The Trojan War is a milestone in Greek mythology. Paris, son of the King of Troy, is invited to discuss the beauty of the three goddesses of Olympus. In return for his verdict, he is promised the most beautiful woman in the world. Since Elena by that time was already married to the king of Sparta, Paris kidnaps her in Troy.

The kidnapping of Helena the Beautiful spawns a ten-year Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans. In the end, it is not resolved by battle, but by the trick of Odysseus: Greek soldiers hidden in a wooden horse ("Trojan horse") enter the enemy city and open the gates to their comrades at night. Thus, Troy was taken and destroyed.

The Trojan War is a central event in Greek mythology.

Divine dispute and the abduction of Elena the Beautiful

The reason for the Trojan War was the abduction of Helena the Beautiful by the son of the King of Troy, Paris.

All Greek gods and goddesses were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, except for Eris, the goddess of strife. In retaliation, she comes uninvited and unleashes a dispute: in the middle of the holiday, she throws a golden apple at the center of the divine society, on which is written “The Most Beautiful” (hence the “Apple of Discord”). A fierce dispute arises about who is the most beautiful among the goddesses on Olympus - Hera, the wife of Zeus, the goddess of wisdom or Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

Zeus wants to end the argument. Therefore, he gives the right to judge Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, who should own the apple (this decision is the so-called "Judgment of Paris"). Paris awards an apple to the goddess Aphrodite, as he considers her the most beautiful woman in the world. However, Paris falls in love with Helen, who is already married to Menelaus, King of Sparta, and wants to buy the title of beauty from Aphrodite. He does not succeed, and therefore Paris kidnaps Elena the Beautiful (Trojan).

Menelaus demands the return of his wife, but the Spartans refuse to return Elena. Then the powerful brother of Menelaus Agamemnon, who was the king of Mycenae, unites the Greek army and leads the high command. There were many brave heroes on the Greek side, of which the most important role played by Odysseus, king of Ithaca and Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis.

On the Trojan side were, first of all, Hector, the son of King Priam, and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite. Greek gods they also take sides: Athena is supporting the Greeks, Aphrodite and Apollo are helping the Trojans.

Achilles' wrath

Troy is besieged for ten years, but the Greeks cannot capture the city. In the tenth year, a split occurs in the Greek army: Achilles was deprived by Agamemnon of his beloved slave Briseis. Achilles leaves his anger. But when his best friend Patroclus was killed by Hector, Achilles wants revenge, and returns to fight Troy. He was invulnerable, having plunged into the waters of the Styx in infancy - only the heel by which his mother held him remained vulnerable (hence the vulnerable point or weak point of a person is called the "Achilles heel").

Achilles defeated and killed Hector and dragged him around the tomb of Patroclus. King Priam begs for the body of his son from Achilles, and the funeral procession departs. Achilles himself was killed by Paris, whose arrow was controlled by Apollo and hit the Achilles heel.

The end of the war and the conquest of Troy happened thanks to the trick of Odysseus: on his advice, the Greeks build a wooden horse ("Trojan horse"), in whose belly the most daring heroes are hiding. The horse was left at the gates of the city of Troy, the Greek ships retreated.

The Trojans believe that the Greeks abandoned the siege and left the horse as a gift to the Trojans. Despite Laocoon's warnings about the danger, they drag the horse into the city to dedicate it to the goddess Athena. At night, Greek fighters secretly emerge from a wooden horse, summon ships with fiery torches and open the gates to the Greek soldiers. Thus, Troy was finally conquered and destroyed.

Aeneas' escape from Troy

The Trojan King Priam, his family and his soldiers were killed or captured. But Aeneas escapes from the burning city, saving not only his father Ankhiz, whom he carries on his shoulders, but also his son Askania. After long wanderings, he arrives in Italy, where his descendants founded Rome. Thus, Troy is associated with the myths surrounding the founding of Rome.

Mythological sources

Homer, in the 8th century BC In the Iliad, he describes only the decisive final phase of the ten-year war, starting with the episode "Achilles' wrath" until the death and burial of Hector. The background and the Trojan War itself (the divine dispute and the abduction of Elena) are quite vividly woven into the narrative. Likewise, the end of the war, the conquest and destruction of Troy are also indirectly described in the Odyssey.

