Important Figures - Outcome of the War - Archaeology
History
Around 1200 BC, Paris of Troy escaped with Helen of Sparta, and married in Troy. Menelaus then called upon the Greeks in the other city states to go to war with Troy. The Greek fleet was assembled in Aulis, and the invasion was led by Agamemnon. Agamemnon was the brother of Menelaus and chief in command of the army. The Greeks set out for Troy, and landed in Mysia, where they attacked the city of Teuthrania thinking it was Troy. They realized they were not at Troy after they invaded the wrong city and faced many casualties. Agamemnon and Telephus, the king of Teuthrania, came to an agreement and Telephus led the Greeks to Troy. After stopping at Lemnos and Tenedos, the Greeks finally arrived at Troy. The Greeks laid siege to troy for 10 years. Troy lost its hero Hector, its ally Penthesilea, and Helenus of Troy was captured by Odysseus. Greece lost Patroclus and Achilles. The Greeks were unable to invade Troy because of its heavy fortifications, and farms within the city sustained Troy with a food surplus. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, devised a plan to build a giant wooden horse as an act of surrender. In ancient Greece, a defeated general would surrender his horse to the opposing general. This large wooden horse, later known as the Trojan horse, contained a small group of Greek soldiers who crept out and opened the main gate of Troy during the night. The Greek army sailed just out of sight, and waited for the gate to be opened. They then rushed back ashore and into the city. Troy was ransacked and burned to the ground by the invading Greek forces and Helen was returned to Sparta.