Trojan War

The Trojan War took place over 3,000 years ago, when Ancient Greeks didn't call themselves Greeks yet. The war was between and the city and allies of Troy and the Greek city-states. Legend has it, that the three goddesses, Aphrodite (Goddess of Love), Athena (Goddess of Wisdom) and Hera (Queen of the gods) had a dispute. They all proclaimed themselves as the most beautiful of Gods and they decided they would have a beauty pageant to find out who was the most beautiful. They selected Paris, who was the son of Priam, the King of Troy, as the judge.

All three of the goddesses decided they wanted to win the pageant even by prophecy. They all bribed him. Hera promised him the absolute rule over Europe and Asia, Athena offered to make him the bravest and wisest warrior in the world. He disregarded the offers from Hera and Athena because Aphrodite, being the goddess of love, offered him something he couldn't resist. She offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, who was Helen of Sparta. Helen at the time was married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta.( Julius Caesar, 256)

The story of the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Iliad, has for centuries been interpreted as a literal truth or as a legend based on a conflict that really did happen. It is natural for one to believe that a story as fabulous and colorful like that of Ilios, or Troy, could not have taken place. It is very practical to believe that the great heroes, like Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas, and the gods and goddesses were purely out of imagination, and perhaps just included in the story to enliven it. However, newly discovered details and facts from archaeological and historical discoveries suggest that not all this was a myth, and the story in Homer's Iliad had some substantial basis after all. Archaeological evidence provided by noted scholars and scientists as well as historical evidence from other ancient stories all point out that the Trojan War really did occur, except perhaps not with such splendor and glory as it does in the well known legend of Troy. (Padraic, 82)

A legend or a mythological story is always has some fictional parts to it, so naturally the legend of Troy is much different from what happened to the real city of Troy in Asia Minor. Homer, the author of the Iliad, had actually narrated this story hundreds of years after it took place, and so he is not a primary source for the real story. His legend is therefore bound to be somewhat inaccurate. The historical siege of Troy according to the Homer's legend, starts with the kidnapping of Helen, wife of King Menelaus, ruler of the great city of Sparta. Across the Aegean Sea on the coast of Asia Minor (present day Turkey) was also another great city, Troy. King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy had a son, Paris, who was chosen to judge a beauty contest for the three ...