Information about the Trojan War. Trojan War
For possessing the apple that she tossed to them Eris with the inscription “most beautiful” (“apple of discord”) (Apollod. epit. III 2). Apparently, quite early on, the mythological tradition timed this event to coincide with the wedding 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 the young man was tending flocks Paris. 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 and stayed in the house Menelaus and, taking advantage of his departure, with the assistance of Aphrodite, he 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 most notable heroes were included in the Achaean army: Odysseus, Philoctetes, both Ajax, Diomedes, Sphenel, Protesilaus etc. We also managed to attract Achilles(Hyg. Fab. 96), although he did not participate in the competition for Helen's hand (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 a 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. Calhant explained this phenomenon as follows: the Trojan War would last nine years and end with the victory of the Greeks only in the tenth year of the siege (Hom. Il. II 299-330). Second sign - sacrifice 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 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 the main character is Hector, since King Priam of Troy was too old to lead the defense of the city. Since after Achilles’ 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 join the fight. 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 (books XX-XXII). 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).
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, and the rest of the army stages a return to their homeland: they burn the camp on the plain, then the fleet sails from the Trojan coast and takes refuge on the island of Tenedos (Hom. Od. 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 prisoner of Neoptolemus, Cassandra given as a concubine to Agamemnon, Polyxena 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 Oileides, 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 tale 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, due to its strategic position on the way from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, it repeatedly became the target of attacks from neighboring and distant tribes. Its destruction in mid. 13th century BC 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. 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 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 “cyclic” poems of the 7th-6th centuries that have not survived, but are known in later retellings. BC (“Ethiopida”, “Destruction of Ilion” and “Small Iliad”), probably used by Virgil in the 2nd book. “The 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, which abundantly drew material from the Cyclical epic, Euripides’ “The 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”.
Lit.:Grabar-Passek M.E., Ancient plots and forms in Western European literature, M., 1966; Trojan tales. Medieval knightly novels about the Trojan War based on Russian manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries, Leningrad, 1972; Robert C., Die griechische Heldensage, Bd. 3. Abt. 2, B., 1923; Bethe E., Die Sage vom Troischen Krieg, Lpz.-B., 1927; Blegen C.W., Troy, v. 1-4, L., 1952-58; Kullmann W., Die Quellen der Jlias, Wiesbaden, 1960; Friis Johansen K., The Iliad in the early Greek art, Kbh., 1967.
IN.N. Yarho
Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia. (In 2 volumes). Ch. ed. S.A. Tokarev.- M.: “Soviet Encyclopedia”, 1982. T. II, p. 528-532.
Insomnia. Homer. Tight sails.
Osip Mandelstam
One of the most important historical events of mankind is Trojan War- happened too late to be reflected in the constellations. In the Greek heroic poems it occupies a leading place, but there was not enough time to crystallize into myths and transfer to heaven. However, we find some references to the events of the war in stories related to constellations and stars, and therefore I am forced to talk about the Trojan cycle.
I take on this matter with understandable anxiety. The topic is too overwhelming. I will describe only the skeleton of the events, and I will expand the episodes related to the star theme in more detail. This is not Wikipedia!
Reasons
Both the sea and Homer - everything moves with love.
It began with the fact that the ancestor of the gods, Gaia, Earth in Greek, began to pester her grandson Zeus with complaints. "These human people multiplied, especially heroes, trample me, torment me! There is no life, only suffering! Organize, granddaughters, a small genocide, a flood, a pestilence, an environmental disaster, or at least a world war, in order to moderate their number and agility."
So say the myths, but I think that Gaia was more driven by revenge: unbridled by her womb, she, in the continuation of her history, eternally gave birth not so much to gods (although gods too), but to all sorts of chthonic evil spirits: hecatoncheiers and snake-footed giants, evil Erinyes and under the end of the creepy teratomorph Typhon. Typhon, despite teratomorphism, boldly gave birth to a whole brood of nasty monsters: lions, snakes, dragons and who knows what disgusting things, which populated the nooks and crannies of the earth and terrorized fragile humanity. The Greek heroes, say, Hercules and Perseus, had to heroically fight all this obscene rabble, and the heroes coped with the task. But in the person of Hera, who had lost her dear offspring, they received a blood enemy.
Gaia's complaints fell on fertile ground: it must be admitted that the Olympian gods were gradually becoming uncomfortable, too, human heroes were gaining influence, claiming to participate in divine affairs. Slowing down their activity seemed quite reasonable. All that was left to do was to find a reason for war.
