The return trip

The return of the heroes to their homeland

     The gods were angered by the destruction of the temples and the general insults that the Achaeans commited. While the fleet was returning ,near Tinos broke an intense storm . In one version , Nauplios,in order to avenge misled their  fleet by sending wrong signals with the mirror from the cape of Kafirea Evia ( Cavodoro ) having as result to sink many ships.
Nestor , who was the most pious and moral character in the campaign , he had safe and quick return to home. The Ajax Locri was punished by Athena , while Athena borrowed a thunderbolt of Zeus and fired him up.



     The Teucer , son of Telamon and half-brother of Ajax, stood trial for not preventing the death of his brother and was forbidden to return home .Finaly he never returned and founded Salamis of Cyprus. Later the Athenians claimed that  as Teucrus left,  handed over the authority,to the sons of Theseus.


Neoptolemos followed the advice of Helenos and both took the land tract,to their return home. During the trip he met Odysseus in the land of Kikonon , and bury the teacher of Achilles, Phoenix.
     Then he ended up to the land of Molossos,Epirus and had a son with Andromache , Molossos, who became his successor in the region. For this later kings of Epirus , and Alexander the Great claimed to be descendants of Achilles .
     Diomedes after a storm ended up in Lycia , there the king Likos(wolf) wanted to sacrifice him to Ares , but the king's daughter Callirhoe took pity on him and helped him to escape. Then he got in Attica, where the Athenians not knowing that he was their ally,attacked him. Finally  Diomedes arrived at Argos, where he discovered that his wife Aegialeia, was committing adultery .Outraged he,left for Aetolia. According to some sources he passed through the southern Italy, where he founded a number of cities .
     Philoctetes emigrated to Sicily, where he founded a number of cities between Croton and Thurii . After military conflicts with the local populations founded the temple of Apollo where he dedicated the bow of Hercules .
     According to Homer , Idomeneus reached secure in his native, Crete . In another version, the ship sailed into a heavy storm and Idomeneus promised Poseidon that will sacrifice the first person to be seen at home if he would return home unharmed . The first person he saw , however, was his son , whom he sacrificed .          Eventually the gods were enraged and pestilence broke out in Crete, and the people sent him to exile in Calabria in Italy from where he subsequently ended to Colophon in Asia Minor, where he died.
Than their less eminent Achaeans very few reached their homelands.

The siege of Troy

The Siege of Troy

Arrival in Troy

Calchas predicted that the first Achaean who would set foot in the Trojan land will be the first casualty of thewar. Thus even Achilles hesitated to attempt it. Odysseus from his ship, threw his shield on the shore and jumped over on his shield.He was followed by Protessilaos, the leader of Thessaly guard who stepped first on the Trojan land. Achilles landed second and killed the Swan, son of Poseidon. The Trojans finally forced to retreat behind their walls. Protessilaos killed many Trojans but finally killed by Hector (or other sources say he got killed by Agate and the other by Euphorvos). The Achaean bury their first dead with great prices in Thrace, across the Hellespont. After the death of Protesilaos, his brother, Podarkis took part in the war, thus replenishing the loss.

The Greeks besieged Troy for ten years. The more information was saved the last year of the war, with the result we have less information  for the first nine years of the war. After the initial landing and their consolidation in the coastal zone of Troy they began to plunder the countryside, conquering adjacent to Troy ally towns, even loot the opposite Thracian coast. Troy did not get a combined mass siege and as the ninth year in business and communication with the mainland of Asia continued undisturbed. On their side the Greeks accepted significant military aid even before the war ended. However they failed to penetrate the hinterland and to surround the Trojans, who kept contact even with their allies on the European shore.

The campaigns of Achilles

Achilles was the most active of the Achaean hero. According to Homer, captured 11 cities and 12 islands. According to Apollodorus pillaged the country of Aeneas in the Troad region and stole his cattle. Also occupied the Lyrnisso, the Pidasso, Lesvos, Colophon Clazomenai and many other neighboring cities, also killed the minor Troilus, son of Priam. There was oracle said that if Troilos reached 20, Troy would not fall ever. John Kakridis Homeric analyst, says that the list of achievements is wrongly vastly extensive, south of Troy.