Historicity of the Trojan War

They were written long before Homer and were passed down orally from generation to generation until Homer put them in writing. The myth reflects traditional poetry and legend, a historically unproven past. The historicity of the Trojan War remains controversial. Although the events of the war are not supported by archaeological findings, many scholars believe that the myth is based on real events during the period of Mycenaean colonization in Asia Minor (in the 13th century BC).

The ancient Greeks believed Trojan War the most significant event of its own. Historians of antiquity were sure that it took place at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries BC.
There were many myths and legends about how the Achinean Greeks began a war against the city of Troy, which was located in the northwestern part of the Asia Minor peninsula.
The great Greek Homer described the events of this epoch-making event in his poem “Iliad.” For a long time, all these events, along with the legendary Troy, were considered a myth, until Heinrich Schliemann dug up Troy., Whose characters were not only real heroes, but also the gods, got their material confirmation.
A beautiful legend is the cause of the Trojan War, which became a kind of borderline between the ended era of gods and heroes, and the beginning of the era of ordinary people.
The cause of the war was the golden apple of discord, which the goddess Eris threw to the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite who were feasting at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. On the apple was written "The Most Beautiful" and the goddesses argued over to whom it should belong.
The judge in this dispute was Paris, the youngest son of the Trojan king Priam. The goddesses who appeared to him, each of whom tried to seduce the prince with their gifts, he replied that for him the most beautiful is Elena, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Aphrodite, who is the goddess of love, approved of Paris's choice and decided to help him kidnap Elena.
In the absence of Menelaus, Paris, appearing to his house as a guest, showed treachery and secretly took away his wife. The fugitives took with them not only slaves, but also the treasures of the royal house. According to one version, after three days they hid behind the walls of Troy. According to the other, the goddess Hera decided to take revenge on Paris and sent a storm to the sea, which threw the ship of the fugitives to the Phoenician shores and from there they traveled for a long time to Troy.
Paris violated all the laws of hospitality and had to answer for his wrong. His father Priam and older brother Hector understood that Paris, with his act, inflicted a cruel insult on Menelaus and all the Greeks, and they would not leave the Trojan prince's act without consequences. Their revenge will be terrible, and a whole people will suffer because of the recklessness of the lover.
Menelaus, together with his brother, the powerful king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, gathered a huge army. They were joined by noble Achaean heroes and kings along with their retinues: Odysseus, Achilles, Diomedes, Ajax, Philoctetus and many others. The Greeks chose the Achaean king Agamemnon as their leader, who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia for the sake of victory.
According to legend, the gods also took part in the Trojan War. Rejected by Paris, Hera and Athena stood for the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo helped the Trojans.
At first, the Greeks, in spite of the insult inflicted, wanted to resolve everything peacefully and sent the experienced diplomat Odysseus and the offended spouse Menelaus to the negotiations. The Trojans abandoned the peaceful solution, and a long, exhausting war began.
The Greeks could not take Troy at once and a ten-year siege began. They camped on the seashore, ravaging nearby cities and attacking the Trojan allies.
At the same time, clashes constantly arose in the Achaean camp, which led to failures in hostilities. Everyone was tired after ten years of siege of the impregnable fortress and there was a moment when the attackers decided to return to their ships to sail home. The situation was saved by Odysseus, who returned the deserters with a firm hand.
Taking advantage of the feuds of the Greeks, the Trojans, under the leadership of Hector, went on the offensive, broke into the Achaean camp and were going to burn the enemy ships.
The situation was saved by Achilles' friend Patroclus, who put on the armor of the legendary hero and, jumping on his chariot, rushed to help the Greeks. He was able to stop the onslaught of the Trojans, but died himself. The enraged Achilles challenges Hector to a duel and kills him. He also strikes the leader of the Amazons, Penfesileia, who came to the aid of the Trojans. But, soon he himself dies from the arrow of Paris, which is directed by the god Apollo. As predicted, he was struck in the heel, the only weak spot on the body of Achilles.
The hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos, who came to the aid of the Achaeans, defeats Paris and the Trojans are left without a leader, but the walls of the fortress are still inaccessible to the Achaeans.
And only the military cunning of Odysseus, who would offer the Greeks to create the appearance that they were sailing on their ships, leaving the Trojans as a gift a huge wooden statue of a horse, helped to crush the defense.
The horse contained selected warriors who left their shelter at night and opened the gates

The Trojan War is one of the most famous wars antiquities. After all, the interests of large states collided in it, and many famous heroes of that time also participated. The Trojan War is presented to us in the form of myths and legends, which requires painstaking analysis from historians to create a picture of those events.

