home » Wiring » Heroes of the Trojan War are the names of Greeks and Trojans. The Trojan War - briefly. The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy

Heroes of the Trojan War are the names of Greeks and Trojans. The Trojan War - briefly. The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy

As the epic poems go, Troy fell and the Greeks were victorious after a ten-year war when they tricked their way into the city.

The Greeks besieged Troy for ten years. Trade ceased, residents died of hunger, and the best Trojan warriors fell in fierce battles outside the city walls. Among the fallen was Hector, the eldest son and heir of the king of Troy, Priam.

But finally, unexpectedly, the Greeks lifted the siege. They built a wooden horse and left it at the gates of Troy. Then they burned their camp, boarded their ships and sailed west, as it seemed home, to the shores of Greece. In fact, they hid behind the island of Tenedos. The wooden Trojan Horse is described in two epic poems of antiquity - in the “Odyssey” by the Greek poet Homer, created 500 years after the Trojan War, and in the “Aeneid” by the Roman poet Virgil, written 8 centuries after Homer’s poem. When it became clear to the Trojans that the Greeks would not return, they opened the gates and, in amazement and bewilderment, crowded around a huge wooden horse, no smaller than a ship, trying to decide what to do with it next.

An opinion arose that this was a gift from the Greeks to the god of the seas, Poseidon, and most residents of Troy were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city. The priest of the god Apollo Laocoon and his other more cautious like-minded people, not trusting any gifts of the Greeks, preferred to burn the horse or throw it off a cliff. And to give his words more weight, Laocoon threw his spear at the horse. The empty inside of the horse responded with a dull roar, predicting the death of the great Troy.

Meanwhile, an alleged deserter from the Greek army was caught and he was brought bound before King Priam. He said his name was Sinon and said that Odysseus wanted to continue the siege after it seemed hopeless. That the Greeks tried to sail away, but were prevented by bad weather. And how the oracle of Apollo ordered the Greeks to make a sacrifice, and that the sacrifice should be none other than he, Sinon. He managed to escape and now surrenders to the mercy of the king. According to Sinon, the Greeks built a horse in honor of Pallas Athena, the patroness of Troy, to atone for the blood they shed. King Priam ordered the release of Sinon.

A terrible and menacing omen dispelled the last doubts of the Trojans and made them believe in the story of Sinon. When Laocoon was sacrificing a bull to the god Poseidon, two huge snakes swam out of the sea, entangled the priest and his sons in rings and strangled them. The Trojans saw this as punishment for the fact that Laocoon hit his horse with a spear. They decided to bring the horse into the city and placed it near the statue of Pallas Athena. The prophetess Cassandra tried to prevent this, but no one listened to her. Everyone thought she was crazy. The horse was so large that the Trojans had to dismantle part of the city wall.

That same night, the Greek fleet returned to the shores of Troy. When, after a stormy celebration, the Trojans fell asleep, Sinon dismantled the side part of the wooden horse. The soldiers hiding inside the horse got out, killed the guards at the city gates and opened them to the entire Greek army waiting outside. Having burst into the city, the Greeks gave the Trojans a bloodbath, setting fire to one house after another and destroying everyone.

Trojan warriors led by Aeneas (the mythical forefather of the Romans) tried to resist the Greeks. They desperately tried to protect the palace of King Priam. The palace was surrounded on all sides and doomed. But its defenders managed to shake and overturn the turret hanging over the gate. Screams and groans were heard below. Dozens of Greeks were left lying under the ruins.

Finally, Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, ran up to the palace gates with a log in his hand. He managed to break the gate and the Greeks broke into the palace. The palace was filled with the screams of those being killed. And there was no mercy for anyone.

Queen Hecuba and her daughters huddled around the altar in the courtyard. Neoptolemus rushed to Andromache, Hector’s widow, who was clutching the baby to her chest, snatched it and shouted “Baby Hector!” thrown down from a high wall. Elder Priam, clinging to the altar of Zeus, was pierced through and through by Neoptolemus, grabbing him by the hair.

It's starting to get light. The Greeks came out of the palace, some with leather bags or precious utensils, others dragging a half-naked woman or child by the hand. The moans and screams of captives and children filled the scorched city. They were drowned out by the cries of the soldiers who were trying to win back a stronger, younger, more beautiful slave.

Of the Trojan warriors, only Aeneas survived. All he could do was run. Aeneas and his elderly father and son went to the mountains. There they were joined by other surviving Trojans. Having elected Aeneas as leader, they went to overseas lands in search of a new life.

Where was Troy?

For many centuries, legends about the Greek heroes Achilles and Ajax, about the Trojan king Priam and Helen the Beautiful from Sparta, whose flight with her beloved Paris ignited the fire of war, were considered just legends, embellished by Homer and Virgil, and almost no one knew about the reality of the existence of Troy believed.

But there have always been people who assumed that Homeric Troy was a very real city that once existed. The first serious attempts to discover ancient Troy were made in the 19th century. In 1871, the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began excavations of the Hissarlik hill on the plain mentioned in the Iliad, located in the western part of Asia Minor near the Dardanelles. Schliemann penetrated 15 meters deep into the hill, breaking through seven cultural layers dating back to different eras and leading back to the Bronze Age. On May 13, 1873, he discovered treasures that clearly belonged to a highly developed civilization that had perished in fires.

The fact that Homeric Troy was located on the site of Hisarlik Hill is now widely recognized. Schliemann called the treasures he found after the Trojan king “Priam’s treasure.” However, Schliemann's city, as archaeologists later found out, was a small Bronze Age citadel, and the age of the treasures found by Schliemann was about a thousand years older than the events described by Homer.

To date, archaeologists have discovered traces of nine fortress settlements that existed in different eras in the territory associated with ancient Troy. The seventh layer belongs to the Homeric era, which represents Troy in the form of a vast (over 200 thousand m²) settlement, surrounded by strong walls with nine-meter towers. This city was destroyed by fire around 1250 BC. e., which approximately corresponds to the time of the Trojan War.

Cause of the Trojan War

According to Greek legend, all the Olympian gods were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles, the main and bravest hero of the Iliad), except the goddess of discord Eris. She, harboring a grudge, appeared uninvited and threw among the feasting people a golden apple with the inscription: “To the most beautiful.” Three goddesses entered into a dispute - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. The dispute flared up more and more. The irritated goddesses turned to those gathered with a request to judge them, but the guests, all as one, refused to do so. Everyone understood perfectly well that one would get the apple, and the other two would unleash their anger and revenge on the one who dared to bypass them. They turned to Zeus, but he did not want to be a judge. He considered Aphrodite the most beautiful, but Hera was his wife, and Athena was his daughter. Zeus gave judgment to Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy.

