TROY

Trojan War

Helen Of Troy. The face that launched a thousand ships.

Helen Pronunciation {hel'-en}

Helen (often called "Helen of Troy") was 
the daughter of Leda and Zeus, and was 
the sister of the Dioscuri and 
Clytemnestra.

Since Zeus visited Leda in the form of a 
swan, Helen was often presented as being 
born from an egg. She was reputed to be 
the most beautiful woman in the world. 
When Helen was still a child, she was 
abducted by Theseus. Since she was not 
yet old enough to be married, he sent 
her to Aphidnae and left her in the care 
of his mother, Aethra. The Dioscuri 
rescued her and returned her to her home 
in Lacedaemon, taking Aethra prisoner at 
the same time.

When Helen reached marriageable age, all 
the greatest men in Greece courted her. 
Her mother's husband, King Tyndareos of 
Lacedaemon, was concerned about the 
trouble that might be caused by the 
disappointed suitors. Acting on the 
advice of Odysseus, he got all the 
suitors to swear that they would support 
the marriage rights of the successful 
candidate. He then settled on Menelaus 
to be the husband of Helen. She lived 
happily with Menelaus for a number of 
years, and bore him a daughter, 
Hermione.

After a decade or so of married life, 
Helen was abducted by -- or ran off with 
-- Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy. 
Menelaus called on the other suitors to 
fulfill their oaths and help him get her 
back. As a result, the Greek leaders 
mustered the greatest army of the time, 
placed it under the command of 
Agamemnon, and set off to wage what 
became known as the Trojan War.

After the fall of Troy, Menelaus took 
Helen back to Lacedaemon, where they 
lived an apparently happy married life 
once more. After the end of their mortal 
existence, they continued to be together 
in Elysium.

There were a number of different 
accounts of Helen's relationship with 
Paris. In some, she was truly in love 
with him, although her sympathies were 
mostly with the Greeks who besieged 
Troy. In others, she was a beautiful and 
wanton woman who brought disaster upon 
those around her. In still other 
accounts, she never went to Troy at all: 
Hermes, acting on Zeus's orders, 
spirited her away to Egypt and fashioned 
a phantom out of clouds to accompany 
Paris; the real Helen was reunited with 
Menelaus after the Trojan War.

Ajax

In Greek mythology, Ajax was son of
Telamon, king of Salamis, he was
second only to Achilles among the
Greek heroes in the Trojan War.
According to subsequent Greek
legends, Ajax went mad with jealousy
when Agamemnon awarded the armor of
the dead Achilles to Odysseus. He
later committed suicide in shame.
Ajax, 1820, oil on canvas,
Musée des Beaux Arts,
Lille. 86KB
Serrur, Henri (French, 1794-1865)

Leda

Leda was a daughter of Thestius. She was
the wife of Tyndareus. She was seduced by
Zeus and gave birth to two eggs. From one
hatched her daughter Helen and son
Polydeuces, and from the other hatched
Castor.

Wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. In
some myths Leda was seduced by Zeus, who
appeared as a swan She bore two eggs:
from one issued Castor and Clytemnestra,
from the other Pollux and Helen of Troy.
Another version has Zeus pursuing Nemesis
who changes into a goose; whereupon he
changes into a swan and couples with her.
She then laid an egg (or two, the stories
vary) which she gave to Leda to protect,
and from which the above four are born.

Helen

In Greek mythology, Helen was the
daughter of Zeus and Leda, and the
most beautiful of women. She married
Menelaus, King of Sparta, but during
his absence, was abducted by Paris,
Prince of Troy. This precipitated
the Trojan War. Afterwards she
returned to Sparta with her
husband.

