Who led the campaign against Troy. Trojan War. New details. Mythological coverage of the Trojan War

TROJAN WAR, HEROES OF THE TROJAN WAR

Many great heroes fought under the walls of Troy. The main military leaders on both sides are listed below.

Greeks:
Achilles Ftiyskhy prince The greatest Greek warrior; slain by Paris
Agamemnon King of Argos Supreme Leader: brother of Menelaus
Ajax (1) Salaiinsky prince The greatest warrior, inferior in glory only to Achilles
Ajax (2) Prince of Locrian A dexterous runner and skilled javelin thrower
Calchas the Prophet of Megara Chief soothsayer of the Greeks
Diomedes Prince of Argos Refused to fight with Glaucus, having learned about the friendly relations of their families
Menelaus King of Sparta Husband of Helen, whose adultery sparked the Trojan War
Nestor King of Pylos Elder and good storyteller
Odysseus King of Ithaca Chief Greek strategist; on his advice, the Trojan horse was built

Trojans and their allies:
Aeneas Prince of Troy Son of Aphrodite, founder of the Romans
Glaucus Prince of Lycian Commander of the Lycians; killed by Ajax (1)
Hector Prince of Troy Greatest Trojan warrior; killed by Achilles
Paris Prince of Troy took Helen away, provoking a war
Priam King of Troy Father of Hector and Paris
Sarpedon King of Lycia Grandson of Zeus; killed by Patroclus
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TROJAN HORSE (Greek culture)

A hollow giant model of a horse built by the Greeks (according to some sources - on the advice of Odysseus) to destroy the Trojans. The horse was placed under the walls of the besieged Troy, and the Greek ships staged a sail home. The Trojans brought the building into the city, and under the cover of darkness, Greek soldiers hiding in the belly of a wooden horse opened the gates to their fellow tribesmen. Thus the victory of the Achaeans and the destruction of Troy were a foregone conclusion.

"WORK AND DAYS" (Greek culture)

Poem of Hesiod (VIII-VII centuries BC). The poem is a kind of agricultural treatise and is replete with mythological images. The work begins with the author's address to his brother, where he discusses the advantages of reasonable tillage, confirming his conclusions with numerous mythological examples.

TRYUM (culture of the Germans)

The giant who stole the hammer of the god Thor. As a ransom for the hammer, Thrym wanted to receive the hand of the great goddess Freya. Thor assumed the guise of a goddess and went to the land of the giants, Jotunheim. During the wedding ceremony, the “bride” was put on her knees with a hammer (the custom of the Scandinavian peasants), Thor grabbed it, killed all the giants present, including the hero of the occasion, Thrym, and returned to the abode of the gods, Asgard.

TU (Culture of Oceania)

The Maori god of war, the son of the earth goddess Papa and the sky god Rangi. According to the Maori creation legend, Tu was attacked by his own brother, the god of the elements, Tawhiri. However, none of the other brothers came to Tu's aid, and he quarreled with them. In revenge, Tu began to hunt down and kill fish and animals in the possessions of Tangaroa and Tane and devour the descendants of Haumia and Rongo - wild plants. Tu possessed magical knowledge that allowed him to control the offspring of his brothers: the weather, animals, plants and other material objects.

THYAPARA (Australian culture)

The man who became the moon, according to the mythology of the Tiwi people who lived on the islands of Melville and Bathurst.

TYUR (Germanic culture)

Scandinavian god, one of the celestials, aces. Apparently, Tyr is a later personification of the Germanic god Tivaz and acts as the god of battle. Tyr was the only one of the gods who dared to bind the monstrous wolf Fenrir.

TIAN (culture of China)

"Sky", the divine embodiment of the heavenly spheres. Tian was considered the supreme deity until 1050-221. BC e. His place was later taken by the Jade Emperor, ruler of the heavens.

HUGARIT (Middle Eastern culture)

An ancient city in northeastern Syria that flourished from about 1500 to 1200 BC. e. During the excavations carried out on the land of Canaan, many tablets were found that shed light on the religion and mythology of ancient Ugarit.

After ten years of exhausting war and siege, one fine morning, the Trojans, in disbelief, saw that the Greek camp was empty, and a huge wooden horse stood on the shore with a dedicatory inscription: "In gratitude for the future safe return home, the Achaeans dedicate this gift to Athena" . Ancient people treated sacred gifts with great reverence, and, by the decision of King Priam, the horse was brought into the city and settled in the citadel dedicated to Athena. With the advent of night, the armed Achaeans, who were sitting on a horse, got out and attacked the sleeping inhabitants of the city. So, thanks to the horse, Troy was captured, so ended Trojan War.
Nowadays, this legend is known to everyone, and the Trojan horse itself has long become a household name - our ironic contemporaries even named a destructive computer virus after it. The fact that Troy fell because of a horse is taken as an axiom. But if you ask someone why it was the horse that caused the death of Troy, the person will most likely find it difficult to answer.

But really, why?
It turns out that this question was already asked in antiquity. Many ancient authors tried to find a reasonable explanation for the legend. Various assumptions were made: for example, that the Achaeans had a battle tower on wheels, made in the shape of a horse and upholstered in horse skins; or that the Greeks managed to get into the city through an underground passage, on the door of which a horse was painted; or that the horse was a sign by which the Achaeans in the dark distinguished each other from opponents ... It is now generally accepted that the Trojan horse is an allegory of some kind of military trick used by the Achaeans when taking the city.

