptuous Agamemnon.

Meeting Thetis' request, Zeus sent the Mycenaean king a deceptive dream that promised victory. Inspired by their leader, the Greeks rushed into battle. The Trojan army was led by Hector, the eldest son of King Priam. The king himself was already too old to participate in the battle. Before the battle began, Hector proposed a duel between Menelaus and his brother Paris. The winner will receive the beautiful Helen and the stolen treasures, and the Greeks and Trojans will take a sacred oath that peace will be concluded after the duel.

Start of the battle

Both sides happily agreed - many were tired of the protracted war. Menelaus won the duel, and Paris remained alive only thanks to the intercession of the goddess Aphrodite. It seemed that the war should now end, but this was not part of the plans of Hera and Athena, who harbored a grudge against Paris. Hera vowed to destroy Troy and was not going to retreat. Athena, sent by her, took the form of a warrior and turned to the skilled archer Pandarus, offering to shoot Menelaus. Pandarus did not kill the Spartan king only because Athena herself slightly deflected his arrow. The wounded Menelaus was carried off the field, and the Greeks, outraged by the treachery of the Trojans, rushed into battle.

People fought in a terrible battle, but the gods did not stand aside - Aphrodite, Apollo and the god of war Ares supported the Trojans, and Hera and Pallas Athena supported the Greeks. Many people died on both sides; Aphrodite herself was wounded in the hand by one of the Greeks and was forced to return to Olympus to heal the wound. Neither the Trojans nor the Achaeans could prevail, and on the advice of the wise Greek elder Nestor, it was decided to interrupt the battle for one day to bury the dead.

A day later, remembering the promise made to Thetis, Zeus forbade any of the gods to interfere in the course of the battle. Feeling the support of the supreme deity, the Trojans began to push back the Greeks, causing enormous damage to their army. To all of Hera’s reproaches, Zeus replied that the extermination of the Achaeans would last until Achilles returned to the battlefield.

The Greek leaders, saddened by the defeat, gathered for a council, where, on the advice of the wise Nestor, it was decided to send ambassadors to Achilles with a request to return. For a long time the ambassadors, among whom was Odysseus, persuaded the great hero, but he remained deaf to their requests - the offense against Agamemnon was too great.

The death of Patroclus and the return of Achilles

The Greeks had to continue fighting the Trojans without the support of Achilles. In a terrible battle, the Trojans destroyed many Achaeans, but they themselves suffered heavy losses. The Greeks had to not only move away from the city walls, but also defend their ships - so strong was the enemy onslaught. Achilles’ friend Patroclus, who was following the progress of the battle, could not hold back his tears as he watched his fellow tribesmen die. Turning to Achilles, Patroclus asked to be released to help the Greek army, since the great hero did not want to fight himself. Having received permission, Patroclus and his soldiers went to the battlefield, where he was destined to die at the hands of Hector.

Saddened by the death of his closest friend, Achilles mourned his body, vowing to destroy Hector. After reconciliation with Agamemnon, the hero entered into battle with the Trojans, mercilessly exterminating them. The battle began to boil with renewed vigor. Achilles drove the Trojan soldiers to the very gates of the city, who barely managed to hide behind the walls. Only Hector remained on the battlefield, waiting to fight the Greek hero. Achilles killed Hector, tied his body to a chariot and sent the horses galloping. And only a few days later the body of the fallen Trojan prince was returned to King Priam for a large ransom. Taking pity on his unfortunate father, Achilles agreed to interrupt the battle for 11 days so that Troy could mourn and bury its leader.

The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy

But the war did not end with Hector’s death. Soon Achilles himself died, struck by an arrow from Paris, which was directed by the god Apollo. As a child, Achilles' mother, the goddess Thetis, bathed her son in the waters of the River Styx, which divides the world of the living dead, after which the body of the future hero became invulnerable. And only the heel, by which his mother was holding, remained the only unprotected place - that’s where Paris ended up. However, he himself soon found death, dying from a poisonous arrow fired by one of the Greeks.