Modern historians believe that the Trojan War took place between 1240 and 1230. BC. Although this date is very approximate. Myths say that the cause of the war was the abduction of Helen by Paris, who was married to the king of Sparta Menelaus. Also, Paris, in addition to Elena, took some of the wealth from the Spartan king. This fact prompted Menelaus to go to war against Troy. The rest of the Greeks joined him, because when Elena was married, an agreement was drawn up that all applicants for her hand would protect Elena and her chosen one, and almost all the kings of Greece claimed her hand.

Another version of the outbreak of war sounds more plausible. Troy prevented the Greek peoples from trading with the rest of the world. I took a significant tax from their ships, and simply drowned the dissatisfied. The Greeks had to unite to protect their economic interests and go to war on Troy.

There were many disagreements between the Greeks, not everyone wanted to fight. The start of the war was very unfortunate. By mistake, instead of the coast of Troy, the Greeks landed in the region of Mizia, where Telef, a friendly king, ruled. But not realizing this, they attacked his domain. It was only after the bloody battle that the mistake was understood, and the army moved on to the goal. But on the way, new problems awaited them. The storm scattered their ships across the sea, which significantly delayed the time of their arrival to the target.

1,186 ships and about 100 thousand people reached the shores of Troy. The Trojans bravely defended their land. In this they were assisted by allies and mercenaries, of whom there were a great many. We have received very scant information about the first nine years of the war. After all, these events were described in the poem "Cyprias", which, unfortunately, was lost. But from the myths and legends that have come down to us, it is known that during this period there were often conflicts between the Greeks, because some commanders wanted to leave this war and leave. Others wanted to continue. Long-standing conflicts were also often recalled. During this period, Achilles played the leading role. He raided nearby cities, plundering them. Achilles destroyed about twenty cities near the coast and close to eleven villages far from the coast.

During this period of time, a duel was held between Paris and Menelaus, in which Menelaus won. The defeated Paris had to give Helen and pay tribute. The war must be over. But the rest of the Greeks did not like it. They wanted the war to continue and the destruction of Troy.

The continuation of the war was very unfortunate. The Greeks were often pushed back to their fortifications. Their ships were burned. And only thanks to a large number soldiers, they held their positions. Many famous heroes of those times, such as Achilles, Patroclus and many others, died in the battles.

All these setbacks forced the Greeks to be cunning. A gigantic wooden horse was built by Master Epaeus. It was left near the walls, and the best Greek warriors hid in it. At this time, the main Greek forces burned their camp and sailed out to sea, making it clear that the war was over. The Trojans, having discovered a wooden horse, thought that these were gifts of the gods for their victory over the Greeks and dragged it into the city. In honor of the victory, they threw a feast, the guards lost their vigilance. At midnight the Greeks emerged from their hideout, signaled to their ships, and opened the gates.

The Greek army poured into the sleeping city like an avalanche; the defenders could do nothing to save the city. The Greeks plundered Troy for about two days. The inhabitants were killed or driven into slavery, and the city itself was burned to the ground.

TROJAN WAR

The Trojan War, according to the ancient Greeks, was one of the most significant events in their history. Ancient historians believed that it happened around the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC e., and began with it a new - "Trojan" era: the ascent of the tribes inhabiting Balkan Greece to a higher level of culture associated with life in cities. Numerous Greek myths, later combined into a cycle of legends - Cyclical poems, told about the campaign of the Achaeans against the city of Troy, located in the northwestern part of the Asia Minor peninsula - Troas. The most authoritative for the Hellenes was the epic poem Iliad, attributed to the great Greek poet Homer, who lived in the 8th century. BC NS. It tells about one of the episodes of the final, tenth year of the siege of Troy-Ilion - this is the name of this Asia Minor city in the poem.

