The Trojan War | The Story Behind the Fall of Troy

thank you the Trojan War arguably one of Greek mythology's largest and most significant events some of its most epic battles between its greatest heroes and yet if someone was to ask me to summarize the Trojan War I'd shrug my shoulders and probably walk away it's a confusing series of events with conflicting goals infighting and just general confusion unfortunately we do not have an overarching text that details the events of the Trojan War it's split into various different texts poems and passages we do however have some detailed accounts from epic such as Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid that allow us to patch together a somewhat coherent story hopefully today I'll be able to fill in the gaps and explain the events that took place before we continue a quick word from today's sponsor kamikoto knives preparing food can be a pain especially when the tools at your disposal are not very good kamikoto knives are made from the finest Japanese steel using only steel that has been sourced 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come in makes them an ideal gift and this year they were my Mother's Day gift of choice now of course you may find yourself trying to slice your way through random objects to see how good these knives really are but take it from my experience there isn't much that survives this test if your interest has been peaked kamikoto are offering my viewers a Black Friday sale where you can receive an extra fifty dollars off your order when using the code mythology and fiction you can also visit kamikoto.com mythology and fiction to help support the Channel simply put the Trojan War took place between the Mycenaean Kingdom and the kingdom of Troy the Mycenaean Kingdom were also referred to as the acadians or Acadian Greeks which for anyone already confused just meant primitive or ancient Greeks for the sake of avoiding confusion there were Greek Heroes and soldiers who fought on both sides but those who sided with Troy I'll just be referring to as Trojans the Greeks or achaeans will be the terms used for those who sided with Greece against Troy the war itself took place because of the Abduction of the Spartan Queen Helen by the Trojan Prince Paris however to fully understand how these events transpired we have to go much further back as far back as the prophecy that stated Zeus would be overthrown by one of his children when Zeus and Poseidon first saw the beautiful nymph of the sea thetas they were both more than entertained at the idea of making her their bride however they both reconsidered after hearing the prophecy surrounding thetas and her son her son was fated to be stronger than his father he would possess a weapon stronger than Zeus's Thunder and Poseidon's trident Zeus not wanting to be overthrown by his son decided that fetus would instead marry King peleus their son would still possess great power but nothing to rival Zeus and Poseidon for those wondering this sun was indeed Achilles who would play his own part in the Trojan War Zeus had planned a mighty feast and celebrations that anyone of any note or importance was invited to the only deity be not invited to these celebrations was Eris the goddess of Discord and strife in hindsight we know this completely backfired and placed into motion the events that caused the Trojan War is turned up to the celebrations with a gift in hand and she was essentially turned away at the door as instructed by Zeus unsurprisingly she was rather angry at being denied entry whilst at every other day as he enjoyed the hospitality she took her gift which was a golden apple and threw it amongst the guests before turning around and leaving the Apple was inscribed with the message to the fairest which one would assume was a wedding gift for the bride however the Apple had fallen between Athena Hera and Aphrodite the three goddesses began to argue each one claiming the Apple was intended for them as they were the fairest looking for a resolution they soon turned to the crowd who wisely chose to not take aside eventually they took this dispute to Zeus and asked him to decide who was the fairest of the three Zeus also not wanting anything to do with this had Hermes take the three goddesses to Mount Ida where they would be judged by a young Shepherd this Shepherd was Paris a prince of Troy Zeus in a hurry to pass the buck to the next unfortunate individual had told Paris he could decide the winner of this beauty contest any way he saw fit when Paris was ready all three goddesses undressed so he could see them naked this resulted in another stalemate with Paris declaring they were all of identical beauty of course this was the incorrect answer and so we move on to the next stage bribery all three goddesses offered Paris something in return for his vote Hera offered him status as well as the the very small ownership of the entirety of Europe and Asia Athena offered Paris wisdom and the skill to match the greatest warriors in battle Aphrodite offered him love and the most beautiful bride on Earth Paris chose love and declared Aphrodite to be the fairest of all unfortunately Aphrodite failed to mention that this beautiful bride was Helen of Sparta who was already married to the King of Sparta Menelaus if Paris wanted to marry Helen he would have to travel to Sparta and kidnap her there are varying accounts of what happens next under the guise of a diplomatic expedition to Sparta Helen saw Paris fell instantly in love and followed him willingly back to Troy in other other