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In the age of ancient Greece, people liked very much the fairytales and the stories. For that reason they were inventing different stories, most of them based or real people and facts. Stories about kings, heroes, good and bad people, monsters, wars and about gods. The Twelve Gods of Olympus. Whom I will introduce you to another blog. :) And these stories people believed them and that’s why they built temples dedicated to their Gods, statues in honor of their heroes and more other things. One of the biggest facts of Greek mythology is the Trojan War.

This story I will tell you today. Sit all of you around me with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee or whatever you like and listen to me… :)

We are somewhere between in 1.100-1.350 b.C. (before Christ). The marine Goddess Thetis is getting married with the mortal king Peleus. Everyone is invited in this wedding, Gods and people, except of Erida, because she was bad and she liked to spread the discord. Erida was angry, she went to the wedding without anyone seeing her and she left a golden apple to roll with the inscription “To the most beautiful”. Three Goddesses claimed the apple. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. So, they organized a beauty contest. But none of the Gods wanted to tell his opinion, they were afraid. So, Zeus decided that the judge should be a mortal man. He chose Paris, a beautiful shepherd, son of king of Troy, Priam. God Hermes led the three Goddesses to him and he explained to him what he had to do. The Goddesses tried to buy off his vote with different ways. Hera promised to give him the reign of whole Europe and Asia, Athena to make him unbeaten and Aphrodite to give him as wife the most beautiful woman in the world, beautiful Helen, queen of Sparta. Paris voted Aphrodite and he gives her the apple of Erida.

After that, Paris started to go to Sparta, to find Helen. First he was hosted by Helen’s brothers and then by Helen and her husband Menelaus, in his palace. Paris offered many presents to them without telling them the real reason of his visit. After some days Menelaus gone to Crete and Paris was alone with Helen. Then, Aphrodite helped Paris, who confessed to Helen that she belongs to him and he came to steal her and Helen, spellbound from love, agreed to leave with him. So the next day they departed by Paris’ ship to Troy, taking with them some maids and many precious things. But their trip wasn’t easy, because Hera was still angry with Paris who didn’t give her the golden apple and so she sent them storm. After many days they arrived at Troy and they got married.

When Menelaus returned to Sparta, he learnt that Paris kidnapped Helen. Enraged, he went to his brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and he asked for his help to call all the kings of Greece to gather with their army and all together to go to take Helen back. The kings, as they had sworn to protect Helen from everyone, accepted to help. So they gathered all in Aulis, a town in Boeotia with about 1200 ships. The strongest and bravest kings of all were Ajax, Odysseus, Achilles and his best friend Patroclus, Diomedes and of course Menelaus and Agamemnon.

Here is a link of the map of ancient Greece, to have an image of the campaign.

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/avssgovenment-140410143539-phpapp01/95/athens-vs-sparta-govenment-4-1024.jpg?cb=1397158751

Arriving at Troy, the first thing that Menelaus did was to meet Paris and asked him peacefully to give him Helen back. Paris denied, so the only thing that had left was the war…

Trojan War lasted 10 years! During these years the victory was going and coming, once for Spartans and once for Trojans. Spartans were ravaging the surrounding areas to find food and they were stealing women, weapons and horses. Gods were watching anxiously its evolution. Some of them were supporting Trojans and others Spartans and sometimes they were helping them, either by giving them courage or saving them from certain death.

In the tenth year, created so much intense disagreement between Agamemnon and Achilles, that Achilles felt offended and left the war. He took his tent and he put it up on the beach. The moral of Spartans is low now, because Achilles is the strongest soldier and without him their defeat is certain. Nevertheless they decided for a new attack. Trojans learnt that, and Paris challenged the Spartans, whoever wanted to fight with him. Menelaus accepted the challenge and they agreed who win to keep Helen and to stop the war. The deal was sealed with a sacrifice to Gods.

After the sacrifice, the two warriors set themselves to battle. Helen was watching from the walls of Troy with anxiety and fear for both of them. At first Paris attacked, throwing his spear but without managing to hurt Menelaus. Menelaus did the same, but he attacked him with his sword too, which it broke up by the strong helmet of Paris. Then Menelaus, as he was angry he grabbed Paris from his helmet, pulled it with force and started dragging him. And he would choke him for sure if Aphrodite hadn’t appeared by cutting the strap of the helmet to save Paris. She also sent a cloud, so Paris run back to the city. It was Menelaus’ victory.

