Anyone with an interest in history would certainly miss something by not reading the history of the Trojan War. This war is the most interesting part of Greek mythology and is believed to have happened between Greece and the city of Tory around 12 or 13 BC. Whether the War was an actual event or a mythical conflict, people learn about it thanks to Homer’s epic poem Illiad.
The Illiad had a profound influence on ancient Greek culture since it made them a unique heroic nation with legendary war heroes such as Achilles, and thanks to this poem people of other cultures still respect and admire the Greek nation. The contemporary adaptations of the poem are in many television series, and films in which people get the live demonstration of the horrors of war, romance, and decadence. Let us determine to what extent the Trojan War was narrated based on historical facts or resorted to mythical stories to spice up the drama.
The Mythical Narrative of the Trojan War
The origins of the war: The judgment of Paris and the abduction of Helen
What triggered the epic Trojan War was the abduction of Helene, wife of the king of Menelaus of Sparta by Paris, the prince of the city of Troy. However, these characters are the main characters of Homer’s epic poem Illiad. In this poem, Homer narrated how the event unfolded. At the wedding of Pelus, and Thetis, all gods, and goddesses were invited except Eris, the goddess of strife. This angered her and prompted her to throw a golden apple with the inscription” for the fairest” to the festivities.
The three most powerful goddesses Hera, Anthena, and Aphrodite found the apple which triggered a fierce debate among them regarding who would own it. The three goddesses seek Jeus intervention to settle the dispute. However, Jeus refused to intervene and instead sought Paris’s opinion regarding who would get the apple.
The three goddesses offered three different types of lucrative bribes to Paris to get his decision in their respective favor. Paris yielded to Aphrodite’s offer who offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helene. The story” The Judgement of Paris” has been narrated or depicted in arts and literature for ages and is one of the most famous stories of Greek mythology.
key Events from Mythology
The Greek Coalition under Agamemnon
It has not been settled whether Paris abducted Helen or the latter eloped with the former, however, the abduction or the eloped of Helen is the main turning point of the story of the Trojan War. The King of Sparta Menelaus, was extremely enraged and humiliated when he lost possession of Helen to Paris. Menelaus went to his brother and the King of Mycenae who is also a legendary war hero, and sought his help to avenge and punish Paris for his immoral act of stealing another man’s wife. Two brothers then went to every Greek city and, under Agamemnon’s leadership, formed a strong coalition of warriors such as Menelaus, Achilles, Patroclus, and Ajax- all legendary Greek War heroes.
The epic duels, including Achilles and Hector
In the legendary Trojan War, the World witnessed unprecedented heroic conflicts between Greek and Trojan epic warriors. Among these conflicts, the duels between the noble Troy Prince Hector, and the most powerful Greek War hero Achilles get the most prominence. The one-to-one battle between the two warriors did not occur out of a vacuum. During the ongoing conflicts, the death of Patroclus, another Greek hero enraged Achilles, for which he blamed Hector for his friend’s demise. He(Achilles) was convinced that only killing Hector could pacify him. The dramatic encounter between Hector, and Achilles occurred outside of the gates of Troy where two warriors displayed their supreme fighting skills. Hector was initially confidently blocking Achille’s attack. However, this fuels Achille’s anger further who with sheer rage chased Hector around the city three times before finally confronting him face-to-face. In the ensuing battle between Achilles and Hector, the former defeated and killed the latter, and dragged the dead body of the defeated warrior with his chariots as a showdown of his vengeance.
The Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy
The Trojan Horse ended the Trojan War by sacking the city of Troy with Greek warriors. However, it was not a real horse, a deceptive horse made of wood by a skilled carpenter and warrior Epeius during the war. The Greeks became frustrated when they failed to defeat the Trojan forces after 10 years of brutal war. Their frustration led them to adopt a deceptive technique of making a dummy wood horse where a few warriors can hide without raising suspicion. When the fake horse was fully prepared, the Greeks except Sinon sailed away to a nearby island Tenedos. Sinnon then persuaded the Trojans that the horse was an offering of Athena, and they needed to take it inside the city.
Two Goddesses Casandra and Laocoon warned the Trojans not to heed Sinnon’s advice. However, the Trojans insisted and brought the horse inside Troy City. When night fell, a few Greek warriors who had previously taken refuge inside the horse, emerged from it, opened the city gates, and let the returned Greek forces enter the city. The Greek Warriors then sacked the Trojan City and eventually won the war.
Role of the Gods and Divine Intervention
In Homer’s The Illiad, the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus in the Trojan War, directly meddle in human affairs thereby played a significant role in determining the outcome of the war and the fate of several key characters. In the poem, gods intervene in several key issues including human emotions, motivations, behaviors, altercations, and personal conflicts.
The god’s first intervention is of course starting the war. As the poem narrates, for example, the goddess Aphrodite casts a spell on Helen so that she falls in love with Paris. Paris. responding to Helen’s love, took her to Troy City, and then the hell broke loose.
Gods’ preferences are another striking feature of the conflict. While Zeus as a supreme deity oversaw the actions of other deities, Athena favored the Greek forces, and Appolo supported the Trojans.
Homer’s poem The Illiad’s main attractive part is god’s direct meddling in the war. It conveys an important lesson that despite their (gods’) supreme power and influence, mortals still can determine their fate.