What do the old legends tell about the Trojan War? It began by the will and fault of the gods. All the gods were invited to the wedding of the Thessalian hero Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, except for Eris, the goddess of strife. The angry goddess decided to take revenge and threw a golden apple with the inscription "Most Beautiful" to the feasting gods. Three Olympic goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, argued over which of them it was meant for. Zeus commanded young Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, to judge the goddesses. The goddesses appeared to Paris on Mount Ida, near Troy, where the prince grazed his flocks, and each tried to deceive him with gifts. Paris preferred the love offered to him by Aphrodite of Helen, the most beautiful of mortal women, and handed the golden apple to the goddess of love. Elena, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Paris, who appeared as a guest in Menelaus's house, took advantage of his absence and with the help of Aphrodite persuaded Yelena to leave her husband and go with him to Troy. The fugitives took with them slaves and treasures of the royal house. About how Paris and Elena got to Troy, myths tell differently. According to one version, they arrived safely in Paris' hometown three days later. According to the other, the goddess Hera, hostile to Paris, raised a storm on the sea, his ship skidded to the shores of Phenicia, and only a long time later the fugitives finally arrived in Troy. There is another option: Zeus (or Hera) replaced Elena with a ghost, which Paris took away. Elena herself during Trojan War was in Egypt under the protection of the wise elder Proteus. But this is a late version of the myth, the Homeric epic does not know it.

The Trojan prince committed a grave crime - he violated the law of hospitality and thus attracted a terrible calamity to his hometown. The insulted Menelaus, with the help of his brother, the mighty king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, gathered a large army to return the unfaithful wife and stolen treasures. All the suitors who had once wooed Elena and who had taken an oath to defend her honor came to the call of the brothers. The most famous Achaean heroes and kings: Odysseus, Diomedes, Protesilaus, Ajax Telamonides and Ajax Oilid, Philoctetus, the wise old Nestor and many others led their squads. Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis, the most courageous and powerful of the heroes, took part in the campaign. According to the predictions of the gods, the Greeks could not conquer Troy without his help. Odysseus, being the most intelligent and cunning, managed to persuade Achilles to take part in the campaign, although he was predicted that he would perish under the walls of Troy. Agamemnon was chosen as the leader of the entire army, as the ruler of the most powerful of the Achaean states.

The Greek fleet, numbering a thousand ships, assembled at Aulis, the harbor in Boeotia. To provide the fleet with a safe sail to the shores of Asia Minor, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Having reached Troas, the Greeks tried to return Helen and the treasure in a peaceful way. The experienced diplomat Odysseus and the offended husband Menelaus were sent as messengers to Troy. The Trojans refused them, and a long and tragic war for both sides began. The gods also took part in it. Hera and Athena helped the Achaeans, Aphrodite and Apollo helped the Trojans.

The Greeks could not immediately take Troy, surrounded by powerful fortifications. They built a fortified camp on the seashore near their ships, began to ravage the environs of the city and attack the Trojans' allies. In the tenth year of the siege, a dramatic event took place, which entailed serious failures of the Achaeans in the battles with the defenders of Troy. Agamemnon insulted Achilles, taking away his captive Briseis, and he, angry, refused to enter the battlefield. No persuasion could convince Achilles to abandon his anger and take up arms. The Trojans took advantage of the inaction of the most courageous and strongest of their enemies and went on the offensive, led by the eldest son of King Priam, Hector. The king himself was old and could not take part in the war. The general weariness of the Achaean army, which had been unsuccessfully besieging Troy for ten years, also helped the Trojans. When Agamemnon, testing the fighting spirit of the soldiers, feigned an offer to end the war and return home, the Achaeans greeted the offer with enthusiasm and rushed to their ships. And only the decisive actions of Odysseus stopped the soldiers and saved the situation.

The Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and almost burned their ships. Achilles' closest friend, Patroclus, begged the hero to give him his armor and a chariot and rushed to the aid of the Greek army. Patroclus stopped the onslaught of the Trojans, but he himself died at the hands of Hector. The death of a friend makes Achilles forget about the insult. The thirst for revenge inspires him. In a duel with Achilles, the Trojan hero Hector dies. Ama-zones come to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles kills their leader Penfesileia, but soon dies himself, as predicted, from the arrow of Paris, directed by the god Apollo. Mother Achilles Thetis, trying to make her son invulnerable, dipped him into the waters of the underground river Styx. She held Achilles by the heel, which remained the only vulnerable place on his body. God Apollo knew where to direct Paris's arrow. Humanity owes this episode of the poem the expression "Achilles' heel."

