The Trojan War
The Trojan War took place in approximately the 13th century. The ancient Greeks defeated the City of Troy. The Trojan War started after an incident at the wedding feast of Peleus, the king of Thessaly, and Thetis, a sea goddess. All the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus had been invited except Eris, the goddess of discord. Eris was offended and tried to stir up trouble among the guests at the feast. She sent a golden apple inscribed “For the most beautiful.” Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each claimed the apple as their own.
Paris judged the quarrel and awarded the apple to Aphrodite because she had promised him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen was already married to Kin Menelaus of Sparta but when visited by Paris, she fled with Paris to Troy. Menelaus organized Greek war against Troy to get Helen back. The
Greeks battled for ten years but could not defeat Troy. The fall of Troy occurred when the Greeks built a large hollow horse and placed it outside the walls of Troy. The Trojans took the horse inside and thought the had won the war and the horse was a gift from the Greeks. Later that night, the Greeks stormed from the horse and opened the gates to allow their fellow warriors in and the Greeks conquered the City of Troy.
Ancient Greece was the birthplace of Western civilization about 2500 years ago. Greek civilization consisted mainly of small city-states. A city- state consisted of a city or town and the surrounding villages and farmland.
The Greek city-states were independent and quarreled often with one-another.
These city states established the world's first democratic government. The
Greeks believed that certain gods and goddesses watched over them and directed their daily lives. Families would try to please these gods by offering sacrifices, gifts, and ceremonies. Greeks flocked to oracles to consult priests and priestesses to answer questions and fore-tell the future. Greek men enjoyed drinking, talking, and dancing at parties. They also like sports and religious festivals Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the most important Greek philosophers. Socrates taught by carefully questioning his listeners to expose the weaknesses of their ideas and arguments. Plato explored such subjects as beauty, justice, and good government. Aristotle summed up the achievements of
Greek philosophy and science. His authority on many topics remained unquestioned for more than 100 years Most Ancient Greeks were suspicious of philosophers and their theories. They continued to believe in superstitions and in myths. In 399 BC, an Athens jury sentenced Socrates to death for showing disrespect to the gods.
Goldwyn, Adam J. "A Literary History of the Trojan War from Antiquity to the Middle Ages." Order No. 3426747 City University of New York, 2010. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 13 ‘May 2014.
Dating back to 449 B.C., Sparta and Athens always had an alliance, but as time grew that balance slowly began to fall as one felt threatened by another. Before any sight of unsteadiness the Spartans and Athenians had a bound partnership. Beginning after their domination of the Persian war, the two states slowly became aware of one another’s growing power. More time went by, and the Spartans began to grow conscious of the other states, feeling wary and paranoid around them (Fox, 170). No state was particularly to blame for the strain on their peace treaty, nor for the war, it came as the two states developed. Eventually the two states had clashed enough and declared war. Although the Spartans gave the Athenians a chance to back down and temporarily stall war, the two states would never be equal, their allies resented one another far too much. The growing urge for power was bound to take over sooner or later. Finally, after 7 years of uneasy tension, Sparta could wait no longer and declared war against Athens (Fox, 167). Although the Athenians and Spartans lived together in peace for so long, they existed in a fragile balance that was bound to eventually lead to war.
Archaeology and the Trojan War “. he [Heinrich Schliemann] found layers of ruins. and two bore unmistakable signs of violent destruction. One of these layers, the seventh according to more recent excavators, was no doubt the city of Priam and Hector. The historicity of the Homeric tale has been demonstrated archaeologically.”
Homer starts off his story in the middle of the Trojan War with the point of view on the side of the Greeks,
In the book The Trojan War, by Bernard Evslin, Ulysses and Agamemnon both contribute to the Greek’s victory. Many considered Ulysses to be the real brains behind the Greek forces. Although Agamemnon was the leader of the Greeks, many would say he was not a good one. Even though Agamemnon did some good deeds during the war, many of his actions caused problems, and Ulysses often had to come to his rescue.
The story of the Iliad portrays a vial battle between the Greeks and Trojans that has been ongoing for over 9 years. The Greeks ultimately triumph in the war, but not without bloody conflict with the Trojans. The Greeks and Trojans each have positive characteristics that bolster their glory throughout the Iliad and lead to a tense fight between the two sides. Unfortunately, their emotions overpower them and hinder their beneficial traits. The emotional struggle that both sides confront throughout the story constructs contrasting personalities and clashing ideals in battle. The Greeks and Trojans each display positive characteristics, such as the Greeks being strategic, and the Trojans being
Rome was known for many things, one of the biggest things that they are very skilled in, is warfare. Romans were very skilled in this area, they were known to have great fighting techniques. They would hardly ever lose a war. They were very smart during battle. One of the techniques that they used was that they would fight on higher grounds against their enemies in order to have a height advantage. Of course, they would only do this when the battle was in their territory. Another great technique that they had was making sure that the sun was behind them and that the wind was also behind them. How smart is that? They used many other ways to confuse the enemy. Rome was in a lot of wars.