But Gods had other plans. They decided the war to be continued. So Zeus sent Athena masquerading as a Trojan soldier to convince a Trojan to throw an arrow to Menelaus. Menelaus didn’t hurt seriously, but his brother Agamemnon was so angry that he ordered new attack. This battle lasted several hours and many soldiers were killed. After a while, they decided to stop the battle to bury their dead and to have a rest.

The following days were difficult for both armies. Zeus ordered all Gods not to get involved into the war again and not to help them again from now on. Agamemnon began Achilles to return. He refused but he gave his uniform and his armament to Patroclus and he told him to fight for him, in order Trojans to think that he is Achilles and afraid of him. Indeed, while Trojans had arrived near the ships of their opponents, ready to burn them, watching the fake Achilles felt fear and they retreated for a while. Patroclus killed every Trojan that he was in front of him and when he saw Hector, Paris’ brother, he rushed it to him, but Paris anticipated him and killed him with his spear. After Achilles learnt it, he burst in tears and he swore to take revenge.

Next day Achilles goes into battle with new uniform and weapons made by the hand of Hephaestus, the God of fire. He started killing furiously their opponents. They were afraid of him and run in to the city to save themselves. They all manage to get in, except Hector, who felt shame to retread and he decided to face him. The battle was brief, Achilles killed Hector. So he took revenge for his friend.

Whole Troy lamented for the best warrior. After some days of armistice the war began again. In this battle Achilles was running with his horse to breach the gate of the city, Paris is throwing his arrow and hit him in his heel, the only point on Achilles’ body which was not immortal. Achilles died, the battle continued for little more time.

Few days after the death of Achilles, Odysseus invented a very smart plan to get into Troy. He ordered to make a wooden horse, with wheels and hidden doors, so huge to fit several soldiers inside. The Trojan Horse. The horse was made. Odysseus, Menelaus and many other soldiers got into it. The rest Spartans got in their ships and headed to a nearby island, leaving the horse just outside of the city. Only one soldier stayed.

When the next morning Trojans saw what is going on, the soldier explained to them that Spartans withdraw from the war, went back to Sparta and offered this horse as a gift of peace to them. Trojans couldn’t believe it! They let the soldier live, took the horse into the city and organized a feast to celebrate.

Late at night, after everyone was tired from the feast and was sleeping deep, Odysseus and the others came out of the horse. They opened the gates to the rest army which meanwhile came back from the island and they started killing any Trojan found in front of them. Trojans were surprised and they didn’t have time to react. The fight was unequal. Very few people managed to save themselves. King Priam and Paris were killed. Menelaus was looking for Helen who had over than10 years to see her. And she had regretted that she had fled him. The emotion was great when they met. Spartans took precious things, many women who were alive and they started all together for the way to the homeland…

This was the Trojan War, which for the sake of a beautiful Helen thousands soldiers were killed. But both, Trojans and Spartans, even soldiers who had never seen her before but they were fighting for her sake, agreed in one thing. That however hard was this war it was worth all that fighting and killing for such a beautiful woman. For Helen of Troy.

Info

We don’t know yet if Trojan War was just an imagination of people or it was a real fact and what was the real reason and duration.

Helen was demigod, daughter of Zeus and mortal Leda but she grew up with the king of Sparta Tyndareus. Same her brothers who were twins.

It was not the first time that someone kidnapped Helen. Theseus had done it in the past, when she was around 10 years old but her brothers saved her.

Her beauty was so famous that kings from all over Greece came to ask to marry her. Tyndareus chose Menelaus but because he was afraid that the other kings will kidnapper her, he made them swear that if someone does it the others will find and kill him.

When she gone with Paris, she didn’t leave only Menelaus but their daughter also, Hermione, who was 9 years old.

A prophecy was saying that one day Troy would be destroyed because of Paris, so his parents had to kill him as he was still a baby. Instead of that they sent him to live on the mountains. There, he grew up with a shepherd. Later he learnt about his real origin and their parents accepted him back. In the war he was presented little coward, at least not as brave as his brother Hector.

Achilles was demigod, son of Goddess Thetis and king Peleus. When was a kid his mother wanted to make him immortal, so she plunged him into the magical waters of a river, holding him by the heel, the only point of Achilles which wasn’t exposed to the waters.

Although Zeus had ordered Gods not to get involved into war again, they helped them. It was God Apollo who directed the arrow to the heel of Achilles.

Legend says that when Spartans were going to Troy they met many obstacles, turned back and restarted after 8 years, so it took them 10 years until to manage to arrive. After the war they divided, everyone took his own way with his army and they faced different situations and obstacles until they arrive home.