Trojan War (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what the Trojan War was, its characteristics and characters. In addition, what are its causes and consequences.

What was the Trojan War?

It is known as the Trojan War to a central war confrontation in Greek mythology. He faced the citizens of the city of Troy (also called Ilion), in Western Anatolia (in Asia Minor), against the main Achaean kingdoms of ancient Greece and its allies (Dánaos and Argivos).

Greek historians of the archaic period argued that The Trojan conflict occurred between the thirteenth and twelfth centuries a. C. Some of their episodes are narrated in the epic poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer (VIII century BC).

The Trojan War is one of the most relevant incidents within the Greek epic and the Greco -Roman imaginary. For centuries, modern society considered that it was a purely mythical story. However, at the end of the 19th century, Heinrich Schiliemann promoted a series of archaeological campaigns in which The remains of several Greek cities of the time were found And, among them, that which could be the mythical city of Troy.

Since then, numerous archaeological and historical studies have been carried out to verify whether it was effectively the city portrayed in the homeric poems.

While most specialists consider that the city of Troy effectively existed, Trojan war stories contain mythical components. Currently, many historians are dedicated to identifying how much the story could have happened in reality and how much it belongs to mythology.

Trojan location

Troy It was located in the west of Anatoliacurrent Türkiye, on the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor.

Currently, it identifies with The archaeological site of the Hyarlik hill. The successive excavations indicated that, at different times, the place was occupied by ten different cities. Of these, most specialists agree that the sixth or seventh may have been the city that is mentioned in Homer’s poems.

Historical context of the Trojan War

The mythical stories of the Trojan War place the confrontation between the thirteenth and twelfth centuries. C., Historic period in which mycenaean civilization predominated. The regions of the Peloponnese and Anatolia were dominated by different kingdoms, built around walled cities. These kingdoms belonged to Achaean, Jonios and Eolios (of Indo -European origin).

The kingdoms were independent and competed for wealth, territories, political influence and, especially, for the control of commercial routes (fundamental for the survival of cities). Throughout its history, They formed alliances and faced in different wars. The Trojan War is located in this war context.

Causes of the Trojan War

Troy War - Menelao — Menelao had to go to Troy to recover his wife and clean his honor.

Mythology tells that the Trojan War was caused by The rapture of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helena, wife of Menelaothe king of Sparta. During a diplomatic mission of the Trojans, Prince Paris fell in love with her.

One version indicates that he seduced her and another that kidnapped her. In any case, with the help of the goddess Aphrodite, Paris took Helena to Troy. Her husband Menelao summoned the kings of the Achaea Alliance with the aim of bringing her back and cleaning her honor. Everyone promised to support him in a war with the aim of recovering and punishing the Trojans.

A less mythological vision, however, highlights The importance of Troy in the political and economic context of the Mediterranean oriental coast. Its geographical location was strategic because it controlled the passage of the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea and, in this way, the Trojans dominated the commercial routes that linked both regions.

How much did the Trojan War last?

According to tradition, The Troy site lasted ten yearsduring which the Achaean troops camped around the city.

Main characters of the Trojan War

Trojan War Death of Achilles — Achilles killed Héctor in Battle to avenge the death of Patroclo.

The narration of the Iliad It is abundant in characters, but the main ones for the story of the war are:

Achilles. “The light feet”, son of Peleo and king of the Mirmidones. At the beginning of the Iliad He refuses to fight with the Greeks for an offense that makes Agamemnon.
Patroclus. Best Achilles friend and companion of his army. Hector kills him in battle believing that he is Achilles, since Patroclo plays his armor to inspire the Greek army.
Agamemnon. Leader of the Achaean expedition, king of Micenas and brother of Menelao.
Menelao. King of Sparta and husband of Helena de Troya, who claims to the Trojans their return for weapons.
Paris. Trojan prince and helena’s kidnapper, had Aphrodite’s favors.
Hector. Paris brother and the best of the Trojan warriors. He is killed in combat by Achilles and his body is dragged from his cart as a form of escarnio.
Priam and Hécuba. Kings of Troy and parents of Héctor and Paris.
Odysseus. King of Itaca and one of the great Greek heroes, inventor of the trick of the Trojan horse.
Áyax. Known as Ayax el Grande or Áyax Telamonio (son of Telamón), King of Salamina and Peribea, was the second Greek hero in value and strength after Achilles.

The death of Achilles

During the Trojan War, Achilles found death. According to legend, This Greek hero was invulnerablethanks to the trades of his mother, the nymph tetis. His only weak point were his heels.

He defeated the Trojan Héro Héctor in good law and thus avenged the life of his friend Patroclo. But he won the fury of the Trojans and the gods by dragging the body of his car, humiliating him on the battlefield.

You may be interested: Causes of World War I

Later, The punishment came to him in the hands of Paris, Hector’s brotherwho crossed their heels with an accurate arrow. Thus he killed the great hero and fulfilled the prophecy that his mother had made to leave for Troy.

The Trojan horse

The strategy that gave the victory to the Greeks is extremely known: the Trojan horse. The author of the idea was Odysseusthe most sagacious and ingenious of the Achaean leaders. He proposed to his teammates to make a gigantic wooden horse. Inside the Greek soldiers hid.

