Trojan War

The Trojan War (fact or fiction)

- Greeks have fought in many wars over time
- Trojan War: fought in 12th or 13th century BCE
- Part of Greek mythology: until the 19th century most historians thought it was fictional because gods and goddesses got involved
- The goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera were given the "apple of discord"
- Paris judged Aphrodite as "the fairest"
- Aphrodite made Helen (who was married) fall in love with Paris, who took her back to Italy
- sure.... except a war was really fought in Troy! so...

Meanwhile, "sea people" & Dorians

around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae, and burnt palace after palace so, the Dorians moved into this war-torn region, dominating from 1150-750 BCE

- Dorians were far less advanced
- the trade-based economy collapsed
- writing disappeared for 400 years
- talk about a culture in decline...except...
 
Enter Homer the bard (storyteller)

Greek oral tradition- stories passed on by word of mouth
Homer lived at the end of these "Greek Dark Ages"
he composed stories (epics) of the Trojan War c. 750-700 BCE

- The lliad: probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaeans (the Trojan War)
- The Odyssey: Odysseus attempts to return home after the Trojan War, being thwarted by the angry god of the sea, Poseidon

The Odyssey was 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter