The Trojan War This story is written by Homer by Homer and and Aeschylus. A thousand years ago before Christ, there was a great city that was rich and powerful and was second to none. Its fame comes from a great war due to a dispute between three jealous goddesses. Everything started when the goddess of Discord, Eris was Eris was not invited to the wedding of King of King Peleus and Thetis. Eris threw a golden apple marked "For the Fairest" into the wedding. All the goddess wanted the Apple but the choices were narrowed down to three, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. They asked Zeus to judge but he refused. Instead he told them to go to Paris who Zeus claimed was an excellent judge of beauty. As the goddesses descended upon Paris, they all offered him bribes. But Paris decided to give the apple to Aphrodite. This act was the Judgement of Paris, the reason why the Trojan War was fought. For choosing Aphrodite, choosing Aphrodite, Paris was given the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Paris went to Sparta to pick up Helen. But Helen was married to King Menelaus. Somehow, Paris took Helen back to Troy and when Menelaus found out about this, he decided to attack Troy. The Greeks gathered a huge army at Aulis under the direction of Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, who became the Commander in Chief. Both Achilles and Odysseus originally didn't want to go but both were eventually persuaded to going with the rest of the Greeks. But the winds prevented the fleet from leaving. After speaking to the prophet Calchas, they had to sacrifice Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, to appease Artemis who Artemis who was causing these winds to blow. When the Greeks finally left Aulis, they left Philoctetes on Lemnos because he was wounded. But he would become an important factor as the Greeks needed the bow and arrows of Hercules of Hercules in Philoctetes possession. The first Greek to leap onto Trojan soil from the ships was Protesilaus. He also became the first to die as he was struck down by Hector. by Hector. Protesilaus' wife Laodamia was so distraught with grief that Hermes that Hermes brought him back to life for a few hours. But when her husband had to return to the realm of Hades, of Hades, Laodamia killed herself. The war continued for nine years without much change. Then in the tenth year in dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon nearly threw to balance in favor of the Trojans.
Agamemnon took Chryseis, a daughter of Apollo's Apollo's priest. Her father heard of this and begged for her return but Agamemnon refused to release her. Upon hearing about this, Apollo shot fiery arrows at the Greek Army, killing many Greeks. Achilles Achilles wanted to appease Apollo. Then the prophet Calchas said that the only solution was to return Chryseis. At this point, Agamemnon complied, but not before taking Achilles' maiden, Briseis. When this happened, Achilles refused t o fight anymore. Patroclus, a great friend of Achilles, of Achilles, had a plan to relieve the pressure off the Greeks. He wanted to use Achilles' armor to scare the Trojans off. The plan worked until Patroclus ran into Hector. Despite having Achilles' armor, the Trojan hero was able to kill him. When Achilles found out about the death of his great friend, he wanted to avenge his death. He went to Hephaestus to get new armor, and then he re-joined the battle to avenge the death of Patroclus by killing Hector. killing Hector. After killing Hector, Achilles knew that his death was near. Achilles was vulnerable only in one place; his heel. Paris killed Achilles with an arrow guided by Apollo. After the death of Achilles, both Odysseus and Ajax wanted the armor of Achilles. The Greeks decided that Odysseus would receive the armor, causing Ajax to go mad and kill a flock of sheep. As he regained his sanity, he realized what he had done and he killed himself. Philoctetes, having been healed of his wounds, came back to fight with the Greeks. He killed Paris with Hercules' arrows. But in order to defeat Troy, the Greeks had to get into the city. Odysseus thought of a plan to make a hollow horse with soldiers inside. The rest of the Greeks would sail behind the nearest island, making it appear like they had given up. Only one Greek, Sinon, remained behind to tell the Trojans that the horse was an offering of Athena and it needed to be inside the walls of Troy. Laocoon tried to remind the Trojans of the treachery and deceit of the Greeks. As he finished two serpents crushed the life out of Laocoon. The Trojans told this as a sign from the gods and quickly dragged the horse into the city. The Trojans, thinking they had won, partied through the night. But then Sinon released the Greeks within the horse and they let in the soldiers who had just sailed back. They ransacked Troy. By the time the Trojans were awake, Troy was already burning. Slowly, the defences of Troy broke down. By morning, Troy, once the proudest city in Asia, was in ruins. The Greeks had finally won.