Historical Context of the Trojan War
Since the Trojan War is a Greek mythology, the exact time of the war is a matter of imagination. However, analyzing some archaeological findings, it is assumed that the war(if there were any) might have taken place in the late Bronze Age since the war at that time was characterized by conquering one country over another.
In 1870, the legendary city of Troy was brought back into the limelight when Heinrich Schliemann who was an adventurer, speaker of 15 languages, world traveler, and amateur archaeologist, claimed that he discovered the historic Troy city in an excavation site in modern-day Turkey. The ruins at Hisharhk are a key archeological site where archaeologists made several important discoveries including
Priam’s Treasure
The discovery of a rich collection of gold, silver, electrum, copper, bronze, and Jewelry convinced Schliemann that these precious assets belonged to no other except King Priam. However, modern-time testing of these artifacts showed that their origin is more than four thousand years old which means they were used before Priam’s time.
Possible Historical Conflicts in the Aegean Region
Hommer Illiad’s The Trojan War happened around the 12th or 13th century BC in the Aegean region. Historical evidence shows a conflict in the area around that time. That conflict was the collapse of the Mycenaean palatial system. The collapse was a consequence of the upheaval of the Bootean population which also marked the beginning of the instability and decline of Boetia. In Homer’s The Trojan War, the two warring parties were the city of Troy and the combined forces of different Greek cities. However, due to a lack of historical evidence, it is difficult to establish the credibility of the Trojan War.
Trade, politics, and power struggles that could have inspired the legend
The Trojan War is a brilliant narrative of Homer that spellbound people of past and present. Although the war was a mythological tale, it became an important and interesting research topic. What were the other reasons apart from the main narrative that the war broke out between the Greeks and the Trojans because of a female-related issue? Critics who can see a horrific event like war in different ranges believe that trade, politics, and power struggles also played some role in triggering the Trojan War.
From ancient times to modern times, politics and war are intertwined. The war between the Greeks and the Trojans is no exception. The Greek States were not on good terms with each other. Instead, they always compete with each other in pursuit of proving one state is superior to the other. So the Trojan War gave them a wonderful playground in terms of battlefields flexing their muscles and establishing a specific state’s supremacy. They also see the war as a potential means to bury their internal feuds and become allies. Respective personal interests of the Greek heroes primarily inspired them to wage war against the Trojans. Agamemnon’s main objective was, for example, to establish his supremacy among all the Greek heroes, not just rescue Helen.
The Blend of Myth and Reality
The Trojan War follows other ancient story patterns in which Homer advertently intertwined myth and reality to captivate his audience. While the narratives of gods, and goddesses, their direct intervention, and epic heroism of the Greek and the Trojan warlords no doubt are myths, interesting, there is a tinge of reality in the existence of Troy city, the war itself, and the potential geopolitics, and economic causes that are difficult to ignore.
Homer’s brilliant work, the Illiad, helped establish the facts in ancient Greek society that the Greek nation was an indomitable superpower. In the war or in the poem, Homer’s role was the brilliant depiction of Greek heroism that must inspire the ancient Greek people.
The Asian version of Illiad, and Oddysa is Mahabharata, another epic poem where you will find mythology and historical events. When researchers or historical enthusiasts read these epics the Illiad, the Oddysa, and the Mahabharata, they find so many similarities in them that they jokingly think there was sheer plagiarism here. These epics covered the same theme: the brutality of war, gods, and goddesses meddling, epic heroism, moral depravity, and punishment and the consequences of human action.
Cultural and Literary Legacy
Whether the Trojan War happened is a matter of debate, thanks to Homer’s epic poems the Illiad, and the Oddysey where the poet masterly narrated the victory of the Greeks over the Trojans, the war then became the foundational myth for Greek culture, literature, arts, and political thoughts. The war’s profound influence is evident in ancient Greece’s visual art, pottery, and theatrical productions, and remains a persistent theme for many centuries.
The Trojan War has cast a long shadow on Western culture, and this war influenced many Western literary works where you will find iconic characters, love, pride, betrayal, and horrors of the war.
Debates and unanswered questions
The main debate about the Trojan War is whether the war happened, or it was a Homer’s ingenious mythological tale. Proponents of the war argued that since scientific evidence backed up the existence of Troy City which was in modern-day Turkey, and there was a conflict in that region during the bronze age, Homer did not narrate the war out of imagination. However, the scale of the war, the unbelievable heroism of Achilles, Hector, and, Paris, and the meticulous description of the war sound like the Trojan War not more than a mythical war.
What Aspects of the Myth are rooted in Fact?
Homer’s eloquent narrative of the Trojan War in the Iliad made the war a real historical event. He(Homer) even spellbound historians who described the war as a true event. Even if there was a war, it happened three or four hundred years before Homer’s time. So the poet may have relied on local folks to narrate the war, increasing the possibility of incorrect information and exaggeration. The discovery of Troy City in modern-day Turkey and the war’s influences in several prominent cultures’ literary worlds means the discussion surrounding the Trojan War will never be resolved.
Limitations of Archaeology and Historical Evidence
The limitations that dampened the possibility of the Trojan War included the narrative of the conflict, which had no inclusive shreds of evidence, ambiguity in the interpretation of the destroyed layers of Troy city, and hyperbole of the war by Homer itself.
While the debate over the real incident of the Trojan War or a masterwork of poet Homer ‘s Illiad, where he narrated the war like a legendary conflict will continue, the war has captivated global audiences for centuries and will continue to do so indefinitely.