accounts Aphrodite sent Eros who shot Helen with an arrow causing her to fall in love with Paris and making the abduction slightly easier King Menelaus was the brother of King Agamemnon who ruled over mycenaea and what many considered to be the entirety of ancient Greece it wasn't difficult to convince him to join his cause and wage war against Troy until Helen was returned it doesn't however explain the sheer numbers and heroes the Greeks were able to Rally this ties back to Helen and her father Helen was considered the most beautiful woman across ancient Greece and so she had many suitors chasing her hand in marriage under the advice of Odysseus Helen's father convinced all these suitors to swear an oath that despite whoever he chooses to marry his daughter they will always fight for Helen's honor with Helen's disappearance her father invoked the oath and so Menelaus had almost the entirety of ancient Greece from its Kings generals and heroes at his disposal to try and return Helen to Sparta Troy was a very prosperous and well-fortified City ruled by King Priam who along with his wife hecuba had over 50 Children whilst hecuba was pregnant she had a nightmare where she gave birth to a flaming torch as weird as it sounds it was important enough for her to explain to a Seer known as asicus who also happened to be one of her children he interpreted the dream or nightmare to mean the prosperity and good fortune of Troy would come to an end the flaming torch was symbolic of the burning of their Homeland and the fall of Troy on the day the child was born asakus saw visions of a royal child of Troy responsible for its end this child was Paris the Sears and Priests looked to Apollo for guidance and the only way to save Troy was by killing the child however once Paris was born priyam and hecuba couldn't bring themselves to kill their child instead Priam gave him to his head Shepherd agules and asked him to kill the child the shepherd also couldn't bring himself to kill the child and so he took him to Mount Ida hoping the Wilderness and elements would take care of him Paris was nursed by a female bear and so starvation was no issue after seven days a young Paris returned to agaleas stunned that the boy hadn't perished he would raise him as his own he took Priam a dog's tongue as proof that the deed had been done pair Paris began to establish himself as more than just a regular Shepherd fighting off a gang of Bandits trying to steal cattle and returning them to their owners before long he had earned the name Paris Alexander a surname that meant protector of men amongst agules heard Paris had found the strongest Bull and challenged the Shepherds to try and best his Bull with one of their own none could do so and so he extended his invitation to anyone in Greece claiming he would give a Golden Crown to anyone who could this challenge was accepted by the god de Ares who transformed himself into a bull and defeated paris's Bull with ease Paris was a man of his word and gave Ares the Golden Crown as promised to the gods this established him as an honest man which is why when they needed someone to judge a certain beauty contest Zeus had no hesitation in turning to Paris having heard his reputation as an honest man so those were the events that transpired and ultimately caused the Trojan War however this war took place over many years it wasn't just one or two battles the Greeks couldn't just endlessly keep throwing their armies at the Trojans despite having the numbers in their favor the city of Troy was an impenetrable Fortress its walls were built by Apollo and Poseidon as punishment for their Rebellion against Zeus he sentenced them to years of hard labor and part of this consisted of building and fortifying the walls of Troy the war is usually broken down into smaller battles and skirmishes that lasted around 10 years into terms of who sided with who Agamemnon had amassed a massive Army from all the major regions in Greece Sparta Athens Crete Corinth Arcadia Rhodes and several other cities and states we don't have an exact number for the total Army but it said the Greeks sailed thousands of ships to Troy Homer's description was even so there are many tribes poured forth from ships and Huts into the plane of scamander and the Earth echoed wondrously beneath the tread of men and horses so they took their stand in the flowery Mead of scamander numberless as the leaves and flowers in their season this is often simplified as there were as many men as the leaves and flowers in the springtime pretty much Homer's way of saying the Greeks had a very big army the Greeks also had some very iconic Heroes on aside Achilles Ajax diomedes and Odysseus are just a few of the more recognizable ones Odysseus upon learning that taking part in the Trojan War would mean being away from his home for 20 years tried to feign insanity but upon his lie being unraveled he had no choice but to answer the cause of Greece king Menelaus and Odysseus attempted The Diplomatic approach and tried to negotiate the return of Helen but they were met with no interest from Troy and so war was the only option after essentially being rejected by Paris Athena and Hera both sided with the Greek army playing important roles assisted by Hermes Poseidon fetus and Hephaestus Aphrodite naturally sided with Paris and the Trojans as well as having assistance from a Hollow Artemis and Aries they also had some formidable fighters of their own Hector being the most feared at the time he was compared to the demigods despite this not being true it's still a