Many Trojan and Greek heroes were killed before the cunning Odysseus figured out how to penetrate the city. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse and pretended to sail away. A scout sent to the Trojans convinced them that the marvelous structure was a gift from the Achaeans to the gods. The intrigued residents of Troy dragged the horse into the city, despite the warnings of the priest Laocoont and Cassandra's belongings. Inspired by the imaginary departure of the Achaeans, the Trojans rejoiced until late at night, and when everyone fell asleep, Greek warriors climbed out of the belly of the wooden horse and opened the city gates to a huge army.

This night was the last in the history of Troy. The Achaeans destroyed all the men, not even sparing infants. Only Aeneas, whose descendants were destined to found Rome, with a small detachment was able to escape from the captured city. The women of Troy were destined for the bitter fate of slaves. Menelaus sought out his unfaithful wife, wanting to take her life, but struck by Helen’s beauty, he forgave the betrayal. The sack of Troy lasted for several days, and the ruins of the city were set on fire.

Trojan War in historical facts

For a long time it was believed that the Trojan War was just a beautiful legend that had no basis in reality. However, in the second half of the 19th century, an ancient city was discovered on the Hissarlik hill in western Anatolia by amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann announced that he had found the ruins of Troy. However, it later became clear that the ruins of the found city were much older than Troy, described in Homer’s Iliad.

Although the exact dating of the Trojan War is unknown, most researchers believe that it occurred in the 13th-12th centuries BC. The ruins that Schliemann managed to discover turned out to be at least a thousand years older. Nevertheless, excavations at this site continued by many scientists for many years. As a result, 12 cultural layers were discovered, one of which is quite consistent with the period of the Trojan War.

However, logically speaking, Troy was not an isolated city. Even earlier, a number of states with a highly developed level of culture arose in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East: Babylon, the Hittite Empire, Phenicia, Egypt and others. Events of such magnitude, as Homer described them, could not but leave traces in the legends of the peoples inhabiting these states, but this is exactly the case. No evidence of the confrontation between the Achaeans and Troy was found in the legends and myths of these countries.

Apparently, Homer retold the story of several military conflicts and conquests that occurred at different time periods, generously seasoning them with his imagination. Reality and fiction are intertwined so intricately that it is not always possible to distinguish one from the other.

For example, some researchers are inclined to consider the Trojan horse episode to be quite real. According to some historians, this structure should be understood as a battering ram or battering ram, with the help of which the besiegers destroyed the fortress walls.

The debate about the reality of the Trojan War will likely continue for a long time. However, it is not so important what the real events were, because they inspired Homer to create the greatest literary monument in the history of human civilization.

Troy, a city whose existence was doubted for many centuries, considering it a figment of the imagination of myth-makers, was located on the banks of the Helespont, now called the Dardanelles. A wonderful legend, to which many conjectures, conjectures, disputes, scientific research, and archaeological excavations are devoted, was a few kilometers from the coast, and in its place is now the unremarkable Turkish town of Hisarlik. The common and deep-rooted belief that the Trojan War broke out because of a woman certainly has some basis, but historians suggest that there were many reasons for such a war, and they had serious economic and political reasons.

The presence of a beautiful and imaginative legend, the basis of which was love and betrayal, is not the most plausible explanation for why the famous war broke out and why so many characters were drawn into it. And the divine providence by which it is explained in myths is nothing more than the fantasy of those who sincerely believed in their Pantheon of gods similar to people. Homer also contributed a lot to this point of view, whose immortal work became the basis for the view of the Trojan events. But, without the atmosphere of mystery and romantic haze around these events, world culture would have been left without outstanding works of great authors inspired by the Trojan War.

Cause and effect, more real

Troy was located at the junction of busy trade routes passing through the Helespont, which connected the Black and Mediterranean seas. Located on the shores of the Asia Minor peninsula, in close proximity to the strait, Troy controlled all the routes leading past it, receiving considerable income from this. The Trojans interfered with the trade of the Greeks, among whom were the Achaeans, Danaans and Argives, who started a war against it, uniting in a military alliance. Troy had its own quite powerful allies, for example, the Lyceans, Anatolians from nearby territories and the Thracians, some of whom fought on the opposite side.

