Trojan War in Ancient Greece. Trojan War

The fantasy of the Greek people has widely developed the cycle of legends about the Trojan War. Their subsequent popularity was explained by a close connection with the centuries-old enmity of the Hellenes and Asians.

The arena of the Trojan War - an area on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor, stretching as a plain to the Hellespont (Dardanelles), further from the sea rising in ridges of hills to Mount Ida, irrigated by Scamander, Simois and other rivers - is already mentioned in ancient myths about the gods. The Greeks called its population Trojans, Dardanians, Tevkras. The mythical son of Zeus, Dardanus, founded Dardania on the slope of Mount Ida. His son, rich Erichthonius, owned vast fields, countless herds of cattle and horses. After Erichthonius, the Dardanian king was Tros, the ancestor of the Trojans, whose youngest son, the handsome Ganymede, was taken to Olympus to serve the king of the gods at feasts, and his eldest son, Il (Ilos), founded Troy (Ilion). Another descendant of Erichthonius, the handsome Anchises, fell in love with the goddess Aphrodite, who gave birth to a son from him, Aeneas, who, according to myths, fled west to Italy after the Trojan War. The offspring of Aeneas was the only branch of the Trojan royal family who survived the capture of Troy.

Excavations of ancient Troy

Under the son of Il, Laomedont, the gods Poseidon and Apollo built the fortress of Troy, Pergamon. The son and successor of Laomedont was Priam, who was famous for wealth throughout the world. He had fifty sons, of whom the brave Hector and the handsome Paris are especially famous. Of the fifty, nineteen of his sons were born by his second wife Hecuba, the daughter of the Phrygian king.

Cause of the Trojan War - the abduction of Helen by Paris

The cause of the Trojan War was the abduction by Paris of Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. When Hecuba was pregnant with Paris, she saw in a dream that she gave birth to a flaming brand and that all of Troy burned down from this brand. Therefore, after his birth, Paris was thrown into the forest on Mount Ida. He was found as a shepherd, grew up strong and dexterous, handsome, a skilled musician and singer. He pastured the herds on Ida, and was the favorite of her nymphs. When three goddesses, who were arguing over which of them was the fairest, over a bone of contention, gave him a decision, and each promised him a reward for the decision in her favor, he chose not the victories and glory that Athena promised him, not dominion over Asia, promised by the Hero, but the love of the most beautiful of all women, promised by Aphrodite.

Judgment of Paris. Painting by E. Simone, 1904

Paris was strong and brave, but the predominant traits of his character were sensuality and Asian effeminacy. Aphrodite soon directed his path to Sparta, whose king Menelaus was married to the beautiful Helen. The patroness of Paris, Aphrodite, aroused love for him in the beautiful Elena. Paris took her away at night, taking with him many treasures of Menelaus. It was a great crime against hospitality and marriage law. The wicked man and his relatives, who received him and Helen in Troy, incurred the punishment of the gods. Hera, an avenger for adultery, aroused the heroes of Greece to stand up for Menelaus, starting the Trojan War. When Elena became an adult girl, and many young heroes gathered to woo her, Elena's father, Tyndareus, took an oath from them that they would all protect the marital rights of the one who would be elected. They were now to fulfill that promise. Others joined them out of love for military adventure, or out of a desire to avenge an offense done to all of Greece.

Elena's kidnapping. Red-figure Attic amphora, late 6th c. BC

Beginning of the Trojan War. Greeks in Aulis

The death of Achilles

Later poets continued the story of the Trojan War. Arktin of Miletus wrote a poem about the exploits accomplished by Achilles after the victory over Hector. The most important of them was the battle with Memnon, the radiant son of distant Ethiopia; therefore Arktin's poem was called "Ethiopida".

The Trojans, discouraged after the death of Hector - it was told in the "Ethiopian" - were animated with new hopes when the queen of the Amazons, Penthesilea, came from Thrace to help them, with regiments of her warriors. The Achaeans were again driven back to their camp. But Achilles rushed into battle and killed Penthesilea. When he removed the helmet from the opponent who fell to the ground, he was deeply moved to see what a beauty he had killed. Thersites scathingly reproached him for this; Achilles killed the offender with a blow of his fist.