Paris was tending herds in the mountains and had no idea that he was the son of a king. As a baby, Paris was carried to the mountains and abandoned there to the mercy of fate, since shortly before his birth, Priam's wife Hecuba had a terrible dream, foreshadowing that the child she bore would be responsible for the death of Troy. But the boy was found and raised by a simple shepherd.

The goddesses appeared naked to Paris on Mount Ida. Hera promised him dominion over Asia, Athena - victories and military glory, Aphrodite - love and possession of the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris did not hesitate for a long time; he handed the golden apple to the goddess of love - Aphrodite.

Heeding the words of Aphrodite, Paris went to distant Sparta, to the court of King Minelaus, whose wife, Helen, was the most beautiful woman in the world. Minelaus warmly received Paris, but was soon forced to go to Crete for his grandfather’s funeral. Paris, incited by Aphrodite (Venus among the Romans), persuaded Helen to flee with him to Troy. They fled at night, secretly, taking the royal treasures.

Upon returning, Minelaus discovered the absence of his wife and vowed to return Elena and take revenge on the offender. Menelaus' brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, recalled the oath that all the former suitors of the beautiful Helen took - to come to the aid of Menelaus at his first call. All the Greek kings came to the call. The army consisted of 100,000 soldiers and 1,186 ships. Agamemnon was chosen as leader. The Greeks unsuccessfully besieged Troy for ten years, after which they captured the city using cunning.

Modern historians believe that this war may have been one episode in a chain of bitter trade wars between the Mycenaean Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled the trade in wool, grain and other goods delivered from the Black Sea region through the Dardanelles.

Causes and results of the Trojan War

Let's turn, in fact, to the reasons for the Trojan War, which bring clarity to the location of Troy and Greece at that time, and to subsequent events. We all know the romantic story of how Menelaus tried to return Helen the Beautiful. History is good only for poets, as Homer demonstrated, but in reality it does not stand up to criticism. Even at the everyday level: the ancient historians did not agree with the fact that Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, pointing out as such either Cassandra or another daughter of Priam. By the way, Helen the Beautiful was about forty years old at the end of the Trojan War, and her husband Menelaus waited ten whole years from the moment of his abduction before setting off to free his unfaithful wife. However, Homer and later authors still point out that the main reason for the Trojan War was the attempt to get Helen the Beautiful back. Why if we ignore the motivation of the “loving husband”?

In fact, Homer’s Iliad, as well as other myths and legends that have reached us, give a very clear idea of the social structure of the Greeks, and through this we can get answers to the questions that interest us.

Elena the Beautiful, even before her marriage, was kidnapped as a child by the legendary Theseus. Theseus kidnapped her in anticipation of the future - he wanted to wait until she came of age and marry her. In response to the kidnapping, Helen's brothers waged war against Theseus and freed their sister. Why is there such a fuss around it?

Helen was the daughter of the king of Sparta and... heir to the throne. Exactly. Let us remember the ancient customs of transfer of power. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the newcomer received power by marrying the king's daughter. This, in fact, is the father of Helen, and Aeneas, and the same Menelaus, and even the biblical David, who married Saul’s daughter.

It was the daughters who were the direct heirs to royal power and state lands. The candidate who won the grooms' tournament became the king. This tradition is described in both the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer: tournaments for the hand of Helen and Penelope are described, respectively.

Some stories of such tournaments in mythology have been changed over time. As in the case of Jason and Medea, Jason successfully passes the tests and, as a result, marries the king’s daughter. But he leaves Crete with Medea. The same situation is in the case of Theseus and Ariadne, because passing the labyrinth was nothing more than a test. And he, too, having married Ariadne, settled in another place. This only indicates that daughters were allocated different land allotments in the event that the king had several daughters.

And here sons were not given inheritance and could only gain power if they married. Such a system of transfer of power existed in Ancient Egypt. This tradition is even reflected in Russian folk tales, when the king sends his sons to find brides. And, having found them, the sons remain to live in the lands of their wives.

And even until the Middle Ages, the tradition of knightly tournaments was preserved in Europe: free knights were applicants for the hand of a beautiful lady. In order to become famous, they, just like the heroes of ancient mythology, performed feats on the principle of “showing yourself, watching people” and participated in tournaments, where, in case of victory, they received not only the lady’s hand, but also the lands assigned to her . It turns out to be a not entirely romantic image of a hero and a knight, of course, but it was determined by the system of transfer of power. Although, apparently, there were exceptions - in those cases when the ruling couple did not have daughters, the son became the heir. His wife, however, had all the rights of a queen, as was the case with Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. Despite the fact that Odysseus's father, Laertes, was alive, Penelope ruled Ithaca in Odysseus' absence.

And after a long absence of her husband, custom demanded that a new tournament be held, that is, the queen was recognized as free. According to legend, in some countries the bride had the right to choose a groom from among the applicants; in some, everything was decided by successfully passing the tests. But, as the stories of Jason and Theseus show, brides helped the grooms they liked.

No less important is the information that the queen could divorce her husband, and this was normal practice. According to prophecy, for example, Helen the Beautiful was destined to have five husbands. In addition, this is confirmed by numerous marriages of both queens and kings of antiquity. Historians often draw conclusions about polygamy, for example, of Priam, since several of his wives appear in legends. But we are talking about mutually beneficial marriages, as a result of which the king, in this case Priam, expanded his sphere of influence, and the queens did the same. We are talking about temporary marriages that ended in divorce.

Helen the Beautiful, having left Sparta with Paris, dissolved her marriage with Menelaus. But, being the heir to the throne of Sparta, she retained all rights to it, and Menelaus lost them, and his rule of Sparta was illegal. However, since Elena's new marriage was not accompanied by a ritual of choosing a groom, the custom was violated. Formally, her new marriage occurred in violation of the rules in force at that time.

What followed this violation? It was Helen's former suitors, such as Diomedes, Patroclus, Odysseus, Ajax, Schedius, Epistrophe, Philoctetes, Antilochus and others, who had previously taken part in the struggle for her hand, who united in an alliance against Troy in order to free Helen - "union of grooms" Why did the former suitors need this? Penelope's story provides an answer to this question - in the event of the queen's divorce, the rules of law required a new tournament to be held. And the former suitors decided to repeat their attempt to realize their rights along with Menelaus. The exception is Agamemnon, who was not previously Helen’s fiancé, however, he was also an interested party, since his power was connected with the power of his brother Menelaus.

