Troy is believed to be a historical city, the place where the Trojan War was fought. The city of Ilium was built on this place which many historians think was the site where Emperor Augustus ruled in his era. In the 19th century, several excavations on this site suggest that the site had numerous cities’ built-in progression to each other. According to wood, the tale of Trojans begun in Greeks mythology whereby the Trojans were thought to be prehistoric inhabitants of the city.
The city was famous for its strong economic position. The city of troy had strong walls which were built with the help of Poseidon who also did fortifications for Laomedon. As a result of Laomedon’s refusal to pay for the services, Poseidon punished him by flooding the land. Poseidon also demanded Hesione be sacrificed, god. Following this plague came and as result, the sea god seized the people of the plain. For almost a century, before the Trojan War Heracles conquered Troy and murdered Laomedon and all his other sons except Priam who later become the king. It was during rule when Mycenaean attacked and took away Troy in the famous Trojan War.
Troy and Trojan War were only known in the realm of historical legend as criticism of its existence intensified in modern history. The 19th archeological works Schliemann of Schliemann has however shed some light on their existence. The discovery of several ruins of successive pre-historical cities as old as the bronze era suggests that, Troy and the Trojan war as a historical reality. Particularly, the excavations Wilhelm Dörpfeld in the late 19th century and those of Carl Blegen in the early 19th century are said to be giving light on whether the Trojan War was fought. One of their discoveries is the archaeological layer which was named Troy.
This discovery point to the pottery styles of the 13th century. From the discovery, it seems this troy layer to have been damaged by the Trojan War. I, therefore, side with Dropfield or Blegen on the troy layer that corresponds with the Trojan War. This is because from the troy layer we see that it favors damage by war rather than a natural catastrophe.
Wood observes that the cause of the Trojan War is the courtship of Helen. Helen was a very beautiful lady and as such vast majority of Greek, princes wanted to marry her. Helen’s stepfather was worried that Helen and her chosen partner were to have problems from those who will not marry her. To make sure Helen was secure after marrying her chosen partner, he ensured that all those who desired to be her partner, take an oath of protecting her and her chosen husband. Helen selected King Menelaus who ruled Sparta during that period.
According to Wood, after Helen was kidnapped by Paris and taken to Troy, all those who wanted to marry her, of who most were princes were supposed (as per the accord) to help Menelaus recover Helen from her abductor. For this reason, the Greeks assisted Menelaus with a thousand warships to help him take back Helen from Troy.
Wood observes that a brother to King Menelaus by the name of Agamemnon led the Greeks armies in search of Helen. The convoy of the warships was hold up on the Greek coast. The reason for the delay of the warships at the coast was that the winds were blowing the opposite direction the Greeks required to sail to Troy.
To solve this problem, Wood observes that, Agamemnon looked for the help of an oracle who advised that so as the direction of the wind was to change, he had to sacrifice his daughter to a goddess by the name Artemis. Agamemnon followed what he was told by the oracle and sacrificed his daughter. This led to lasting conflict with his wife. After complying with the oracle’s conditions, the wind changed direction and the ships were able to sail to Troy (Wood, 1998).
According to Wood, in the epic war, a number of the gods who were concerned were not neutral. Hence, Poseidon was for the Greeks forces. The reason for Poseidon’s support for the Greeks was that after he assisted create the walls of Troy (as a penalty pounced on him by Zeus) he was not entitled to wages from the King. Additionally, Athena and Hera supported the Greeks since Paris had selected Aphrodite, who was not considered as one of their own. Hermes and Hephaestus were also in the support of the Greeks. On the other hand, Aphrodite supported Trojans, with intend of shielding Paris who had preferred Aphrodite as the fairest (Wood, 1998). Other gods who supported the Trojans were Apollo and Artemis. In the neutral place were the Demeter and Hestia among other gods.
During the initial nine years of war, the Greeks could not enter the city of Troy, and thus they fought the neighboring cities and territories to cut short the supply of food to the city of Troy. The walls of the city of Troy were large and made it impossible for Greeks forces to enter the city. But, the Greeks were to attack the city of Troy in the 10th year of war after they have conquered all the surrounding territories. In this year of the battle, Achilles was murdered by Paris’s arrow. According to Wood, Paris’s arrow was directed by Apollo.
Wood observes that Odysseus and Ajax longed to have the Achilles’ armor. They, therefore, fought for it and Odysseus was given the armor, something that made Ajax insane as a result of his worries at losing the armor. Out of desperation, Ajax murdered flocks of sheep and cattle which he believed were his adversaries (Wood, 1998). He later recovered his sanity, though; he killed himself after understanding what he did when he was mad. Wood observes that Ajax‘s death was a big blow to the army of the Greeks. Additionally, the Amazon army had been a part of the Trojans and as such this period of the war was not good for the Greeks.
According to Wood, it was at this time when the Greeks came to know what was needed to defeat Troy. The conditions included among others; Achilles’ son had to join them, they had to use the armors of Hercules, they had to recover the remains of Agamemnon’s grandfather and they had to steal the statue of Athena which was in the Trojan citadel.
To accomplish the above-aforementioned conditions, their leaders such as Odysseus went through much turmoil. Odysseus coined a plan that enabled them to enter the city. The plan was that they should conceal their soldiers inside a horse who will waylay the Trojans. When the Trojans came near the horse Sinon met them and claimed that the Greeks had wanted to kill him, though he had escaped. He further told them that the horse was meant to be sacrificed to Athena and as such Trojans should take it into the city for security reasons.
Prophet Laocoon did not agree with Sinon’s statements as he knew that it was a trick. For this reason, he stabbed the horse with a spear, and immediately he was swallowed by a sea snake. Following this, Sinon stated that the Trojans ought to receive the horse lest they are punished like Laocoon, and as such the Trojans took the horse into the city.
Wood observes that that day when the Trojans were asleep, the Greeks warriors inside the horse opened the city doors allowing the Greeks army into the city. The Greeks army destroyed the city ending a decade-long war.
In a nutshell, what is more, interesting in this account is how different people were determined to attain what they thought was theirs. One of the key figures in the course of the Trojan War was Mycenae. In my opinion, Mycenae was plausible as the head of such a Pan-Hellenic armed force. This is because he helped the Greeks army conquer the Trojan city.
Reference
Wood, M. (1998). In Search of the Trojan War. California: University of California Press.