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===Trojan War===

===Trojan War===

The most famous part of the story of Troy is the Trojan War itself, a conflict between Mycenaean Greeks (Achaeans) and the Kingdom of Troy that has generally been told and retold for about four centuries before being put down in writing by Homer, a Greek poet and bard who may or may not have existed.  The conflict began when the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, Helen, eloped with the Trojan prince Paris, and to get her back, Menelaus received the backing of King Agamemnon of Mycenae.  The army that was created sailed to Troy on a thousand ships and laid siege to the city for ten years; lacking the physical power to enter, the Greeks feigned giving up, leaving a large, wooden horse on the beach as a "gift" to Troy.  The horse was pulled into the city, and the Achaean soldiers who had hidden inside it crept out, opened the city gates, and allowed the Achaeans to enter, resulting in the destruction of the city.  Homer's tale involved age-old conflicts of right and wrong; the influence of the gods; the heroes Ajax and Nestor; the intercession of the Amazons in the aid of Priam; the doomed Patroclus who believed he could be a stand-in for his cousin, the nearly-indestructible Achilles, who would take vengeance against Hector on the plain before Troy, dragging his body around the city with his chariot.  And when Troy was turned to ashes, Odysseus would face a ten-year journey to get back home to Ithaca, to find his wife the target of unwanted suitors.

The most famous part of the story of Troy is the Trojan War itself, a conflict between Mycenaean Greeks (Achaeans) and the Kingdom of Troy that has generally been told and retold for about four centuries before being put down in writing by Homer, a Greek poet and bard who may or may not have existed.  The conflict began when the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, Helen, eloped with the Trojan prince Paris, and to get her back, Menelaus received the backing of King Agamemnon of Mycenae.  The army that was created sailed to Troy on a thousand ships and laid siege to the city for ten years; lacking the physical power to enter, the Greeks feigned giving up, leaving a large, wooden horse on the beach as a "gift" to Troy.  The horse was pulled into the city, and the Achaean soldiers who had hidden inside it crept out, opened the city gates, and allowed the Achaeans to enter, resulting in the destruction of the city.  Homer's tale involved age-old conflicts of right and wrong; the influence of the gods; the heroes Ajax and Nestor; the intercession of the Amazons in the aid of Priam; the doomed Patroclus who believed he could be a stand-in for his cousin, the nearly-indestructible Achilles, who would take [[vengeance]] against Hector on the plain before Troy, dragging his body around the city with his chariot.  And when Troy was turned to ashes, Odysseus would face a ten-year journey to get back home to Ithaca, to find his wife the target of unwanted suitors.

The ''Illiad'' was first written down about 750 B.C., followed by the ''Odyssey'' around 725 B.C.  Both works are ascribed to Homer.  About 29 B.C. Virgil wrote his epic ''Aeneid'', in which the tale recounted Trojans who fled the destruction to Carthage; led by Prince Aeneas, they would leave for the Italian peninsula, founding the city of Rome on the banks of the Tiber River.  Written during the period of the first emperor [[Augustus]], Virgil's epic had the intention of giving the Romans a history as impressive as any the Greeks had.

The ''Illiad'' was first written down about 750 B.C., followed by the ''Odyssey'' around 725 B.C.  Both works are ascribed to Homer.  About 29 B.C. Virgil wrote his epic ''Aeneid'', in which the tale recounted Trojans who fled the destruction to Carthage; led by Prince Aeneas, they would leave for the Italian peninsula, founding the city of Rome on the banks of the Tiber River.  Written during the period of the first emperor [[Augustus]], Virgil's epic had the intention of giving the Romans a history as impressive as any the Greeks had.

==Archaeological history==

==Archaeological history==