Among the spoils of looting were the priestesses Briseis, from Lyrnisso and Cressida, from Ippoplakies Thebes, which was offered to Agamemnon. Achilles captured Lycaon and, one of the sons of Priam. Patroclus sold him later as a slave in Lemnos, but bought him the Aetion of Imbros and returned to Troy. Eventually killed by Achilles 12 days after the death of Patroclus.

The death of Palamedes

Odysseus sometime sent to Thrace to bring wheat, but returned empty-handed. This provoked the contempt of Palamedes , who took his own initiative and was finally able to provide the Achaean army with large quantities of wheat.

Odysseus always watched him suspiciously Palamides especially since he had put his son's life in danger. Organized a whole plot to be blamed unjustly : he wrote a fake letter,supposedly Priam to Palamedes , and buried gold near Palamedes tent. The letter and gold , by the plan of Odysseus discovered by the Achaeans and Agamemnon ordered the death by stoning as the evidence for the alleged betrayal seemed irrefutable .

The father of Palamedes , Nafplio, when learned the news rushed to Troy and demanded the justice to be done , though he was not listened . As revenge , he traveled to all the palaces of the Achaean kings, and spread their wives that their husbands had already contracted relationships with concubines Trojan women , in order to make them official wives when they return to their homeland . Many queens believing Nauplios broke their ties with the most typical case of Clytemnestra , wife of Agamemnon , contracted an affair with Aegisthus , son of Thyestes . Exception was Penelope , which remained faithful to Odysseus.

Apostasy of the Greek soldiers

When approaching the end of the ninth year, the army of the Greeks, exhausted by the long conflict and the lack of supplies, refused to obey the orders of their leaders and demanded to return home. In "Cyprus", Achilles forced the soldiers to stay. According to Apollodorus, to solve the problem of supply, Agamemnon brought growers of vineyards the daughters of Anios (granddaughters of Apollo), which magically produced wine, olives and wheat with just a touch.

The Trojan horse

The war ended with a special trick. Odysseus devised to build a large -size replica hollow wooden horse , the Trojan Horse . The horse was an animal sacred to the Trojans believed would we moved as a talisman , inside their city after they had prepared all the conditions that would give the impression that the Greeks left permanently. Was made by engineer Epios,under the guidance of Athena and abroad bore the inscription:

" Dedicated to Athena by the Greeks to return home "

In the Trojan Horse stepped in an Achaean group led by Odysseus, while the rest of the army burned the camp so the Trojans believe that the Greeks left forever , and sailed for Tenedos .

The next morning, the Trojans discovered that the rival camp was abandoned . In their enthusiasm, believed that the ten-year war has ended and felt it necessary to move the Trojan Horse in the inner city . Some individual Trojans considered it as damned and that must throw it off the cliff or burn it.

Priam's daughter Cassandra and the priest of Poseidon Laokoon warned that the horse  would bring only disaster to the city.  But while Cassandra had clairvoyance, from Apollo to anticipate events,also had the curse because she broke her promise to be given to him,so she was not able to persuade anyone. In particular Laocoon and his two sons were attacked by huge sea snakes which drowned them in the sea. Aeneas and his followers believing these predictions retreated to Mount Ida. The Trojans finally full of enthusiasm decided to transfer  the Trojan Horse within the walls of the city. Indeed, because it was quite large manufacturers were forced to demolish a portion of the main gate of the city, the "Sky Gate." Immediately after the went to the streets to celebrate the successful outcome of the war. At midnight,Sinon, an Achaean spy, signaled the Achaean fleet at Tenedos to approach, at the same time the soldiers in the Trojan Horse came out and killed the guards.

The Fall of Troy

The Greeks entered the city and killed its population while they were sleeping in their homes . The massacre continued the next day. Any Trojans anticipated , fought desperate with great stubbornness , although found startled , disorganized and without a leader to guide them . Some defenders hurled pieces of the roofs of their houses on the damaged  streets of the city to prevent the intruders . Finally , the last defenders were lost in the whirlwind of destruction and massacres .

Neoptolemus killed Priam who had fled as suppliant in the temple of Zeus. Menelaus killed Diifovo , the husband of Helen and moved to kill Helen but once he saw her beauty he lowered his sword and forgave her infidelity.

