Hera - was the wife of Zeus
Hera - stands for matriarch, symbol of women as a gender
Athena - Greek virgin warrior, represnts wisdom and strategy
Aphrodite - symbol of love, beauty and sexuality
Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war
since three ladies claimed the title...A judgement should be made to avoid the standoff.
Paris, prince of Troy and thought to be the most beautiful man alive, would act as the judge.
Hera promised him power, Athena promised him wealth, and Aphrodite promised the most beautiful woman in the world.
Paris chose Aphrodite, because she promised him that Helen will be his..
Hector has no hesitation in being the commander of the troops that defended the city. But he does not approve of war between the Greeks and the Trojans and most of all, Hector disagrees with his brother Paris, who was at the origin of the conflict.
By abducting Helen, from her husband, Menelaus, Paris threatened the existence of Troy. Hector addresses hard words to his brother:
"Paris, you pretty boy, you woman seducer, why were you ever born? Why weren't you killed before your wedding day?" (Homer, Iliad).
Paris stole Helen from Menelaus, her husband, but he is avoiding a fight. Annoyed by his brothers’ acts, Hector says:
"Can you be the man who carried off a beautiful woman from a distant land and warlike family, to be a curse to your father, to the city, and to the whole people? Are you too cowardly to stand up to the brave man whom you wronged? You would soon find out the kind of fighter he is whose lovely wife you stole." (Homer, Iliad ).
Therefore, Paris accepts to fight and proposes a duel between himself and Menelaus.
The prize for the winner was Helen and the end of the war. The duel brings an inconclusive result and only the divine intervention can give the solution. With the intervention of Aphrodite, Menelaus claims the victory, but Pandarus wounds with an arrow.
The war starts again and Hector’s conclusion to his brother is:
"It is your fault that this city is invaded by the sounds of battle." (Hector 1 to Paris. Homer, Iliad 6.327).
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So the story goes... Paris abducted helen
all of the suitors of helen reacted and declared war against the city of Troy..the City where Prince Paris lives..
Calchas had also prophesized that the first Achaean to land on Troy would be the first one to die. Therefore everyone hesitated to land on Troy when they reached the shores. Eventually, Protesilaus of the Phylaceans landed first and Achilles was the second to set foot on the shores of Troy. Protesilaus and Achilles killed several Trojans upon landing, but then Protesilaus was killed by Hector, the son of Priam, the King of Troy and the brother of Paris.
The Achaeans were relatively successful even after Achilles withdrew from the war. There was a fight between Menalaus and Paris, which ended with Aphrodite snatching the almost defeated Paris from the battlefield. Diomedes, an Achaean hero, won repute amongst his people by killing Pandaros, a Trojan hero, nearly wounding Aeneas and also for wounding the gods Aphrodite and Ares.
yET THE GATES OF tROY STANDS STILL. The soldiers were tired at the end of the nine years and wanted to go back home and were on the verge of mutiny. It was only because of the army of Achilles, were they forced to stay back . towards the end of the almost mutiny.
Agamemnon took Briseis, the concubine of Achilles. Achilles therefore refused to participate in the war.
Patroclus, a relative of Achilles, went into the war wearing Achilles’ clothes and armor. He was killed by Hector who thought he was killing Achilles
Enraged by the death of Patroclus, Achilles joined the war again. Due to this Agamemnon returned Briseis back to Achilles, untouched. Back into the fray, Achilles managed to kill several Trojans. A duel raged between Hector and Achilles, which ended with Achilles killing Hector and dragging Hector’s body from his chariot. He refused to give the body back to the Trojans for the funeral. Later, King Priam came to Achilles and requested to have his son’s body back.
"Death is always the same,
but each man dies in his own way."
The parting of Hector and Andromache ranks as one of the most touching story when a man is destined to die leaving his wife and his son of uncertain situation. Andromache, for thousands of years, has been the epitome of the loving wife. Her sad plea for Hector to remain with them is for naught. He must go out to fight. Though she has lost both parents and all of her brothers to war, Andromache has two more loved ones to lose. Hector, of course, is killed in a mad rage by Achilles, and Astyanax is ripped from his mother’s arms and thrown from the walls of Troy by the Greek soldiers.
“Such a death as these men died seems to prove the bravery they showed, Some of the men may have had their shortcomings, but what we must remember above all is the valor with which they faced the enemy and fought in defense of their woman and children. and accept the pain in their hearts.. for the sake of love..
Whether success or failure, both have the same uncertainty, they left that in the hands of hope. In actual battle they preferred to stand their ground and to die or live
" to be happy means to be free . and to be free means to face reality, Real grief does not come from being deprived of good things that you never have but from the loss of something that u do have.. "
it is impossible for a man to offer fair and impartial counsel for you who have passed your prime, I would ask you to count as gain the greater part of your life in which you have been happy...Love of honor is the only feeling that does not grow old. And the last pleasure when one is weak with age is not, as some say, making money, but try to find glory in helping some to offset the any loss of feeling good within yourself...