There are many versions, but, to be honest, none of them gives a satisfactory answer. It would probably be naive to think that in this short study we will be able to exhaustively answer such an "old" question, but it's still worth trying. Who knows - maybe the Trojan horse will slightly reveal its secret to us.
So, let's try to enter into the position of the Achaeans. Simulating the lifting of the siege, they had to leave something under the walls of Troy that the Trojans would simply have to take into the city. Most likely, this role was to be played by a dedicatory gift to the gods, because neglecting the sacred gift from the point of view of an ancient person meant insulting the deity. And with an angry deity, jokes are bad. And now, thanks to the inscription on the side, the wooden statue receives the status of a gift to the goddess Athena, who patronized both the Achaeans and the Trojans. What to do with such a dubious "gift"? I had to bring it (albeit with some apprehension) into the city and install it in a sacred place.
However, almost any sacred image could play the role of a dedicatory gift. Why was the horse chosen?
Troy has long been famous for its horses, because of them merchants came here from all over the world, because of them the city was often raided. In the Iliad, the Trojans are called "hippodamoi", "horse tamers", and legends tell that the Trojan king Dardanus had a herd of magnificent horses, descending from the northernmost wind of Boreas. In general, the horse was one of the closest creatures to man in the ancient horse breeding, agricultural and military culture. From this point of view, it was quite natural for the Achaean warriors to leave a horse under the walls of Troy as a consecration gift.
By the way, the images for sacred statues and sacrificial gifts were not chosen by chance. Each deity had animals dedicated to him, it could take on their appearance: for example, Zeus in myths turns into a bull, Apollo into a dolphin, and Dionysus into a panther. In the cultures of the Mediterranean, the horse, in one of its aspects, was associated with the fertility of the fields, with a plentiful harvest, with mother earth (in ancient mythology, the goddess Demeter sometimes turned into a mare). But at the same time, the beautiful freedom-loving animal was often associated with violent, elemental and uncontrollable power, with earthquakes and destruction, and as such was the sacred animal of the god Poseidon.

So, maybe the clue to the Trojan horse is in the "Earthshaker" Poseidon? Among the Olympians, this god was distinguished by an unbridled character and a penchant for destruction. Yes, and with Troy he had old scores. Perhaps the destruction of Troy by a horse is just an allegory strong earthquake who destroyed the city?

It turns out that this actually happened. But only it was with another Troy.

Before Priam, the ruler of Troy was King Laomedont, famous for his stinginess and deceit. Once punished by Zeus, the gods Apollo and Poseidon were given into his service. Apollo grazed herds, and Poseidon labored as a builder: he erected invulnerable walls around the city. However, after the expiration of the term, the gods did not receive a reward for their work and were expelled with threats. Then they sent an epidemic and a sea monster to the city. Hercules volunteered to save Troy from the monster and successfully carried out his enterprise, but the greedy king regretted the reward here too - he did not give up the magic white horses. Then Hercules gathered an army, returned to the walls of Troy, destroyed the city to the ground and killed Laomedont, and put Priam on the kingdom ("Priam" means "bought": he really was redeemed from slavery by his sister).

Modern archaeologists believe that the legendary Troy of Laomedont has its own historical analogue - the so-called Troy VI, which died from a strong earthquake shortly before the events of the Trojan War. But earthquakes, as is known from mythology, were sent in anger by the "Earth Shaker" Poseidon. It is possible that the cataclysm that destroyed the city took in myth the allegorical form of Poseidon's anger at the Trojans. In addition, white horses, his sacred animals, formally caused the disaster. (Troy seemed to be pursued by some fate: to be destroyed twice because of the horses!)

Unfortunately, divine wrath is unlikely to have had anything to do with the Trojan horse. Troy of Priam did not fall because of a cataclysm (this is also proven by archaeologists), but was captured and plundered by the Achaeans. In addition, in the Trojan War, Poseidon takes the side of the Trojans, and the idea to enter the city with the help of a horse is prompted by his eternal rival Athena.

So, the symbolism of the horse is not limited to Poseidon ...

In some, especially archaic, traditions, the horse symbolizes the transition to another space, to another qualitative state, to a place inaccessible to conventional means. On a horse with eight legs, the shaman makes his mystical journey; among the Etruscans, the horse carries the souls of the dead into underworld, the wonderful horse Burak carries Muhammad to heaven. Why go far - remember our Little Humpbacked Horse, which takes Ivanushka to the Far Far Away kingdom, and to visit the Sun and the Moon.

What does this have to do with Troy, you ask? The most immediate. According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted almost ten years, for ten years the Achaeans could not take the walls of the city, built, according to myth, by the god Poseidon himself. In fact, Troy, from the point of view of the myth, was an "inaccessible" place, a kind of "enchanted city" that could not be conquered by conventional means. In order to get into the city, the heroes did not even need a military trick, but a special, magical "carrier". And a wooden horse becomes such a carrier, with the help of which they carry out what they unsuccessfully tried to do for ten years (of course, speaking of a wooden carrier horse and the "enchanted city", we mean not historical, but mythological reality).