fairly good reflection of Hector's reputation Zeus occasionally interfered where he saw fit but for the most part preferred to remain neutral and his army gathered at the Port Town of orlis where all the kings and Generals would send for their armies to honor their oath the king of Crete Ida menaeus requested Agamemnon made him his co-commander and in exchange he would gladly send the full force of Crete to support the war on Troy another of agamemnon's commanders was Achilles who at this point was only 15 years old but had already earned the respect of his peers and fear of his enemies before leaving Orla say sacrifice was made to Apollo The Seer calcus who had a very strong connection to the god interpreted the results to mean that Troy would indeed fall but only after 10 years of war the Greek set sail and landed in my Seer mistaking it for Troy once on the shore The Siege began which resulted in many casualties for the natives including their King telephus who was almost killed by Achilles mysia were allies of Troy and their king would surely possess some knowledge in how to sack the city he was taken back to all this as a hostage at the very least they could have him plot the correct course to try back in all this King telephus refused to cooperate with Agamemnon until the spear wound he suffered from Achilles was healed eventually Achilles agreed to remove the shards of Spear and telephone showed the Greeks how to reach Troy Agamemnon was now faced with a new issue every time they set sail from all this they were met with extreme winds that dispersed the fleet and made reaching Troy together impossible they turned to The Seer calcus once again for answer is he was told that the winds were punishment from Artemis because Agamemnon had killed her sacred deer the only way to appease Artemis was by sacrificing his own daughter ephogenia naturally he refused at first however now facing a mutiny and the possibility of a new Commander taking his place he had no option but to accept just before Agamemnon sacrificed ephogenia Artemis intervened and swapped his daughter for a lamb ephogenia became a priestess of Artemis and with agamemnon's commitment and loyalty proven she would allow their fleets to finally set sail and begin their Voyage to Troy this back and forth from Alice and mycia with the winds blocking and dispersing the fleet went on for a significant amount of time some sources say it was several years and others go as high as eight so the 20 years away from home Odysseus was prophesized doesn't seem too crazy seeing as this 10-year War hasn't even begun and we could possibly already be eight years in the full force of agamemnon's fleet was finally able to set sail we may not have an exact number for the size of this Fleet but we do have some descriptions that give us a rough estimate Homer describes 28 regions of Greece amassing 1186 boats each one containing 50 rowers a few other accounts put this number at around 1200 ships each one with a crew of 120 men historians took these numbers as examples of minimum and maximum capacity and they estimate the forces that sailed to Troy would have been between 70 and 130 000 upon reaching the Trojan Beach calcus prophesies the first archaean to set foot on land would die this resulted in the first Ships coming to a halt at the shore and waiting for someone else to make the first move in order to avoid the prophecy Odysseus demonstrating his guile managed to end this awkward standoff between the achaeans make himself appear fearless and avoid calcus prophecy all at the same time he threw his shield on the ground and when he jumped off his ship he landed on the shield technically he did not touch land and therefore was not the first man on the Trojan Shore next to follow was the hero protocilius who we know was the first man to step foot on land no one expected the Trojans to leave their heavily fortified City and meet the Greeks head-on who had a vastly superior Army expecting the invading Army to be tired from their Voyage Hector led a small group of soldiers who hid on the beach waiting for their enemy's arrival the first wave of the Cayenne troops were certainly caught off guard and the unfortunate protossilius who believed he was not the first man on land was killed by Hector this plan only worked for a short period of time as more akaian ships landed on the beach the Trojans would eventually be overwhelmed Hector was forced to pull his men back in Retreats towards the city the first encounter set the tone for much of the war most of it took place outside of the walls of Troy Hector and his men did have one more small-scale encounter with the akaian forces before retreating to the city walls this time without the element of surprise they suffered heavy losses and had no choice but to flee the majority of battles that took place for the next nine years were just outside of the city wars as the Trojans had no choice but to surrender the remaining land as its defense wasn't possible in these battles the gods would intervene as they saw fit blocking Spears and arrows as well as creating distractions to make retreating easier there are even accounts of God's teleporting soldiers away just before they were killed the first nine years of this war consisted of the Greeks keeping the Trojans trapped inside their City while systematically destroying the neighboring cities and the allies of Troy at times the Greeks were Their Own Worst Enemy with many disagreements causing them to turn on each other palomedes was the individual responsible for exposing