After the death of Achilles, a dispute begins among the Achaeans over the possession of his armor. They get to Odysseus, and, offended by this outcome, Ajax Telamonides commits suicide.

A decisive turning point in the war occurs after the arrival of the hero Philoctetes from the island of Lemnos and the son of Achilles Neoptolemus in the Achaean camp. Philoctetus kills Paris, and Neoptolemus kills the Trojan ally of the Mysian Eurynil. Left without leaders, the Trojans no longer dare to go out to battle in open field... But the powerful walls of Troy reliably protect its inhabitants. Then, at the suggestion of Odysseus, the Achaeans decided to take the city by cunning. A huge wooden horse was built, inside which a select detachment of warriors hid. The rest of the army, in order to convince the Trojans that the Achaeans are going home, burns their camp and sailed on ships from the coast of Troas. In fact, the Achaean ships took refuge near the coast, near the island of Tenedos.

Surprised by the abandoned wooden beast, the Trojans gathered around it. Some began to offer to bring the horse into the city. Priest Laocoon, warning about the treachery of the enemy, exclaimed: "Fear the Danians (Greeks) who bring gifts!" (This phrase also became winged over time.) But the priest's speech did not convince the compatriots, and they brought the wooden horse into the city as a gift to the goddess Athena. At night, the warriors hiding in the belly of the horse go out and open the gates. Secretly returning Achaeans burst into the city, and the beating of the inhabitants, taken by surprise, begins. Menelaus, with a sword in his hands, is looking for an unfaithful wife, but when he sees the beautiful Elena, he is unable to kill her. The entire male population of Troy perishes, with the exception of Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, who received the command from the gods to flee the captured city and restore its glory elsewhere (see v. “ Ancient Rome"). The women of Troy were faced with an equally grievous fate: they all became captives and slaves of the victors. The city died in a fire.

After the death of Troy, strife began in the Achaean camp. Ajax Oilid incurs the wrath of the goddess Athena on the Greek fleet, and she sends a terrible storm, during which many ships sink. Menelaus and Odyssey are carried by a storm to distant lands. Odysseus's wanderings after the end of the Trojan War are sung in Homer's second poem, The Odyssey. It also tells about the return of Menelaus and Elena to Sparta. The epic treats this beautiful woman favorably, since everything that happened to her was the will of the gods, which she could not resist. The leader of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, after returning home, was killed along with his companions by his wife Clytemnest-roy, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter Iphigenia. So, not at all triumphantly, the campaign against Troy ended for the Achaeans.

As already mentioned, the ancient Greeks did not doubt the historical reality of the Trojan War. Yes, such a critically thinking and not taking anything for granted, an ancient Greek historian like Thucydides, was convinced that the ten-year siege of Troy described in the poem was a historical fact, only embellished by the poet. Indeed, there is very little fairy-tale fiction in the poem. If we isolate scenes from it with the participation of the gods, which Thucydides does, then the story will look quite reliable. Certain parts of the poem, such as the "catalog of ships" or the list of the Achaean army under the walls of Troy, are written like a real chronicle.

European historical science of modern times, no differently reacted to Greek myths... She saw in them only legends and fairy tales, which did not contain real information. Historians of the 18th-19th centuries were convinced that there was no Greek campaign against Troy and that the heroes of the poem were mythical, not historical figures. The only European who believed the epic was Heinrich Schliemann. He was not a professional scientist, and for him Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus and the beautiful Elena were living people, and he experienced the drama that was played out under the walls of Troy as events of his own life. For many years Schliemann dreamed of finding a legendary city.

Having become a very rich man, in 1871 he began excavations of the Hisarlik hill in the north-western part of Asia Minor, identifying it as the location of ancient Troy. At the same time, Schliemann was guided by the descriptions of the city of Priam given in the poem. Good luck awaited him: the hill hid ruins, and not one, but as many as nine urban settlements, which had replaced each other for at least twenty centuries - two or three millennia.

Schliemann recognized Troy described in the poem in the settlement located in the second layer from below. Here he found, in his opinion, the Skean Gate, the tower from which Helen and the Trojan elders watched the battle, Priam's palace and even treasures - “Priam's treasure”: magnificent gold and silver jewelry.