The Achaeans and Trojans were actually supporters of different great empires that were constantly at war with each other - the Egyptians and the Hittites, and the strengthened Troy, which controlled the trade routes, prevented the Achaeans, who saw that the city was turning from a peripheral Mycenaean territory into a powerful citadel, and a dangerous enemy. One of the compelling reasons for the war was the military mobilization in Mycenae, whose ruler, Agamemnon, was alarmed by the accumulation of armed men in his state, and found use for them by starting a war with Troy. Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus, who inherited the throne in Sparta after his marriage, was the husband of that same Helen the Beautiful, whose bright face is considered the main reason for the ten-year feud. In fact, the abduction of Elena the Beautiful was just the impetus that led to the development of further events that involved so many participants.

Mythological coverage of the Trojan War

Divine intervention in the course of events was also far from ambiguous. The mortal Argonaut Peleus, who married the goddess of the sea Thetis (the result of this marriage was the birth of the famous hero of the Trojan War Achilles), did not invite the goddess of discord to the wedding, and she, enraged by this fact, threw an apple with the inscription “most beautiful.” Athena, Aphrodite and Hera took part in the dispute over the possession of this apple, and this dispute was resolved by Paris, whom Hermes, at the instigation of Zeus, appointed as judge. He gave the apple to Aphrodite, who promised him the love of the most beautiful of women, and neglected dominion and glory.

Paris's mother, Hecuba, while pregnant with him, had a prophetic dream that her son would become a flaming brand that would burn Troy. Therefore, he was abandoned in the forest, where he was raised by shepherds. Aphrodite brought Paris to Sparta, where, obeying her promise, she awakened Helen's love for the handsome man. But he was not content with adultery, but kidnapped someone else’s wife, and the treasures of Menelaus, along with her. Hera intervened in the course of events, whose wounded pride forced her to incite the Greeks to stand up for Menelaus, and Athena, no less enraged by Paris’s decision not in her favor. According to a deeper version, it was Zeus who threw the apple of discord at Eris, because he was tired of humanity, which he decided to get rid of by starting this war. There is information that King Odysseus and Menelaus of Ithaca came to Troy to take away their unfaithful wife peacefully, but the gates were simply not opened for them, and Helen flatly refused to return to her husband.

Troy at that time was ruled by King Priam, the army was led by Hector, his son, brother of Paris. On the side of the Achaeans were numerous suitors of Helen, bound by an oath of revenge and treaties of alliance that obliged them to respond if necessary. Neither Agamemnon nor Menelaus had forces with which to go to conquer Troy, since it was in a favorable location and was well fortified. The support of the remaining kings made it possible to gather an army of 100,000 and a fleet of 2,000 ships. The Achaean army included the greatest heroes of Greece, many of whom are mentioned in ancient Greek myths: Odysseus, Philoctetes, Ajax, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Sthenelus. Agamemnon was chosen as the leader, as the most powerful of the Achaean kings.

Siege of Troy and significant events

The siege of Troy lasted 9 years and was completely unsuccessful. An interesting interpretation of the reasons for the siege of Troy by Helen's former suitors is that she dissolved her marriage with Menelaus, leaving Sparta, and retained the rights to the royal throne, while her abandoned husband lost them. But she chose her new husband without observing the appropriate ceremony, and they considered themselves offended by this fact. In the union, Agamemnon alone was not a former suitor, but he was interested in preserving the throne for his brother Menelaus. As paradoxical as it sounds, the goal of the siege of Troy was the Spartan throne. And if we consider that in mythology there is no indication that Helen returned to Sparta, then the main goal of the siege was never achieved.

Most studies tend to date the Trojan War to the 12th-13th centuries BC. e. The first voyage was unsuccessful, the Greeks landed in Mysia, which was ruled by the son of Hercules, Telephus, and mistakenly entered into battle with the soldiers of a friendly king. On the way from Mysia to Troy, a terrible storm dispersed the ships, and the participants had to gather in Aulis. And only after Artemis, who was angry with them, almost sacrificed Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, whom Artemis saved and made her priestess, did the Greek ships manage to achieve their goal. The Greek army was very numerous, but the Trojans were courageous and brave, and defended their native lands, and allies from many countries came to their aid.