The Ajax Lokrian raped Cassandra in the temple of Athena. Because of this hubris decided by the Achaeans , with the encouragement of Odysseus, to stone him to death , but he fled to the sanctuary of Athena and saved.

Antenor, who had hosted Menelaus and Odysseus when they had sent an embassy to ask Helen, was not altered neither he nor his family. The Trojan Aeneas took his helpless father in the back and fled. According to Apollodorus, was allowed to leave because of his moral character.

The Greeks razed the city and divided the spoils. Cassandra was given to Agamemnon, Andromache to Neoptolemus and Hecuba Odysseus.

The Greeks threw Astyanax, the infant child of Hector from the city walls in order to prevent possible revenge when he came of age. Also sacrificed Polyxena on the grave of Achilles as demanded by oracles.

The Aethra, Theseus' mother had come to Troy with Helen, old anymore, was saved by her  grandsons, Demophon and Akamas.

The prophecy about the war

At the end of the tenth year, an oracle said that Troy will fall only with the bow of Hercules, which was in the possession of Philoctetes who was on Lemnos. For this purpose Odysseus and Diomedes brought him in Troas, in between whose wound had healed . During the upcoming clashes Philoctetes killed Paris with this arc.

According to Apollodorus, Helenus and Diifovos asked the hand of Helen. Diifovos eventually prevailed and Helenus retired to Mount Ida. Calchas knew that Helenus knew about the coming destruction of Troy, so Odysseus chased and captured him. Eventually forced after interrogation to confess that the Greeks would win only if they brought the remains of Pelops, as they did.

Cause of the Trojan war

The cause of the Trojan war

Zeus learned from either Themis or Prometheus , after his release from Hercules , that like his father Saturn , and he will be overthrown by a son. Another version says that a son of the sea goddess Thetis , whom Zeus fell in love , would become more important than his father. For one of these reasons Thetis married the elderly mortal King Peleus , son of Aeacus , or either by the instigation of Zeus or the desire of Hera . All the gods were invited to the wedding , and brought gifts except Eris , which by order of Zeus was not allowed to approach because she always caused divisions and upset . Eris affected , flew to the wedding venue a golden apple ( the Apple of Discord ) which wrote, to the prettiest . The apple claimed by Hera , Athena and Aphrodite .



The conflict was very intense and no other god risked to express an opinion supporting any of the three, because it would provoke the wrath of the remaining two. Eventually, Zeus ordered Hermes to lead the goddesses to Paris, prince of Troy. The Paris then living as a shepherd on Mount Ida and being unaware of his royal origin, because he was abandoned from his family when he was an infant because an oracle said that he would cause the destruction of the city. The goddesses appeared to him naked and because he was  not able to choose, they offered him gifts to chose: Athena will offer wisdom and skill in battle, Hera leadership and guiding the crowds, while Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, the beautiful Helen, queen of Sparta. So Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. Later he returned to Troy, where he was acknowledged  as a member of his family.

Meanwhile Peleus and Thetis had a son and named him Achilles. According to a prophecy, Achilles would die as an old man and who lived a quiet life or would die young at the battlefield, but would gain immortality and his exploits would written  through the centuries. When Achilles was nine years old, the seer Calchas predicted that Troy would not fall again without his help. Some sources state that Thetis tried to make him immortal while still an infant: every night put him over the fire to burn the mortal flesh and every day anoint him with ambrosia. But when Peleus discovered it prevented her out of fear for the liefe of Achilles. Another source says that Thetis bathed Achilles in the Styx, in the Underworld making him immortal in the places where  the water of the river touched him.But, because she was holding him by the heels, that point remained vulnerable (Achilles heel). As he came of age he became one of the most skilled warriors. Due to the prophecy of Calchas, Thetis hid Achilles in Skyros at the palace of King Likomidis, dressed him female not to be recognized.