But if you follow this version, then Troy, described by Homer, gets a very special meaning. We are no longer talking about a small fortress on the banks of the Pontus, and not even about the capital of the ancient state of Asia Minor. Homeric Troy receives the status of a certain transcendental place for which the battle is being fought. And the battles taking place under the walls and within the walls of this Troy are by no means a vendetta between the two tribes, but a reflection of events that are gaining world significance. The Trojan horse opens the last act of this world drama.

By the way, this is confirmed by the scope of the war. Archaeologically, Troy is just a small fortress. Why, according to Homer, ships from 160 city-states of Greece are sent to capture it - from 10 to 100 ships, that is, a fleet of at least 1600 ships? And if you multiply by 50 soldiers on each, this is an army of more than 80 thousand people! (For comparison: it took Alexander the Great about 50 thousand people to conquer all of Asia.) Even if this is the author's hyperbole, it indicates that Homer attached exceptional importance to this war.

What happened under the walls of Homeric Troy?

It is usually believed that the war began with the famous feast of the gods at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of Achilles, at which the goddess of discord threw an apple with the inscription "Most Beautiful" and three goddesses - Athena, Hera and Aphrodite - argued among themselves for the right to receive it. Their dispute is resolved by Priam's son, Paris, who, tempted by the prospect of having the most beautiful wife in the world (Helen), awards the apple to Aphrodite (later Paris kidnaps Helen, and war is played out).

But, in fact, the war began much earlier: when Zeus, tired of the complaints of Mother Earth, whom the human race caused suffering with their wickedness, decided to destroy part of humanity, but not with the help of a cataclysm, but by the hands of the people themselves. The purpose of the "world drama" is clear, it's up to the main characters.

Then from the marriage of Zeus and Nemesis, Helen is born, the perfect beauty for whom the whole heroic world will fight. From the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the last greatest of mortals is born - the hero Achilles. And finally, the "instigator" of the war, Paris, is born with a prediction that he will destroy the Trojan kingdom. So everything characters there is, Helen is kidnapped and a war is unleashed, the real goal of which is to destroy two great kingdoms and the best of the heroes of the ancient world.

And Zeus's plans come true: under the walls of Troy, almost all the heroes, both the Achaeans and the Trojans, perish. And of those who survive the war, many will die on the way home, someone, like King Agamemnon, will find death at the hands of loved ones at home, someone will be expelled and spend their lives wandering. In fact, this is the end of the heroic age. Under the walls of Troy there are no winners and no losers, the heroes are fading into the past, and the time for ordinary people is coming.

By the way, it is curious that the horse is also symbolically associated with birth and death. A horse made of spruce wood, carrying something in its womb, symbolizes the birth of a new one, and a Trojan horse is made just from spruce boards, and armed warriors sit in its hollow belly. It turns out that the Trojan horse brings death to the defenders of the fortress, but at the same time means the birth of something new.

Modern researchers date the Trojan War to around 1240 BC. (Archaeologically, the death of Troy VII falls on this date). Around the same time, another important event took place in the Mediterranean: one of the great migrations of peoples began. From the north, the tribes of the Dorians, a barbarian people, moved to the Balkan Peninsula, which completely destroyed the ancient Mycenaean civilization. Only after a few centuries will Greece be reborn and it will be possible to speak of Greek history. The destruction will be so great that the entire pre-Dorian story will become a myth (so much so that only from the middle of the 19th century will scientists begin to seriously talk about Mycenaean Greece and Troy, and before that they will be considered a fairy tale). Of the 160 Greek states that are mentioned by Homer in the Catalog of Ships, half will cease to exist, and the greatest, Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos, will turn into small villages. The Trojan War will become a kind of boundary between the ancient and new worlds, between Mycenaean and classical Greece.

Of the heroes who fought under the walls of Troy, only two survived: Odysseus and Aeneas. And this is no coincidence. Both of them have a special mission. Aeneas will go to create his "new Troy" and lay the foundation for Rome, the civilization of the world to come. And Odysseus... The "wise and long-suffering" hero will make a great journey home to find his promised land. In order to lose and regain everything that is dear to him in his journey, including his own name. To reach the borders of the inhabited world and visit countries that no one has seen and from where no one has returned. To descend into the world of the dead and "resurrect" again and wander for a long time on the waves of the Ocean, the great symbol of the Unconscious and the Unknown.

Odysseus will make a great journey, in which the "old" man will symbolically die and the "hero of the new time" will be born. He will endure great suffering and the wrath of the gods. It will be a new hero - energetic, insightful and wise, inquisitive and dexterous. With his indestructible desire to know the world, his ability to solve problems not with physical strength and valor, but sharp mind he is not like the heroes of the "old" world. He will enter into a confrontation with the gods, and the gods will be forced to retreat before man.

It is probably no coincidence that Odysseus will become the ideal of the coming era - classical Greece. Together with Troy, the old world will irrevocably leave, and with it something mysterious and secret. But something new will be born. It will be a world whose hero will be a man: a master and a traveler, a philosopher and a citizen, a man no longer dependent on the forces of Fate and the game of the gods, but creating his own destiny and his own history.
One can get an idea of ​​the characteristic features of the emerging military art of this period from the heroic poem of the ancient Greek poet Homer "Iliad", in which he describes one of the episodes of the Trojan War that took place between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans in the XII century BC. e. However, it should be noted that the poem was created in the middle of the 9th century BC. e., i.e. 300 years after the Trojan War. Consequently, the Iliad was created according to legend. In addition, as the Greek historian Thucydides correctly noted, Homer exaggerated the significance of this war and embellished it, and therefore the poet's information must be treated very carefully. But we are primarily interested in the methods of warfare in that period - from the Trojan War to Homer, inclusive - which the poet reports.