Then, from the far east, the king of the Ethiopians, the son of Aurora, the most beautiful of men, came with an army to help the Trojans. Achilles evaded the fight with him, knowing from Thetis that soon after the death of Memnon, he himself would die. But Antilochus, the son of Nestor, the friend of Achilles, covering his father persecuted by Memnon, died a victim of his filial love; the desire to avenge him drowned out in Achilles concern for himself. The fight between the sons of the goddesses, Achilles and Memnon, was terrible; Themis and Aurora looked at him. Memnon fell, and his mournful mother, Aurora, wept, carried his body home. According to an Eastern legend, every morning she waters her dear son again and again with tears falling in the form of dew.

Eos carries off the body of his son Memnon. Greek vase, early 5th century BC

Achilles furiously chased the fleeing Trojans to the Skean gates of Troy and was already breaking into them, but at that moment an arrow fired by Paris and directed by the god Apollo himself killed him. She hit him in the heel, which was the only vulnerable point of his body (Achilles' mother, Thetis, made her son invulnerable by immersing him as a baby in the waters of the underground river Styx, but the heel, for which she held him, remained vulnerable). All day long the Achaeans and the Trojans fought in order to take possession of the body and weapons of Achilles. Finally, the Greeks managed to take the body to the camp greatest hero The Trojan War and its weapons. Ajax Telamonides, a mighty giant, carried the body, and Odysseus held back the onslaught of the Trojans.

Ajax takes out the body of Achilles from the battle. Attic vase, ca. 510 BC

For seventeen days and nights, Thetis, with the Muses and Nereids, mourned her son with such touching songs of sorrow that both gods and people shed tears. On the eighteenth day, the Greeks lit a magnificent fire on which the body was laid; Achilles' mother, Thetis, carried the body out of the flames, and transferred it to the island of Levka (Snake Island, lying in front of the mouths of the Danube). There, rejuvenated, he lives, forever young, and enjoys war games. According to other legends, Thetis carried her son to underworld or the Isles of the Blessed. There are also legends saying that Thetis and her sisters collected the bones of her son from the ashes and placed them in a golden urn near the ashes of Patroclus under those artificial hills near the Hellespont, which are still considered to be the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus left after the Trojan War.

Philoctetes and Neoptolemus

After the brilliant funeral games in honor of Achilles, it was to be decided who was worthy of receiving his weapon: it was to be given to the bravest of the Greeks. This honor was claimed by Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus. Trojan prisoners were chosen as judges. They decided in favor of Odysseus. Ajax found this unfair and was so annoyed that he wanted to kill Odysseus and Menelaus, whom he also considered his enemy. AT dark night he secretly went out of his tent to kill them. But Athena struck him with a cloud of reason. Ajax killed the herds of cattle that were with the army, and the shepherds of these cattle, imagining that he was killing his enemies. When the darkness passed, and Ajax saw how wrong he was, he was seized with such shame that he threw himself on his sword with his chest. The whole army was saddened by the death of Ajax, who was stronger than all Greek heroes after Achilles.

Meanwhile, the Trojan soothsayer, Helen, who was captured by the Achaeans, told them that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules. The owner of these arrows was the wounded Philoctetes, abandoned by the Achaeans on Lemnos. He was brought from Lesbos to the camp near Troy. The son of the god of healing, Asclepius, Machaon healed the wound of Philoctetes, and he killed Paris. Menelaus desecrated the body of his offender. The second condition necessary for the victory of the Greeks in the Trojan War was the participation in the siege of Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), the son of Achilles and one of the daughters of Lycomedes. He lived with his mother, on Skyros. Odysseus brought Neoptolemus, gave him his father's weapons, and he killed the beautiful Mysian hero Eurypylus, who was the son of Heraclid Telephus and Priam's sister, and was sent to help the Trojans by his mother. The Achaeans now defeated the Trojans on the battlefield. But Troy could not be taken as long as it remained in its acropolis, Pergamum, a shrine given to the former Trojan king Dardanus by Zeus - palladium (an image of Pallas Athena). To look out for the location, palladium, Odysseus went to the city, disguised as a beggar, and was not recognized in Troy by anyone except Helen, who did not betray him because she wanted to return to her homeland. Then, Odysseus and Diomedes sneaked into the Trojan temple and stole the palladium.