Thus, in the Trojan War, the struggle really went for Helen the Beautiful, but not because she was the most beautiful of women, but because her hand gave the right to the throne of Sparta.

The fact that the Trojans stood up for Helen for so long and refused to compromise indicates that the Trojans really needed Sparta, they really wanted it. Why did Sparta interest so many applicants that it sparked the Trojan War?

Probably, interest in Sparta was justified by its geographical location. Although Greece at the time of the Trojan War was located on the Apennine Peninsula, the location of Sparta is unclear. In the Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily, a very curious legend has been preserved: in ancient times, there was a source of fresh water called Arethusa, which was connected under the bottom of the sea with the Spartan Alpheus. It is clear that Sparta in this case could not be located on the Balkan Peninsula - it was too far away, and the ancient Peloponnese peninsula, on which Sparta was located, could, in fact, be Sicily or the southern tip of the Italian boot. It is worth noting that in the Peloponnese there was a city of Sikyon, mentioned as part of the territories of Agamemnon, and on the island of Sicily from ancient times there were two peoples: the Siculi and the Sicani, who in fact gave the name to the island of Sikela (Sicily) - compare with Sikyon.

Geographically, this place is interesting because the Strait of Messina flows between Sicily and Italy - a short road from the western to the eastern Mediterranean, so, of course, the strait in ancient times was an important place in terms of the relationship between the west and the east, and there could well have been a struggle for it between different peoples. The Peloponnese, located in the Balkans, is not of such interest. However, wherever Ancient Sparta was located, it was she who was the “bone of discord” that caused the Trojan War.

Who got it in the end? There are conflicting data about this, but the fact that Elena did not return to Sparta is quite obvious from mythology. That is, the Achaeans did not achieve the desired result in the Trojan War.

Moreover, Almost all the Achaean heroes, if they returned home, were not at all victorious. Patroclus, Schedius, Medont, Antilochus died at Troy. The main commander Agamemnon, like Odysseus, returned to the country where he no longer had rights - his wife obviously carried out a formal divorce procedure, and he was killed. Philoctetes was also not accepted at home and sought happiness in Italy. Neoptolemus, the killer of Priam, also lost his rights to power during the war and migrated; his friend Phoenix died on the way from Troy.

Achilles, the main warrior of the Achaeans, was killed after attempting to woo Priam's daughter. It’s curious, isn’t it, that already at the end of the war, Achilles attempted to seize the Trojan throne in this way. Of course, this prospect did not please the Trojans. Ajax the Great, one of the leaders of the Achaeans, committed suicide. Ajax the Small, Elena's fiancé, died on the way home.

We do not see a picture of the winners returning home with trophies, but this was not a war for trophies. The Achaeans either returned home ingloriously, as a rule, to the region of the Apennine Peninsula, or were even expelled from home and sought happiness in Italy or nearby. Certainly, The Achaeans did not win the Trojan War - none of the suitors received Helen’s hand and with it the Spartan throne.

But the Trojans did not win the war. Even if in the end Sparta ended up in their hands for some time, their capital, Troy, was destroyed. However, the capital is not the whole country, and there is no mention in history of the war between the Achaeans and Troas. To assume that Troas consisted of only one city is quite unreasonable.

Who became the successor to the royal power of Troas? Priam had several daughters, to whom, accordingly, various territories were assigned. Polyxena, whom Achilles wanted to marry, was killed, as was Cassandra, taken away by Agamemnon. It must be said that the consent of the bride was an important component of the ceremony of choosing the groom, so the final choice was made by Elena the Beautiful independently. In this light, the deaths of Polyxena and Cassandra are understandable, because they were heirs and the Achaeans did not want to leave them the right of free choice.

Laodice was the wife of Antenor's son and died after the death of her son. However, her daughters could also remain, which determined the rights of the Antenor family to part of the Trojan territories. This fully explains his role in the later history of his “founding” of cities in Italy.

The second contender is, of course, Aeneas, whose first wife was the daughter of Priam Creus. According to Homer, the Trojan people remained, and Aeneas and his descendants became the heir to royal power:

Let us, gods, bring Aeneas out of death. And the Thunderer himself

He will hardly be pleased, I think, if Aeneas

The son of Peleus will kill. He is destined to be saved by fate,

So that without offspring, leaving no trace, the Dardana breed

It didn't stop. He was most dear to the Thunderer

Between his sons, from mortal women born.

The family of Priam became hated by King Kronid.

Will now rule the Trojans the power of Aeneas,

Also the children of children who will be born later.

Strabo gives an even more accurate translation:

The clan of Priam, the ruler, has long hated Kronion.

From now on Aeneas will reign powerfully over the Trojans,

He and sons from sons who are born late.

(Iliad, XX, 306)

And over which Trojan gods was Aeneas left to rule, just like Antenor? Over a hundred people who swam halfway across the Mediterranean Sea? No, of course, we are talking about managing the remaining inhabitants of the country of Troas. And Aeneas, as is known, together with part of the Trojans, settled on the Apennine Peninsula.

The son of Aeneas Ascanius, according to Nicholas of Damascus, founded the city of Ascania in Troas. And how could he have done this if Troas, after the loss, was located on the territory of the Hittites, modern Turkey? Despite the fact that Ascanius himself was on the Apennine Peninsula, where he founded the city of Alba Longa.

In Troas, the son of Hector Scamandrius and the son of Aeneas Ascanius founded the city of Skepsis, and these two families ruled for a long time in Skepsis. Strabo points out that Aeneas had made Skepsis his capital even earlier. Accordingly, a number of ancient authors indicated that Troas remained as a country after the Trojan War and was ruled

Aeneas. At the same time, Aeneas after the Trojan War is associated with the territory of Italy, both southern and northern, and, we believe, with southeastern France, in relation to which myths and legends practically did not survive after the purges of the Inquisition.

Thus, the conclusion is justified that the Troas was originally located in western Europe, and after the Trojan War, it expanded on the Apennine Peninsula into the lands of the Greeks. The Etruscan territories on the Apennine Peninsula were part of the Troas.

The fact of the settlement of peoples and characters who took part in the Trojan War on the territory of Western Europe cannot be considered as numerous coincidences. Most of the cities, the foundation of which is attributed to one or another character of the Trojan War, on both sides, are archaeologically confirmed at times no later than the Trojan War. Why not earlier or not on time? Why do most researchers prefer the version of the mass migration of both the Trojans and their enemies from east to west? They fought for Troy, therefore, they had to settle in its region. But for some reason, according to the generally accepted point of view, after the war in the east, everyone went west...

