What was the Trojan War?
The Trojan War was a legendary war in which the Greeks besieged the city of Troy for ten years after the Trojan prince Paris took Helen, wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. It is told in Homer's Iliad.
According to Greek myth, Paris was promised the most beautiful woman in the world by the goddess Aphrodite. He took Helen from Sparta to Troy, and the Greeks, led by King Agamemnon, sailed to bring her back. Heroes on both sides included Achilles and Odysseus for the Greeks, and Hector for the Trojans.
The Greeks finally won by trickery. They built a giant wooden horse, hid soldiers inside and pretended to sail away. The Trojans brought the horse into the city as a trophy. At night, the soldiers came out and opened the gates, and Troy was destroyed.
Myth or history?
For a long time, Troy was thought to be purely legendary. In the 1870s, Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site at Hisarlik in northwest Turkey, which most archaeologists now identify as Troy. Evidence shows the city was destroyed around 1180 BC, possibly reflecting real conflicts behind the legend.
Did You Know?
The phrase Trojan horse is now used for anything that tricks its way in, including malicious computer programs that pretend to be harmless.