The city of Troy was located a few kilometers from the coast of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Trade routes used by the Greek tribes passed through Troy. Apparently, the Trojans interfered with the trade of the Greeks, this forced the Greek tribes to unite and start a war with Troy. But the Trojans were supported by numerous allies (Lycia, Misia, etc.), as a result of which the war took on a protracted character and lasted more than nine years.

The city of Troy (now in its place is the Turkish town of Hisarlik) was surrounded by a high stone wall with battlements. The Achaeans did not dare to storm the city and did not block it. The fighting took place on a flat field between the city and the Achaean camp, which was located on the banks of the Hellespont. The Trojans sometimes broke into the enemy camp, trying to set fire to the Greek ships that were pulled ashore.

Homer listed the ships of the Achaeans in detail and counted 1186 ships, on which a hundred thousandth army was transported. There is no doubt that the number of ships and the number of warriors are exaggerated. In addition, it must be taken into account that these ships were just large boats, since they were easily pulled ashore and launched quite quickly. Such a ship could not lift 100 people.

Therefore, it would be more accurate to assume that the Achaeans had several thousand soldiers. This army was headed by Agamemnon, the king of the “multi-golden Mycenae”. At the head of the warriors of each tribe was its leader.

The main weapon of the Greek warriors was a spear for throwing with a copper tip, which is why Homer calls the Achaeans “spearmen”.

In addition, the warrior had a copper sword and good defensive weapons: leggings, a shell on his chest, a helmet with a horse's mane and a large shield bound with copper. Tribal leaders fought on war chariots or dismounted. Ordinary soldiers were worse armed: they had spears, slings, “double-edged axes”, axes, bows and arrows, shields and were a support for their leaders, who themselves engaged in single combat with the best warriors of Troy. From Homer's descriptions, we can imagine the environment in which the combat took place. Opponents were located close to each other.
The war chariots lined up; the warriors took off their armor and folded it next to the chariots, then sat down on the ground and watched the single combat of their leaders. Martial artists first threw spears, then fought with copper swords, which soon fell into disrepair. Having lost the sword, the fighter took refuge in the ranks of his tribe, or he was given a new weapon to continue the fight. The victor removed the armor from the slain and took away his weapons.

For combat, war chariots and infantry were placed in a certain order. The war chariots lined up in front of the infantry in a line while maintaining alignment, “so that no one, relying on his art and strength, fights alone against the Trojans ahead of the rest, so that he doesn’t rule back.” Behind the war chariots, hiding behind “bulging” shields, foot soldiers armed with spears with copper tips were built. The infantry was built in several ranks, which Homer calls "thick phalanxes." The leaders lined up the infantry, driving cowardly warriors into the middle, "so that even those who do not want to fight would have to fight."

At first, war chariots entered the battle, and then “continuously, one after another, the phalanxes of the Achaeans moved into battle against the Trojans,” “they marched in silence, fearing their leaders.”

The infantry first struck with spears, and then cut with swords. Infantry fought against war chariots with spears. Archers also participated in the battle, but the arrow was considered an unreliable tool even in the hands of an excellent archer.

The outcome of the struggle was decided by physical strength and the art of wielding weapons. Primitive weapons often failed: copper spearheads bent, and swords broke from strong blows. The maneuver on the battlefield has not yet been used, but the beginnings of organizing the interaction of war chariots and foot soldiers have already appeared.

The battle usually continued until nightfall. At night, if an agreement was reached, the corpses were burned. If there was no agreement, the opponents posted guards, organizing the protection of the troops in the field and defensive structures (the fortress wall and camp fortifications - a moat, pointed stakes and a wall with towers). The guard, which usually consisted of several detachments, was stationed behind the moat. At night, reconnaissance was sent to the camp of the enemy in order to capture prisoners and clarify the intentions of the enemy, meetings of tribal leaders were held, at which the issue of further actions was decided. In the morning the battle resumed.

The Trojans, having achieved success in battle, threw the Achaeans back to their fortified camp. Then they crossed the moat and began to storm the wall with towers, but were driven back. However, they soon managed to smash the gates with stones and break into the camp of the Achaeans. A battle ensued at the ships. Until that time, some warriors did not participate in the battle, due to tribal strife. The danger forced the Achaeans to rally, as a result of which the Trojans met fresh enemy forces near the ships. It was a dense formation of closed shields "a peak near a peak, a shield at the shield, going under the next one." The warriors lined up in several ranks, as a result of which “spears stretched in layers in bold, hesitating hands.” In this formation, the Achaeans repelled the Trojans, with a counterattack - “with sharp swords and a peak of two-pointed ones” - they drove them back.

Describing the course of the battle near the Achaean ships, Homer showed some moments of a tactical order. He mentions ambushes, in which, according to him, the valor of warriors is most manifested, he speaks of the choice of a place to strike by the Achaeans who came to the rescue: “Where, Deucalides, do you intend to attack the Trojan army? From the right, do you want to hit the wings on the enemies, in the middle, or from the left? It was decided to strike from the left wing.