Trojan horse

The hour of the final victory of the Greeks in the Trojan War was already close. According to a legend already known to Homer and told in detail by later epic poets, the master Epey, with the help of the goddess Athena, made a large wooden horse. The bravest of the Achaean heroes: Diomedes, Odysseus, Menelaus, Neoptolemus and others hid in it. The Greek army burned their camp and sailed to Tenedos, as if deciding to end the Trojan War. The Trojans who came out of the city looked with surprise at the huge wooden horse. The heroes who hid in it heard their deliberations on how to deal with it. Helen walked around the horse, and loudly called the Greek leaders, imitating the voice of each wife. Some wanted to answer her, but Odysseus held them back. Some Trojans said that one cannot trust one's enemies, and one should drown the horse in the sea or burn it. The most insistent of all was the priest Laocoön, the uncle of Aeneas. But before the eyes of all the people, two large snakes crawled out of the sea, wrapped rings around Laocoön and his two sons and strangled them. The Trojans considered this a punishment to Laocoon from the gods and agreed with those who said that it was necessary to put the horse in the acropolis, dedicate it as a gift to Pallas. The traitor Sinon, whom the Greeks left here to deceive the Trojans with the assurance that the horse was destined by the Greeks as a reward for the stolen palladium, and that when it was placed in the acropolis, Troy would be invincible, especially contributed to the adoption of this decision. The horse was so large that it could not be dragged through the gate; The Trojans made a hole in the wall and dragged the horse into the city with ropes. Thinking that Trojan War ended, they began to feast joyfully.

Capture of Troy by the Greeks

But at midnight, Sinon lit a fire - a signal to the Greeks waiting at Tenedos. They swam to Troy, and Sinon unlocked the door made in d Eos carries away the body of the Memnon-wooden horse. By the will of the gods, the hour of the death of Troy, the end of the Trojan War, has come. The Greeks rushed to the carelessly feasting Trojans, slaughtered, robbed and, having plundered, set fire to the city. Priam sought salvation at the altar of Zeus, but Achilles' son Neoptolem killed him at the very altar. Priam's son Deiphobes, who married Helen after the death of his brother Paris, courageously defended himself in his house against Odysseus and Menelaus, but was killed. Menelaus led Helen to the ships, whose beauty disarmed his hand, raised to strike the traitor. The widow of Hector, the sufferer of Andromache, was given by the Greeks to Neoptolemus and found in a foreign land a slavish fate, predicted to her by her husband at the last farewell. Her son Astyanax was, on the advice of Odysseus, thrown off the wall by Neoptolemus. The soothsayer Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, who sought salvation at the altar, was torn off from him by the blasphemous hand of Ajax the Lesser (son of Oileus), who overturned the statue of the goddess with a violent impulse. Cassandra was given as booty to Agamemnon. Her sister Polyxena was sacrificed over the coffin of Achilles, whose shadow demanded her as a prey for herself. The wife of the Trojan king Priam Hecub, who survived the fall of the royal family and kingdom. She was brought to the Thracian coast and found out there that her son (Polydorus), whom Priam had sent with many treasures before the start of the war under protection to the Thracian king Polymestor, had also died. Legends spoke differently about the further fate of Hecuba after the Trojan War; there was a legend that she was turned into a dog; according to another legend, she was buried on the northern shore of the Hellespont, where her tomb was shown.

