Who today does not know the famous legend of the Trojan War? This myth is difficult to believe, but the authenticity of the existence of Troy was confirmed during the excavations of the famous German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890). Modern archaeological research confirms the historicity of the tragic events that took place in the late 13th - early 12th centuries BC. e. More and more details about the Trojan War and related circumstances are being revealed.
To date, it is known that a major military clash of the union of the Achaean states with the city of Troy (Ilion), located on the shores of the Aegean Sea, took place between 1190 and 1180 BC. BC (according to other sources, about 1240 BC)
Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were the first sources reporting about this as legendary, so terrible event. Later, the Trojan War was the theme of Virgil's Aeneid and other works in which history is also intertwined with fiction.
According to these works, the reason for the Trojan War was the abduction of Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam, the beautiful Helena, the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. At the call of Menelaus, oath-bound suitors, famous Greek heroes, came to his aid. According to the Iliad, an army of Greeks led by the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, Menelaus's brother, went to free the abducted woman.
An attempt to negotiate the return of Helena was unsuccessful, and then the Greeks began an exhausting siege of the city. The gods also took part in the war: Athena and Hera - on the side of the Greeks, Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo and Ares - on the side of the Trojans. There were 10 times fewer Trojans, but Troy remained unapproachable.
The only source for us can only serve as Homer's poem "Iliad", but the author, as noted by the Greek historian Thucydides, exaggerated the significance of the war and embellished it, and therefore the poet's information should be treated rather carefully. But we are primarily interested in military operations and methods of warfare at that time, about which Homer spoke in great detail.
So, the city of Troy was located a few kilometers from the coast of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Trade routes used by the Greek tribes passed through Troy. As you can see, the Trojans interfered with the trade of the Greeks, which forced the Greek tribes to unite and start a war with Troy, which was supported by numerous allies, which is why the war dragged on for many years.
Troy, on the site of which the Turkish town of Hisarlik is located today, was surrounded by a high stone wall with battlements. The Achaeans did not dare to storm the city and did not blockade it, because the fighting took place on a flat field between the city and the besieging camp, which was located on the banks of the Hellespont. The Trojans from time to time broke into the enemy's camp, trying to set fire to the Greek ships pulled ashore.
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Enumerating in detail the ships of the Achaeans, Homer counted 1186 ships on which a hundred thousandth army was transported. There is no doubt that the number of ships and warriors is exaggerated. In addition, it should be borne in mind that these ships were simply large boats, because they could easily be pulled ashore and fairly quickly launched. Such a vessel could not lift 100 people.
Most likely, the Achaeans had several thousand soldiers. They were headed by Agamemnon, the king of the "multi-golden Mycenae". And at the head of the warriors of each tribe was its own leader.
Homer called the Achaeans "spearmen", because there is no doubt that the main weapon of the Greek warriors was a spear with a copper tip. The warrior had a copper sword and good defensive weapons: leggings, a carapace on his chest, a helmet with a horse's mane, and a large shield bound with copper. Tribal chiefs fought in war chariots or dismounted. The warriors of the lower hierarchies were less armed: they had spears, slings, "double-edged axes", axes, bows with arrows, shields and were a support for their leaders, who themselves entered into single combat with the best warriors of Troy. From Homer's description it is possible to imagine the environment in which the combat took place. It happened like this.
The opponents were located close to each other. The war chariots were lined up; the warriors took off their armor and put them next to the chariots, then sat down on the ground and watched the single combat of their leaders. The combatants at first threw spears, then fought with swords (copper), which soon fell into disrepair. Having lost the sword, the fighter took refuge in the ranks of his tribe, or he was given a new weapon to continue the struggle. The winner took off the armor from the slain and took away his weapon.
The battle chariots were the first to enter the battle, then "continuously, one after another, the phalanx of the Achaeans moved into battle against the Trojans", "walked in silence, fearing their leaders." The infantry inflicted the first blows with spears, and then cut with swords. The infantry fought the war chariots with spears. Archers also took part in the battle, but the arrow was not considered a reliable means even in the hands of an excellent archer.