The most beautiful woman in the world then was thought Helen , one of the daughters of Tyndareus , king of Sparta. Her mother Leda had enchantered by Zeus , transformed into a swan , which is why some sources refer to Zeus as her father. Helen because of her exceptional beauty had many suitors , but was unwilling to choose one with the fear that she would anger the other .
Finally, a suitor, Odysseus of Ithaca, proposed a way to resolve the issue. Proposed that all suitors to defend Helen's marriage at all costs, regardless of whom you choose the same. The suitors finally swore to observe this condition as a condition for the possibility to be selected as spouses of Helen.
Finaly Tyndareus chose Menelaus, the choice was made for reasons of political expediency, since he had riches and power. In fact, his candidacy was not submited by himself but his brother Agamemnon on his behalf. Menelaus with his marriage to Helen succeeded Tyndareus at the throne of Sparta. Subsequently strengthened, and the position of Agamem
non, who married the sister of Helen, Clytemnestra and recaptured the throne of Mycenae.

And it's time to fulfill the promise of Aprodite. While Menelaus was at one version to Crete to bury his brother Krateo, Paris, the guest of Menelaus or in other fleet admiral against Greece, kidnapped with the help of Aphrodite Helen with her will (at  other version with violence initially) and sailed to Troy having grabbed the treasures of Menelaus. Hera tried to prevent them causing storms, which led the love couple in Egypt. The myth of Helen is probably attributed to the poet Stesichorus, in the 6th century BC. The ship finally arrived toTroy, after passing through the Sidon of Phoenicia.

The abduction of Helen by Paris was not the only similar event in the world of Greek Mythology. Previously, Io was abducted from Mycenae, Europe from Phoenicia, Jason kidnapped Medea from Colchis, Troas Isione was kidnapped by Hercules, who had offered her  to Telamon of Salamis. According to Herodotus, Paris did not expect some revenge by Menelaus, as neither the oldest abductions had caused severe reactions. According to mythology, Troy was besieged and conquered before, by Hercules, who immediately put on the throne the then young Priam.

Trojan War

The Trojan War in Greek mythology

The Trojan War in Greek mythology was a decade warfare, the Greeks (Achaeans or Argives or Danaans by Homer) with the Trojans under the walls of Troy. The main cause of the war was the abduction of Helen, wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus from the Trojan prince Paris. This war is one of the main events in Greek mythology and was a source of inexhaustible inspiration in ancient Greek literature, including the works of Homer: the Iliad, which recounts a period of the last year of the war and the Odyssey, which recounts the journey back to his homeland of Odysseus, one of the Achaean leaders. Other facts about the Trojan War described in the Trojan epic cycle from which they were rescued only snippets. Events of the war also inspired the ancient Greek tragedy, Latin literature and many newer works of literature, visual arts and music.
The causes of war are reduced to divine conflict between Athena, Hera and Aphrodite, which caused Eris by giving them a golden apple with the display "to the most beautiful" . Zeus wanting to give solution to the dispute over who deserves the apple, did not refer to the Trojan prince Paris who selected Aphrodite.  As a reward for his judgment , Aphrodite rewarded him by making Helen the most beautiful mortal woman fall in love with him and follow him to Troy. Immediately after the abduction  , Agamemnon , king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband , Menelaus , led a generalized campaign of the Greeks and besieged Troy for ten years. After the deaths of many heroes, like Achilles and Ajax of Telamon and the Trojans Hector and Paris , the city was captured thanks to the ruse of the Trojan Horse . The occupation of the city by the Achaeans accompanied by slaughter and complete the destruction and desecration of the holy . This action provoked the wrath of the gods , who avenged many of the survivors Achaean kings . Very few of them were able to continue peaceful life in their home . The Romans believed that the Trojan hero Aeneas after the fall of the city fled to Lazio in the Italian peninsula and that he is considered as their ancestor .



The ancient Greeks believed that the Trojan War (like most events of mythology) was a historic event that took place in the 13th or 12th century BC and that Troy is located on the Asian side of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Once in 1870, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann after excavations discovered until then, completely mythical Troy. Today the entire archaeological community agrees that indeed this particular location is Troy, and that certainly is one historic core,about the war. The question now is whether some particular facts and persons recounted was real or just fabrications. Researchers have argued that the date given by the ancient historian Eratosthenes: 1194-1184 BC, is the most representative, and agrees with archaeological evidence suggesting that in the city then broke disastrous fire and specifically in the layer of VIIa  Troy.