The fate of the Greek heroes after the Trojan War

The adventures of the Greek heroes did not end with the capture of Troy: on the way back from the captured city, they had to experience many troubles. The gods and goddesses, whose altars they defiled with violence, subjected them to grievous fates. On the very day of the destruction of Troy, in the assembly of heroes, heated with wine, there was, according to Homer's Odyssey, a great strife. Menelaus demanded to immediately sail home, and Agamemnon wanted to soften the anger of Athena with hecatombs (by bringing several sacrifices, each of a hundred oxen) before sailing. Some supported Menelaus, others supported Agamemnon. The Greeks completely quarreled, and the next morning the army was divided. Menelaus, Diomedes, Nestor, Neoptolemus and some others boarded the ships. At Tenedos, Odysseus, who sailed with these leaders, quarreled with them and returned to Agamemnon. The companions of Menelaus went to Euboea. From there, Diomedes returned favorably to Argos, Nestor to Pylos, safely sailed to their cities Neoptolemus, Philoctetes and Idomeneo. But Menelaus was caught by a storm near the rocky Cape Malea and brought to the coast of Crete, on the rocks of which almost all of his ships crashed. He himself was carried away by a storm to Egypt. Tsar Polybus cordially received him in the hundred-gate Egyptian Thebes, gave him and Elena rich gifts. The wanderings of Menelaus after the Trojan War lasted eight years; he was in Cyprus, in Phenicia, he saw the countries of the Ethiopians and Libyans. Then the gods gave him a joyful return and a happy old age with the eternally young Elena. According to the stories of later poets, Helen was not at all in Troy. Stesichorus said that Paris only stole the ghost of Helen; according to the story of Euripides (the tragedy " Helena"), he took away a woman like Helen, created by the gods to deceive him, and Hermes transferred the real Helen to Egypt, to King Proteus, who guarded her until the end of the Trojan War. Herodotus also believed that Helen was not in Troy. The Greeks thought that the Phoenician Aphrodite (Astarte) was Helen. They saw the temple of Astarte in that part of Memphis where the Tyrian Phoenicians lived; probably from this arose the legend of Helen's life in Egypt.

Agamemnon, upon returning from the Trojan War, was killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. A few years later, the children of Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra, severely avenged their mother and Aegisthus for their father. These events formed the basis for a whole cycle of myths. Ajax the Small, on his way back from Troy, was killed by Poseidon for his unheard-of pride and blasphemous insult to the altar when Cassandra was captured.

Odysseus suffered the most adventures and hardships when returning from the Trojan War. His fate gave the theme and plot for the second great

The Trojan War is one of the most famous wars antiquities. After all, the interests of large states clashed in it, and many famous heroes of that time also participated. The Trojan War is presented to us in the form of myths and legends, which requires historians to painstakingly analyze to create a picture of those events.

Modern historians believe that the Trojan War took place between 1240 and 1230. BC. Although this date is very approximate. Myths say that the cause of the war was the abduction of Helen by Paris, who was married to the king of Sparta Menelaus. Also, Paris, except for Helen, took part of the wealth from the Spartan king. This fact prompted Menelaus to go to war against Troy. The rest of the Greeks joined him, because at the time of Elena's marriage, an agreement was drawn up that all applicants for her hand would protect Elena and her chosen one, and almost all the kings of Greece claimed her hand.

Another version of the beginning of the war sounds more plausible. Troy interfered with trade Greek peoples with the rest of the world. She took a significant tax from their ships, and simply drowned the dissatisfied. The Greeks had to unite to protect their economic interests and go to war against Troy.

There were many disagreements between the Greeks, not everyone wanted to fight. The beginning of the war was very unfortunate. By mistake, instead of the coast of Troy, the Greeks landed in the region of Mysia, where Telephus, a friendly king, ruled. But not realizing this, they attacked his possessions. And only after a bloody battle was the mistake understood, and the army went further to the goal. But new problems awaited them along the way. The storm scattered their ships across the sea, which significantly delayed their arrival to the target.

1,186 ships and about 100 thousand people reached the shores of Troy. The Trojans bravely defended their land. In this they were helped by allies and mercenaries, of which there were a great many. Very little information has come down to us about the first nine years of the war. After all, these events were described in the poem "Cypriada", which, unfortunately, was lost. But from the myths and legends that have come down to us, it is known that during this period there were often conflicts between the Greeks, because some commanders wanted to leave this war and leave. Others wanted to continue. Old conflicts were also often recalled. During this period, Achilles played a leading role. He raided nearby cities, plundering them. Achilles destroyed about twenty cities near the coast and about eleven villages far from the coast.

