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How did the Trojan war happen

Author

Henry Morales

Published Apr 21, 2026

According to the ancient Greek epic poet Homer, the Trojan War was caused by Paris, son of the Trojan king, and Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus, when they went off together to Troy. To get her back, Menelaus sought help from his brother Agamemnon, who assembled a Greek army to defeat Troy.

How did the Trojan War really start?

According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her.

What race were the Trojans?

The Trojans were people that lived in the city state of Troy on the coast of Turkey by the Aegean Sea, around the 12th or 13th Century BCE. We think they were of Greek or Indo-European origin, but no one knows for sure.

Did the Trojan War really happen?

As the historical sources – Herodotus and Eratosthenes – show, it was generally assumed to have been a real event. According to Homer’s Iliad, the conflict between the Greeks – led by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae – and the Trojans – whose king was Priam – took place in the Late Bronze Age, and lasted 10 years.

What happened to Helen of Troy after Troy fell?

Menelaus and Helen then returned to Sparta, where they lived happily until their deaths. … According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by the Rhodian queen Polyxo in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.

Did Achilles really exist?

There is no proof that Achilles existed or that any of Homer’s other characters did. The long answer is that Homer’s Achilles may have been based, at least in part, on a historical character; the same is true of the rest of Homer’s characters. … According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted ten years.

Was Achilles A Spartan or Trojan?

In Greek mythology, Achilles was the strongest warrior and hero in the Greek army during the Trojan War. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a sea nymph. The story of Achilles appears in Homer’s Iliad and elsewhere.

What country is Troy in now?

Troy is located in the modern nation of Turkey. Specifically, it is in Canakkale Province of western Turkey, which is located on the Aegean coast.

How did Troy fall?

In legend, Troy is a city that was besieged for 10 years and eventually conquered by a Greek army led by King Agamemnon. The reason for this “Trojan War” was, according to Homer’s “Iliad,” the abduction of Helen, a queen from Sparta. This abduction was done by Paris, the son of Troy’s King Priam.

Who won Trojan War?

The Greeks won the Trojan War. According to the Roman epic poet Virgil, the Trojans were defeated after the Greeks left behind a large wooden horse and pretended to sail for home. Unbeknown to the Trojans, the wooden horse was filled with Greek warriors.

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Were the Trojans Greek or Hittite?

no they were a Greek tribe The Hittites were their allies though. There is correspondence in the form of ancient artifacts between them.

Did Achilles have a child?

Neoptolemus, in Greek legend, the son of Achilles, the hero of the Greek army at Troy, and of Deïdamia, daughter of King Lycomedes of Scyros; he was sometimes called Pyrrhus, meaning “Red-haired.” In the last year of the Trojan War the Greek hero Odysseus brought him to Troy after the Trojan seer Helenus had declared …

What happened to Hector's wife and son?

Andromache, in Greek legend, the daughter of Eëtion (prince of Thebe in Mysia) and wife of Hector (son of King Priam of Troy). All her relations perished when Troy was taken by Achilles. Neoptolemus was slain at Delphi, and he left Andromache and the kingdom as well to Helenus, the brother of Hector. …

What happened to Paris after Troy fell?

In the 2004 Hollywood film Troy, the character Paris was played by actor Orlando Bloom. He is not killed by Philoctetes in this version, but leaves the falling city of Troy together with Helen and survives. Paris is portrayed as an irresponsible prince who put his romance before his family and country.

Was Achilles A good person?

The warrior Achilles is one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles was extraordinarily strong, courageous and loyal, but he had one vulnerability–his “Achilles heel.” Homer’s epic poem The Iliad tells the story of his adventures during the last year of the Trojan War.

Who Killed Paris of Troy?

Paris himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes. The “judgment of Paris,” Hermes leading Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite to Paris, detail of a red-figure kylix by Hieron, 6th century bc; in the Collection of Classical Antiquities of the National Museums in Berlin.

Was Hercules a Spartan?

The universality, attractiveness, and necessity of Heracles’ mythology made him a model for both the Spartans and Romans. Heracles is the typification of heroic, Spartan, and Roman virtue, destiny, and values, as well as the archetypical example of deification through labor.

What race was Achilles?

Achilles was the son of Peleus, a Greek king, and Thetis, a sea nymph or goddess.

How did Achilles get his immortality?

According to other accounts, Thetis endeavored to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, and succeeded with the exception of the ankles, by which she held him, 23 while others again state that she put him in boiling water to test his immortality, and that he was found immortal except at the ankles.

Where is Sparta now?

Sparta is a city in Laconia, on the Peloponnese in Greece. In antiquity, it was a powerful city-state with a famous martial tradition. Ancient writers sometimes referred to it as Lacedaemon and its people as Lacedaemonians.

Is Helen of Troy real?

There are many conflicting elements to the mythology that surround the figure of Helen, some interpretations of the myth even suggest that she was abducted by Paris. But ultimately, there was no real Helen in Ancient Greece, she is purely a mythological character.

Why is Troy called Ilium?

‘Troy’, in Ancient Greek, was ‘Τροία’ (Troia). There were also the names Ἴλιος (Ilios) and Ἴλιον (Ilion) used to refer to the city. ‘Ilium’ actually comes from the Latinisation of the latter words.

How old is Helen Troy?

In most accounts of this event, Helen was quite young; Hellanicus of Lesbos said she was seven years old and Diodorus makes her ten years old.

Who built Trojan horse?

Trojan horse, huge hollow wooden horse constructed by the Greeks to gain entrance into Troy during the Trojan War. The horse was built by Epeius, a master carpenter and pugilist.

How many people died in the Trojan War?

Battlefield Losses in Homer’s Trojan War The Iliad, the Greek poet Homer’s 8th century B.C.E. epic about the last few weeks of the Trojan War, is full of death. Two hundred forty battlefield deaths are described in The Iliad, 188 Trojans, and 52 Greeks.

What did the Trojans speak?

The language of the Trojans was the same of their enemies, the Greeks, who both spoke Homeric Greek.

Are Trojans Roman?

Because the idea that they were Trojans was simply a myth. The Romans were, and always had been, an Italic people native to Western Italy. The myth of Trojan descent arose in response to the Romans’ discovery of Greek culture and the Homeric poems.

What language is spoken in Troy?

Little is known about the language spoken in Troy. Some researchers suspect it was Luvian, others that it was Lydian. Kloekhorst concluded that the original language of Troy was possibly a precursor of Etruscan. To this day there have been no archaeological finds that can provide any evidence in the matter.

Did Achilles have a girlfriend?

When Achilles led the assault on Lyrnessus during the Trojan War, he captured Briseis and slew her parents and brothers. She was subsequently given to Achilles as a war prize to be his concubine.

Did Achilles have siblings?

In the Odyssey, Achilles asks about his father and son because Odysseus is interested in fathers and sons. This may make it more, not less, appropriate that Achilles says nothing of his sister: Odysseus just doesn’t care about sisters. Nor, it seems, does Homer.) Works Consulted (apart from the Greek Texts).

Did Hector and Achilles really fight?

As the Greeks stormed the Trojan castle, Hector came out to meet Achilles in single combat—wearing the fateful armor of Achilles taken off the body of Patroclus. Achilles aimed and shot his spear into a small gap in the neck area of that armor, killing Hector.