The Trojan War is a key event in Greek mythology, but modern scholars believe it may not have actually happened. The war was triggered by a squabble between the gods, and many events were documented, including the Greek muster of 1,000 ships and the Trojan horse. The war involved many stars of Greek mythology and became an intimate part of their culture. The whole story was believed to be fiction until an ancient city that may have been Troy was unearthed.
The Trojan War was a key event in Greek mythology. Many ancient Greek stories, poems, plays, and illustrations depict aspects of warfare, creating a wealth of material that researchers have used to study the event. Although the ancient Greeks believed that war actually happened, modern scholars of Greek history often believe it never actually happened, and instead, myths about war may have reflected a period of political instability in ancient Greece that led to many military expeditions and small skirmishes.
According to legend, the Trojan War was triggered by a squabble between the gods, a recurring theme in Greek mythology. The goddess Eris, angry at not being invited to a wedding, threw a golden apple on the table during the wedding feast, declaring that the apple would go “to the fairest of all” and sparking a fight between Aphrodite, Hera and Athena.
The feuding goddesses decided to seek the advice of a mortal, choosing Paris of Troy for judgment. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, who in turn promised that Paris could marry Helena, a Greek princess. Unfortunately, Helen was already married, but Paris didn’t let that stop her: she kidnapped her from the Spartans, igniting a war that would drag on for 10 years.
So many events of the Trojan War have been exhaustively documented in Greek mythology that it is impossible to discuss them all in a short space. However, some events were noteworthy. One was the Greek muster of 1,000 ships, assembled even after many Greeks expressed a reluctance to fight. Another was the Trojan horse, a sneaky trick suggested by Odysseus to smuggle Greeks into Troy in the belly of a giant wooden horse, allowing them to attack the city from within.
Many stars of Greek mythology appear in the Trojan War stories, including Agamemnon, Heracles, Achilles, Menelaus, Odysseus, Clytemnestra, Theseus, Penthesilea, Philoctetes, Cassandra, Patroclus, Ajax, and many others. The events were recounted and retold and dissected among the Greeks, becoming an intimate part of their culture and belief systems. Even the Romans were impressed by the stories of the war, borrowing many for their own.
Up until the 19th century, the whole story was believed to be a fiction, because no one was able to identify a site in Turkey that could be confirmed as the site of Troy. However, an ancient city that may have been Troy was later unearthed and the area showed clear signs of military conflict. It is possible that the Greeks waged a war against their Trojan neighbors, making some of the other events of the war more plausible, including sacrifices, feats of military heroism, and the abduction of Helena.
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