Achilles ended up killing several of Troy’s allies including Penthesilea, the Amazon Queen, and Memnon, the King of Ethiopia. After that, Achilles entered Troy. It was at that point that Paris shot a poisoned arrow, which was guided by Apollo, into the heel of Achilles. This was the only part of his body which was vulnerable, and Achilles died on the spot.
A prophecy was made that the fall of Troy would not take place without the bow and arrow of Heracles which was now with Philoctetes. Odysseus and Diomedes found Philoctetes in Lemnos and got him Troy. He then shot Paris and killed him.
a plan was conceived by Odysseus. A giant, hollow, wooden horse was built by Epeius under the guidance of Athena. The horse was an animal sacred to the Trojans. On that horse were inscribed the words: ‘The Greeks dedicate this offering as thanks to Athena for their return back home’. The horse was filled with troops which were led by Odysseus. The rest of the army burned their camp and set sail for Tenedos.
The Trojans rejoiced, thinking that the armies had finally left. They dragged the horse back into the city and began to debate what to do with it. Some of them wanted to burn it down, while others wanted to keep the horse and dedicate it to Athena.
Cassandra, who had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo was also cursed by him that no one would believe her. She warned the Trojans not to keep the horse. But, of course, no one believed her.
Meanwhile, the Trojans celebrated their victory.
At midnight, when the full moon rose, the troops came out of the horse and began to attack the Trojans. Most of them were drunk or sleeping. The Achaeans massacred them. Disorganized, leaderless and disoriented, the Trojans began to fight back. But to no avail. Eventually no men were left behind in Troy and the Greeks took all the women who remained, for themselves.
King Priam was killed by Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Menelaus killed Deiphobus, a son of Priam and now the new husband of Helen. He was also on the verge of killing Helen, but was overpowered by her beauty and did not kill her.
Cassandra was raped by Ajax on the altar of Athena.
The Greeks then proceeded to burn down the city of Troy. Cassandra was given to Agamemnon and Neoptolemus got Andromache, the wife of Hector. Odysseus got Hecuba, the wife of Priam. The Achaeans killed Hector’s infant son Astyanax by throwing him from the walls of Troy. They sacrificed Priam’s daughter Polyxena to the grave of Achilles.
The first nine years of the war consisted of both war in Troy and war against the neighboring regions
As well as destroying Trojan economy, these battles let the Greeks gather a large amount of resources and other spoils of war
During the Trojan War, Hector was killed by Achilles, and their son Astyanax was thrown from the city walls by the Greeks. Neoptolemus took Andromache as a concubine and Hector's brother, Helenus, as a slave.
THE DAY THE CITY OF TROY FALLS..
Blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth,
As Trojans and their alien helpers died.
Here were men lying quelled by bitter death
All up and down the city in their blood.
The Trojans, fuelled with desperation, fought back fiercely, despite being disorganized and leaderless. With the fighting at its height, some donned fallen enemies' attire and launched surprise counterattacks in the chaotic street fighting.
Other defenders hurled down roof tiles and anything else heavy down on the rampaging attackers. The outlook was grim though, and eventually the remaining defenders were destroyed along with the whole city.
Neoptolemus killed Priam, who had taken refuge at the altar of Zeus of the Courtyard. Menelaus killed Deiphobus, Helen's husband after Paris' death, and also intended to kill Helen, but, overcome by her beauty, threw down his sword and took her to the ships.
Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra on Athena's altar while she was clinging to her statue. Because of Ajax's impiety, the Acheaens, urged by Odysseus, wanted to stone him to death, but he fled to Athena's altar, and was spared.
Antenor, who had given hospitality to Menelaus and Odysseus when they asked for the return of Helen, and who had advocated so, was spared, along with his family. Aeneas took his father on his back and fled, and, according to Apollodorus, was allowed to go because of his piety.
The Greeks then burned the city and divided the spoils. Cassandra was awarded to Agamemnon. Neoptolemus got Andromache, wife of Hector, and Odysseus was given Hecuba, Priam's wife.
The Achaeans threw Hector's infant son Astyanax down from the walls of Troy,either out of cruelty and hate or to end the royal line, and the possibility of a son's revenge. They (by usual tradition Neoptolemus) also sacrificed the Trojan princess Polyxena on the grave of Achilles as demanded by his ghost, either as part of his spoil or because she had betrayed him.
Aethra, Theseus' mother, and one of Helen's handmaids, was rescued by her grandsons, Demophon and Acamas.
in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis hides the young man at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. There, Achilles is disguised as a girl and lives among Lycomedes' daughters, perhaps under the name "Pyrrha" (the red-haired girl).