The resettlement of the Trojans does not have a reasonable explanation, since in fact they settled in various places in Western Europe, and the resettlement itself turns out to be massive, and not isolated examples of Aeneas and Antenor. But with the Greeks the situation is even worse, since there is a complete lack of motivation for such a resettlement, despite the fact that the existence of Magna Graecia, as well as the Troas, initially in the west puts everything in its place.

The events following the Trojan War in the region of the Troas itself and Greece should have been interconnected with it. Neither Troas nor Greece were destroyed as a result of the war. Accordingly, the territories in which they were located had to retain the geographical names indicated in myths and ancient texts. Both peoples had to maintain similarities to each other:

– language and culture;

– legends about the events of the Trojan War;

– religion – gods whose names appear in the myths about the Trojan War.

The appearance of both peoples is also important - in Homer and other authors, both the Trojans and the Greeks are repeatedly indicated as fair-haired representatives of the European race.

All this persisted for a long time in Western Europe, which is direct evidence of the location of Troy and Greece in this region.

But it is necessary to consider the subsequent history of the region where Troas and Greece are traditionally located.

From the book Empire - I [with illustrations] author

4. 2. The outcome of the Trojan War In the 13th century, the outcome of the Trojan War was not yet determined - in some battles the West won, in others - the East. But in general, victory leans in favor of the East. Waves of Russian-Turkish-Ottoman, that is, Cossack-Ataman, invasion again and again

From the book The Beginning of Horde Rus'. After Christ. The Trojan War. Founding of Rome. author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

From the book The Founding of Rome. The beginning of Horde Rus'. After Christ. Trojan War author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

4. Cause of the Trojan War The abduction of Helen in the Trojan War is the abduction of royal power, the “Mount of Olives”, in Jerusalem. The cause of the Trojan War, according to numerous myths and legends, is as follows. The Trojan Paris kidnapped Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Greeks

author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

11. Beginning of the Trojan War 41a. TROJAN WAR. THE GREEKS DECLARE WAR ON THE TROJANS. The Greeks begin negotiations with the Trojans about the fate of the kidnapped Helen. The Trojans refuse to return Helen. The Greeks declare war on Three .#41b. GOTHIC - TARQUINIAN WAR. GREEK BYZANTINE

From the book The Trojan War in the Middle Ages. Analysis of responses to our research [with illustrations] author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

21.2. Christian dating of the Trojan War The Bible describes the kingdoms of Judah and Israel that arose under Jeroboam I. The Bible calls his immediate predecessors the famous “great three” rulers - Saul, David and Solomon. According to Scaligerian

author

14. Beginning of the Trojan War 41a. Trojan War. THE GREEKS DECLARE WAR ON THE TROJANS. The Greeks begin negotiations with the Trojans about the fate of the kidnapped Helen. The Trojans refuse to return her. Then the Greeks declare war on Troy. 41b. Gothic-Tarquinian War. GREEK ROMAIC

From the book Book 1. Antiquity is the Middle Ages [Mirages in history. The Trojan War took place in the 13th century AD. Gospel events of the 12th century AD. and their reflections in and author Fomenko Anatoly Timofeevich

20. End of the Trojan War 86a. Trojan War. HOW TROILUS DIED IN THE TROJAN WAR. See fig. 5.71. The circumstances of the death of the Trojan Troil are as follows: 1) In the battle, Troil is surrounded by the Greeks. 2) Troil is killed with a spear. 3) Troil’s head is cut off by the Greeks, p. 127. At the same time, the episode with the severed head

21. Other legends of the Trojan War We have exhausted ALL THE MAIN LEGENDS THAT CONSTITUTE THE HISTORY OF THE TROJAN WAR. However, smaller fragments remained, which, it turns out, are also phantom reflections of medieval events.90a. Trojan War. ESCAPE-EXODUS

24.2. Christian dating of the Trojan War The Bible describes the kingdoms of Judah and Israel that arose under Jeroboam I. The Bible calls his immediate predecessors the famous “great three” rulers - Saul, David and Solomon. According to Scaligerian

24.5. Scaligerian dating of the Trojan War Superposition of the Trojan War allegedly 1225 BC. e. to the Gothic War allegedly of the 6th century AD. e., supposedly ending in 552 AD. e., is one of the most striking consequences of the HARD 1800-year, or 1780-year, chronological shift. IN

author author unknown

68. CAUSES AND RESULTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR At the beginning of the 20th century. In the international arena, contradictions between various states intensified, which ultimately led to the outbreak of a world war in 1914. The main rivals were the leading European states - England

From the book Domestic History: Cheat Sheet author author unknown

74. CONCEPT, CAUSES AND RESULTS OF CIVIL WAR Civil war is the most acute form of resolving social contradictions within the country; confrontation between various communities and groups for the realization of their fundamental interests, which is caused by attempts to seize

From the book Domestic History: Cheat Sheet author author unknown

81. REASONS FOR THE TERMINATION OF NEP AND ITS RESULTS In the second half of the 20s. The development of the NEP economy began to have a contradictory and sometimes crisis character. Faced with a lack of financial resources to expand industry, the Bolshevik leadership went

author Fomenko Anatoly Timofeevich

From the book The Trojan War in the Middle Ages. [Analysis of responses to our research.] author Fomenko Anatoly Timofeevich

17. End of the Trojan War 86a. TROJAN WAR. HOW TROILUS DIED IN THE TROJAN WAR. See fig. 59. The circumstances of the death of the Trojan Troil are as follows: 1) In the battle, Troil is surrounded by the Greeks. 2) Troil is killed with a spear. 3) Troil’s head is cut off by the Greeks, p. 127. At the same time, the episode with the severed head -

The structure and nature of Homer's narrative about the war between the Greeks and the Trojans is such that in the foreground are not military actions and the political reasons behind them, but the actions of individuals. The heroes of the Trojan War are the driving force behind the events described, their anger, joy, courage, valor and other feelings and qualities, combined with the intrigues of the Olympian gods.

Homer mentions a huge number of characters, primarily from the Greek side (although the Trojans are not deprived of attention), they are interconnected by an intricacy of motives and actions.

Achilles is the most powerful, famous and most beloved Greek hero by the author and readers. According to mythology, he is the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the sea goddess Thetis. In early childhood, the mother tried to make her son immortal by dipping him into the magical river Styx, which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. But at the same time, Thetis held her newborn son by the heel, thereby leaving the only place on his body vulnerable to weapons.

In his youth, Achilles did not perform great feats, but his reputation as a formidable warrior was high. By cunning, the Greeks convinced him to join the campaign against Troy (his mother was against it, knowing the prophecy about his death), during which he performed many feats. In the tenth year of the siege of Troy, he quarreled with Agamemnon over the captured captive Briseis. After the girl was taken to Agamemnon, Achilles became angry and refused to continue fighting. He returned to duty only after Hector killed his best friend Patroclus.