After building it and leaving it on the banks of the sea, they removed the fleet and hid it after nearby cliffs, to simulate that they had surrendered and returned to Greece. The Trojans, Devotos de Poseidon (which was linked to the horse) They believed it was a Greek offering to the god to give them a good return home.

Happy for his supposed victory, They took him inside the huge and impenetrable walls of his cityto honor your guardian God. Once inside, infiltrated soldiers waited until night to leave their hiding place and opened the city’s doors. Thus, the Greek army was able to loot and beat Troy.

What did the winners win?

The Trojan War was won by the invading army, thanks to the stratagema of the horse. During the night, the city was invaded, looted and destroyed, Massacred Trojan men and children, and women taken as slaves. Nothing remained standing from the ancient Asian city.

The soldiers distributed the loot obtained with the looting. Besides, The first objective, which was to recover Helena, was fulfilled. Although the Greek armies undertook the return home, the cost of victory in Greek lives was very high.

Consequences of the Trojan War

The consequences of the Trojan War were:

The defeat of Troy and its looting and total destruction at the hands of Achaeas.
The murder of King Priam and all the Trojan nobility, as well as the enslavement of their women.
The loss of numerous lives of both sides, including large Greek heroes such as Aquiles and Ayax, or the Trojans Héctor and Paris.
The beginning of the long return trip to Odysseus’s house (as narrated in the Odyssey).
The beginning of the Aeneas journey and the very few survivors of Troy in their deed that would lead them to found Rome (as they were in the Aeneid).

Sources about the Trojan War

The main sources to know the Trojan War are the homeric poems and the fragments that have come to us from the stories of other later Greek authors:

Homeric poems

Homeric poems are a set of epic narratives traditionally attributed to Homer (a poet of the seventh century BC). Currently, specialists believe that homeric poems were not the work of a single person and that the narratives also correspond to the same era. Beyond the debate between specialists, the epic poems of the Iliad and the Odysseythe main source to know the events of the Trojan War. Both poems describe events of the thirteenth century a. C., however, specialists consider that the world portray corresponds to the seventh century BC. C.

Iliad. The tenth year of the war is recounted: the expedition to the minor Asia of the armies led by Agamemnon to conquer the city of Troy and focuses on the events that are triggered since Achilles withdraws from the fight.
Odyssey. The adventures of Odysseus (also called Ulises), an important hero of the war, on his return trip to his homeland.

You may be interested: Hungarian Revolution (1956)

Fragments of archaic Greek literature (VII and VI A. C.)

Other poems of archaic Greek literature complete the story of the Trojan cycle. However, only fragments or summaries related by other ancient historians have survived:

Cipria. He narrated the entire Trojan cycle prior to the homeric stories.
Ethiopide. He recounted the latest Achilles feats, that is, events after the Homeric Iliad.
Little Iliad. Detailed the history of the wooden horse.
ILIUPERSIS. He described Troy’s fall.
Telegonia. He told Telefono, in search of his father Odysseus.

Trojan works of classical Greek literature (V and IV A. C.) and later

The Trojan War and its consequences were also the issue of numerous literary works of the classic period of ancient Greece, Hellenism:

Oestiad of Esquilo.
Áyax, Electra and Filoctetes of Sophocles.
Ifigenia in Aulide, Andromache, Hécuba, The Trojans, Electra, Helena, Orestes and Res of Euripides.
Posthomerics Fifth of Esmirna (third century AD)

The Trojan War in Cinema

The Trojan War has been portrayed in cinema on numerous occasions. It is a mythical story but founded on real events and the different directors have portrayed the events with greater or lesser freedom.

In turn, the cinema has been based so much on the homeric poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as on other sources to deepen the staging. Some of the most iconic films that portray the Trojan theme are:

Ulises (Mario Camerini, 1954)
Helena de Troya (Robert Wise, 1955)
Trojan War (Giorgio Ferroni, 1961)
Achilles anger (Marino Girolami, 1962)
The adventures of Ulysses (Franco Rossi, 1968)
Odyssey (Andrei Konchalowsi, 1997)
Helena de Troya (John Kent Harrison, 2003)
Troy, (Wolfgang Petersen, 2004)

Continue with: Greek Theater

References

Ramírez Guedes, E. (2017). An approach to the Trojan War in the cinema and its pre -leap sources. Latent magazine (vol. 15), pp. 155-19
Grimal, P. (1981). Greek and Roman mythology dictionary. Paidos
Hard, R. (2008). The Trojan War. The great book of Greek mythology: based on the “Greek mythology manual” by HJ Rose. The sphere of books.
“Trojan War” at https://es.wikipedia.org/.
“The Trojan War” at http://www.batallasdeguerra.com/.
“Is the history of the Trojan War?” at https://www.bbc.com/.
“Myth and reality about the Trojan War” at https://www.nationalgeographic.es/.
“Drawn History: The Trojan War” (Video) in History. https://www.youtube.com/
“Trojan War” at https://www.history.com/.
“Trojan War” at https://www.britannica.com/.