Occasion
The Apple of Discord, the Judgment of Paris and Helen the Beautiful
Whenever Elena
What is Troy alone for you, Achaean men?
So one day Eris, the goddess of discord, offended that she was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, threw a golden apple with the inscription “to the most beautiful” to the gods feasting on Olympus. This immediately gave rise to a bitter dispute between three goddesses: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. A dispute that turned into a scandal and almost assault: who is more beautiful? The three furies of the goddess turned to Zeus to resolve the conflict, but he, as usual, when the interests of his wife were involved, wisely withdrew and offered to transfer the right of decision to Paris.
Why Paris? who is Paris?
The abduction of Helen, and in essence, a completely ordinary flight with her lover, became the reason for the Trojan War.
Balance of power
Like a crane's wedge into foreign borders, -
On the heads of kings there is divine foam
The stolen Helen was the daughter of Leda and the Spartan king Tyndareus, and her “second father” was Zeus. The matter is dark: Zeus took possession of Leda in the form of a swan and Leda laid an egg (or two) from which the Dioscuri twins Castor and Polydeuces hatched, and she also had daughters - Helen and Clytemnestra; It is not known exactly how the daughters were born. It is generally believed that Castor and Clytemnestra are the children of Tyndareus, and Polydeuces and Helen are the children of Zeus.
The assumption that Helen was the daughter of Zeus is confirmed by her unearthly beauty. When her father announced his readiness to marry her off, suitors came from all over Hellas, excited by rumors and gossip about this beauty, and began vying with each other to woo her, going into a frenzy. The excitement grew so much that Tyndareus began to seriously fear for the peaceful outcome of the procedure. Odysseus suggested that he give the choice to Helen herself, and take an oath from all the suitors that they would accept any choice of Helen, whatever it was, and jointly oppose any of their rivals who violated the oath. The oath was unanimously given, and Helen chose Menelaus, who later became king Sparta.
Thus, when the Trojan Paris seduced and carried away Helen, all the royal families of Greece, by virtue of this oath, were forced to go to war against Troy.
What does "king" mean?
It must be said when we traditionally use the word "king" to translate ancient Greek βασιλῆας this is not entirely accurate in terms of political scale. In the realities of Greece of the 12th-11th centuries, when the events described took place, the ruler of an island 20 by 8 kilometers, like Ithaca - that’s your king, a valley between the spurs of the mountains with a couple of villages - that’s your kingdom. It would probably be more accurate to say “prince”, as, for example, there were princes in the Caucasus, but tradition is tradition - we will say “king”. Kings in the full sense of the word were Priam, king of Troy (or, if you prefer, Ilion), a large, well-defended city in the north of Asia Minor on the banks of the Dardanelles, who controlled a vast territory of Asia Minor, king Mycenae in Argolis Agamemnon and, perhaps, the king of the hundred city Crete, the main island of the Mediterranean, which has not yet completely lost its sea power.
Mighty Troy significantly limited the economic and political interests of the small Greek... kingdoms, and solving the totality of problems that arose with one decisive military victory seemed to the Greek... kings a good way out.
Finally, divine help awaited both sides.
Supported the Trojans in memory of the apple
- her lover Ares,
- sister Artemis
- together with their mother, the quiet titan Leto
- and the deity of the local river Scamander (Xanthus), in whose jurisdiction all this happened
The united Greeks were supported
- Athena as apple rivals to Aphrodite
- Poseidon, who disliked the Trojans for their deception during the construction of walls,
- as well as Thetis, who wished victory for her son in his last war, and
- Hephaestus, obliged to Thetis, who warmed him, thrown from Olympus by an angry mother, in infancy.
Return
And the black sea, swirling, makes noise
And with a heavy roar he approaches the headboard.
Trojan War on the map
The Greeks bonded Helen across the waves
Well, salty foam hits my lips.Osip Mandelstam
The cause of the Trojan War seems to be known even to a schoolchild, but it is still necessary to say a few words about it. And it’s worth starting with the wedding of Thetis, the sea goddess and the hero Peleus. Almost all the gods were invited to this wedding, with one small exception: they decided not to invite Eris, the goddess of discord. And, quite naturally, she was offended by this turn of events. Eris was famous for her cruel jokes, and this time she did not deviate from her habits. She threw it on the festive table on which was written “To the Most Beautiful.”