The multi-day battle did not decide the outcome of the war. Ultimately, Troy was taken by cunning. The Achaeans launched their ships into the water, sank and sailed away. While the Trojans, intoxicated with success, were celebrating their victory, one of the detachments of the Achaeans secretly entered Troy at night, opened the gates of the city and let in his army, which returned from behind the island behind which it was hiding. Troy was sacked and destroyed. This is how the Trojan War ended.

Many works of Greek literature and art are devoted to the description of the siege of Troy. At the same time, there is no single authoritative source describing all the events of that war. History is scattered across the works of many authors, sometimes contradicting each other. The most important literary sources that tell about the events are the two epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", the authorship of which is traditionally attributed to Homer. Each poem tells only about a part of the war: the Iliad covers the short period preceding the siege of Troy and the war itself, while the Odyssey tells about the return of one of the heroes of the epic to his native Ithaca, after the capture of the city.

Other events of the Trojan War are reported by the so-called "Cyclic Epos" - a whole group of poems, the authorship of which at first was also attributed to Homer. However, later it turned out that their authors were the followers of Homer, who used his language and style. Most of the works chronologically complete the Homeric epic: The Ethiopian, The Little Iliad, The Returns, Telegonia and others describe the fate of the Homeric heroes after the siege of Troy. The only exception is "Cyprius", which tells about the pre-war period and the events that caused the conflict. Most of these works have survived to this day only partially.

Preconditions for war

It is believed that the cause of the conflict was the abduction by the Trojan prince Paris of the beautiful Helen, who was the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Elena was so beautiful that her father, King Tyndareus, could not decide to marry her, fearing the revenge of the rejected suitors. Then an unheard-of decision was made at that time, to allow the girl to choose her betrothed herself. In order to avoid a possible conflict, all potential suitors bound themselves with an oath not to pursue the lucky one, on whom the choice of the princess falls, and subsequently to help him in every possible way if necessary. Elena chose Menelaus and became his wife.

However, even earlier, the three most powerful goddesses of Olympus - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - argued over a golden apple thrown by the goddess of discord, Eris. There was only one word on the apple - “the most beautiful”, but it was it that caused further events. Each goddess believed that the apple rightfully belonged to her and did not want to give in to her rivals. The male gods refused to get involved in the female strife, but the man did not have enough wisdom. The goddesses turned to Paris, the son of King Priam, who ruled Troy, to judge them. Each promised something in return: Hera - power, Athena - military glory, and Aphrodite - the love of any woman he desires. Paris chose Aphrodite, thus making himself and the people of Troy two most powerful enemies.

The Trojan prince arrived in Sparta, where, in the absence of Menelaus, he persuaded Helen to flee with him (according to other sources, he abducted). Perhaps the matter did not come to such a large-scale conflict if the fugitives had not taken the treasures of Menelaus with them. The offended husband could no longer endure this and threw a cry to all the former suitors of Elena, who had once bound themselves with an oath.

Siege of Troy

The Greek army with a total number of 100 thousand people boarded ships and went to Troy. The Achaeans were headed by Menelaus and the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, who was his brother. After the Greeks encamped under the walls of the city, it was decided to try to solve the matter peacefully, for which purpose send truce envoys to Troy. However, the Trojans did not agree to the terms of the Greeks, relying on the strength of the fortress walls and their army. The siege of the city began.

Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon

According to the prediction, the war was to last 9 years, and only in the 10th year was the fall of Troy promised. All these years, the Achaeans were engaged in petty robbery and raids on nearby cities. During one of the campaigns, Chryseis, the daughter of the priest Chrys, and Briseis, the daughter of King Briseus, became the prey of the Greeks. The first went to the king of Mycenae Agamemnon, and the second to Achilles, the famous Greek hero.

Soon a pestilence broke out in the Greek camp, which was interpreted by the soothsayer Calchas as the wrath of the god Apollo, to whom the saddened father of Chryseis turned. The Greeks demanded that Agamemnon return the captive to his father, and he reluctantly agreed, but in return began to demand for himself Briseis, the lawful captive of Achilles. A verbal skirmish ensued, in which Achilles accused Agamemnon of greed, and he, in turn, called the great hero a coward. As a result, the offended Achilles refused to participate in the further siege of the city, and besides, he asked his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to beg Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans in order to punish the presumptuous Agamemnon.

Going to meet the request of Thetis, Zeus sent the Mycenaean king a deceptive dream that promised victory. Encouraged by their leader, the Greeks rushed into battle. The Trojan army was led by Hector, the eldest son of King Priam. The king himself was already too old to participate in the battle. Before starting the battle, Hector offered to have a duel between Menelaus and his brother Paris. The winner will get the beautiful Helena and the stolen treasures, and the Greeks and Trojans will take a sacred oath that after the duel peace will be concluded.

The beginning of the battle

Both sides happily agreed - many people were tired of the protracted war. Menelaus won the duel, and Paris remained alive only thanks to the intercession of the goddess Aphrodite. It seemed that the war should now end, but this was not part of the plans of Hera and Athena, who held a grudge against Paris. Hera vowed to destroy Troy and was not going to retreat. Athena sent by her took the form of a warrior and turned to the skilled archer Pandarus, offering to shoot Menelaus. Pandarus did not kill the Spartan king only because Athena herself slightly deflected his arrow. The wounded Menelaus was carried away from the field, and the Greeks, outraged by the treachery of the Trojans, rushed into battle.