Achilles killed Hector under the walls of Troy, but he himself fell shortly before the capture of the city. He was struck in the heel by Paris, Hector's brother; according to another version, the arrow of Paris was directed by the sun god Apollo.

Patroclus

Patroclus is a distant relative and childhood friend of Achilles, who was raised with him. It is curious that in Western culture there has been a perception of Patroclus as the younger friend of Achilles, which was reflected in the Hollywood film “Troy” (2004). In fact, from Greek mythology it follows that Patroclus was older than Achilles, and quite significantly.

During the war, Patroclus was always a faithful ally of Achilles and accompanied him in all battles, even if it threatened him with death. After Achilles' quarrel with Agamemnon, Patroclus also refused to fight out of solidarity, but at a critical moment he entered the battle, wearing his friend's armor. The Greeks, encouraged by him, almost won, but at that moment Hector struck Patroclus.

Odysseus is the king of the island of Ithaca, one of the main heroes of the Iliad and the main character of the Odyssey. Not being the most powerful warrior of the Greeks, but possessing outstanding cunning, tactical and strategic thinking, he played a decisive role in the victory over Troy . Initially, he did not want to go to war, as he received a prediction that he would return to his home to his beloved wife and newborn son only 20 years later. He pretended to be insane, but was forced to admit his incapacity in the face of a threat to his son’s life.

In the Iliad, he constantly appears as the most cunning and even insidious of the Greeks, whose tricks served them great service. Thus, the Greeks did not dare to land on the shores of the Troas because of the prediction of the inevitable death of the first to set foot on Asian soil. Odysseus jumped from the ship to entice the others, but not before throwing his shield at his feet. Thus, instead of him, another warrior was the first to touch the Asian shore. It was Odysseus who invented the Trojan Horse, a ruse that allowed the Greeks to capture Troy.

Ajax the Great (Telamonides) and Ajax the Lesser (Oilides) are two Greek heroes who were inseparable friends; the expression “two Ajaxes” later became synonymous with strong male friendship. Ajax Telamonides was the most skillful and courageous warrior of the Greeks after Achilles, described as a powerful, tall man, virtually invincible in battle. At the same time, he was an extremely vain person: after the armor of the deceased Achilles was awarded to Odysseus, he fell into a rage, destroyed a herd of rams, which he angrily mistook for the Greek leaders who had insulted him, and then committed suicide.

Ajax the Small, who received his nickname due to his more modest dimensions compared to Telamonides, was a virtuoso javelin thrower and runner, and at the same time also had a violent disposition. During the assault on Troy, he overtook Cassandra in the temple, who was seeking protection from the statue of Athena, and raped her. For this he was killed by the gods during the sea return to his homeland.

Agamemnon - King of Mycenae, leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War. He was the first to support his brother, the Spartan king Menelaus, in his desire to go to Troy and destroy it. At the head of a hundred ships he was the most powerful of the military leaders of the Greeks. It is interesting that this character has a real historical prototype: Hittite sources of the 14th century BC mention King Akaganus from the country of Ahiyava.

The fate of Agamemnon was tragic: upon returning from the Trojan campaign with Cassandra as booty, he was killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, who seized power. At the end of the century before last, the amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, while excavating Mycenae, discovered royal burials with golden funeral masks, one of which he hastened to solemnly declare the mask of Agamemnon. In fact, these masks belong to an earlier historical era and are not connected with Agamemnon from the Homeric epic.

Menelaus is the king of Sparta, one of the most important characters not only in the Homeric epic, but also in all of ancient Greek mythology. In the modern interpretation, he is in the background and plays a subordinate role in relation to the more colorful characters - Agamemnon, Achilles and others. By and large, he was relegated to the type of a deceived husband - it was the betrayal of his wife Helen the Beautiful with the Trojan prince Paris that became the formal cause of the entire war.

Menelaus and Odysseus first went to Troy on a peaceful embassy demanding the return of Helen, but were ridiculed. He gathered an army together with Agamemnon and played an active role in the siege of Troy. In ancient times, he was a much more important character, since then a poem about the ten-year wanderings of Menelaus after the war in the East and Egypt, which has not survived to this day, was popular. It was an epoch-making story of a long and dangerous return home, modeled after the Odyssey. After the long-awaited return to Sparta, he ruled together with Helen, returned from Troy, and died a natural death.

Nestor

Nestor is perhaps the most prosperous of all the primary Greek heroes of the Trojan War. The king of Pylos, distinguished by his courage on the battlefield, personal valor (in his youth he was one of the participants in Jason’s legendary campaign for the Golden Fleece), prudence and wisdom (the most far-sighted of the Greek leaders along with Odysseus), and also enjoyed general respect and authority. With the blessing of the gods, he was distinguished by longevity and lived three “standard” lives.

Despite participating in the Trojan War at an advanced age, he personally participated in the battles, as well as in the running competitions during the ceremonial funeral games during the siege. The only leader of the Greek campaign whose return home was calm and whose subsequent life was cloudless.

Alexander Babitsky

After ten years of exhausting war and siege, one fine morning the Trojans, not believing their eyes, saw that the Greek camp was empty, and on the shore stood a huge wooden horse 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 installed in the citadel dedicated to Athena. When night came, the armed Achaeans sitting on horseback got out and attacked the sleeping inhabitants of the city. Thus, thanks to the horse, Troy was captured, and thus the Trojan War ended.
Nowadays, this legend is known to everyone, and the Trojan horse itself has long become a common noun - 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 the horse was the cause of the death of Troy, the person will most likely find it difficult to answer.

