The Trojan War
A ten-year siege of Troy by a coalition of Greek kings, sparked by the abduction of Helen and shaped by the rivalries of the gods.
The Meaning of The Trojan War
The war began with a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest," thrown by Eris at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Paris of Troy judged the contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, choosing Aphrodite who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world — Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta.
When Paris took Helen to Troy, Menelaus called upon the oath of her former suitors. A thousand ships sailed under the command of Agamemnon. For nine years the Greeks besieged Troy without breaking its walls.
Role in Greek Thought
In the tenth year, Achilles withdrew from battle after Agamemnon seized his war prize Briseis. Without their greatest warrior, the Greeks faltered. Patroclus donned Achilles' armour and drove the Trojans back, but was slain by Hector.
Achilles returned to battle consumed by grief and rage. He killed Hector and dragged his body around the walls of Troy. King Priam came alone to beg for his son's body, and Achilles, moved by the old king's sorrow, relented.
Famous Examples
Achilles himself fell to an arrow guided by Apollo to his vulnerable heel. Ajax and Odysseus contested his armour; when it was awarded to Odysseus, Ajax went mad and took his own life.
The war ended not by force but by cunning. Odysseus devised the Wooden Horse, a hollow offering left at Troy's gates. The Greeks hid inside while their fleet sailed away. The Trojans, believing the war over, dragged the horse within their walls. That night the Greeks emerged and opened the gates. Troy burned.
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Seven Against Thebes
💭 conceptwar, curse
The doomed military expedition of seven champions against the seven gates of Thebes, organised by Polynices to reclaim the throne from his brother Eteocles.
Fall of Troy
💭 conceptNarrative
The final destruction of the city of Troy through the stratagem of the wooden horse after ten years of siege
Seven Against Thebes
💭 conceptNarrative
The doomed military expedition of seven champions against the city of Thebes in the generation before the Trojan War
Iliad
💭 conceptLiterature
Homer's epic poem recounting the wrath of Achilles during the final year of the Trojan War
Trojan War
💭 conceptThe ten-year war that defined Greek mythology
The Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek coalition, sparked by the abduction of Helen and ended by the stratagem of the Wooden Horse.
Return of Odysseus
💭 conceptNarrative
The hero's perilous ten-year journey home from Troy and his reclamation of his kingdom in Ithaca
Aristeia of Diomedes
💭 conceptwar, heroism
The battle sequence in Iliad Book 5 where Diomedes, empowered by Athena, wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, achieving the extraordinary feat of harming immortal gods.
Theseus and the Amazons
💭 conceptNarrative
The Athenian king's conflict with the warrior women that brought war to the gates of Athens itself
Sack of Troy
💭 conceptNarrative
The brutal destruction and plundering of Troy during the night following the wooden horse stratagem
Aeneid
💭 conceptLiterature
Virgil's epic poem following the Trojan hero Aeneas from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome
Judgment of Paris
💭 conceptfate
The beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite judged by Paris of Troy that caused the Trojan War.
Bellerophon and Chimera
💭 conceptNarrative
The hero's aerial battle against a fire-breathing monster while riding the winged horse Pegasus