Acamas	Acamas was a son of Theseus and Phaedra. He went to Troy with Diomedes to demand the return of Helen.
Achates	In Greek mythology Achates was a companion of Aeneas in his wanderings subsequent to his flight from Troy. He typified a faithful friend and companion.
Agamemnon	In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a Greek hero of the Trojan wars, son of Atreus, king of Mycenae, and brother of Menelaus. He married Clytemnestra, and their children included Electra, Iphigenia, and Orestes. He sacrificed Iphigenia in order to secure favorable winds for the Greek expedition against Troy and after a ten years' siege sacked the city, receiving Priam's daughter Cassandra as a prize. On his return home, he and Cassandra were murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. His children Orestes and Electra later killed the guilty couple.
Amazon	Amazon Page in Greek mythology, the Amazons were a group of female warriors living near the Black Sea, who cut off their right breasts to use the bow more easily. Their queen, Penthesilea, was killed by Achilles at the siege of Troy. The Amazons attacked Theseus and besieged him at Athens, but were defeated, and Theseus took the Amazon Hippolyta captive; she later gave birth to Hippolytus.
Antilochus	In Greek mythology, Antilochus was a son of Nestor. He was a hero of the Trojan war and was renowned for his speed of foot. He was killed by Memnon.
Ascanius	Ascanius was a son of Aeneas and Creusa. He escaped from Troy with his father.
Cassandra	In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of Priam, King of Troy. Her prophecies were never believed, because she had rejected the love of the god Apollo. She was murdered with Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, having been awarded as a prize to the Greek hero on his sacking of Troy.
Clytemnestra	In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon. With the help of her lover Aegisthus, she murdered her husband and his paramour Cassandra on his return from the Trojan War, and was in turn killed by her son Orestes.
Ganymedes	Ganymedes was a son of the Trojan king Tros. He was carried off by Zeus and became the cup-bearer of the gods.
Hector	In Greek mythology, Hector was a Trojan prince, son of King Priam and husband of Andromache, who, in the siege of Troy, was the foremost warrior on the Trojan side until he was killed by Achilles.
Iphigenia	In Greek mythology, Iphigenia was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She was sacrificed by her father at Aulis to secure favorable winds for the Greek fleet in the expedition against Troy, on instructions from the prophet Calchas. According to some accounts, she was saved by the goddess Artemis, and made her priestess.
Laocoon	Laocoon was a Trojan prophet, son of Antenor and a priest of Apollo and Poseidon. He warned the Trojans against the Wooden Horse.
Laodice	Laodice was a daughter of Priam and the wife of Helicaon. When Troy fell she was swallowed by the earth.
Memnon	Memnon was the son of Eos and Tithonus. He was the king of Ethiopia who helped the Trojans and killed many Greeks. He was killed by Achilles in single combat whilst Zeus weighed their fates in the balance.
Menelaus	Menelaus was the husband of Helen of Troy.
Odysseus	Odysseus was a Greek hero. He devised the strategy of the wooden horse used by the Greeks to conquer Troy.
Oileus	Oileus was one of the Argonauts, he was the father of Ajax.
Pandarus	In Greek mythology, Pandarus was the leader of the forces of Zeleia in Lycia at the Trojan War. He was the second best Greek archer (next to Paris) and fought in the Trojan War as an archer.
Paris	In Greek mythology, Paris was a prince of Troy whose abduction of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, caused the Trojan War. Helen was promised to him by the Goddess Aphrodite as a bribe, in his judgment between her beauty and that of two other goddesses, Hera and Athena. Paris killed the Greek hero Achilles by shooting an arrow into his heel, but was himself killed by Philoctetes before the capture of Troy.
Patroclus	Patroclus was a cousin and close friend of Achilles. He was killed by Hector in the Trojan wars.
Penelope	In Greek mythology, Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca; their son was Telemachus. While Odysseus was absent at the siege of Troy she kept her many suitors at bay by asking them to wait until she had woven a shroud for her father-in-law, but unraveled her work each night. When Odysseus returned, after 20 years, he and Telemachus killed her suitors.
Priam AKA Podarces	In Greek mythology, Priam was the son of Laomedon and Placia. He was originally called Podarces and was still a baby when his father promissed his sister Hesione to Heracles and then broke his word. Heracles sacked Troy and killed Laomedon and all his sons except Podarces whom he sold in the slave market. He was bought by Hesione and she changed his name to Priam.
Pyrrhus	In Greek mythology, Pyrrhus was the birth name of Achilles' son who was renamed Neoptolemus when he went to Troy.
Sarpedon	Sarpedon was a son of Zeus and Europa. He went to Asia Minor and became the king of the Lycians after helping Cilix of Cilicia to defeat them. He helped Troy in the Trojan wars before being killed by Patroclus.
Teucer	There are two descriptions for Teucer, both refer to Greek mythology. The first is that Teucer was the first King of Troy. He was a son of the river god Scamander and Idaea. The second that Teucer was son of Telamon and Hesione and the best archer in the Greek army in the Trojan War. He would have shot Hector if Zeus had not broken his sbowstring.
Tithonus	In Greek mythology, Tithonus was a son or brother of Laomedon the king of Troy. He was made immortal by by Zeus at the request of Eos who loved him. However, she neglected to ask that Tithonus be given the gift of eternal youth, so that he withered away in an ever increasing decrepitude. The name Tithonus thus became proverbial for a decrepit old man.
Tlepolemus	In Greek mythology, Tlepolemus was a son of Hercules. He became king of Argos, but after killing his uncle Licymnius, he had to flee the country. In obedience to an oracle, he settled in Rhodes, and there founded the cities of Lindos, Isalysos and Cameirus. He joined the Greeks in the Trojan war, and was killed by Sarpedon, king of Lycia.
Triton	Triton was a Herald of Neptune. In Greek mythology the Tritons were sea-gods with the upper half of a human and the lower part of the body that of a fish. They carried a trumpet which the blew to soothe the waves at the command of Poseidon.
Tros	Tros was the grandson of Dardanus and the father of Ilus. He gave his name to the city of Troy.
Turnus	In Roman mythology, Turnus was the son of King Daunus and the nymph Venilia. He was a favourite of Juno, who granted him invulnerability in battle so long as he was pure, honourable and steadfast. In the war between Turnus' people, the Rutulians and the Trojan settlers led by Aeneas, Turnus showed all these qualities, leading his troops with as much dignity and honour as Aeneas himself. But he let his guard slip for an instant, killing the young prince Pallas who had rashly challenged him to single combat and wore his belt as a trophy. Juno withdrew her protection and Aeneas killed him in hand-to-hand combat.



                     Trojan War

in Greek mythology, war between Greeks and Trojans. It began when 
PARIS abducted HELEN, wife of MENELAUS. Under AGAMEMNON, the 
Greeks besieged Troy for nine years. They finally won when, 
pretending to depart, they left a wooden horse, which the 
Trojans, ignoring the warnings of CASSANDRA and LAOCOöN, took 
into the city. Warriors hidden in the horse opened the city gates 
to the Greek army, which sacked Troy. Among the Greek heroes were 
ACHILLES, Patroclus, ODYSSEUS, and Nestor; the Trojan heroes, led 
by HECTOR, included AENEAS, Memnon, and Penthesilea. The gods 
took a great interest in the war. HERA, POSEIDON, and ATHENA 
aided the Greeks, while APHRODITE and ARES favored the Trojans. 
The war's final year forms the main part of HOMER's Iliad. The 
Trojan War probably reflected a real war c.1200 B.C. over control 
of trade in the DARDANELLES.

My HomePage

Last Modified on: