“The face that launched a thousand ships”- this famous quote refers to Helen of Troy, the woman whose incredible beauty caused a war raging for ten years and countless suffering. The Trojan War is one of the most important events in Greek mythology. Most of our knowledge about this famed tale is based on the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, written by the ancient poet Homer.
According to the legend the origin of the Trojan War is closely entangled with the gods of ancient Greece. While attending to the wedding of the nymph Thetis it is said that the three goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite quarreled over a golden apple brought by the goddess Eris. Said Apple was inscribed with the words “for the most beautiful” ,which seemed to be an attribute that in their vanity all three goddesses wanted to claim for themselves. Godfather Zeus, incapable to solve their dispute, then turned to prince Paris of Troy, who was known for his fair judgement. Trying to persuade Paris, each goddess offered the prince a reward for giving the golden apple to her. Athena promised to give him skill in war, Hera offered control over whole Eurasia, but eventually Paris chose Aphrodites offer. She promised him the love of Helen of Sparta who was known as the worlds most beautiful women and happened to be the married to the Greek king Menelaus. In the absence of Menelaus, Paris sailed to Sparta and carried the beautiful Helen off to his home Troy. Thereupon king Menelaus, determined to recover his wife, summoned all Achaean kings with the support of his brother Agamemnon. More than a thousand ships consisting of 28 contingents set sail to Troy and finally arrived eight years later after overcoming several obstacles. Amongst them were the Greek heroes Nestor, Ajax, Odysseus and invulnerable Achilles.
The Greek forces led by Agamemnon besieged Troy for nine years without coming any closer to winning the war. There were merely minor victories over the Trojan allies and during the tenth year of war Achilles killed Hector, the heir of Troy, as an act of revenge. Later on Achilles himself was killed by a poisoned arrow that was guided by Apollo, because Achilles had slain to many men. However the whole war didn’t seem to come to an end until Odysseus came up with a genius plot. The Achaean forces left their camp and sailed away in order to feign their surrender, leaving only a giant wooden horse behind that bore the inscription “The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home”. In their excitement about what they believed to be the end of the war the Trojans dragged the horse inside the city. But after sunrise Greek soldiers, who were hidden inside of the hollow wooden horse, killed the guards and opened the city gates for the Achaean army, who had silently returned. They entered Troy and a great massacre took its course since the Trojans were completely unprepared. Eventually the victorious Menelaus could retrieve his lost wife Helen and the Greeks sailed back home. Odysseus adventures on his 10 year lasting journey back home are told in Homers second epic poem “Odyssey”.
Close to the city Çanakkale, that is nowadays a part of turkey, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann suspected the location of ancient Troy after studying Homers Iliad. In the 1870s he led several excavations in the area and found in fact ruins from the bronze age. Later archaeologists discovered more than 50 buildings amongst them fortification walls, a sanctuary and the palatial residence at the site. Modern methods have shown that ancient Troy was actually inhabited during the 12th century which is the supposed time of the Trojan War. But still it remains unclear to which extend the events described by Homer can be considered as true, since they include a lot of mythology and Homer lived a view centuries later. Today Troy is an UNESCO world heritage site and can be visited by tourists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War
https://www.troyexcavations.com/?l=en