But really, why?
It turns out that this question was asked already in ancient times. Many ancient authors tried to find a reasonable explanation for the legend. A wide variety of 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 enter 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 distinguished each other from their opponents in the dark... 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, admittedly, none of them gives a satisfactory answer. It would probably be naive to believe that in this short study we will be able to comprehensively answer such an “old” question, but it’s still worth a try. Who knows - maybe the Trojan horse will reveal its secret to us a little.
So, let's try to enter into the position of the Achaeans. Simulating the lifting of the siege, they were supposed to leave something under the walls of Troy that the Trojans would simply be obliged to take into the city. Most likely, this role should have been played by the dedicatory gift to the gods, because neglecting the sacred gift from the point of view of the ancient man meant insulting the deity. And an angry deity is not to be trifled with. And so, 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 caution) into the city and install it in a sacred place.
However, the role of a dedicatory gift could be played by almost any sacred image. Why was the horse chosen?
Troy has long been famous for its horses; because of them, traders came here from all over the world, and because of them, raids were often made on the city. In the Iliad, the Trojans are called "hippodamoi", "horse tamers", and legends say that the Trojan king Dardanus had a herd of magnificent horses, descended from the northernmost wind Boreas. In general, the horse was one of the creatures closest to humans in 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 dedicatory gift.
By the way, the images for sacred statues and sacrificial gifts were not chosen by chance. Each deity had animals dedicated to him, and he could take on their appearance: for example, Zeus in myths turns into a bull, Apollo into a dolphin, and Dionysus into a panther. In Mediterranean cultures, the horse in one of its aspects was associated with the fertility of the fields, with a bountiful 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, spontaneous and uncontrollable force, with earthquakes and destruction, and as such was the sacred animal of the god Poseidon.

So, maybe the key to unlocking the Trojan horse is in the “Earth Shaker” Poseidon? Among the Olympians, this god was distinguished by his unbridled character and penchant for destruction. And he had old scores to settle with Troy. Perhaps the destruction of Troy by a horse is just an allegory of the strong earthquake that destroyed the city?

It turns out that this really happened. But this only happened with another Troy.

Before Priam, the ruler of Troy was King Laomedon, famous for his stinginess and treachery. Once, the gods Apollo and Poseidon, punished by Zeus, were given to his service. Apollo tended the flocks, and Poseidon labored as a builder: he built invulnerable walls around the city. However, after the expiration of the term, the gods did not receive any reward for their work and were kicked out 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 undertaking, but the greedy king here too regretted the due reward - 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 Laomedon, and installed Priam as king (“Priam” means “bought”: he was indeed bought 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 the 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 haunted by some kind of fate: to be destroyed twice because of horses!)

Unfortunately, divine wrath was unlikely to have anything to do with the Trojan horse. Priam's Troy did not fall due to a cataclysm (this has also been 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 of infiltrating the city with the help of a horse is suggested by his eternal rival Athena.

So, the symbolism of the horse does not end with Poseidon...

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

What does this have to do with Troy, you ask? The most direct thing. 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, from the point of view of myth, Troy was an “inaccessible” place, a kind of “enchanted city” that could not be defeated by ordinary means. In order to get into the city, the heroes did not even need military cunning, but a special, magical “carrier”. And such a carrier becomes a wooden horse, with the help of which they accomplish what they have been trying to do for ten years without success (naturally, when speaking about the 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, takes on a completely special meaning. We are no longer talking about a small fortress on the banks of the Pontus, or even about the capital of the ancient state of Asia Minor. Homeric Troy receives the status of a certain transcendental place for which a battle is being waged. And the battles taking place under the walls and within the walls of this Troy are by no means a vendetta between two tribes, but a reflection of events of global significance. The Trojan Horse opens the last act of this world drama.

By the way, this is confirmed by the scale of the war. Archaeologically, Troy is just a small fortress. Why, according to Homer, to take it, ships are sent from 160 city-states of Greece - from 10 to 100 ships, that is, a fleet of at least 1600 ships? And if you multiply by 50 warriors each - this is an army of more than 80 thousand people! (For comparison: Alexander the Great needed 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 Homer's 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 “To the Fairest” 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, seduced by the prospect of having the most beautiful wife in the world (Helen), awards the apple to Aphrodite (then Paris kidnaps Helen, and a war breaks out).

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

Then, from the marriage of Zeus and Nemesis, Helen is born, a perfect beauty for whom the entire 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 the prediction that he will destroy the Trojan kingdom. So, all the characters are there, Helen is kidnapped and a war breaks out, the real goal of which is to destroy two great kingdoms and the best of the heroes of the ancient world.

And what Zeus planned comes true: almost all the heroes, both Achaeans and Trojans, die under the walls of Troy. And of those who survive the war, many will die on the way home, some, like King Agamemnon, will find death at home at the hands of loved ones, others will be expelled and spend their lives wandering. In essence, this is the end of the heroic age. Under the walls of Troy there are no victors and no vanquished, heroes are becoming a thing of the past, and the time of ordinary people is coming.

By the way, it is interesting that the horse is also symbolically associated with birth and death. A horse made of spruce wood, carrying something in its belly, symbolizes the birth of a new one, and the Trojan horse is made of 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 it also 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. Tribes of the Dorians, a barbarian people who completely destroyed the ancient Mycenaean civilization, moved from the north to the Balkan Peninsula. Only after several centuries will Greece be reborn and it will be possible to talk about Greek history. The destruction will be so great that the entire pre-Dorian history will become a myth (so much so that only from the middle of the 19th century will scientists begin to talk seriously about Mycenaean Greece and Troy, and before that they will be considered a fairy tale). Of the 160 Greek states mentioned by Homer in his 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 set out to create his “new Troy” and lay the foundation for Rome, the civilization of the world to come. And Odysseus... the “much-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 on his journey, including his own name. To reach the borders of the inhabited world and visit countries that no one has seen and from which no one has returned. To descend into the world of the dead and again “resurrect” 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 a “hero of the new time” will be born. He will endure great suffering and the wrath of the gods. This will be a new hero - energetic, insightful and wise, inquisitive and dexterous. With his ineradicable desire to understand the world, his ability to solve problems not with physical strength and valor, but with a sharp mind, he is not like the heroes of the “old” world. He will come into conflict 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 go away, and with it something mysterious and hidden will go away. But something new will be born. This will be a world whose hero will be 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, “The Iliad,” in which he describes one of the episodes of the Trojan War, which took place between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans in the 12th century BC. e. However, it should be taken into account 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, first of all, interested in the methods of combat in that period - from the Trojan War to Homer inclusive - as reported by the poet.

The city of Troy was located a few kilometers from the shore of the Hellespont (Dardanelle Strait). Trade routes used by 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, Mysia, etc.), as a result of which the war became protracted 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 Greek ships pulled ashore.

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

Therefore, it would be more accurate to assume that the Achaeans had several thousand warriors. This army was led by Agamemnon, the king of the “many-gold Mycenae.” The warriors of each tribe were led by their own 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, armor on his chest, a helmet with a horse's mane and a large copper-bound shield. Tribal leaders fought on war chariots or dismounted. Ordinary warriors were worse armed: they had spears, slings, “double-edged axes,” axes, bows and arrows, shields and were a support for their leaders, who themselves entered into single combat with the best warriors of Troy. From Homer's descriptions we can imagine the setting in which the combat took place. The opponents were located close to each other.
The war chariots lined up; the warriors took off their armor and placed them next to the chariots, then sat down on the ground and watched the single combat of their leaders. The combatants first threw spears, then fought with copper swords, which soon became unusable. Having lost his sword, the fighter took refuge in the ranks of his tribe or was given new weapons to continue the fight. The winner removed the armor from the dead man and took away his weapons.

