The Trojan War Explained

What was the Trojan War?

Trojan War History documentary, watch 5:45~9:30

Throughout Greek history, many wars have been waged; however, only one is ever referenced: the Trojan War. For centuries, the city of Troy only existed in myth, specifically Homer’s Iliad. So what is the Trojan War and why did it happen? Well, starting sometime in the 13^th century BCE (Cartwright), the Gods held a wedding between Pelius and Thetius, later parents of Achilles; however, they did not invite the goddess Discord. Discord shows up anyway holding a golden apple with an inscription “For the Fairest”(Video). Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite all claim the apple (Video). They ask for Zeus to be the judge, but he declines and puts the decision on Paris, the prince of Troy (Video). As bribery ensues, Paris makes his decision: Aphrodite (Video). Granting him the gift she promised, Paris gets the most beautiful woman in the world, which happens to be Helen, Queen of Sparta (Video). Paris thus goes to Sparta when Menelaus is absent and elopes with Helen back to Troy (Video). Upon the King’s return, he is enraged and appeals to Agamemnon, who summons all the Greek city-states to sail to Troy for war (Video). As 1000 Greek ships head to Troy, the city of Troy prepares itself for the defensive. Only after the Greeks successfully cut off supplies to the city does Troy call for aid from its allies to the west (Foster). After nearly 10 years, the Greeks were tired of fighting and came up with the ruse now known as the Trojan Horse: stuffed with Greek men, a wooden horse was left as a trophy to the Trojans (Video). However, the Greeks that had left planned to return by nightfall, and in the dark of the night as Trojans partied, the Greek men in the horse snuck out and left their comrades into the city (Video). From there, Greeks raped, sacked, pillaged, and burned the city to nothingness (Video). In this story, the horse is often used as a symbol of the entire war. It shows how ingenuity and trickery became part of war even though Greek morals normally opposed the second. But where does the questioning of the Iliad come into play? Homer, the author, wasn’t born until nearly 5 centuries later, meaning what he knew was only based oral history.

Trojan Horse depiction

To this date, the Iliad is the best source of information for historians and archaeologists. One problem with this is that the Iliad is based on oral stories that are not always true. Scholars have often challenged the reliability of this source and strive to prove it both right and wrong. “Everyone is agreed that the Iliad as we have it is full of exaggerations, distortions, pure fictions, and flagrant conditions”(Finley).  Many scholars do however go along the thought process of such, “…we impose our own evaluation of what is and what is not credible on the ancients”(Finley). In this case, the author has simply put the Greek gods and religion as the make believe and has left the war itself as fact. It is also commonplace to compare to outside source stories, such as the Song of Roland, to see what amount of truth is in the other societies’ stories of that same era. Likewise, the city of Troy has now been excavated on the Anatolia Peninsula; however, the newest challenge is whether or not the war happened. In the Troy VI/VII level of excavation (which assumingly refers to the number of rebuilds on top of the current), there are amounts of weaponry, heavy fortifications, and a large holy sanctuary (Korfmann). These all lead to a good conclusion that Homer’s Iliad, while religiously biased at the time, did have true events and recaps in it. In conclusion, one of the greatest symbolic wars in history now has modern proof of existence and someday will unveil even more secrets about its story.

Walls of Troy VII

Bibliography

B. O. Foster. The Trojan War Again. The American Journal of Philology , Vol. 36, No. 3 (1915) , pp. 298-313. Jan 25, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/289343        

Cartwright, Mark. (May 15, 2013). Trojan War. Text. Web. Jan 25, 2014. http://www.ancient.eu.com/Trojan_War/

Korfmann, M. (2004). Was there a Trojan War?. Archaeology, 57(3), 36-38. Text. Web. Jan 25, 2014. Link

M. I. Finley, J. L. Caskey, G. S. Kirk and D. L. Page. The Trojan War. The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Vol. 84, (1964) , pp. 1-20. Jan 25, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/627688

Trojan horse. [Picture]. Retrieved Jan 26, 2014 from http://www.ancient.eu.com/uploads/images/1215.jpg

Troy-The Real Story (Documentary). [Video]. Retrieved Jan 25, 2014 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFCk7uMvnOU

Walls of Troy VII. [Picture]. Retrieved Jan 26, 2014 from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Walls_of_Troy_%282%29.jpg

Brandon Groff