Three goddesses claimed this title: Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. And at the feast it was not possible to resolve their dispute. Then Zeus ordered Paris, the Trojan prince, son of Priam, to make a decision. The goddesses approached him when he was tending sheep outside the city walls and asked for help, while each of the goddesses promised Paris one or another reward for the “right” choice. Hera promised Paris power over Asia, Athena promised military glory, and Aphrodite promised the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen.
It is quite predictable that Paris chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful. Helen was the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris arrived in Sparta and, disregarding the laws of hospitality, took Helen with him, along with slaves and treasures kept in the palace. Having learned about this, Menelaus turned to his brother, Mycenae, for help. Together they gathered an army, which was joined by all the kings and princes who had once wooed Helen and swore to defend her and her honor.
Thus began the Trojan War. The invaders failed to take the city quickly, since it was very well defended. The siege dragged on for 9 long years, but we know in most detail the events of the last year, 10. Changes begin from the moment Agamemnon takes his captive, Briseis, from Achilles. She was a priestess in the temple of Apollo and needed to be brought back to avoid the god's wrath. Achilles was offended and refused to take part in further hostilities.
From that moment on, military luck turned away from the Greeks. No amount of persuasion helped; Achilles was firm in his decision. Only after the Trojans broke into the camp and set fire to one of the ships, Achilles allowed his friend, Patroclus, to change into his armor and lead a detachment of his warriors. They drove off the Trojans, but their leader, Priam's eldest son, Hectares, killed Patroclus.
This event infuriated Achilles, and he, having reconciled with Agamemnon, set out to take revenge on the offender. He was so enraged that after killing Hector, he tied his corpse to a chariot and drove it around the city several times. And soon after this, the hero himself found his death.
It was almost impossible to kill Achilles; the fact is that immediately after birth, his mother dipped him into a source, which made him invulnerable. But while dipping, she held him by the heel. Apollo suggested to Paris that Achilles should be hit in the heel.
After his death, the Greeks began to divide his armor; two heroes laid claim to it: Odysseus and Ajax. As a result, the armor went to the first, and then Ajax killed himself. Thus, the Greek army lost two heroes at once. The Trojan War has reached a new turning point. To swing the scales in their direction again, the Greeks called for help from two other heroes: Philoctetes and Neoptolemus. They killed the two remaining leaders of the Trojan army, after which the latter stopped going out to fight in the field. It was possible to keep the city under siege for a very long time, and therefore Odysseus, famous for his cunning, proposed to deceive the inhabitants of Troy. He proposed to build a huge horse out of wood and bring it as a gift to the besieged city, and pretend to swim away. The Greeks burned the tent camp, boarded their ships and sailed beyond the nearest cape.
The Trojans decided to drag the horse into the city, not suspecting that the best Greek wars were hidden in its belly. The priest Laocoon warned the inhabitants, anticipating trouble, but no one listened to him. The horse did not pass through the gate and the Trojans dismantled part of the wall. At night, the wars got out of the horse’s belly and let the returning Greeks into the city. They killed all the men and took the women and children captive. Thus ended the Trojan War.
We learned most of the information about this event from the poem “The Iliad,” the authorship of which is attributed to Homer. However, it has now been reliably established that, in fact, this is a Greek folk epic, which was told to city residents by local singers, aeds, and Homer was either the most famous of the aeds, or simply collected different passages into one whole.
For a long time, the Trojan War was considered a myth, a beautiful fairy tale, but nothing more. In particular, the reason for this was that it was unknown, which made it possible to assume, did not exist at all.
But then archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found the ruins of Troy. Then it became clear that the Trojan War, the story of which is told in the Iliad, actually happened.
Trojan War was between the Greeks and the city's defenders from Troy at the end of the Bronze Age, lasting for thousands of years.
Paris and Helen
The main source of our knowledge about Trojan War is "Homer's Iliad" (written in the 8th century BC), where he talks about 52 days during the last year of the ten-year conflict. Greeks the war was imagined to have taken place some time in the 13th century BC. However, the war was also the subject of a long oral tradition prior to the work Homer, and this, combined with other sources such as the fragmentary poems of the epic cycle, gives us a more complete picture of what exactly the Greeks believed to be the Trojan War.
Trojan War in Greek tradition began as a chance for Zeus to reduce the ever-growing human population and, more practically, as an expedition to reclaim Elena, wife Menelaus, King of Sparta and brother Agamemnon. Helen was kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus and the Greeks wanted to return her and take revenge for the Trojan impudence.
Greek Army
The Greek army was led by the king Agamemnon from Mycenae. It is unclear how many soldiers were in his army.