To conduct combat, war chariots and infantry were placed in a certain order. The war chariots were lined up in front of the infantry in a line maintaining alignment, “so that no one, relying on their art and strength, would fight against the Trojans ahead of the rest alone, so that they would not rule back.” Behind the war chariots, covering themselves with “convex” shields, lined up foot soldiers armed with spears with copper tips. The infantry was built in several ranks, which Homer calls “thick phalanxes.” The leaders lined up the infantry, driving the cowardly warriors into the middle, “so that even those who don’t want to have to fight against their will.”

War chariots first entered the battle, and then “continuously, one after another, the phalanx of the Achaeans moved into battle against the Trojans,” “they walked silently, fearing their leaders.”

The infantry first struck with spears and then cut with swords. The infantry fought war chariots with spears. Archers also took part in the battle, but the arrow was considered an unreliable weapon 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 spear tips bent, and swords broke from strong blows. The maneuver had not yet been used on the battlefield, but the beginnings of organizing the interaction of war chariots and foot soldiers had already appeared.

Usually the battle 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 army in the field and defensive structures (the fortress wall and the fortifications of the camp - a ditch, sharpened stakes and a wall with towers). The guard, usually consisting of several detachments, was placed behind the ditch. At night, reconnaissance was sent to the enemy’s camp in order to capture prisoners and find out the enemy’s intentions; 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, drove the Achaeans back to their fortified camp. They then crossed the ditch and began to storm the wall with the towers, but were repulsed. However, they soon managed to break the gates with stones and break into the Achaean camp. A battle ensued near the ships. Until this time, some warriors did not participate in the battle due to intertribal strife. The danger forced the Achaeans to rally, as a result of which the Trojans met fresh enemy forces at the ships. It was a dense formation of closed shields “peak near peak, shield against shield, going under the neighboring one.” The warriors lined up in several ranks, as a result of which “in bold, hesitating hands, spears stretched in layers.” In this formation, the Achaeans repelled the Trojans, and with a counterattack - “with blows of sharp swords and double-edged peaks” - drove them back.

Describing the course of the battle among the Achaean ships, Homer showed some aspects of the tactical order. He mentions ambushes, in which, according to him, the valor of the warriors is most manifested, he talks about the choice of the place to strike by the Achaeans who came to the rescue: “Where, Deucalidus, do you intend to attack the Trojan army? Do you want to strike your enemies with the right wing, in the middle, or with 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, loaded and sailed. While the Trojans, intoxicated by success, were celebrating their victory, one of the Achaean detachments secretly entered Troy at night, opened the city gates and let in their army, which had returned from behind the island behind which it was hiding. Troy was sacked and destroyed. Thus ended the many years of the Trojan War

TROJAN WAR

One of the central events in Greek mythology. Ancient sources explain the occurrence of the Trojan War by the will of Zeus, who wished either to “reduce the burden of the earth” (Eur. Hel. 36 - 41; Procl. Chrest. 1), or to give the opportunity to glorify divine heroes, or to preserve in the memory of posterity the beauty of his daughter Helen (Apollod . epit. III 1). The impetus for the war was a dispute between three goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite for the possession of an apple, which Eris threw to them with the inscription “most beautiful” (“apple of discord”) (Apollod. epit. III 2). Apparently, quite early, the mythological tradition timed this event to coincide with the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, to which all the gods were invited except Eris (Hyg. Fab. 92). In order to judge the arguing goddesses, Zeus instructed Hermes to take them to Mount Ida (in Troas), where young Paris was tending herds. Faced with the need to choose and seduced by Aphrodite's promise to give him the love of Helen, Paris recognized Aphrodite as the most beautiful of the goddesses (Eur. Troad. 924 - 932), which later earned her help, but forever made Hera and Athena his enemies (Hom. Il. XXIV 25-30). This explains the support that Aphrodite provides to the Trojans during the war, and Hera and Athena to their opponents, the Achaeans. Then Paris sailed by ship to Greece, stayed at the house of Menelaus and, taking advantage of his departure, with the assistance of Aphrodite, convinced Helen to leave Sparta and her husband and become his wife (Apollod. epit. III 3). The abduction of Helen was the direct cause of the Trojan War. With the support of his brother Agamemnon, Menelaus gathered a large army, since Helen's former suitors were bound by a joint oath to take revenge if necessary for insulting her husband (Hes. frg. 204, 78-85; Eur. Iphig. A. 57 - 71). The Achaean army included the most noble heroes: Odysseus, Philoctetes, both Ajaxes, Diomedes, Sthenelus, Protesilaus, etc. It was also possible to attract Achilles to the campaign (Hyg. Fab. 96), although he did not participate in seeking the hand of Helen Hes. frg. 204, 87-92). The Achaean fleet, gathered in the Boeotian harbor of Aulis, numbered over a thousand ships (1013 - Apollod. epit. III 14; 1186 - Hom. Il. II). Agamemnon was chosen as the leader of the entire army, as the most powerful of the Achaean kings.

Sources attribute two events to the time of the Achaean army’s stay in Aulis. The first is the sign sent to the Achaeans by the gods at the altar of Apollo: the appearance of a snake that stole eight chicks from the nest along with their mother. Kalkhant explained this phenomenon as follows: The Trojan War will last nine years and will end with the victory of the Greeks only in the tenth year of the siege (Hom. Il. II 299 - 330). The second sign is the sacrifice of Iphigenia. According to one version of the legend, these two events are separated from each other by ten years: sailing from Aulis for the first time, the Achaeans supposedly ended up not in Troy, but in Mysia, which lies south of the Troas. Sailing from here after a collision with the Mysian king Telephus, the Greeks were caught in a storm and each returned to their native places. Only ten years after the abduction of Helen did the Achaean army gather again in Aulis, and then Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis in order to ensure the safe arrival of the fleet at Troy (Apollod. epit. III 17-23). In this case, the destruction of Troy should be attributed to the twentieth year after the abduction of Helen (Hom. Il. XXIV 765 seq.). Since, however, such a significant interval between the beginning of the Trojan War and the fall of Troy significantly violates the rest of the epic chronology, the first expedition is not taken into account in all sources.