In a terrible battle, people came together, but the gods did not stand aside - Aphrodite, Apollo and the god of war Ares, supported the Trojans, and Hera and Athena Pallas of the Greeks. Many people died on both sides, Aphrodite herself was wounded in the arm by one of the Greeks and was forced to return to Olympus to heal the wound. Neither the Trojans nor the Achaeans could take up, and on the advice of the wise Greek elder Nestor, it was decided to interrupt the battle for one day in order to bury the dead.

A day later, remembering the promise given to Thetis, Zeus forbade any of the gods to interfere in the course of the battle. Feeling the support of the supreme deity, the Trojans began to push the Greeks, causing great damage to their army. To all the reproaches of Hera, Zeus replied that the extermination of the Achaeans would last until Achilles returned to the battlefield.

Saddened by the defeat, the Greek leaders gathered for a council, where, on the advice of the wise Nestor, it was decided to send ambassadors to Achilles with a request to return. The ambassadors, among whom was Odysseus, the great hero, persuaded for a long time, but he remained deaf to their requests - the offense against Agamemnon was too great.

The death of Patroclus and the return of Achilles

The Greeks had to continue to fight the Trojans without the support of Achilles. In a terrible battle, the Trojans exterminated many Achaeans, but they themselves suffered heavy losses. The Greeks had not only to move away from the walls of the city, but also to protect their ships - so strong was the onslaught of the enemy. Achilles' friend Patroclus, who followed the course of the battle, could not hold back his tears, watching how his fellow tribesmen were dying. Turning to Achilles, Patroclus asked to be released to help the Greek army, since the great hero does not want to fight himself. Having received permission, together with his soldiers, Patroclus went to the battlefield, where he was destined to die at the hands of Hector.

Saddened by the death of his closest friend, Achilles mourned his body, promising to destroy Hector. After reconciliation with Agamemnon, the hero entered the battle with the Trojans, mercilessly exterminating them. The battle began to boil with renewed vigor. Achilles drove the Trojan warriors to the very gates of the city, who barely managed to hide behind the walls. Only Hector remained on the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity to fight the Greek hero. Achilles killed Hector, tied his body to a chariot and set the horses to gallop. And only a few days later the body of the fallen Trojan prince was returned to King Priam for a large ransom. Taking pity on the unfortunate father, Achilles agreed to interrupt the battle for 11 days so that Troy could mourn and bury their leader.

The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy

But with the death of Hector, the war did not end. Soon Achilles himself died, struck by the arrow of Paris, which was directed by the god Apollo. In childhood, the mother of Achilles, the goddess Thetis, bathed her son in the waters of the river Styx, which separates the world of the living dead, after which the body of the future hero became invulnerable. And only the heel, by which his mother was holding, remained the only unprotected place - it was in it that Paris hit. However, he himself soon found death, dying from a poisonous arrow fired by one of the Greeks.

Many Trojan and Greek heroes died before the cunning Odysseus figured out how to get into the city. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse, and they themselves pretended to sail home. A scout sent to the Trojans convinced them that the marvelous building was a gift from the Achaeans to the gods. The intrigued residents of Troy dragged the horse into the city, despite the warnings of the priest Laocoont and Cassandra's belongings. Inspired by the imaginary departure of the Achaeans, the Trojans rejoiced until late at night, and when everyone fell asleep, Greek soldiers got out of the belly of a wooden horse, who opened the city gates to a huge army.

This night was the last in the history of Troy. The Achaeans destroyed all the men, not sparing even the babies. Only Aeneas, whose descendants were destined to found Rome, with a small detachment was able to escape from the captured city. The women of Troy were destined for the bitter fate of slaves. Menelaus sought out the unfaithful wife, wanting to take her life, but struck by the beauty of Elena, he forgave the betrayal. Troy was sacked for several days, and the ruins of the city were set on fire.

Trojan war in historical facts

For a long time it was believed that the Trojan War was just a beautiful legend with no real basis. However, in the second half of the 19th century, an ancient city was discovered by amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann on the Hissarlik hill in western Anatolia. Schliemann announced that he had found the ruins of Troy. However, later it turned out that the ruins of the found city are much older than Troy, described in Homer's Iliad.

Although the exact date of the Trojan War is unknown, most researchers believe that it took place in the XIII-XII century BC. The ruins that Schliemann managed to discover turned out to be at least a thousand years older. Nevertheless, excavations at this place continued by many scientists for many years. As a result, 12 cultural layers were discovered, one of which is quite consistent with the period of the Trojan War.

However, logically speaking, Troy was not an isolated city. Even earlier, a number of states with a highly developed level of culture arose in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East: Babylon, the Hittite Empire, Phoenicia, Egypt and others. Events of this magnitude, as described by Homer, could not but leave traces in the legends of the peoples who inhabited these states, but this is exactly the case. No evidence of the confrontation between the Achaeans and Troy has been found in the legends and myths of these countries.

Apparently, Homer retold the history of several military conflicts and campaigns of conquest that occurred at different time intervals, generously seasoning them with his imagination. Reality and fiction are intertwined so bizarrely that it is not always possible to distinguish one from the other.

For example, some researchers tend to consider the episode with Trojan horse. According to the assumptions of some historians, this structure should be understood as a battering ram or battering ram, with the help of which the besiegers destroyed the fortress walls.

The debate about the reality of the Trojan War is likely to continue for a long time to come. However, it is not so important what the real events were, because it was they who inspired Homer to create the greatest literary monument in the history of human civilization.

