The Trojan Wars

Introduction

Most information that the world has today that deals with the history of ancient Greece is in the literature from the time. Great epics such as the Iliad and The Odyssey, from the unknown poet Homer, make up most of the literature that has even been found from this era.

Discussion

The Trojan War was fought between the Greeks and the peoples of Troy. Homer argues that “a blind poet named Homer wrote of this war in two of his epic poems, Iliad and the Odyssey” (63). Most of what we know of the war comes from Iliad. The Odyssey talks about the return trip of Odysseus as he returns home after the Trojan War. The Greeks believed Homer's writings to be descriptions of historical events. They believed the war took place sometime in the 12th or 13th century BC.

When most people hear of the Trojan War they usually think of the Trojan horse. According to Geras, “the Greeks devised a new ploy a giant wooden hollow horse” (p 96). It was built by Epeius, a Greek soldier, and was filled with Greek warriors led my Odysseus, a Greek general. As the Greeks left the soldier filled horse at the city gates, the Trojans brought in within the city thinking it was a peace offering ending the war. Soon after it was brought in, the Trojans got drunk and fell asleep after hours of celebration. At this point the soldiers came out from the horse and let the Greek army through the city gates. All the Trojan men were killed and the women were taken as slaves.

When the apple rolled in and the inscription was read Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all felt that she, respectively, was the most beautiful and should get the apple (www.historywiz.com). All three goddesses begged of the gathered gods to choose, but all of the gods refused to make an enemy of the other two that he did not choose (www.historywiz.com). So finally, someone made the suggestion that the three goddesses should let a mortal choose; Priam's son, Paris, was designed to choose.

The goddesses went to him and each begged him to choose her. Hera offered Paris, if he chose her, the chance at infinite wisdom; Athena offered to let him defeat the Achaeans if they went to war; and finally, Aphrodite offered Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in Greece, Helen. Paris chose Aphrodite, she received the apple, and he got Helen, the wife of an Achaean chieftain, Menelaus. According to the myth, the war started as Menelaus' expedition to recover the stolen Helen.

Turner explains that “the gods and goddesses of the time were very interested in the war” (235-37). The goddesses Poseidon, Hera, and Athena aided the Greeks, while Aphrodite and Ares favored the Trojans. Zeus and Apollo, although frequently involved in the action of the war, remained neutral. It is assumed that Aphrodite sided with the Trojans because Paris, the prince of Troy, pick her to keep the apple presented by ...