It is not surprising that in such conditions the outcome of the struggle was decided by physical strength and the art of using weapons, which often refused: the copper spearheads were bent, and the swords broke. Maneuver on the battlefield has not yet been used, but the beginnings of organizing the interaction of war chariots and foot soldiers have already begun to appear.
This fight lasted until nightfall. If an agreement was reached at night, the corpses were burned. If there was no agreement, the opponents set up guards, organizing the protection of the army in the field and defensive structures (the fortress wall and fortifications of the camp - a moat, pointed stakes and a wall with towers). The guard, which usually consisted of several detachments, was located behind the moat. At night, reconnaissance was sent to the enemy's camp with the aim of capturing prisoners and clarifying the enemy's intentions, meetings of tribal leaders were held, at which the question of further actions was decided. In the morning, the battle resumed.
This is approximately how the endless battles between the Achaeans and the Trojans proceeded. According to Homer, only in the 10th (!) Year of the war the main events began to unfold.
Once the Trojans, having achieved success in a night sortie, threw the enemy back to his fortified camp, surrounded by a moat. Having crossed the moat, the Trojans began to storm the wall with towers, but were soon driven back.
Later, they still managed to break the gates with stones and break into the Achaean camp. A bloody battle ensued for the ships. Homer explains such success of the Trojans by the fact that the best warrior of the besiegers, the invincible Achilles, who fell out with Agamemnon, did not participate in the battle.
Seeing that the Achaeans were retreating, Achilles' friend Patroclus persuaded Achilles to allow him to join the battle and give his armor. Inspired by Patroclus, the Achaeans rallied, as a result of which the Trojans met with fresh enemy forces at the ships. It was a dense formation of close shields "a peak near a peak, a shield near a shield, going under the neighboring one." The warriors lined up in several ranks and repulsed the attack of the Trojans, and with a counterattack - "blows of sharp swords and a two-pointed peak" - they were able to throw them back.
Finally, the attack was repulsed. But Patroclus himself died at the hands of Hector, the son of Priam, king of Troy. So the armor of Achilles went to the enemy. Later, Hephaestus forged new armor and weapons for Achilles, after which Achilles, enraged by the death of a friend, again entered the battle. He later killed Hector in a duel, tied his body to a chariot and rushed to his camp. The Trojan king Priam with rich gifts came to Achilles, begged him to return the body of his son and buried him with dignity.
This ends Homer's Iliad.
According to later myths, later the women-warriors of the Amazons led by Penfisilea and the king of the Ethiopians Memnon came to the aid of the Trojans. But soon they died at the hands of Achilles. And soon Achilles himself died from the arrows of Paris, directed by Apollo. One arrow hit the only vulnerable spot - the heel of Achilles, the other - in the chest. His armor and weapons went to Odysseus, recognized as the bravest of the Achaeans.
After the death of Achilles, the Greeks were predicted that without the bow and arrows of Hercules, who were at Philoctetes, and Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, they would not be able to take Troy. An embassy was sent for these heroes, and they rushed to the aid of their compatriots. Philoctetes with an arrow of Hercules mortally wounded the Trojan prince Paris. Odysseus and Diomedes killed the Thracian king Res, who was hurrying to the aid of the Trojans, and took away his magic horses, which, according to the prophecy, having got into the city, would have made it impregnable.
Further more. Odysseus and Diomedes entered Troy and stole palladium from the temple of Athena, who was protecting the city from enemies. But the powerful defensive walls of Troy remained impregnable.
And then the cunning Odysseus came up with an extraordinary military trick …
For a long time, secretly from others, he talked with a certain Epey, the best carpenter in the Achaean camp. By evening, all the Achaean leaders gathered in the tent of Agamemnon for a council of war, where Odysseus told his adventurous plan, according to which it was necessary to build a huge wooden horse. The most skillful and courageous warriors must fit in his womb. All the rest of the army must board the ships, move away from the Trojan coast and take refuge behind the island of Tendos.
As soon as the Trojans see that the Achaeans have left the coast, they will think that the siege of Troy has been lifted. The Trojans will surely drag the wooden horse to Troy. At night, the Achaean ships will return, and the soldiers, hiding in a wooden horse, will come out of it and open the fortress gates. And then - the last assault on the hated city!
