the War
The Trojan War, in Greek mythology, was a war between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The war began when the Trojan prince Paris captured Helen, the wife of Menelaus of Sparta. When Menelaus demanded the Trojan prince to return her, he refused. Menelaus then told his brother Agamemnon to lead an army against Troy. At Aulis, troopships gathered, led by some of the greatest Greek heroes. Including Achilles, Patroclus, Diomedes, Odysseus, Nestor, and two warriors named Ajax. When the winds came, the fleet set sail for Troy. For nine years the Greeks destroyed Troy's surrounding cities, but the city itself, was being protected and commanded by Hector and other sons of the royal family. Finally, after years of planning the Greeks built a large hollow wooden horse where a small group of them were concealed. The other Greeks appeared that they left, leaving behind only the horse and Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans, to take the horse into the city walls. At night the Greeks returned and their companions crept out of the horse. They opened the city gates, and Troy was destroyed. The gods took great interest in the war. Poseidon, Hera, and Athena aided the Greeks, while Aphrodite and Ares favored the Trojans. Zeus and Apollo, although frequently involved in the action of the war, remained impartial.
Achilles, Patroclus, Diomedes, Odysseus, Nestor, Paris, Helen, and Ajax
Achilles was the leading hero of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Homer focuses on Achilles and the wrath of Achilles in the Iliad. Patroclus was a dear friend of Achilles who put on the armor of Achilles and led Achilles' Myrmidons into battle, while Achilles was sulking on the sidelines. Patroclus was killed by Hector.Diomedes was the commander of 80 Argive ships and one of the most respected leaders in the Trojan War. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, normally said to be the son of Laertes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus.Odysseus fought for ten years in the Trojan War before coming up with the idea of the wooden horse. Nestor, in Greek legend, son of Neleus, king of Pylos (Navarino) in Elis, and of Chloris. All of his brothers were slain by the Greek hero Heracles, but Nestor escaped. Helen was the daughter of Leda and Zeus, sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), and wife of Menelaus. Helen's beauty was so overwhelming that Theseus and Paris abducted her and the Trojan War was fought to bring her back home. Ajax was one of the suitors of Helen and so was one of the members of the Greek force against Troy in the Trojan War. He was almost as skilled a fighter as Achilles. Ajax killed himself.