Regal Affairs

                            The Judgement of Paris and The Trojan War

Greek poet Homer eloquently wrote about the events of the Trojan War in his epics Iliad and Odyssey. Though the Iliad focuses primarily on the end stages of the War, it was actually a 10-year siege by the Greek army on the land of Troy - to which Homer constantly alludes. But The Iliad can prove to be a tedious read (it goes on for 15,693 lines) and movies based on it like the Brad Pitt starrer Troy (2004) aren't always credible sources of knowledge as they are rife with factual inaccuracies. Let's find out here what actually led to the war and what were the significant events that took place during the war. 

Paris, the son of Troy's ruler, Priam, was at a banquet hosted by the Greek God Zeus to celebrate the birth of Achilles, wherein he was deemed worthy and befitting by the mighty Zeus to judge who is "the fairest". To this feast, Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited as it was believed that she would cause confusion and chaos. Angered by this, she came to the banquet with a golden apple, a prize of beauty, and she threw it between the proceedings, knowing that it would surely create a tussle. 

Hera, goddess of marriage; Athena, goddess of wisdom; and Aphrodite, goddess of love, all three claimed this prize. Ultimately, as we have read, Paris was chosen to bestow this golden apple upon the worthy but even after long contemplation he was unable to make a decision. Surely it was hard for a mortal to adjudge the beauty of the immortal goddesses who can be infuriated even by the slightest mistake. The goddesses had to resort to bribery. 

Hera offered him kingly powers and the throne of Europe and Asia. Athena with her unparalleled wisdom and knowledge promised to make him as wise as herself and sagacious in the ways of war. Lastly, Aphrodite slyly offered him Helen - the most beautiful mortal, wife of Spartan king Menelaus. Naive Paris accepted Aphrodite's offer and soon both Helen and Paris were infatuated by each other. Helen was abducted by Paris when he went to Sparta to feast with the King Menelaus. Paris' stubbornness and lust for Helen led to the eventual fall of Troy and the death of many valiant warriors and innocents. Ironically, the feast hosted in honor of Achilles' birth led to his own death. 

Menelaus was infuriated by this un-princely act and reached out to his brother Agamemnon, King of Mycenae to bring back Helen. Agamemnon readily accepted under the pretext of supporting his brother but he had an ulterior motive - ruling over the kingdom of Troy. More than a thousand ships sailed from the Greek kingdoms to Troy and laid out a siege on the shores of Troy. Brave warriors like Odysseus (protagonist of the Odyssey), Ajax, history's greatest warrior Achilles and his inseparable companion Patroclus were among the sailors. Achilles commanded a group of soldiers called the Myrmidons who were leal to him. Achilles' father, Peleus, was aware of his son's certain death during the war, guided by an oracle. Still his mother sent him away to fight and vanquish the enemy for his name would be remembered by everyone for the times to come. 

The Trojan side were led by Priam's son and Paris' brother, Hector. During first 9 years of the war the Greeks continued to ravage the city of Troy. Achilles was the frontrunner and remained undefeated. But in the 10th year......

The Trojan War was an eventful affair and to give its story justice in 500 words would be impossible.  So the story continues in the next post coming soon and it's going to be worth the wait. 

Fact check: in a scene of the movie Troy, Menelaus challenged Paris for a duel with the champion getting to keep Helen. Merely after a few blows from the hefty Spartan, Paris was weary and on the verge of losing his life and Helen. Hector heroically intervenes and kills Menelaus. Whereas originally as written by Homer, goddess Aphrodite saves Paris and brings him back inside the walls of Troy. Neither emerges as the champion and the war continues. 


Written by Vaibhav and Veertej.

Give us your valuable feedback and suggestions down in the comment section. If there's any topic related to history you want to learn more about but you don't have the motivation, tell us about it and we'll write a post about it. 

Thank you for reading it. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2020 at 9:54 PM

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    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2020 at 4:41 PM

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