The cause of the Trojan War is still a mystery to historians, some do not even agree that this war took place in history at all. The reason goes deep into Greek mythology. However, first of all, it is necessary to define the concept of "Trojan War", as well as indicate the date, and short description events that took place within the boundaries of this phenomenon.
The Trojan War is a semi-mythologized war between the city state of Troy and the Greek policies led by Sparta, which took place for ten years, somewhere at the turn of the 13th-12th centuries BC.
The Greek poet Homer was the first to write about the Trojan War. He revealed these events in his poems "Iliad" and partly in "Odyssey".
The reason for the start of the war.
It is known that a war has been waged between Sparta and Troy for a long time, and the winner has not been determined for a long time, the losses were heavy on both sides. Following a common agreement, the parties decided to conclude a truce in order to stop the senseless bloodshed.
And now the quasi-historical information that Homer gives. Quasi - because there is still no confirmation of this fact, and this may be Homer's fantasy.
Homer says that the Trojan prince Paris, along with his older brother Hector, the greatest Trojan warrior and heir to the Trojan throne, arrive in Sparta in order to conclude a peace treaty beneficial to both sides.
The negotiations ended in success, but there was no peace for a long time. At dawn, Paris kidnaps the young, beautiful wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, Helen, and takes her to Troy.
Menelaus, offended by such an act, turns for help to the king of Mycenae - Agamemnon, who was just waiting for a reason to start a war with Troy. Menelaus and Agamemnon gathered under their command all the kings of Gracia and boarded the ships, went to the coast of Troy.
Whether it is possible to consider the abduction of Helen as the reason for the start of the Trojan War is still not clear. However, it is quite possible that this abduction served as a pretext, but there were other reasons, for example, for the possession of the Aegean Sea. If you think sensibly, then the kidnapping of the beautiful queen fits perfectly. But such a reason as hegemony at sea seems so sensible. However, these are only hypotheses.
Brief course of the war.
Homer describes the course of the war in great detail and it takes many pages; there is no point in repeating the smallest details after Homer, since he describes almost every duel between glorious warriors.
The Greeks came with a huge fleet to the shores of Troy and, having landed at the walls, captured the lands under the walls of the great city. However, Troy had strong, high walls on its defense, which no one had yet overcome. The united army of the Greeks could not overcome them either, although they greatly won in numbers.
During the war, Hector was killed, there is no need to talk much about this, since everyone knows the plot about the battle of Hector and Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior. The Greeks still failed to take Troy by storm, and they decided to besiege the city. The siege of Troy lasted, as Homer says, for ten whole years.
The siege also did not bring success, and then the Greeks decided to take the Trojans by cunning. They built a huge wooden horse where the Greek soldiers hid. The Greeks gave this horse to the Trojans as a sign that they had accepted defeat and were going home. The Trojans accepted the gift and let it through their walls. At night, the Greeks got out of the horse and opened the gates, then the Greek army made its way into the city, completely burning it down. Most of the inhabitants were killed. Achilles also died.
Result.
The mighty city of Troy was completely wiped off the face of the earth. The Greeks, in turn, suffered huge losses, but after this war Mycenae began to gradually lose power, followed by the rapid decline of the Mycenaean civilization and its collapse.

Troy (tur. Truva), the second name is Ilion, an ancient city in the north-west of Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was known thanks to the ancient Greek epics, discovered in 1870. during the excavations by G. Schliemann of the Hisarlyk hill. The city gained particular fame thanks to the myths about the Trojan War and the events described in Homer's poem "The Iliad", according to which the 10-year war of the coalition of Achaean kings led by Agamemnon - the king of Mycenae against Troy ended with the fall of the city - fortress. The people who inhabited Troy are called Tevkras in ancient Greek sources.

Troy is a mythical city. For many centuries, the reality of the existence of Troy was questioned - it existed like a city from a legend. But there have always been people looking for a reflection of real history in the events of the Iliad. However, serious attempts to search for the ancient city were made only in the 19th century. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann, during excavations of the mountain village of Gissrlyk on the Turkish coast, stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient city. Continuing to excavate to a depth of 15 meters, he unearthed treasures belonging to an ancient and highly developed civilization. These were the ruins of the famous Homeric Troy. It is worth noting that Schliemann unearthed a city that was built earlier (1000 years before the Trojan War), further research showed that he simply went through Troy, since it was erected on the ruins of the ancient city he found.

Troy and Atlantis are one and the same. In 1992, Eberhard Zangger suggested that Troy and Atlantis are the same city. He built a theory on the similarity of the description of cities in ancient legends. However, the spread and scientific basis this assumption was not. This hypothesis has not received wide support.

The Trojan War broke out because of a woman. According to Greek legend, the Trojan War broke out because one of the 50 sons of King Priam, Paris, kidnapped the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. The Greeks sent troops precisely to take Helen. However, according to some historians, this is most likely only the pinnacle of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Prior to this, presumably, there were many trade wars between the Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast in the area of ​​the Dardanelles.

Troy held out for 10 years thanks to outside help. According to available sources, the army of Agamemnon encamped in front of the city on the seashore, without besieging the fortress from all sides. The king of Troy, Priam, took advantage of this, establishing close ties with Caria, Lydia and other regions of Asia Minor, which during the war provided him with assistance. As a result, the war turned out to be very protracted.

