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Books about Trojan War :
Trojan War by Olivia E. Coolidge, et al
Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War
The romantic images conjured up by legends sometimes obscure the real-life truths that inspired them. Because
the Homeric epic 'The Iliad' involved ancient Greek gods and goddesses in fantasies of heroism and revenge, the
poem's background--the end of the Trojan War after a 10-year siege of Troy--seems to be part of the mythology.
There really was a city named Troy in northeastern Asia Minor. Its existence was proved by the archaeological work
of Heinrich Schliemann, who began his excavations there in 1870 (see Schliemann).
Eventually evidence of at least nine cities was uncovered on the spot--cities that existed from about 3000 BC until
the Roman period 30 centuries later. The inspiration for the Homeric legend, and the many versions of it that followed,
is probably the city at the level numbered VIIa. Ancient Troy was destroyed by fire in about the 13th, or possibly
early 12th, century BC.
The stories about the Trojan War were based on an actual struggle over control of the rich trade routes through
the Hellespont (the Dardanelles). In the more familiar mythology, the initial cause was a kidnapping that
resulted from an act of vengeance by a goddess with a golden apple. Ambiguously inscribed "For the fairest,"
the so-called apple of discord led to a beauty contest. After Paris, the son of the king of Troy, chose Aphrodite
as the winner, she helped him abduct Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta (see Aphrodite).
The capture of Troy by Greeks hidden in a hollow wooden horse was also a myth. (See also Homeric
Legend.)
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