In 1184 BCE, the Battle of Troy was fought between the Greeks under Agamemnon and Menelaus against the Trojans under Priam and Hector during the Trojan War.
Why did it happen?
According to the Iliad, Paris of Troy fell in love with Helen of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus. When the lovers sailed back to Troy in 1193 BCE, Menelaus urged his brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, to go to war with him to reclaim his wife. After diplomatic negotiations failed, The Greek army sailed in a vast fleet of warships towards the Anatolian coast, where they landed at Mysia. After sacking the city, the Greeks retreated only for a storm to scatter their warships. The Greeks regrouped at Aulis to prepare for a second expedition against Troy, which successfully reached the city despite sustaining casualties on the beachhead. After a further diplomatic embassy to the city was rejected, the Greeks settled in for a siege that lasted nine years, during which the Greeks sent out raiding parties to attack cities allied to Troy. Finally, in 1184 BCE, the Trojans were lured out from behind their city walls to engage the Greeks in open battle.
Who was involved?
The Greek army at Troy numbered 15,000 infantry, 75 chariots, and 300 warships. Homer claims that the Greek army and navy numbered 50,000 men and 1,000 warships, which is almost certainly an exaggeration. While arrayed on the plain outside Troy, Agamemnon and Menelaus commanded the centre, while Diomedes and Antilochus led the left wing and right wing, respectively. The Trojan army at Troy numbered 10,000 infantry and 50 chariots. During the first phase of the battle, Hector and Paris commanded the Trojan centre, with Pylaemenes leading the left wing and Pandarus leading the right wing. During the second phase of the battle, the Trojans reformed into five battalions of 2,000 men each: Hector commanding the left wing; Paris, the left centre; Helenus, the centre; Aeneus, the right centre; and Sarpedon, the right wing.
What happened?
Before the battle began, Paris challenged Menelaus to single combat. After a brief duel, Menelaus shattered Paris’ helmet with his sword and attempted to drag him back towards the Greek lines. However, Paris managed to break free and fled back to Troy, and the two armies advanced slowly before engaging each other in close combat. On the Greek left wing, Diomedes was hit by a Trojan arrow but recovered and killed Pandarus. On the Greek right wing, Antilochus knocked Pylaemenes from his chariot and killed him. Under Hector, the Trojans forced the Greeks to retreat to their camp. The Trojans pursued them to the walls of their camp and reorganised into five battalions before engaging the Greek forces on the beach. Patroclus led the Myrmidons into battle, wearing Achilles' armour during the fighting. Believing him to be Achilles, the Trojan army’s morale plummeted, and a rout back to the city ensued. The Greeks under Patroclus pursued them outside the city walls; Hector killed him with a spear thrust through the bowels out his back. Enraged by the death of his friend, Achilles engaged Hector in single combat. As the Trojan army withdrew into the city, Achilles stabbed Hector through the throat, killing him instantly.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Troy was a Greek victory. After killing Hector, Achilles tied his body to the back of his chariot and returned to the Greek camp. Struck with grief, Hector’s wife, Andromache, begged King Priam to retrieve the body of her beloved husband so that he could be given the proper funeral rites. After travelling to the Greek camp to talk to Achilles, Priam was given Hector’s body and promised a twelve-day truce for the funeral rites and a proper mourning period. According to legend, the war continued for another year until the Greeks departed and left behind a large wooden horse. The Trojans dragged the horse back into the city, unaware it contained a small contingent of Greek soldiers. The Greek soldiers opened the city gates at night, allowing the Greek army into it. Troy was sacked, and Helen reclaimed, although she wept at the fact that “she was destined to be some man’s possession, not his partner” (Sheppard, 2014, p.69). The Greeks subsequently sailed back across the Aegean Sea, although for Odysseus and Menelaus, stormy weather meant it took them several years to reach Greece safely.
Bibliography
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Homer. The Iliad of Homer. Translated by Richmond Lattimore. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Luca, Marco e. “Trojan War.” Ars Bellica. Last revised 2015. www.arsbellica.it/pagine/antica/Troia/troia_eng.html
Overy, Richard. A History of War in 100 Battles. London, William Collins, 2014.
Sheppard, Si. Troy: Last War of the Heroic Age. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2014.
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