By the tenth year, many of the Greek soldiers longed to see their homeland again. Agamemnon assembled a massive army and set sail across the Aegean Sea with over 1,000 ships, determined to retrieve Helen from Troy.įor many years the Greeks camped outside the walls of Troy, but were unable to penetrate its mighty defenses. Not only was Menelaus a formidable king in his own right, but his brother Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae, and the most powerful ruler in Greece.
When Paris departed Greece, he left with Helen by his side, enraging the Spartan leader. Menelaus’ wife Helen was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. According to legend, the Trojan prince Paris visited Sparta, which at the time was ruled by King Menelaus. But the seeds of war were sown far from there, in the city of Sparta on the Greek mainland. The mythical conflict took place outside the walls of Troy, an ancient city on the coast of Asia Minor. But these are just two examples out of the many works of ancient literature that chronicle the war’s events. The Trojan War and its events provide the background for two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were supposedly composed by the poet Homer around the eighth century B.C.
Combatants on both sides, including Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Hector, and Aeneas remain household names even today. Tradition holds that the war took place during the Mycenaean Age, toward the end of the second millennium B.C., a time of legendary heroes and warriors. For almost 3,000 years, the fabled feud between Greeks and Trojans has captivated audiences. The tale of the Trojan War is perhaps the most famous story of ancient Greek mythology.
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