Odysseus's lie about him being insane so some ill feelings already existed between the two with supplies low Odysseus was sent to Thrace to collect grain and food returning empty-handed resulted in palomedes questioning the usefulness of the hero and so he told palomedes to do better if he could palamidi's set sail and returned with a ship full of grain which of course angered Odysseus to the point where in one story Odysseus and diomedes drowned the palomedes whilst he was fishing an alternate story has Odysseus plant to gold in palomidi's quarters and then Forge a letter from King Priam to palamedes making it appear as if he betrayed the Greeks to the Trojans for gold Agamemnon wouldn't tolerate such treachery and so palamides were stoned to death the lack of food and supplies was enough to cause a mutiny from the entire Army threatening to sail back to Greece a combination of Achilles and Agamemnon enlisting the three daughters of Aeneas ended the Mutiny the daughters were able to turn anything they wanted into wine wheat and oil so the supply issue was no longer affecting morale I'm sure what many have been waiting to hear about were the battles themselves and the individual skirmishes early on in an attempt to end this war fairly without any more Bloodshed there was a duel agreed between Menelaus and Paris the prize being Helen they picked up their Spears and Drew lots to see who would be first Paris winning here took a step back and threw his spear Menelaus lifted his shield and blocked what was a rather tame throw he then returned the favor with far more aggression splitting paris's shield and piercing his armor Paris was lucky that his attempt to dodge the spear resulted in a non-fatal wound Menelaus seeing his chance charged towards Paris swinging his swords so hard it shattered against paris's helmet he then grabbed Paris by the helmet and dragged him around the battlefield in front of his men sensing an easy Victory Aphrodite watching on refused to let Paris die wrapping him in a cloud he sent him back to the city before Menelaus could finish the job diomedes was the youngest of the Greek Kings to join the war to many he was second only to Achilles in terms of skill in combat and his bravery Homer's Ilia doesn't cover large portions of the war outside of the key battle and final stages but diamedes is a name that appears perhaps the most of all the heroes that took part in the war what sets diomedes apart from the other Heroes was his wisdom and tactical knowledge he played a huge role in the battles themselves but also played a large role behind the scenes in planning and strategizing in a sparring contest with Ajax the two tested each other's limits even the men watching called for the contest to come to an end in fear that one would be seriously harmed Ajax presented diomedes with a long sword as a prize given he was able to draw First Blood in their Spa diomedes was Athena's favorite hero and he was the only mortal or demigod other than Heracles to harm an Olympian deity during many battles diomedes ran through the Trojan ranks with ease and almost caused them to retreat single-handedly he had been emboldened by the cause of Athena as her Champion his shield and helmet would glow with fire diomedes had slain numerous Trojan Heroes including several of King priam's sons in one Skirmish Apollo stirred the Trojan troops and they remained on the battlefield the Trojan Warrior panderers threw his Spear and wounded diamedes in the shoulder panderas posted that he had just killed the mighty diamede son of tideus he was too busy celebrating to see diomedes remove the spear and begin walking over diomedes threw pandoras's spear back at him and the celebration stopped as he instantly died in front of diomedes was Aeneas the son of Aphrodite without any weapons diomedes grabbed a large Boulder and hold it ateneus crushing the hero's hip he also fell to the ground Aphrodite intervened just in time and was able to rescue her son before she was able to Retreat diomedes through pandoras's spear once again and grazed Aphrodite's and this drew blood and she dropped her son and fled she took this dispute to Zeus infuriated that a man would dare to attack her Zeus refused to intervene claiming that acts of War and the Affairs of man were the responsibilities of Ares and Athena Apollo stepped in between diomedes andanius heeding him to listen to Athena and stop his attacks Against The Gods diomedes attacked Apollo numerous times without any success an enraged Apollo reminded diamedes he was no match for the gods and another attack would result in his death Apollo retreated with the wounded Aeneas he urged Ares and Hector who had just joined the battle to make diomedes pay for his disrespect diamede seeing the God of War pulled his men back and began a slow Retreat Hera and Athena seeing the achaeans in need of aid offered their assistance Athena took a chariot and using the helmet of Hades was able to cloak herself convincing diomedes to attack Aries they charged towards him Aries only saw diomedes and through his spear Athena was able to to catch the spear aimed at diomedes and guided diomedes when he threw his own spear the spear Court Aries in the abdomen the God let out a cry as loud as a thousand men and had no choice but to retreat from the battle diamedes had now wounded two Olympians in one day and slain countless Trojan Heroes and Soldiers the Trojans were so scared of diomedes they even made a substantial offering to Athena pleading for her to break his spear an offering she unsurprisingly