Expert: Maria - 11/3/2004

Question
Hi Maria, how are you? I think I e-mailed you a question before. But anyway.lol. I was wondering if you can direct me to sites that explain the Trojan War. Thanks  

Answer
Hi Diane,

I think you asked me about Oedipus, Creon  and Orestes in the category Literature.

Well, as for the Trojan War, a few words on this subject.

According to tradition, the Trojan war took place in 1184 BC and  started because Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, abducted Helen, the most beautiful woman who however was the bride of Menelaus, king of Sparta  and brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycene. So, when Paris kidnapped her,  Greece declared war on the city of Troy.
This in Greek legend, as we read  in Homer's Iliad.

I must however point out that this  ten years' war  history is probably based on an actual war fought in the 12th century  BC, because of economic causes.
In fact Troy , the then most important town along the coast of Asia Minor(today Turkey) situated by the Hellespont (today Dardanelles), the strait between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, used to impose a toll on the prosperous Black Sea trade and therefore on the Greek traders too. So, the Greeks wanted to end this toll.

Finally, here are some sites that explain the Trojan War:
http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html
http://www.royalty.nu/legends/Troy.html
http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html
http://www.classicsunveiled.com/mythnet/html/trojan.html
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~sneet/WesCiv/TrojanWar.htm
http://www.2020site.org/trojanwar/

Best regards
Maria