Among the Greek warriors were some additional special heroes, leaders who were greatest fighters and showed the greatest courage on the battlefield. Among the most important were Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax, Diomedes, Patroclus, Antilocus, Mensteus and Idomenes.
Trojan Army
Trojan army protecting the great city Troy led by their king Priam, received help from a long list of allies. Among them were the Carians, Halizons, Caucones, Cicones, Lycians, Mayonians, Mysians, Paioans, Paphlagonians, Pelasgians, Phrygians and Thracians.
The Trojans also had their semi-divine heroes, including Hector (son of Priam), Aeneas, Sarpedon, Glaukos, Farkis, Puulladas and Rhesos.
Key battles
Most Trojan War was really protracted siege, and the city was able to resist the invaders for a very long time, mainly because its fortifications were very high. There were, however, battles outside the city where armies fought, sometimes with chariots but mostly without, using spears and swords and protected by shield, helmet and armor for the chest and legs. For many years the war was fought across the plains of Troy, but the truly exciting battles seemed to be reserved for the final year of the siege.
Paris vs Menelaus
Tiring of indecisive battles, Menelaus offered to fight with Paris in a duel and so resolve the issue of war. The battle began, the spear of Paris crashed into the shield of Menelaus. The Greek king then threw his weapon with great force and the spear passed through Paris's shield and continued to pierce his armor. Paris barely escaped with his life. However, Menelaus was not finished, and sword he dealt a terrible blow to the helmet of the Trojan prince. The sword broke and fell into the dust. Menelaus then grabbed the Parisian helmet with his bare hands and proceeded to drag it off the field. Paris fled from the battlefield, and Menelaus killed Hector.
Hector vs Ajax
The meeting of two great heroes repeats the meeting of Menlai and Paris. The battle lasted for a very long time, but they were stopped by their comrades, who called on them to stop fighting as night approached. According to the code of honor, the two warriors even said goodbye on friendly terms, exchanging gifts, Hector gave a silver sword, and Ajax gorgeous purple belt.
Patroclus
Invincible Achilles was simply the greatest warrior of all time. However, much to the disappointment of the Greeks, he sat in a large hollow for most of the war. Agamemnon Briseis (Priam's daughter) stole his war booty, and therefore the hero refused to fight. At first Agamemnon wasn't too worried about the loss Achilles, but when the Trojans began to win, it became clear that they really needed Achilles. Accordingly, an increasingly desperate Agamemnon issued an appeal to Achilles with promises of great treasure if he would only join the fight. Achilles refused, but Patroclus (Achilles' friend), secretly from Achilles, put on Achilles' armor and led the Mimidons.
Patroclus then fought back the Trojans, the Trojans were driven back, and he even managed to kill the great Trojan hero Sarpedona. Embarrassed by success, the young hero ignored Achilles' advice and recklessly led the fight towards Troy. However, at this moment the great Apollo intervened on behalf of the Trojans and struck Patroclus, breaking his spear and knocking the shield out of his hand. Thus, exposed and defenseless, Patroclus was stabbed to death Euphorbosom and then Hector stepped in to deliver the killing blow with a merciless blow from his spear.
When Achilles learned about the death of my great friend Patroclus, he was overwhelmed with grief and rage, and he swore take revenge The Trojans and especially Hector. After mourning, Achilles finally decided to take the battlefield again.
Hector vs Achilles
Only Hector remained behind the walls, but at the sight of the amazing Achilles, even he became worried. Achilles, however, pursued the Trojan prince around the city walls. Finally, Achilles grabbed him and killed him with a spear thrust into Hector's throat. Achilles then tied Hector's body to his chariot and took the body to the Greek camp.
Meanwhile Priam infiltrated the Greek camp and asked Achilles to return the body of his son so that bury him. Achilles agreed to return the body. This is where the Iliad ends, but there are still a few twists of fate left in the war.
Trojan Horse
12 days after Hector's funeral, the Greeks built a huge horse out of wood and hid in it. Priam and his council, seeing this horse, considered it a gift from the gods, and brought it to Troy. At night, when the Trojans were sleeping, Achilles and his warriors got out of their horse and opened the gates of Troy, the Greeks broke into the walls of Troy and destroyed it, Agamemnon killed Priam in the Temple of Zeus, Then Paris, finding Achilles, shot with a bow right at his heel, Achilles died on the spot.
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 it 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, 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 redeemed 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 himself, 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 planks, 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 that Homer mentions 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.
You 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 simply 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 correct 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