During this period of time, a duel was held between Paris and Menelaus, in which Menelaus won. Defeated Paris had to give Helen and pay tribute. The war must be over. But the rest of the Greeks did not like it. They wanted to continue the war and destroy Troy.

The continuation of the war was very unsuccessful. The Greeks were often pushed back to their fortifications. Their ships were burned. And only thanks to a large number soldiers, they held their positions. Many famous heroes of those times, such as Achilles, Patroclus and many others, died in battles.

All these failures forced the Greeks to go to the trick. Master Epey built a giant wooden horse. It was left nearby near the walls, and the best Greek warriors hid in it. At this time, the main Greek forces burned their camp and sailed out to sea, signaling that the war was over. The Trojans, having discovered a wooden horse, thought that these were gifts from the gods for their victory over the Greeks and dragged him into the city. In honor of the victory, they arranged a feast, the guards lost their vigilance. At midnight, the Greeks got out of their shelter, gave a signal to their ships and opened the gates.

The Greek army poured into the sleeping city like an avalanche, the defenders could not do anything to save the city. For about two days the Greeks plundered Troy. The inhabitants were killed or driven into slavery, and the city itself was burned to the ground.

Via Compfight

D the movement of the "peoples of the sea" led to the famous Trojan War. Basic information about her is taken from Homer's poems "Iliad" and "". It is believed that it was waged by an alliance of Achaean states (Thebes, Mycenae, Tiryns and others) against the state of Troy (Ilion), located in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, on the shores of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) and the sea.

Trojan War briefly

In short, according to the myth, the reason for the war was the kidnapping of the wife of King Menelaus by the Trojan prince Paris. The Greek kings gathered a large fleet of 1200 ships and approached the shores of Troy. The brother of Menelaus, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, led the allied army. The Trojans, after a short battle, retreated to the city and took refuge behind its walls. The troops of Agamemnon landed in front of Troy on the seashore in a camp, without blocking it from all sides. The Trojans took advantage of this and, with the help of the allies, organized the supply of the besieged. As a result, the siege of Troy lasted about ten years. fighting during this period, there were practically no battles, and opponents only occasionally entered into small skirmishes.

Seeing all the hopelessness of the further siege, the Greeks embarked on a trick. They burned their camp, boarded ships, and pretended to be returning home. In fact, they rounded the island of Tenedos and anchored on its other side. Waking up in the morning, the Trojans found only a huge wooden figure of a horse against the walls. Believing the words of the Greek defector Sinon that possession of this horse would bring them victory, they dragged him into the city.

At night, Greek warriors emerged from the hollow statue of a horse, led by the king of Ithaca. The soldiers killed the guard guarding the gate and let their army into the city. Since then, the expression "Trojan horse" has become a household word and denotes deceptive actions. Troy was destroyed to the ground, and its inhabitants were killed. Subsequently, the city was restored, but lost its importance, and by the Middle Ages ceased to exist. For a long time, the Trojan War was considered, but in late XIX in. archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found the remains of an ancient city.

Zeus and the god of the sea Poseidon argued about the love of Thetis. The goddess of justice Themis, intervening in the dispute, predicted that Thetis would have a son who would surpass the strength of his own father. To save themselves from possible danger, the gods decided to marry Thetis to a mere mortal Peleus. At the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, which took place in the cave of the centaur Chiron, all the Olympic gods gathered and generously presented the newlyweds with gifts. At the same time, the goddess of discord Eris was not invited to the feast. Stung by such neglect, she decided to punish the gods in a very sophisticated way. She threw a golden apple on the banquet table with the inscription: "To the most beautiful." Since then, it has become known as the "apple of discord." Three goddesses began to argue about who it should belong to: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, who were by no means devoid of female vanity. Even Zeus refused to comment on this. He sent Hermes to the vicinity of Troy, where among the shepherds was the handsome Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam. According to the prophecy, Paris, the son of Priam and Hecuba, was destined to become the culprit of the death of Troy. To avoid this fate, Priam ordered Paris to be carried to the thicket and left there. But the son of Priam did not die, he was raised by a bear. When Hermes turned to Paris to decide the fate of the apple, he was embarrassed. Each of the goddesses urged the young man to award it to her. At the same time, they promised him enviable gifts: Hera promised power over all of Asia; Athena - military glory and victory; Aphrodite - the most beautiful of mortal women to wife. After a brief hesitation, Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. Since then he became the favorite of Aphrodite, and Hera and Athena, as we shall see, came to hate Troy and the Trojans.

This beautiful woman was Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Soon Paris came to visit him. Menelaus welcomed him cordially, arranged a feast in his honor. Seeing Helen, Paris fell in love with her. But even she was struck by a beautiful stranger, dressed in luxurious oriental clothes. Leaving for Crete, Menelaus asked her to take care of the guest. But Paris repaid him with black ingratitude. Taking advantage of her husband's absence, he took Elena away and at the same time seized his treasures.

Menelaus regarded this not only as a personal insult, but also as a blow to all of Greece. After all, Elena was her national treasure. He gathers the leaders of the Greek tribes and goes on a campaign against Ilion ( ancient name Troy, whence comes the name of the poem). The commander-in-chief of the army is appointed the brother of Menelaus Agamemnon, king of Argos, belonging to the Atrid family, over whom, as we will see later, a curse weighs. In the ranks of the Achaean (Greek) warriors is Odysseus, the king of the island of Ithaca, the courageous warrior Diomedes, the brave Ajax, the owner of magic arrows Philoctetes.

The most courageous was the already mentioned young Achilles, the king of the Myrmidon tribe. At birth, he was determined to have a long and happy life, if he does not take part in the war, and a short, brilliant one if he begins to fight. Hoping to outwit fate, Thetis ransomed Achilles in the waters of the underground river Styx, making his body invulnerable. Only his heel, by which she held the baby, was unprotected; hence the expression "Achilles' heel". Mother tried to hide Achilles, not to give him the opportunity to take part in the campaign. She hid him by dressing him in women's clothes, but Achilles gave himself away. He became part of the Greek army, which, according to legend, numbered more than 100 thousand people and more than a thousand ships. The army sailed from the harbor of Avdida and landed near Troy. The demand for the extradition of Helen in exchange for lifting the siege was rejected. The war dragged on. The most important events took place in the last, tenth year.

The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it occurred around the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC, and began with it a new "Trojan" era - the ascent of the tribes inhabiting Balkan Greece to more high level culture associated with urban life. Numerous Greek myths were told about the campaign of the Greek Achaeans against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor - Troad, later combined into a cycle of legends - cyclic poems. The most authoritative for the Hellenes was the epic poem "Iliad", attributed to the great Greek poet Homer, who lived in the VIII century. BC e. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion - this is the name of this Asia Minor city in the poem.

What do ancient legends tell about the Trojan War? It began by the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except for Eris, the goddess of discord. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription: "To the most beautiful" to the feasting gods. Three Olympic goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - argued which of them it was intended for. Zeus ordered the young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince was tending herds, and each tried to seduce him with gifts. Paris preferred the love offered to him by Aphrodite to Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Helena, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who was a guest in the house of Menelaus, took advantage of his absence and, with the help of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave her husband and go with him to Troy. The fugitives took with them slaves and treasures of the royal house. About how Paris and Helen got to Troy, the myths tell in different ways. According to one version, three days later they arrived safely in the hometown of Paris. According to another, the goddess Hera, hostile to Paris, raised a storm on the sea, his ship skidded to the shores of Phoenicia, and only a long time later the fugitives finally arrived in Troy. There is another option: Zeus (or Hera) replaced Helen with a ghost, which Paris took away. Elena herself during the Trojan War was in Egypt under the protection of the wise old man Proteus. But this is a late version of the myth, the Homeric epic does not know it.

Achilles kills the Amazon queen. Fragment of painting of a Greek amphora. About 530 B.C.

