Works Cited

• http://www.history.com/topics/trojan-war; Trojan War; 1996-2012; A&E Television Networks; December 6

• http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112190/trojan_war.htm; The History of Trojan War; 2011 New York City; December 9

• http://www.ancient-mythology.com/greek/trojan_war.php; Trojan War; 2004; Washington DC; December 5

• http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html; History of the Trojan War; 2009; Washington DC; December 7
• The Song of Achilles; Miller, Madeline; New York; December 6
• The War that Killed Achilles; Alexander, Caroline; New York; Viking; 2009; December 8

Interesting Facts about Trojan War

• Apollo was on Troys side during the war and aided Paris' arrow that went into Achilles heel and killed him.
• The Greek hero Odysseus thought to build the Trojan War Horse.
• Ares (the god of war) was on the Trojans side.
• It's said that Achilles horses had the gift to talk.
• Helen is also know as "the face that launched a thousand ships".
• The voyage home after the war for the Achaeans lasted almost 4 years.
• When Helen was a young girl, she was kidnapped by Theseus (the king of Athens) but later her two brothers rescued her.
• Achilles' mother held him by the heel and bathed him in the Styx River which is why that's the only vulnerable place on his body.
• It's said that the Trojan War was based off of a more realistic war and some people think it didn't really happen.

What and Who It Was

     The Trojan War originally started with the Greek gods. It's said that three Greek goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite each reached for a golden apple at a wedding. They wanted Zeus to decide who should have the apple, but he wouldn't becaue he didn't want the other two goddesses to scold him. He then decided to have Paris the king of Troy decide which goddess to have the apple. Each lady offered him something different; Hera bribed him with power, Athena promised him wealth, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite and as promised, Helen became his. Helen was married to Menelaus, king of Sparta. When he found out that his wife had been taken to Troy, he was obviously angry and wanted to seek revenge on Troy. He called upon Achilles to help him fight. Achilles wouldn't fight under King Menelaus, but would have his own men and ships and fight to gain Troy. It's said that there were 1,000 ships that washed up on the shores of Troy and the war began.





Why I Chose the Trojan War

     I chose the Trojan War to study because I think it's fascinating how the war started and how the Greeks finally got into the city walls of Troy. I love how Paris and Helen were so brave to run away to Troy together. And even through the whole nine years of the war, they still loved each other and wouldn't leave each others side. I am also really fascinated on how the Greeks built the Trojan Horse. It must have taken someone really smart to come up with that way to get into the city and in the end it worked. Another thing that I liked about the Trojan War was all the ships that washed up on the shores of Troy. It must have taken several years to build over 1,000 ships. Overall, I loved learning about the Trojan War!

When and Where it was

     The Trojan War was between two neighboring states- Troy and the Achaeans (which were the Greeks). Troy was located where Turkey is today. It stood on a hill, looking over the plains of Scamander where much of the war took place. The city over looked the Aegean Sea then, but has now been pushed back more inland. Achaea on the other hand, is in modern day Greece at the very tip, also over looking the Aegean Sea. The Achaea area was ruled by both kings of Sparta and Athens, depending on who conquered it at that point in time. The war was in the 12th century B.C. and lasted for 9 years.

End of the Trojan War

     The Trojan War was a total of nine years. The war consisted against Troy and neighboring cities because the Greeks found out that some of Troy's supplies had been coming from these cities. The Greeks finally came up with a tactic  to get into the walls of Troy. The famous Trojan Horse was created. This was a huge, hollow horse made from wood which carried soldiers inside of it, but the people of Troy wouldn't know this. Thinking that the Greeks finally gave up and sailed away, they brought the Trojan Horse into their city to celebrate the victory. Then when everyone was sleeping, the soldiers came out of the trap door of the horse and burned the city.They killed the men and took the women and children as prisoners. In this battle, Paris shot an arrow into the heel of Achilles; the one place where he would die if you shot him. Helen was later reunited with King Menelaus and the city of Troy was left untouched.