Since Troy was surrounded by a high, jagged stone wall, the Achaeans did not dare to storm it, and camped nearby, putting the city in a state of siege. The fighting took place mainly between the camp and the fortress; the Trojans periodically made military forays, trying to set fire to the Greek warships. The many years of siege did not bring any fruit, except for numerous skirmishes, during which the most worthy heroes on both sides were killed. The Greek Patroclus died at the hands of Hector, Hector himself was killed by Achilles,

who also killed the leader of the Amazons who came to the aid of the Trojans, Penthesilea, but he himself died from an arrow from Paris that hit him in the heel, the only vulnerable spot on his body. Apollo, who knew where to direct the arrow, helped Paris in this, who was killed by Philoctetes, who arrived at the Achaean camp. The ten-year unsuccessful siege, which exhausted the Greeks, became the reason that they began to grumble, and almost went home when Agamemnon, to test their fighting spirit, invited them to sail back. Only cunning helped the Greeks take Troy. They made a huge wooden horse, which they left on the shore, dedicated to Athena, and they themselves pretended to lift the siege. Despite the warnings of the priest Laocoon, the Trojans dragged the wooden monster outside the city gates. At night, the Greeks hiding inside the statue opened the gate, into which the Greek soldiers secretly returned. All the Trojans died, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, on whom the gods entrusted the mission to found a city in another place. Residents of Troy became captives or slaves, and the city itself burned to the ground. The wooden horse, which to this day bears the name Trojan, has become a symbol of betrayal and betrayal, a dangerous and harmful treacherous gift.

The capture of Troy did not bring anything good to the Greeks. Many of them died on the way home, internecine strife began in the camp of the recent victors, Menelaus and Odysseus were sent on long wanderings to distant lands, and the leader of the besiegers of Troy, Agamemnon, was killed by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive him for the supposed death of Iphigenia. The ancient Greeks did not doubt the reality of the Trojan War, which was an absolutely real event for them, even though the gods also participated in it on equal terms with people. Today, thanks to Schliemann's excavations, no one has any reason to doubt that Troy really existed.

Gods of Ancient Greece

Mediterranean diet

Holidays in Greece

Vacation is just around the corner and you want to spend it in the best possible way? Visit an open-air museum - Greece, where every city and village of this country is imbued with the spirit of the great ancient civilizations. Holidays in Greece are an ideal option for any tourist. Every time you visit Greece, you will be constantly amazed by its alluring uniqueness. How can you forget the majestic Athens, ancient Sparta, the legendary Delphi and many other exciting places that you want to visit again and again. A trip to Greece will allow you to touch the cradle of Western civilization and discover new facets of your soul.

Fire in Thessaloniki

It will be ninety-four years since the great fire that broke out on August 18, 1917 in August. The disaster caused by the fire was enough to radically change the general appearance of the city of Thessaloniki, which no longer in any way resembled that symbol of the 19th century. The fire in the city lasted about 33 hours, turning 9,500 houses into ashes - 31% of the city's area, resulting in more than 70 thousand population were left homeless. The objects of the disaster were many spiritual, religious institutions, business, administrative offices and shops, which were buried under the ashes. Among the buildings burned were the post office, the telegraph office, the city hall, the Ottoman Bank, the National Bank, the building of the Bank of Athena, the Church of St. Demetrius and two other Orthodox churches, eleven mosques, the Archiravvineia with all the archives of 16 of the 33 synagogues. Also the publishing houses of most newspapers were damaged (Thessaloniki had the largest number of newspapers published in Greece), many of which could not be republished, while the unemployment rate reached 70%.

Trojan War was between the Greeks and the city's defenders from Troy at the end of the Bronze Age, lasting for thousands of years.

Paris and Helen

The main source of our knowledge about Trojan War is "Homer's Iliad" (written in the 8th century BC), where he talks about 52 days during the last year of the ten-year conflict. Greeks the war was imagined to have taken place some time in the 13th century BC. However, the war was also the subject of a long oral tradition prior to the work Homer, and this, combined with other sources such as the fragmentary poems of the epic cycle, gives us a more complete picture of what exactly the Greeks believed to be the Trojan War.

Trojan War in Greek tradition began as a chance for Zeus to reduce the ever-growing human population and, more practically, as an expedition to reclaim Elena, wife Menelaus, King of Sparta and brother Agamemnon. Helen was kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus and the Greeks wanted to return her and take revenge for the Trojan impudence.

Greek Army

The Greek army was led by the king Agamemnon from Mycenae. It is unclear how many soldiers were in his army.
Among the Greek warriors were some additional special heroes, leaders who were greatest fighters and showed the greatest courage on the battlefield. Among the most important were Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax, Diomedes, Patroclus, Antilocus, Mensteus and Idomenes.

