The Trojan War

Three godesses wanted the Golden Apple

Apr 13, 1000

Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena wanted Zeus to decide who got the Golden Apple, but instead he told them that Paris, the young prince of Troy, would decide who got the apple.

Paris chose Aphrodite because of her bribe.

Apr 13, 1000

Aphrodite told Paris that if he chose her, she would make the fairest women in the world his. The fairest women in the world was the daughter of Zeus and Leda (Helen).

The start of the Trojan War

Apr 14, 1000

The King of Greece chose the King of Sparta to marry Helen, but Paris took her away which caused the start of the Trojan War

The Greeks travel to Troy

Apr 14, 1000

Artemis tells the Greeks that they make a safe journey to Troy until they sacrifice a royal maiden (Iphigenia). The Greeks sacrifice her and start their long journey to Troy.

Trojan War Timespan

Period: Apr 14, 1000 to Jun 18, 1009

Trojans gain advantage

Jun 15, 1009

After 9 years of back and forth battling, the Trojans, led by Priam’s son, Hector, finally gain an advantage when Agamemnon kidnaps the daughter of the Trojan priest of Apollo. Achilles has warned against this, and he is justified when Apollo’s fiery arrows nearly destroy the Greek army.

Achilles withdraws his troops, dooming the Greeks

Jun 15, 1009

Calchas, a Greek prophet, convinces Agamemnon to Chyseis, but Agamemnon demands a replacement in the form of Achilles’ prize female captive, Briseis. Enraged, Achilles withdraws his troops from battle. Without Achilles, the Greeks seem doomed.

Hera breaks the Truce

Jun 15, 1009

Menelaus defeats Paris in combat, but Aphrodite saves Paris’s life, and the armies agree to a truce. Hera however, is bent on war, so she makes a Trojan named Pandarus break the truce. When the battle starts again, the Greek warrior Diomedes nearly kills the Trojan Aeneas, whom Apollo saves. Diomedes even wounds Ares himself.

Zeus comes down to help the Trojans

Jun 15, 1009

The Greeks hold out until Zeus remembers his promise to Thetis and comes down to the battlefield. The Trojans drive the Greeks back toward their ships. That night, Agamemnon agrees to return Briseis, but when Odysseus goes to ask Achilles to accept the apology, Achilles refuses.

Hera distracts Zeus, helping the Greeks

Jun 16, 1009

he next day the Greeks lose again without Achilles and are driven even closer to their ships. But then Hera decides to seduce Zeus and give the Greeks an advantage.

Achilles vs. Hector

Jun 16, 1009

The Trojans soon retreat inside their inpenatrable walls through their huge gates. Only Hector remains outside, wearing Achilles’ own armor taken from Patroclus’s corpse. Hector and Achilles, the two greatest warriors of the Trojan War, finally face one another. When Hector sees that Athena stands by Achilles’ side while Apollo has left his own, he runs away from Achilles.

Hector's Last Stand

Jun 16, 1009

They circle around and around the city of Troy until Athena disguises herself as Hector’s brother and makes him stop. Achilles catches up with Hector, who realizes the trick. They fight, and Achilles, aided by Athena, kills Hector with his spear. Achilles is still so filled with rage over Patroclus’s death that he drags Hector’s body over the ground, mutilating it. He takes it back to the Greek camp and leaves it beside Patroclus’s funeral pyre for dogs to devour.

Achilles returns to battle

Jun 16, 1009

When Patroclus leads Achilles’ men, the Myrmidons, into battle, he fights valiantly but is killed by Hector’s spear. Achilles grieves terribly and decides to return to battle to avenge his best friend's death. Thetis, seeing she can no longer hold her son back, gives him armor made by Hephaestus himself.

Patroclus Steps Up

Jun 16, 1009

While Hera is distracting Zeus, the great Greek warrior Ajax nearly kills Hector. Discovering what Hera has done, Zeus angrily commands Poseidon to abandon the Greeks, and the Trojans press forward. As the Greeks near defeat, Achilles’s best friend, Patroclus, can keep quiet no longer. He convinces Achilles to lend him his armor, thinking that even if Achilles refuses to fight, he himself can help the Greeks by pretending to be Achilles and thus frightening the Trojans.

The Fall of Troy Begins

Jun 17, 1009

Hector is replaced by Prince Memnon of Ethiopia, a great warrior, and the Trojans have the upper hand for a time. But Achilles soon kills Memnon as well, driving the Trojans back to the Scaean gates. There, however, Paris kills Achilles with Apollo’s help: Paris shoots an arrow and the god guides it to Achilles’ heel, his one vulnerable spot. (Thetis tried to make the baby Achilles invulnerable by dunking his body in the mystical River Styx but forgot to submerge the heel by which she held him).

Odysseus gets Achilles' Armor

Jun 17, 1009

The Greeks decide Achilles’ divine armor should be given to either Odysseus or Ajax, the two greatest Greek warriors remaining. When Odysseus is chosen, Ajax plots revenge, but Athena makes him go crazy. Ajax slaughters some cattle, then comes to his senses and, mortified, kills himself.

Paris Falls

Jun 17, 1009

The prophet Calchas then tells the Greeks that they must capture the Trojan prophet Helenus in order to win. They do so, and Helenus tells them that Troy can only be defeated by the bow and arrows of Hercules. Hercules gave these weapons to Philoctetes, who set out for Troy with the Greeks, who abandoned him along the way. Odysseus and a few others set out to apologize and get him back. Philoctetes returns and promptly kills Paris.

The Wooden Horse

Jun 17, 1009

Troy has the protection of its gigantic walls, which prevent the Greeks from entering. Odysseus comes up with a plan to build a giant wooden horse and roll it up to the gates, pretending they have surrendered and gone home. One man, Sinon, stays behind, acting as if he is a traitor to the Greeks. He says that although the Greeks retreated, they left the horse as an offering to Athena. He says the Greeks assumed the Trojans would not take it inside the city because of its size,

The Massacre of Troy

Jun 18, 1009

At night, they creep out and open the city gates. The Greek army, hiding nearby, sweeps into the city and massacres the Trojans. Achilles’ son kills Priam. Of the major Trojans, only Aeneas escapes, his father on his shoulders and his son holding his hand. All the men are killed, the women and children separated and enslaved. In the war’s final act, the Greeks take Hector’s infant son, Astyanax, from his mother, Andromache, and throw him off the high Trojan walls. This marks the end of the war.