In the Iliad , the war started when Paris took Helen to Troy. Agamemnon led a Greek army in a ten-year siege of the city. The Greeks tricked the Trojans by leaving a giant wooden horse with warriors hidden inside. The Trojans thought it was a gift and brought it into the city. At night, the Greeks came out of the horse, opened the gates and destroyed Troy.
SOURCE4 A scene from one of the wall paintings found at Tiryns, a Mycenaean site from the fourteenth to thirteenth centuries BCE
Fact or ýction? People have doubted the truth of the Iliad for a long time (see SOURCE5 ). In 1870, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann used the story to ýnd what he believed was Troy (see SOURCE6 ). He found ruins, but later digs showed the city he found was from the wrong time.
SOURCE5 From The Histories , written by the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus (c. 484–425 BCE)
… had Helen really been in Troy, she would have been handed over to the Greeks with or without Paris’ consent; for I cannot believe that either Priam or any other kinsman of his was mad enough to be willing to risk his own and his children’s lives and the safety of the city, simply to let Paris continue to live with Helen.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator