the trojan war?

The historicity of the Trojan War is still subject to debate. Homer's stories are believed by many to be the merging of military conflicts fought against Troy.[citation needed] In his merging, he creates many characters out of gods and uses many metaphors.[citation needed] Most classical Greeks thought that the war was a historical event, but many believed that the Homeric poems had exaggerated the events to suit the demands of poetry. For instance, the historian Thucydides, who is known for his critical spirit, considers it a true event but doubts that 1186 ships were sent to Troy. Euripides started changing Greek myths at will, including those of the Trojan War. Around 1870 it was generally agreed in Western Europe that the Trojan War never had happened and Troy never existed. Then Heinrich Schliemann discovered the ruins of Troy and of the Mycenaean cities of Greece. Today many scholars agree that the Trojan War is based on a historical core of a Greek expedition against the city of Troy, but few would argue that the Homeric poems faithfully represent the actual events of the war.

In the twentieth century scholars have attempted to draw conclusions based on Hittite and Egyptian texts that date to the time of the Trojan War. While they give a general description of the political situation in the region at the time, their information on whether this particular conflict took place is limited. Hittite archives, like the Tawagalawa letter mention of a kingdom of Ahhiyawa (Achaea, or Greece) that lies beyond the sea (that would be the Aegean) and controls Milliwanda, which is identified with Miletus. Also mentioned in this and other letters is the Assuwa confederation made of 22 cities and countries which included the city of Wilusa (Ilios or Ilium). The Milawata letter implies this city lies on the north of the Assuwa confederation, beyond the Seha river. While the identification of Wilusa with Ilium, that is Troy, is always controversial in the 1990's it gained majority acceptance. In the Alaksandu treaty (ca. 1280 BC) the king of the city is named Alakasandu, and it must be noted that Paris' son of Priam's name in the Iliad (among other works) is Alexander. The Tawagalawa letter (dated ca. 1250 BC) which is addressed to the king of Ahhiyawa actually says:

Now as we have come to an agreement on Wilusa over which we went to war...

The letter is addressed to King "Ataresiya" (perhaps Atreus), which has led scholars such as Karykas to conclude that it refers not to the Trojan War of the Iliad but to an earlier conflict, reflected in the myth of Heracles' sack of Troy.[70]

Formerly under the Hittites, the Assawa confederation defected after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites (ca. 1274 BC). In 1230 BC hittite king Tudhaliya IV (ca. 1240 BC–1210 BC) campaigned against this federation. Under Arnuwanda III (ca. 1210 BC–1205 BC) the Hittites were forced to abandon the lands they controlled in the coast of the Aegean. It is possible that the Trojan War was a conflict between the king of Ahhiyawa and the Assuwa confederation. This view has been supported in that the entire war includes the landing in Mysia (and Telephus' wounding), Achilles' campaigns in the North Aegean and Telamonian Aias' in Thrace and Phrygia. Most of these regions were part of Assuwa.[215][70] It has also been noted that there is great similarity between the names of the Sea Peoples, which at that time were raiding Egypt, as they are listed by Ramesses III and Merneptah, and of the allies of the Trojans.[1]

There is debate whether the communication network of the fire relays existed throughout the war and possibly worked both ways or it was an invention of Aeschylus. While there is evidence there was a fire-relay system in Greece in ancient or Byzantine times, there is no evidence that it was in place at the time of the Trojan War and Aescylus is the only surviving source that mentions it.

That most Achean heroes did not return to their homes and founded colonies elsewhere was interpreted by Thucydides as being due to their long absence.[216] Nowadays the interpretation followed by most scholars is that the Achean leaders driven out of their lands by the turmoil at the end of the Mycenean era preferred to claim descendance from exilees of the Trojan War.[217]

Trojan War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The fall of Troy by Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769) From the collections of the granddukes of Baden, KarlsruheThe Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), by the armies of the Achaeans, after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, of which the two most famous are the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer. The Iliad relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy, and the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the Achaean leaders. Other parts of the story were narrated in a cycle of epic poems, which has only survived in fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and Roman poets like Virgil and Ovid.

The war sprang from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite, after the goddess Eris ("Strife") gave them a golden apple with the inscription "to the fairest" (sometimes known as the apple of Discord). The goddesses went to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans mercilessly slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans returned to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to Italy.

Ancient Greeks believed that the Trojan War was a historical event. They believed that this war took place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and that Troy was located in the vicinity of the Dardanelles in what is now north-western Turkey. By modern times both the war and the city were widely believed to be non-historical. In 1870, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site in this area which he believed to be the site of Troy, and at least some archaeologists agree. There remains no certain evidence that Homer's Troy ever existed, still less that any of the events of the Trojan War cycle ever took place. Many scholars would agree that there is a historical core to the tale, though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various stories of sieges and expeditions by the Greeks of the Bronze Age or Mycenean period. Those who think that the stories of the Trojan War derive from a specific historical conflict usually date it to between 1300 BC and 1200 BC, usually preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes (1194 BC–1184 BC) which roughly corresponds with the burning of Troy VIIa.

The Trojan War was repeated several times in history, notably in WWI. The location of the ruins of Troy of the Illiad (I believe they found 9 different rebuilt foundations) are particularly close to the Dardanelles, the sole sea route from the Agean to the Black Sea. Chances are the Trojan war was fought and was fought for access to the Black Sea. As for 1100+ ships going across the ocean to get some girl, not so likely. Everything is economic.

It turns out that yes there was a place called Troy and so if such a place existed then the story in Homer book are most likely true

ok the conflict befell in Troy (what a shockr) It change into sarted over the "seize" of the most alluring female in all of Greece, Hellen. even if, because the hstorical activities over experience the mythilogical, Hellen absolutely ran remote from a greek king.

yes it really happened and when you read a book called the odyssey then it will expain it in furter detail