Trojan Army

Trojan army protecting the great city Troy led by their king Priam, received help from a long list of allies. Among them were the Carians, Halizons, Caucones, Cicones, Lycians, Mayonians, Mysians, Paioans, Paphlagonians, Pelasgians, Phrygians and Thracians.

The Trojans also had their semi-divine heroes, including Hector (son of Priam), Aeneas, Sarpedon, Glaukos, Farkis, Puulladas and Rhesos.

Key battles

Most of Trojan War was really protracted siege, and the city was able to resist the invaders for a very long time, mainly because its fortifications were very high. There were, however, battles outside the city where armies fought, sometimes with chariots but mostly without, using spears and swords and protected by shield, helmet and armor for the chest and legs. For many years the war was fought across the plains of Troy, but the truly exciting battles seemed to be reserved for the final year of the siege.

Paris vs Menelaus

Tiring of indecisive battles, Menelaus offered to fight with Paris in a duel and so resolve the issue of war. The battle began, the spear of Paris crashed into the shield of Menelaus. The Greek king then threw his weapon with great force and the spear passed through Paris's shield and continued to pierce his armor. Paris barely escaped with his life. However, Menelaus was not finished, and sword he dealt a terrible blow to the helmet of the Trojan prince. The sword broke and fell into the dust. Menelaus then grabbed the Parisian helmet with his bare hands and proceeded to drag it off the field. Paris fled from the battlefield, and Menelaus killed Hector.

Hector vs Ajax

The meeting of two great heroes repeats the meeting of Menlai and Paris. The battle lasted for a very long time, but they were stopped by their comrades, who called on them to stop fighting as night approached. According to the code of honor, the two warriors even said goodbye on friendly terms, exchanging gifts, Hector gave a silver sword, and Ajax gorgeous purple belt.

Patroclus

Invincible Achilles was simply the greatest warrior of all time. However, much to the disappointment of the Greeks, he sat in a large hollow for most of the war. Agamemnon Briseis (Priam's daughter) stole his war booty, and therefore the hero refused to fight. At first Agamemnon wasn't too worried about the loss Achilles, but when the Trojans began to win, it became clear that they really needed Achilles. Accordingly, an increasingly desperate Agamemnon issued an appeal to Achilles with promises of great treasure if he would only join the fight. Achilles refused, but Patroclus (Achilles' friend), secretly from Achilles, put on Achilles' armor and led the Mimidons.

Patroclus then fought back the Trojans, the Trojans were driven back, and he even managed to kill the great Trojan hero Sarpedona. Embarrassed by success, the young hero ignored Achilles' advice and recklessly led the fight towards Troy. However, at this moment the great Apollo intervened on behalf of the Trojans and struck Patroclus, breaking his spear and knocking the shield out of his hand. Thus, exposed and defenseless, Patroclus was stabbed to death Euphorbos, and then Hector stepped in to deliver the killing blow with a merciless blow from his spear.

When Achilles learned about the death of my great friend Patroclus, he was overwhelmed with grief and rage, and he swore take revenge The Trojans and especially Hector. After mourning, Achilles finally decided to take the battlefield again.

Hector vs Achilles

Only Hector remained behind the walls, but at the sight of the amazing Achilles, even he became worried. Achilles, however, pursued the Trojan prince around the city walls. Finally, Achilles grabbed him and killed him with a spear thrust into Hector's throat. Achilles then tied Hector's body to his chariot and took the body to the Greek camp.

Meanwhile Priam infiltrated the Greek camp and asked Achilles to return the body of his son so that bury him. Achilles agreed to return the body. This is where the Iliad ends, but there are still a few twists of fate left in the war.

Trojan horse

12 days after Hector's funeral, the Greeks built a huge horse out of wood and hid in it. Priam and his council, seeing this horse, considered it a gift from the gods, and brought it to Troy. At night, when the Trojans were sleeping, Achilles and his warriors got out of their horse and opened the gates of Troy, the Greeks broke into the walls of Troy and destroyed it, Agamemnon killed Priam in the Temple of Zeus, Then Paris, finding Achilles, shot with a bow right at his heel, Achilles died on the spot.