What if troy won the war

Eventually discovered the King of Sparta took this to his brother Menelaus, king of Mycenae. With an excuse to go to war Menelaus of Mycenae called together many of his allies and possessions against Troy. After spending a considerable amount of time gathering his force Menelaus marched on Troy and began a nine-year siege of the city. Attempting to be diplomatic, one of the most intelligent of the Greeks, Odysseus, attempted to treat and find a peaceful situation with King Priam of Troy who turned down his demands which vary depending on the accounts read.

With Menelaus's offer turned down by Priam, the Greeks officially went to war with Troy beginning a nine-year siege of city and one of the most costly wars of the Era. The war began with an extremely large Greek assault by Menelaus's forces on the beach just in front of Troy. Having had time to marshal Troy's forces and allies from the surrounding territories the Trojans attempted to hold the beach.

Having set up multiple defensive lines as well as having massive cities walls above the beach allowed the Trojans to hold the beach for a decent amount of time on the first day. However on the first day the Trojans regardless of the height and defensive advantage were wholly unable to hold the beach resulting in a devastating loss for Troy. Following the loss of the beach the Trojan cavalry, of which they are known for, rode to help evacuate the temple of Apollo which sat outside the city due to the nature of the religion.

Lead by Hector, prince of Troy, the cavalry arrived too late to help but according to the myths engaged with the myrmidons. This was an elite force under the command of Achilles, an expert Greek fighter who allegedly had never lost a battle. Regardless of the truthfulness of this account, the Trojans had lost the beach and were forced to retreat to their city. The next years of the war consisted of an all out siege of the city on multiple month long occasions followed by periods of lull or a major counterattack by the Trojans.

This continued for many years with the Greeks suffering atrocious casualties and the legendary heroes of both sides being killed, particularly Hector who was killed by Achilles and taken back to the Greek encampment on the beaches as a humiliation.

Much speculation exists but due to lack of money it is believed that the whole of the Mycenean army was never present again as it was in the first year until the final year of the war in which it attempted one final full conquest of Troy. The grim realities of battle are described so unflinchingly in the Iliad that it is hard to believe they were not based on observation.

Troy, too, is portrayed in such vivid colour in the epic that a reader cannot help but to be transported to its magnificent walls. Told of a possible location for the city, at Hisarlik on the west coast of modern Turkey, Schliemann began to dig, and uncovered a large number of ancient treasures, many of which are now on display at the British Museum.

Although he initially attributed many finds to the Late Bronze Age — the period in which Homer set the Trojan War — when they were in fact centuries older, he had excavated the correct location. Most historians now agree that ancient Troy was to be found at Hisarlik.

Troy was real. None of this constitutes proof of a Trojan War. But for those who believe there was a conflict, these clues are welcome. It is hard to imagine a war taking place on quite the scale the poet described, and lasting as long as 10 years when the citadel was fairly compact, as archaeologists have discovered. There would have been no gods influencing the course of action on a Bronze Age battlefield, but men who found themselves overwhelmed in a bloody fray could well have imagined there were, as the tide turned against them.

Homer captured timeless truths in even the most fantastical moments of the poem. The Greeks found in the legacy of the Trojan War an explanation for the bloody and inferior world in which they lived. Achilles and Odysseus had inhabited an age of heroes. Their age had now died, leaving behind it all the bloodthirstiness, but none of the heroism or martial excellence, of the Trojan War.

When did he live, though, and for whom did he compose? Homer may have composed and performed his epics for royal courts and festivals. While he would have been one of many oral epic poets over many generations, he came to be regarded as the embodiment of the tradition. In the sixth century BC, the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus paid for the best of these Homeridae to dictate the Homeric epics for his scribes to write down, helping turn them from an oral to a written art.

So while the real Homer built on a tradition of oral epic poetry that went back generations before him, he came to be seen as the forefather of that tradition. Though the institution and importance of slavery are recognised in the Homeric epics, their author s had absolutely no idea of the scale of slaveholding that was practised in the great Mycenaean palace economies of the 14th or 13th centuries BC.

They thought 50 was an appropriately sizeable holding for a great king, whereas in reality a Bronze Age Agamemnon could command the unfree labour of thousands. How the war ended is the most famous element of the story. The Greeks, unable to gain a clear victory on the battlefield — even after Achilles killed Hector — turned instead to a cunning trick.

Believing the war to be won, the Trojans moved the horse inside the city walls, intending to use it to honour the gods. That night, the hidden Greeks climbed out, killed the guards and opened the city gates to allow the entire Greek force to swarm in.

Priam, King of Troy, was slaughtered along with every Trojan male — adult and child — while the women and girls were enslaved. The Greeks burned Troy to the ground. As for Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships, her husband Menelaus had insisted that he be the one to kill her, but became overwhelmed by her beauty once again and could not bring himself to do it. Yet it was not actually mentioned by Homer.

In turn, Paris would also meet his end after being hit by an arrow, fired by a Greek warrior. All such accounts of what happened after the fall of Hector come from sources other than the Iliad.

The entirety of the Iliad — 15, lines of verse — focuses on just a few weeks in the final year of the Trojan War. The demigod Achilles, strongest of them all, feels affronted as he believes he has not been given the degree of honour he deserves from his fellow Greeks, and as such has decided to withdraw from the fight against Troy.

He sits on the beach weeping at the injustices done to him, and even prays to the gods that the Greeks will suffer at the hands of the Trojans without him, so that they will be forced to realise his worth. The many gods of Olympus have all picked sides in the fight, with some supporting the Greeks and others on the side of Troy.

As the battle rages, several gods intervene as they protect their side or harm the other. When Achilles withdraws, though, Zeus finally forbids the other gods to get involved and the Trojans, led by Hector, sweep down to the Greek encampment and are on the verge of setting fire to their ships. It is at this desperate point that the Greek leaders plead with Achilles to return to the fight.

He still refuses, but he allows his closest companion, Patroclus, to wear his armour on the battlefield to inspire the men. But when Patroclus charges into the fray, he confronts Hector and is cut down.

The death sends a grief-stricken Achilles into a rage as he vows vengeance on Hector. With new armour made for him by the god Hephaestus, he rides in his chariot to the walls of Troy and faces the Trojan warrior. Hector ignores warnings from the gods and fights Achilles, during which he is stabbed through the neck and dies. Far from just observing the Trojan War from Mount Olympus, the gods picked sides and got involved. She offered Paris lordship of Asia, but lost.

The son of Zeus was a key supporter of the Trojans. Apollo may have also guided the arrow fired by Paris that killed Achilles. The goddess of love won the contest for the golden apple by offering Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. She remained sympathetic to Paris and, despite not being associated with war, fought herself and was even wounded.