In the Greek epic, The Iliad, Homer describes the siege and capture of the ancient city of Troy by Achilles and the Achaean warriors. Achilles, being a fearless fighter, defeated many throughout his battles against the Trojan army, including the brave-hearted Hector during the invasion of Troy. Though Achilles has been given the title of the hero of the Trojan War, many historians believe that Hector was a greater hero than Achilles. When comparing the characteristics of an epic hero such as being a national hero and having supernatural abilities, Hector clearly surpasses Achilles. In this essay, the argument will be supported through the context of the heroic personas revealed by the warriors and the non-heroic qualities that dishonored them.
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
Although women are one of his weaknesses, Odysseus does not get distracted by the offerings of luxury and immortality offered to him by women throughout his journey, that could interfere with his dedication to get home. The women he meets are beautiful and have many wonderful pleasures to offer to Odysseus but he is still looking forward to reuniting with his wife, Penelope. The women that he meets are both wealthy morals and immortals who will provide Odysseus a life of lavishness. However, he gives it all up for the true adoration he has for Penelope. Odysseus was unsure of how faithful Penelope was to him while he was at war in Troy but he was still willing to come back for her and risk his life doing so. The love that bonds Odysseus with Penelope was strong because he was faithful to Penelope even though he had been away for a long period of time.
Over the thousands of years that the epic story the Iliad has survived, there has no doubt been some form of alteration to Homer’s original. Last May, Wolfgang Petersen directed a movie based on the Iliad. This movie, Troy, has proven to be a very loose adaptation of Homer’s original, as are almost all stories that are made into movies, unfortunately. With its timeless storyline, amazing scenery, gorgeous actors/actresses and most of all, its reported two hundred million dollar budget, it is easy to see why Troy was hyped up to be a box office hit. However, the film critics were harsh on this movie, as they had every right to be, and it ended up being a total flop. Compared to Homer’s Iliad, Troy is rather disappointing. But, to be fair, one must keep in mind the limitations of a movie compared to those of a book, and the fact that the title is Troy, not the Iliad. It really is not as bad as expected. Troy is Homer’s Iliad gone to Hollywood. There probably are just as many similarities as differences from the original. The three major upsetting differences in Troy compared to the Iliad are the absence of the Gods, the weak character and plot development, and the addition, exclusion, and reversal of key points.
Hector insults Paris in front of all of Troy. Paris is deeply ashamed and decides to fight the duel. Troy rejoices because if Paris defeats Menelaos, it would be a tremendous victory for Troy, however, if Paris is defeated, Helen is returned and therefore a truce would be reached and the war would be over.
Victories in battle gained the Homeric hero honour in the eyes of their fellow aristoi; however, this was not enough to exhibit their triumphs. ‘… [T]here appears to be a close equation between honour… and the possession of a ‘prize’… ’ (Block 1, p. 50), as success in battle could be forgot, the heroes materialised these victories within the prizes taken as the spoils of war. These prizes provided a lasting symbol of their achievements; therefore, their importance was immense. We see this importance demonstrated in the way Agamemnon is determined to retain Chryseis, his ‘trophy’, saying to her father, ‘The girl I will not give back…’ (Iliad, 1.29). She is the embodiment of his honour, manifested in the flesh. When forced to give her back to her father, Agamemnon’s symbol of honour is gone and his pride is wounded. This dishonour may even jeopardise his position as leader of the Greek army and explains why he demands another man’s ‘prize’.
The term, the Trojan Horse, comes from Greek mythology, in which the Greeks battled the Trojans during the Trojan War. After a 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse and hid a select force of men inside. They used it to enter the city of Troy and win the war. A giant wooden horse was given to their foes, the Trojans, as a peace offering. But after the Trojans drag the horse inside their city walls, Greek soldiers snuck out of the horse's hollow belly and opened the city gates, allowing their compatriots to pour in and capture Troy.
...as used to get the Trojans to open the gates and that the Greek sailing back at night was a highly likely tactic. It was not uncommon for commandos to sneak into a city and kill the gate guards, opening it to an invading force. It was also common for turncoats to be bribed in the cities to open the gates for armies as well. The very choice of the Trojan War as one of the subjects is a statement of ambiguous meaning. On the one hand, it may amount to envisaging the Trojan War as a full-scale historic event on a par with the Peloponnesian War. On the other hand, it may be based on the assumption that, whether or not the Trojan War actually took place, the historic impact of the myth of the Trojan War is so great that it merits serious consideration in its own right. Greed, not jealousy was the cause of the war. ("Troy VII and the Historicity of the Trojan War", 2007)