declined with the tide starting to turn in the akaian's favor Zeus declared on this particular day all deities must Retreat from Troy and allow the men to resolve their issues unimpeded as the gods left Zeus conjured a mighty storm and rained down lightning upon the Acadian Army all the kings and heroes jumped on their horses and tried to escape the storm Nestor was left behind because his horse had been wounded by Paris diomedes noticing Nestor missing turned around and went back to rescue him the achaeans took this as a sign that Zeus had sided against them and perhaps the war was no longer worth fighting even Agamemnon began to question if he could lead this Army to victory Zeus had sent an eagle as a sign of good faith and diomedes was the only one to notice he convinced the achaeans that they had been prophesied to win this war and Zeus's involvement would not change this throughout the war diomedes was the akaian backbone he was the first to volunteer and the last to retreat without him the war would have been difficult maybe even impossible with Hector being one of the Trojan's most formidable Heroes and Fighters he does appear several times throughout the war one of the events that sparked a series of deaths in the war was the death of patroclus a childhood friend of Achilles patroclus convinced Achilles to allow him to lead a small group of men to repel the Trojan forces trying to destroy their ships Achilles agreed and gave him the armor his own father had given him so he could impersonate Achilles and strike fear into the Trojan forces this plan was a success with patroclus mowing through the Trojans with ease however he became overzealous the Trojans retreated from the ships but patroclus continued to chase reaching the gates of Troy here he killed more Trojan soldiers even killing demigods and Sons of Zeus such as sarpadon Apollo was able to distract patroclus long enough for him to be hit by a spear weakened he was then killed when Hector took the spear and stabbed him in the abdomen believing he had just killed Achilles when Achilles had heard the news along with Ajax and Menelaus they rode out to collect his Fallen friend's body Achilles wouldn't allow the burial of his friend until his ghost appeared to him and demanded a burial to allow him to pass to the underworld if the Trojans feared Achilles before they would now have to deal with a much angrier Achilles who was looking for vengeance Hector then had two more encounters with Ajax who is also known as Ajax greater the first of which was a duel that lasted almost an entire day Ajax had the upper hand knocking down Hector with a large Rock and wounding him with a spear however Zeus intervened calling the doll a draw as it had gone on for long enough each Warrior gave the other a gift Ajax gave Hector a purple belt and in return received a sword the second encounter was when Hector and his men attacked the Greek ships Ajax again held a large rocket Hector and almost decapitated him luckily Apollo was there to heal and restore Hector Ajax took his mighty Spear and with most of the Greek army asleep he fought off this Trojan attack by himself Achilles in dispute with Agamemnon refused to assist Ajax was eventually disarmed by Hector with some slight intervention from Zeus and was forced to retreat hexa and the Trojans had only managed to burn down one ship and had suffered heavy losses but it was clear who Zeus favored between the two Hera was able to distract Zeus for long enough that Poseidon could intervene making the Greeks aware of this attack so they could assist Ajax it was Achilles who would take the bigger scalp and put an end to the biggest thorn in the Greek side Hector when he killed patroclus Hector stripped him of the legendary armor and gave it to his men to take back to the city however there was some descent hexa had just killed a boy and not the mighty Achilles he had been bested by Ajax in their eyes and refused to challenge him there were shouts of cowardice and so Hector put on Achilles armor and rallied his men men claiming that it would now make him Invincible seeing him Don the armor and make these claims were foolish to Zeus and he could foresee Hector's demise the newly emboldened Hector waited outside to challenge Achilles however he had a change in mind and tried to flee Achilles gave Chase but it was Hector's brother that cleared his mind and prepared him for the duel the trick is that this brother was actually Athena in Disguise feeding him delusions of grandeur of what he would become when he defeated Achilles Hector made only one request the Victor was to return the other one's body for burial the fight began with Achilles charging towards Hector and hurling his spear Hector was just able to move out of the way Athena watching took the spear and instantly placed it back in Achilles hand without anyone noticing wearing the helmet of Hades she was still invisible hexa then threw his spear but achilles parried with his shield he turned to his brother to supply him with another spear however Athena's trickery had worked as there was no one there instead he drew his sword knowing that his fate had been decided Achilles could see that hexa's collarbone was exposed and through his spear finding the weak spot hexa fell to the ground and with the time he had left pleaded with Achilles to allow him an honorable funeral Achilles told him he would allow the dogs and vultures to devour his flesh which after what happened to Patrol vocalists makes sense hexa died but not before prophesizing that Achilles would also die soon using the belt given to Hector by Ajax he tied the corpse to his Chariot by the feet and then proceeded to drag the corpse across the city showing the Trojans how easily he had just slain their most feared Warrior he continued to drag the body around for 12 days which prompted Apollo and Aphrodite to intervene enchanting the body and preserving it from receiving it any more damage after 12 days the gods agreed Achilles had had enough fun and it was time to return the body they sent Iris and the thetas to relay the message thesis visited her son and persuaded him to allow King Priam to come and claim his son's body Iris did the same explaining the terms to the Trojan King King Priam agreed to go alone and retrieve his son's body but Hermes gave him a charm that made anyone who looked at him fall asleep making passage much safer Achilles surrendered the body to King Priam for the agreed Ransom and a 12-day truce was called between the two sides whilst funeral rites were administered with the truce over Achilles continued his Trojan bloodbath outside of the city but even the great Achilles had a weakness when he was born thetas took her son and made him almost Invincible by dipping him in the river sticks the only part of his body that was not submersed was the heal his mother held him by making this the only vulnerable part of his body outside the gates of Troy Paris took aim at Achilles and fired an arrow Guided by Apollo his Arrow was true and struck Achilles in his heel a wound that would eventually kill him some poets claim that it was Apollo disguised as Paris who fired at the arrow Odysseus and Ajax fought bravely to reclaim his body and give him the burial he deserved next to his friend patroclus the death of Achilles caused the Greeks more problems than just losing their best soldier who received his armor became a point of contention Ajax claimed that he had slain more Trojans than anyone else there's no denying that Ajax was a phenomenal Warrior but his speech making skills were lacking Odysseus with assistance from Athena delivered a more eloquent and convincing argument as to why he deserved the armor when the council voted they decided the armor would be given to Odysseus Ajax feeling an overwhelming amount of Shame and disrespect killed himself a strange and fairly underwhelming end to one of the war's standout warriors with Achilles and Ajax dead the Greeks began to worry whether this war would ever end they turned to calcus again who spoke of Visions regarding the arrows of Heracles without these they would not be victorious unfortunately Heracles arrows were in the hands of his good friend of philoctatis who they had abandoned on the island of lemnos during the voyage because he had become injured Odysseus and diomedes were dispatched to lemnos to retrieve the arrows Odysseus tricked philosophies into giving him the arrows and was ready to set sail back to Troy diomedes on the other hand offered to bring philosophies back to Troy with them where they could heal his wound begrudgingly he accepted velocities would use these arrows to Kill Paris however on this occasion calcus was wrong in his prediction as the war did not come to an end he told the achaeons the only one who knew how Troy would fall was the Trojan Seer helenus diomedes accepted the task and found the Seer he told the achaeans they would need to return the bones of King pelops and so they did they would have to find the son of Achilles and have him join the war which they also did lastly they would need to steal the Trojan Palladium a sacred image of Athena Odysseus and diamedes disguise themselves as Beggars and entered the city of Troy Helen recognized both of them and wishing to return home she assisted them in stealing the Palladium Athena then appeared to Odysseus and gave him the idea of the Trojan Horse under his instructions the achaeans built a giant wooden horse that was Hollow so men could be placed inside inscribed on the horse was the message the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena for their return home implying they were ready to return home and wanted Athena's blessing there is no mention of the Trojan Horse in Homer's Iliad Virgil's Aeneid is the epic poem that really popularized the idea of the Trojan horse the rest of the akaian army had abandoned their camps and set sail to a nearby Island to make it appear as if they had given up and returned to Greece they placed the Trojan Horse outside of the main gates to the city and disappeared the Trojans seeing the empty camps and no Greek ships assumed that they had won the war in their celebration they dragged the horse inside the city when midnight came sinon and acheon spy signaled to the nearby Fleet it was clear for them to dock the soldiers inside of the horse climbed out and killed the guards they opened the gates allowing the Greek forces inside the city for the first time in 10 years the city burned and the helpless sleeping Trojans were slain in their beds the few remaining Defenders fell and so did the city after a long hard 10 years of war most of the Trojan airs were killed failed the women were taken as concubines the Priestess Cassandra was given to Agamemnon and priam's wife hecuba was given to Odysseus Troy despite a noble effort in defying the odds for 10 years was completely destroyed almost every Trojan male was killed and the once prosperous city was nothing more than a pile of rubble one thing is for certain there was only ever going to be one real winner Zeus after all All is fair in Love and War