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The Trojan War resulted from an incident at the wedding feast of Peleus, the king of Phthia and Thetis, a sea goddess. All the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus were invited except Eris, goddess of discord. She was offended and being a trouble maker she stirred up trouble among the guests at the feast. She sent a golden apple inscribed "For the most beautiful. "Three goddesses; Hera, Athena and Aphrodite each claimed the apple and the quarrel began. [ More on the golden apple]Paris was recruited to make the judgement. (Zeus skipped out on this one not wanting trouble from his wife, Hera or favorite daughter Athena ) who judged the dispute awarded the apple to Aphrodite who had promised him Helen (daughter of Zeus and Leda [the swan incident]) as a pay off for his vote. [Goddess Vanity ]Helen (considered the most beautiful mortal woman) was already married to Menelaus, king of Sparta. When Paris visited her, they both fled to Troy. Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon organized (The face that launches a thousand ships) a large Greek expedition against Troy to win Helen back. [Judgement of Paris details]Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. , was the woman whom Venus had bribed Paris with, Helen was the fairest of her sex. Venus had caused Helen to fall Madly in love with Paris. So they went off to Troy. [about Helen]When Menelaus, king of Sparta realized what had happened, he called in an oath made by all the heros who were courting Hellen before the marrage to to get her back from Troy. [ about Menlaus ]The Greek army laid siege to Troy for 10 years but could not conquer the city. The war began to go badly for the Greeks when Achilles, their bravest warrior, left the battlefield. The Trojans, led by Hector, drove the Greeks back to their ships. [ about Hector ]Achilles finally returned after his best friend, Patroclus was slain by Hector. Achilles killed Hector to avenge his friend's death. Now Achilles, son of the goddess Thea, had been dipped the magic river Styx, This made him invulnerable to wounds any part of his body but his heel by which he was held while being emerged in the magic water. [ about Achilles ]The Trojans received help from their allies, the Amazons and the Ethiopians. Achilles enabled the Greeks to defeat the allies by killing Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and Memnon, king of the Ethiopians. [The Amazons ]Paris later gave Achilles a fatal wound in his heel when he shot him with a poisoned arrow. The clever general Odysseus had a plan. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse and placed it outside the walls of Troy. Odysseus and the other warriors hid inside the horse. The Trojans pulled the horse into Troy. That night they fell asleep after celebrating their apparent victory. The Greeks then crept out of the horse and opened the city gates for the rest of the warriors, who had returned from a nearby island. The Greeks took back Helen, slaughtered almost all the Trojans and burned Troy. [about the horse] |