The Trojan prince committed a serious crime - he violated the law of hospitality and thereby brought a terrible disaster to his native city. The offended Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who once wooed Elena and swore an oath to protect her honor came to the call of the brothers. The most famous Achaean heroes and kings - Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Lacrius, Philoctetes, the wise old man Nestor and many others - brought their squads. Took part in the campaign and Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, the most courageous and powerful of the heroes. According to the prediction of the gods, the Greeks could not conquer Troy without his help. Odysseus, as the most intelligent and cunning, managed to persuade Achilles to take part in the campaign, although it was predicted that he would die under the walls of Troy. Agamemnon was chosen as the leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.

The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, assembled at Aulis, a harbor in Boeotia. To ensure the fleet's safe navigation to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasures by peaceful means. The tried diplomat Odysseus and the insulted husband Menelaus went as messengers to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war began for both sides. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo helped the Trojans.

The Greeks could not immediately take Troy, surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to devastate the outskirts of the city and attack the allies of the Trojans. In the tenth year of the siege, a dramatic event occurred that resulted in serious setbacks for the Achaeans in battles with the defenders of Troy. Agamemnon insulted Achilles by taking away the captive Briseis from him, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. No persuasion could convince Achilles to leave his anger and take up arms. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the most courageous and strong of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by the eldest son of King Priam, Hector. The king himself was old and could not take part in the war. The Trojans were also helped by the general fatigue of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years. When Agamemnon, testing the morale of the warriors, pretended to offer to stop the war and return home, the Achaeans greeted the offer with enthusiasm and rushed to their ships. And only the decisive actions of Odysseus stopped the soldiers and saved the situation.

Neoptolemus kills King Priam, in the temple at the altar of Zeus

The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and almost burned their ships. The closest friend of Achilles, Patroclus, begged the hero to give him his armor and chariot and rushed to help the Greek army. Patroclus stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend made Achilles forget about the offense. The thirst for revenge inspired him. Died in a duel with Achilles Trojan hero Hector. The Amazons came to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles killed their leader Penthesilea, but soon he himself died, as it was predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo. Achilles' mother Thetis, trying to make her son invulnerable, dipped him into the waters of the underground river Styx. She held Achilles by the heel, which remained the only vulnerable spot on his body. The god Apollo knew where to direct the arrow of Paris. It is to this episode of the poem that mankind owes the expression "Achilles' heel".

After the death of Achilles, a dispute begins among the Achaeans over the possession of his armor. They go to Odysseus, and, offended by this outcome, Ajax Telamonides commits suicide.

A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Alhill Neoptolemus to the camp of the Achaeans. Philoctetes kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills an ally of the Trojans, the Mysian Eurynil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in open field. But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decide to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a select detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army, in order to convince the Trojans that the Achaeans are going home, burns their camp and sails on ships from the coast of Troad. In fact, the Achaean ships took refuge not far from the coast, near the island of Tenedos.

The Trojans roll the horse into the city

Surprised by the abandoned wooden monster, the Trojans gathered around him. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. Priest Laocoön, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: "Beware of the Danaans (Greeks), who bring gifts!" (This phrase also became winged over time.) But the priest's speech did not convince his compatriots, and they brought a wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors who had hidden in the belly of the horse came out and opened the gate. The secretly returned Achaeans broke into the city, and began to beat the inhabitants taken by surprise.

Golden funeral mask of Agamemnon

Menelaus with a sword in his hands was looking for an unfaithful wife, but when he saw the beautiful Elena, he was unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy died, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received orders from the gods to flee the captured city and revive its glory elsewhere. His descendants Romulus and Remus became the founders ancient rome. The women of Troy faced a no less sad fate: they all became captives and slaves of the jubilant victors. The city perished in a fire.

After the death of Troy, strife begins in the Achaean camp. Ajax of Lakria incurs the wrath of the goddess Athena on the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odysseus are carried by a storm to distant lands. The wanderings of Odysseus after the end of the Trojan War are sung in the second poem of Homer - "The Odyssey". It also tells about the return of Menelaus and Helen to Sparta. The epic treats this beautiful woman favorably, since everything that happened to her was the will of the gods, which she could not resist. The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphant, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.