For three days, axes knocked in the carefully fenced off part of the ship's parking lot, for three days mysterious work was in full swing.
On the morning of the fourth day, the Trojans were surprised to find the Achaean camp empty. The sails of the Achaean ships were melting in the sea haze, and on the coastal sand, where only yesterday the tents and tents of the enemy were full of colors, there was a huge wooden horse.
Jubilant Trojans left the city and wandered with curiosity along the deserted coast. Surprised, they surrounded a huge wooden horse, which towered over the bushes of the coastal willows. Someone began to advise throwing the horse into the sea, someone - to burn it, but many insisted on dragging it into the city and placing it on the main square of Troy as a memory of the bloody battle of peoples.
In the midst of the dispute, the priest of Apollo Laocoon approached the wooden horse with his two sons. "Fear the Danes who bring gifts!" he cried, and, snatching a sharp spear from the hands of the Trojan warrior, threw it into the horse's wooden belly. The pierced spear trembled, and a barely audible ringing of copper was heard from the horse's belly. However, no one listened to Laocoon. All the attention of the crowd was attracted by the appearance of the young men leading the captive Achaean. He was brought to the king Priam, who was surrounded by the court nobility next to a wooden horse. The prisoner introduced himself as Sinon and explained that he himself had fled from the Achaeans, who were to sacrifice him to the gods - this was a condition for a safe return home.
Sinon convinced the Trojans that the horse was an initiatory gift to Athena, who could unleash her wrath on Troy if the Trojans destroyed the horse. And if you put it in the city in front of the temple of Athena, then Troy will become indestructible. At the same time, Sinon emphasized that this is why the Achaeans built the horse so huge that the Trojans could not drag it through the fortress gates …
As soon as Sinon spoke these words, a scream was heard from the direction of the sea. Two huge serpents crawled out of the sea and entwined the priest of Laocoon, as well as his two sons, with death rings of their smooth and sticky bodies. In an instant, the unfortunates gave up their ghost.
Now no one doubted that Sinon was telling the truth. Therefore, we should quickly install this wooden horse next to the temple of Athena.
Having built a low platform on wheels, the Trojans placed a wooden horse on it and took it to the city. In order for the horse to pass through the Skeian Gate, the Trojans had to disassemble part of the fortress wall. The horse was put on the agreed place.
While the Trojans, drunk with success, were celebrating their victory, at night the Achaean scouts quietly got out of the horse and opened the gates. By that time, the Greek army, at the signal of Sinon, had quietly returned back and now captured the city.
As a result, Troy was plundered and destroyed.
But why was it the horse that caused the death of Troy?
This question has been asked since ancient times. Many ancient authors tried to find a reasonable explanation for the legend. A variety of assumptions were expressed: for example, that the Achaeans had a combat tower on wheels, made in the shape of a horse and upholstered with horse skins; or that the Greeks were able to enter the city through an underground passage, on the door of which a horse was painted; or that the horse was a sign by which the Achaeans in the dark distinguished each other from the enemy … Now it is generally accepted that the Trojan horse is an allegory of some kind of military cunning used by the Achaeans in the capture of Troy.
Almost all heroes, both Achaeans and Trojans, perish under the walls of the city. And of those who survived the war, many will die on the way home. Someone, like King Agamemnon, upon returning home will find death at the hands of loved ones, someone will be expelled and spend their lives in wanderings. In fact, this is the end of the heroic age. There are no winners and no losers under the walls of Troy, the heroes are a thing of the past, and the time for ordinary people is coming.
Curiously, the horse is also symbolically associated with birth and death. A horse made of spruce wood, carrying something in its womb, symbolizes the birth of a new one, and the Trojan horse is made just of fir planks, and armed warriors are sitting in its hollow belly. It turns out that the Trojan horse brings death to the defenders of the fortress, but at the same time it means the birth of something new.
The results of recent archaeological expeditions do not yet make it possible to conclusively reconstruct the scenario of the Trojan War. But their results do not deny that behind the Trojan epic lies the history of Greek expansion against a major power located on the western coast of Asia Minor and preventing the Greeks from gaining power over this region. It remains to be hoped that the true history of the Trojan War will still be written someday.
M. Kurushin