Then, following the instructions of the poem, Heinrich Schliemann conducted archaeological excavations in the "golden-abundant" Mycenae. In one of the royal tombs discovered there, there was - for Schliemann there was no doubt about it - the remains of Agamemnon and his companions, strewn with gold ornaments; Agamemnon's face was covered with a golden mask. Among the numerous and rich burial offerings, magnificent weapons were discovered, worthy of mighty heroes.

The discoveries of Heinrich Schliemann shocked the world community. There was no doubt that Homer's poem contains information about the events that actually took place and their real heroes. Myths don't lie, they have the truth about the distant past. Schliemann's success inspired many archaeologists. The Englishman Arthur Evans went to the island of Crete to look for the residence of the mythical king Minos and found the beautiful palace of the Minotaur there. In 1939, the American archaeologist Carl Blegen discovered the "sandy" Pylos, the habitat of the wise old man Nestor on the western coast of the Peloponnese. The correctness of the geographic indications of the poem triumphed again. But a strange thing: the number of discoveries increased, and the situation with the Trojan War and Troy itself became more and more incomprehensible. Already Schliemann began to experience some uneasiness during the excavation. When professional archaeologists came to the Hissarlik hill and to Mycenae, they established that the city, taken by Schliemann for Troy, existed a thousand years before the Trojan War. The graves in Mika-nah kept the remains of people who lived several centuries earlier than the heroes of the poem. After the first re-trading and excitement, the turn of a new, even greater shock came. It turned out that Schliemann opened new world, a previously unknown civilization, which even the ancient Greeks knew nothing about. This world was completely different from what myths and heroic epics told about.

Having abandoned unconditional trust in the mythological basis, some historians nevertheless continue to believe that it is still possible to extract the seeds of truth from it. After all, the author of the poem really knew the location of the most important political centers of Achaean Greece in the 2nd millennium BC. NS. Many of the everyday and military realities described in the poem coincide in detail with archaeological finds. For example, the "cup of Nestor" found by Schliemann in Mycenae; "A helmet of boar fangs", which belonged, as the "Ilia-de" says, to the Cretan hero Merion; a tower-like shield that covered the entire body of the hero; and finally, chariots of war, which were not known in classical Greece. This means that in the oral tradition of the people, the memory of times and events long past has been preserved, and the poems have recorded it. Obviously, those who achieved prosperity at the turn of the XIII-XII centuries. BC NS. the states of the Greek-Achaeans sought to make large military expeditions to the region of Asia Minor with united forces. One of them was the siege of Troy. The Achaeans could not firmly consolidate their influence in the Troada region, even destroying Troy. Their own world was threatened by the invasion of the barbarians, and they had to think about security, not about conquests.

But skeptics argue that these examples do not prove anything. The realities of the Mycenaean culture, which was part of the culture of Achaean Greece, are present in the poems as echoes of a distant and completely unfamiliar era to the poet. He does not represent how the war chariots, the main striking force in the battles of the times of Mycenaean Greece, acted. For the author, this is just a vehicle: the hero drives up in a chariot to the place of the battle, and then fights on foot. The description of the royal palaces in the poem "The Odyssey" shows that the author knows nothing about the plumbing, or about the frescoes that adorned the walls of the Mycenaean palaces, or about the writing that disappeared with the death of the Achaean culture. The creation of epic poems is separated from real events by four to five centuries. Until that time, the legends of the Trojan War were passed down by the Aedami singers from generation to generation by word of mouth. Each storyteller and each new generation brought their own understanding of the events and actions of the heroes into them. Thus, errors accumulated, new plot details appeared, significantly distorting the original meaning. One event, absorbing others and acquiring poetic "details", could gradually turn into a grandiose campaign of the Achaean Greeks against Troy, which could never have happened. Moreover, the archaeological finds made on the Hisarlik hill do not prove that the found settlement is exactly Troy.