On the way to Troy, the Greeks stopped on the island of Tenedos, where Achilles killed King Tenes, and Philoctetes was bitten by a snake, and he was left on the island of Lemnos (Apollod. epit. III 26-27; Plut. Quest, graec. 28). Before landing on the Trojan plain, the Greeks sent Odysseus and Menelaus to negotiate with the Trojans about handing over Helen and returning the treasures. The embassy ended unsuccessfully, and war became inevitable (Hom. Il. III 205-224; XI 138-142).

The main events of the Trojan War unfolded in its tenth year. The temporary withdrawal from the battles of Achilles (offended by the fact that Agamemnon took away his captive Briseis) gives the opportunity to show their valor to the rest of the Achaean leaders (Diomedes, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Nestor and his son Antilochus, Ajax Telamonides). Among the Trojans, Hector is the main character, since King Priam of Troy was too old to lead the defense of the city. Since after Achilles’s refusal to participate in hostilities, success clearly leans on the side of the Trojans approaching the most Achaean ships (Book XV of the Iliad), Achilles allows his best friend and brother-in-arms Patroclus to enter the battle. Patroclus stops the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself dies at the hands of Hector, supported by Apollo (Book XVI). Achilles, obsessed with a thirst for revenge, kills many enemies; Hector also dies in a duel with him (book XX - XX11). However, as is clear from post-Homeric sources, even after this the Trojans still had enough strength to resist the Greeks. Although Achilles kills the leader of the Amazons Penthesilea and the king of the Ethiopians Memnon, who came to the aid of the Trojans, in battle, he himself dies from the arrow of Paris, directed by Apollo. A dispute breaks out between Odysseus and Ajax Telamonides over the weapons of the deceased hero, ending with the suicide of the offended Ajax (Apollod. epit. V 6-7; Soph. Ai).

Construction of the Trojan horse. Painting by D. B. Tiepolo. 1757-62. London, National Gallery.

The new stage of the Trojan War is associated with the arrival of Philoctetes from Lemnos and Neoptolemus from Skyros near Troy. Paris dies from the arrow of the first, the second kills the Mysian Eurypylus. After this, the Trojans no longer risk going to battle in the open field, but for the Greeks the powerful walls of Troy still remain an insurmountable obstacle. Odysseus finds a way out of the situation; on his advice, master Epeus builds a huge wooden horse, in the hollow interior of which a selected detachment of Achaean warriors hides, the rest of the army stages a return to their homeland: he burns the camp on the plain, then the fleet sails from the Trojan coast and takes refuge on the island of Tenedos (Hom. Oct. IV 271 - 289; VIII 492 - 520). On the shore, the Achaeans leave Sinon, who encourages the Trojans to introduce a wooden horse into the city as a gift to Athena. At night, the Greeks, hidden in the belly of the horse, get out and open the city gates to their soldiers returning from the island of Tenedos. The beating of the Trojans, taken by surprise, begins. The entire male population dies, with the exception of Aeneas with several associates, who receives instructions from the gods to flee from taken Troy in order to revive its glory elsewhere (Verg. Aen. II). The women of Troy also face a sad fate: Andromache becomes a captive of Neoptolemus, Cassandra is given as a concubine to Agamemnon, Polyxena is sacrificed at the grave of Achilles (Eur. Troad, 240 - 291). The city perishes in a terrible fire.

In the Achaean camp, immediately after the fall of Troy, strife arose (Apollod. epit. VI 1). Ajax Ocleides, having desecrated the altar of Athena by violence against Cassandra, brings the wrath of the goddess upon the sailing Achaean fleet (Eur. Troad. 69-94). During a terrible storm, many ships are destroyed by waves and wind, others are broken on the coastal rocks, deceived by Nauplius's false signal. The storm carries Menelaus and Odysseus to distant lands, after which their long-term wanderings begin. Agamemnon, upon returning home, becomes a victim of a conspiracy between his wife Clytaemestra and Aegisthus. The myth of the Trojan War is a complex complex of folklore motifs and heroic legends. Such traditional subjects as “the kidnapping of a wife,” a dispute over her (the battle of Menelaus with Paris in Book III of the Iliad), a heroic duel (Hector and Ajax in Book VII, Achilles and Hector in Book XXII), mourning of a hero and funeral games (in honor of Patroclus in book XXIII) were combined in the legend of the Trojan War with memories of historical events that took place in the last century of the existence of the Mycenaean civilization. The settlement of Troy (known in ancient times more often under the name Ilion), which arose already in the late. 4th millennium BC e., due to its strategic position on the way from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, it repeatedly became the target of attack by neighboring and distant tribes. Its destruction in mid. 13th century BC e. as a result of the war of the Trojans and their allies with the unification of the Achaean states, it was imprinted in the memory of posterity as the largest event of the past, and ideas about its predecessor, a rich city, which also died in a fire at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, could be transferred to Homer’s Troy . e.

From establishing the historicity of a number of battles for the Troad region in the 2nd millennium BC. e. One should not conclude that the description of the Trojan War and its participants in the ancient Greek epic, the final form of which occurred in the 8th-7th centuries, is equally historically accurate. BC e. and is separated from the events described there by 4-5 centuries. During the formation of the ancient Greek epic, the laws of concentration of action around a single plot center and the principles of typification of heroic images, common to the heroic poetry of all peoples, were in effect.

Along with the Iliad, the events of the Trojan War were reflected in the unsurvived, but well-known and later retold “cyclic” poems of the 7th–6th centuries. BC e. (“Ethiopida”, “Destruction of Ilion” and “Small Iliad”), probably used by Virgil in the 2nd book. “Aeneids” and the late poet Quintus of Smyrna (4th century AD) in the compilation poem “Continuation of Homer”. From Athenian tragedies of the 5th century. BC BC, which abundantly drew material from the cyclic epic, Euripides’s “Trojan Women”, used in Seneca’s tragedy of the same name, are dedicated to the destruction of Troy. For medieval Europe, one of the sources was the late antique stories “Diary of the Trojan War” and “On the Death of Troy.” It is to these works that the medieval “Roman of Troy” by Benoit de Saint-Maur, “The History of the Destruction of Troy” by Guido de Columna, as well as Slavic stories of the 15th century largely go back. “On the Creation and Captivity of Troy” and “The Parable of the Stealers.” From the works of modern times: Berlioz’s opera “The Conquest of Troy”, Giraudoux’s drama “There Will Be No Trojan War”.

Characters and cult objects of Greek mythology. 2012

Heroes of the Trojan War are the names of Greeks and Trojans. The Trojan War - briefly. The death of Achilles and the capture of Troy

Where was Troy?

Cause of the Trojan War

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what the TROJAN WAR is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books: