The Trojan War

Introduction

At the time when this tale was sung , the Trojan War was the greatest armed conflict known to the bards . Many authors have written about the Trojan War and much of what modern historians know about the war are from these great authors . These authors include Hyginus (Fabulae Horace (Odes

Ovid (Heroides , Amores , Propertius (Elegies , Seneca (Troades , and Virgil (Aeneid .It 's a story of immense power and tragedy . It is the most research , written about , and critically studied of all wars . Its popular appear stems both from the drama

and the length of the the Trojan War . Part of the history of the war is fictionalized combined with real facts , locations and individuals (Apollodorus , 101 . The Trojan war can be broken down in two specific stages which include Apple of Discord , Greek Armament , Finding Troy , Embassy to Priam , The War , and The Trojan Horse . Even more interesting then the physical war are the mortal women which played such a huge role in the Trojan War . These women number over fifteen include Helen , Penelope , and Creusa (Bell ,91

The Apple of Discord

The history of the Trojan War begins where so many lesser war has , with love . The marriage between the mortal man Pelus and the ocean goddess Thetis is where the Trojan War began . When their wedding plans were made they forgot to send an invitation to Eris who is the goddess of discord . Of course Eris is extremely upset by what she considered the act of disrespect (Harrison , 78 . She interrupts the marriage and brings with her a golden apple and places it on the table . She tells the crowd the apple belongs to who ever is the prettiest . All the goddesses present reach for the apple . Zeus breaks up the fight and asks Paris to choose who is the fairest between Aphrodite , Hera , and Athena . Each of the goddesses promise him a gift . Hera offers Paris power , Athena offers riches , and Aphrodite offers Helen , the most beautiful woman alive , to be his wife . Paris chooses Aphrodite (Flaccus , 7 . However , Helen was already married to Menelaus . Paris decides he must go and kidnap Helen even though many people said he should not . Paris arrives in Sparta , captures Helen and Menelaus money In Troy , Helen and Paris were married . This occured around 1200 B .C (Wood , 119

Greek Armament

When Menelaus returns from war he is heartbroken that Helen is gone Menelaus has no idea who took Helen and he asked her old suitors to help him seek her out and bring her home . However , many of these men including Odysseus did not want to go to war with Troy (Fantham , 6 Odysseus was not the only man to pretend to be crazy or hide to not have to go into war . The king of Cyprus promised Menelaus 50 ships and delivered all 50 however , 49 of those ships were clay (Tripp , 584-584 The Greeks attacked many places but Helen was not found . In the end they returned...