3 Trojan War

The Trojan war is a famous war between the Greeks, led by Sparta, and the Trojans. It lasted 10 years and led to many deaths and the fall of Troy.

How it started

The story of the Trojan War starts at the wedding of Priam and Hecuba. Priam was the king of Troy. They were having a wedding and all the gods and spirits were invited. All except Eris the spirit of spite. Eris was so unhappy that he plotted his revenge. He made an apple with the writing “for the fairest”. Hera, Aphrodite and Athena all thought they were the fairest so they had to get a judge to decide it. The judge was going to be Zeus but he didn’t want to offend any of the goddess’ so he made the son of Priam, Paris the judge.

The Goddesses all bribed Paris to pick them. Aphrodite gave him the best present so Paris picked her. Aphrodite’s bribe was the daughter of Zeus, Helen. However, Helen was already promised to Menelaus, the King of Sparta. Paris and Helen ran away together to Troy to escape Menelaus. By making Helen fall in love with Paris, Aphrodite caused the Trojan war.

Menelaus was angry and demanded the Trojans return Helen but Priam refused. Menelaus then gathered the biggest army back then the world had ever seen and attacked Troy. It had the army’s of Menelaus, Ajax, Odysseus, Achilles, Diomedes, Idomeneus and Agamemnon.

Achilles vs Hector

The greatest warrior was Achilles. One time Achilles drove off an entire army single-handed. Achilles mother was a sea-Goddess. She was immortal. She tried to make Achilles immortal. She made him immortal in every spot except his heel. This was his only weak spot. When Achilles fought for the Greeks they won all their battles. Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus was killed by the Trojan Prince Hector. Achilles tried to get to Hector but he was always too well protected. Achilles found that he could only fight Hector if he demanded a one-on-one fight. When they fought Achilles won easily but he wasn’t satisfied and it didn’t ease the pain. To make another attempt to ease the pain he tied Hector’s body to his chariot and drove his chariot around the walls of Troy. After this both sides agreed an eleven day truce.

How it ended

The war went on for 10 years until Odysseus came up with the idea of the wooden horse . The Greeks pretended to give up the fight and left a large wooden horse behind which was captured by the Trojans and taken inside the city. During the night while the Trojans slept, the Greeks sneaked out of the large wooden horse and defeated the Trojans.