True, it is impossible to deny the existence of the city of Troy somewhere in the northwestern region of Asia Minor. Documents from the archives of the Hittite kings testify that the Hittites knew both the city of Troy and the city of Ilion (in the Hittite version of "Truis" and "Vilus"), but, apparently, as two different cities located in the neighborhood, and not one under a double name, as in a poem. The Hittites also knew the country of Akhiyava, a powerful state with which they competed for dominance over these cities. Scientists believe that Akhiyava is the country of the Achaeans, but it is not yet clear where she was. Maybe this is the western part of Asia Minor, or the nearest islands, or the whole of Balkan Greece. There was a conflict between the Hittite state and Akhiyava over the city of Ilion, but it was settled peacefully. The Hittite documents do not tell about any large-scale military clash between the Achaeans and Troy.

What conclusion can be drawn by comparing data from the archives of the Hittite kings and the poetic narrative about the campaign against Troy? Some kind of connection between them can be traced, but very unclear, since there are no exact matches. Apparently, in the oral folklore underlying the poem, events of different times were pressed together: the unsuccessful attempt of the Achaean Greeks to subjugate the Troas region (this can be traced through the tragic fate of the Achaean heroes after the capture of Troy) and the death of the cities of Ilion and Troy as a result of the invasion of the so-called "peoples of the sea", which shook the whole ancient world Mediterranean at the end of the XII century. BC NS.

1. Encyclopedia for children. World history 1996 (eleven)

   Abstract >> Astronomy

   E.) (see Art. " Trojan war"). Trojan war turned out to be the last event on a pan-Achaean scale ... NS. the Ptolemaic dynasty. TROYANSKAYA WAR Trojan war, according to the ancient Greeks ... increased, and the situation with Trojan war and became Troy itself ...

2. M. Montaigne Experiments

   Abstract >> Pedagogy

   King Agamemnon, the supreme leader of the Greeks in Trojan war, and Clytemnestra. According to legend, ... king Agamemnon, the supreme leader of the Greeks in Trojan war, and Clytemnestra. According to legend, ... on the dispute of the three goddesses, which led to Trojan war... 49. Plutarch says ... - Oh ...

3. About the city of God. OK. 426 AD (Augustine the Blessed)

   Book >> Religion and Mythology

   Explain the oddity that the gods trojan Oaths were punished, and the Romans loved ... they were able to preserve no kingdom for a long time Trojan, nor Lavinius, founded by himself ... Trojan gods was destroyed by his daughter city. And so that after wars

Apple of discord
Once on Mount Pelion, the wedding of the hero Peleus, the grandson of Zeus and the pupil of the centaur Chiron, and his mighty beloved, the sea queen Thetis, the future parents of Achilles, was celebrated. All the divine patrons of young people gathered for a wedding feast, only the hot-tempered goddess of discord Eris was not invited. And she figured out how to avenge the offense. Taking a golden apple from the gardens of the Hesperides, on which was written only one word - "Most Beautiful", she threw it on the banquet table. But which of the goddesses has the right to the title "Most Beautiful"? Hera, Athena and Aphrodite grabbed the apple at the same time and got into an argument. Seeing what discord began among the goddesses, Zeus ordered Hermes to fly to Mount Ida, to find there the young man Paris, the son of Priam, the king of the eastern city of Troy, who, according to the Oracle's prediction, should resolve this dispute.

The goddesses began to tempt Paris: Hera - with power, Athena - with military victories and honors, but the golden apple was received by the goddess of love Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful woman the world - Elena the Beautiful, daughter of Leda and Zeus. With her help, Paris cunningly kidnapped Elena from own home, where he was hospitably received by the king of Sparta Menelaus. Under cover of night on his ship, Paris took her to Troy, because the frivolous Elena agreed to a new marriage with a handsome young man who fell in love with her. Menelaus could not stand the offense and raised the Greeks to war with Troy.

Star atlas "Uranographia" by Jan Hevelius, 1690

Sacrifice of Agamemnon
The Mycenaean king Menelaus asked his brother Agamemnon to lead the Greek army, which was to sail to Asia Minor for the siege of Troy. On the eve of the departure, Agamemnon, as was supposed in those days, wanted to propitiate the heavenly kings: to bring them rich gifts and make a sacrifice. He decided to put his young daughter Iphigenia on the altar. Her unfortunate mother, Queen Clytemnestra, a priestess of the goddess Artemis, rushed with tears to the heavenly patroness. Artemis did not allow infanticide to happen. She replaced the girl on the altar with a deer, and transferred Iphigenia to the distant Taurida - Crimea. After many years of living in a foreign land, brother Orestes found her there. And in the Crimea, in the town of Castropol, located near the sea, there is a rock resembling a figure of a girl standing by the water and peering into the distance, which is called Iphigenia. This is how the Altar constellation appeared in the sky.