The Trojan horse really existed. This is one of the few episodes of that war that has not found its archaeological and historical confirmation. Moreover, there is not a word about the horse in the Iliad, but Homer describes it in detail in his Odyssey. And all the events associated with the Trojan horse and their details were described by the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid, 1st century BC. BC, i.e. almost 1200 years later. Some historians suggest that the Trojan horse meant some kind of weapon, such as a battering ram. Others claim that this is how Homer called the Greek sea vessels. It is possible that there was no horse at all, and Homer used it in his poem as a symbol of the death of gullible Trojans.

The Trojan horse got into the city thanks to a cunning trick of the Greeks. According to legend, the Greeks spread a rumor that there was a prophecy that if a wooden horse were to stand within the walls of Troy, he could forever protect the city from Greek raids. Most of the inhabitants of the city were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city. However, there were also opponents. The priest Laocoön offered to burn the horse or throw it off a cliff. He even threw a spear at the horse, and everyone heard that the horse was empty inside. Soon a Greek named Sinon was captured, telling Priam that the Greeks built a horse in honor of the goddess Athena in order to atone for many years of bloodshed. This was followed by tragic events: during the sacrifice to the god of the sea Poseidon, two huge snakes swam out of the water, which strangled the priest and his sons. Seeing this as an omen from above, the Trojans decided to roll the horse into the city. It was so huge that it did not fit through the gate and had to dismantle part of the wall.

The Trojan horse caused the fall of Troy. According to legend, on the night after the horse entered the city, Sinon released from its womb the warriors hiding inside, who quickly killed the guards and flung open the city gates. The city, which fell asleep after violent festivities, did not even put up strong resistance. Several Trojan warriors, led by Aeneas, tried to save the palace and the king. According to ancient Greek myths, the palace fell thanks to the giant Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who broke the front door with his ax and killed King Priam.

Heinrich Schliemann, who found Troy and accumulated a huge fortune during his life, was born into a poor family. He was born in 1822 in the family of a country pastor. His homeland is a small German village near the Polish border. His mother died when he was 9 years old. The father was a harsh, unpredictable and self-centered man who loved women very much (for which he lost his position). At the age of 14, Heinrich was separated from his first love, the girl Minna. When Heinrich was 25 years old and already becoming a famous businessman, he finally asked in a letter for Minna's hand in marriage with her father. The answer was that Minna had married a farmer. This message completely broke his heart. Passion to Ancient Greece appeared in the boy’s soul thanks to his father, who read the Iliad to children in the evenings, and then gave his son a book on world history with illustrations. In 1840, after a long and exhausting job in a grocery store that nearly cost him his life, Heinrich boards a ship bound for Venezuela. On December 12, 1841, the ship fell into a storm and Schliemann was thrown into the icy sea, a barrel saved him from death, by which he held on until he was rescued. During his life, he learned 17 languages ​​and made a large fortune. However, the peak of his career was the excavation of the great Troy.

Heinrich Schliemann undertook the excavations of Troy because of the disorder in his personal life. This is not out of the question. In 1852, Heinrich Schliemann, who had a lot of business in St. Petersburg, married Ekaterina Lyzhina. This marriage lasted 17 years and turned out to be absolutely empty for him. Being a passionate man by nature, he married a sensible woman who was cold to him. As a result, he was almost on the verge of insanity. unhappy couple had three children, but this did not bring happiness to Schliemann. Out of desperation, he made another fortune selling indigo paint. In addition, he came to grips with the Greek language. He had an inexorable desire for travel. In 1868 he decided to go to Ithaca and organize his first expedition. Then he went towards Constantinople, to those places where, according to the Iliad, Troy was located and began excavations on the hill of Gissarlik. This was his first step on the way to the great Troy.

Schliemann tried on the jewelry of Helen of Troy for his second wife. Heinrich was introduced to his second wife by his old friend, it was the 17-year-old Greek Sophia Engastromenos. According to some sources, when in 1873 Schliemann found the famous treasures of Troy (10,000 gold items), he brought them upstairs with the help of his second wife, whom he loved immensely. Among them were two luxurious diadems. Putting one of them on Sophia's head, Heinrich said: "The jewel worn by Helen of Troy now adorns my wife." In one of the photographs, she is indeed depicted in magnificent ancient jewelry.

Trojan treasures were lost. There is a deal of truth in it. The Schliemanns donated 12,000 items to the Berlin Museum. During World War II, this priceless treasure was moved to a bunker from which it disappeared in 1945. Part of the treasury unexpectedly showed up in 1993 in Moscow. There is still no answer to the question: "Was it really the gold of Troy?".

During excavations at Hissarlik, several layers-cities of different times were discovered. Archaeologists have identified 9 layers that refer to different years. They are all called Troy. Only two towers remain from Troy I. Troy II was explored by Schliemann, considering it to be the true Troy of King Priam. Troy VI was highest point development of the city, its inhabitants traded profitably with the Greeks, but this city seems to have been badly destroyed by an earthquake. Modern scientists believe that the found Troy VII is the true city of Homer's Iliad. According to historians, the city fell in 1184 BC, being burned by the Greeks. Troy VIII was restored by the Greek colonists, who also erected the Temple of Athena here. Troy IX belongs to the Roman Empire. I would like to note that the excavations have shown that Homeric descriptions very accurately describe the city.