Siege of Troy
So, the city in Asia Minor, Troy, became a bone of contention between its inhabitants and the Greeks who sailed here for the wife of Tsar Menelaus, the beautiful Helen, kidnapped at the instigation of the goddess of love Aphrodite by young Paris. The apple of discord initially separated the goddesses, and in this war, Aphrodite herself took the side of the Trojans, and Athena began to help the Danes, that is, the Greeks, in every possible way. However, all the gods fell into two camps, trying to help their favorites. A painful war began for both sides, since the gods were equally strong. It lasted for many years. All its participants fought bravely and performed many feats.

Troy in ancient times was called Ilion, hence the name "Iliad" of the epic poem by Homer, describing the protracted siege of the city and its death, as well as the relationship of the gods who participated in this war on an equal basis with people. How the Greeks defeated the Trojans is described in a myth that is associated with the constellation Ophiuchus, dedicated to the Trojan physician, student of the god of medicine Asclepius, Laocoon.

Odyssey's Cunning Plan
Odysseus, who took part in the siege of Troy, wishing to end the war as soon as possible, suggested that the Greeks resort to military cunning. His plan was as follows: you need to build a giant horse in which a detachment of the bravest warriors will hide. Then the Greeks would remove the camp so that the Trojans would believe: the Greeks had gone on ships to the open sea. The Trojans, in joy, will not notice the catch: the horse will be brought into the city as a trophy, believing that the danger has passed.

One morning, the Trojan guards on the walls did not find the enemies who had besieged their well-fortified city for so long. The camp was empty, and the masts of the sailing ships could be seen in the distance in the sea. The joy of the Trojans knew no bounds: all the gates of Troy were open, and people, exhausted by the long siege, poured out of the city. In the Greek camp, the coals of night fires were still smoking, and in the middle was a huge wooden horse, which, due to its gigantic size, as the Trojans thought, did not fit on the gallery and was abandoned. The shepherds brought the newly captured Greek Sinon, and he assured the Trojans that the horse was intended as a gift to the goddess Athena and could become a good protection for the Trojans if they would honor her. The horse was brought into the city.

But then the Trojan doctor, the priest of the god Apollo Laocoon, stepped forward. "Do not believe the Danes who bring gifts!" - he exclaimed prophetically and began to convince his fellow citizens that the Greeks are insidious and they hardly sailed away at all, and the horse was a trap. To prove his case, he threw a spear at the horse. The blow was so strong that the horse shuddered, and in its depths a weapon clinked distinctly. But Athena was on the alert; she clouded the minds of the Trojans, and they did not hear the suspicious rattling and did not believe their priest. The horse was brought into the city and placed in the center of the Acropolis. And from the sea suddenly appeared two huge snakes, which pounced on the young children of Laocoon, frolicking on the shore. The unhappy father rushed to help the children and powerful hands embraced the writhing monsters. A terrible struggle ensued. It was Athena's revenge: the snakes strangled Laocoon and slowly killed with their poison.

Meanwhile, the prophetic Cassandra, the daughter of the king of Troy Priam, saw the horse at the forum. She was horrified at the sight of this monster and began to convince the Trojans to immediately take him to the field, because she foresaw that he would bring death to the city. But at the behest of the gods, people did not believe the predictions of Cassandra, considering her not a seer, but a madman. At night, Sinon opened a secret door in the horse's belly and released the Greek soldiers outside. Fires broke out in the city instantly. Odysseus saw their fire from the mast of the ship and ordered all galleys to urgently sail to the shore. The Greeks knew no mercy: all the inhabitants of Troy were killed, and King Priam himself and all his sons, including Paris, perished. Troy was burned to the ground.

Thanks to Homer's poem, the memory of this rich city remained. Currently, archaeologists have excavated Troy in Turkey. By the way, the insidious beauty Elena, together with her husband, sailed to Greece. And two constellations are burning in the sky - Ophiuchus and Serpent.