Garrett Brownfield, age 15, of Reno, Nev., for his question:
WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THE TROJAN WAR?
In Greek legend, the Trojan War was waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy. The tradition is believed to reflect a real war between the Greeks of the late Mycenaean period and the inhabitants of Troas, the area constituting present day Turkey.
Modern archaeological excavations have shown that Troy was destroyed by fire in the early 12th century B.C., the traditional date of the Trojan War, and that the war may actually have resulted from the desire either to plunder the wealthy city or to put an end to Troy's commercial control of the Dardanelles.
Legendary accounts of the war traced its origin to a golden apple, inscribed "for the fairest" and thrown by Eris, goddess of discord, among the heavenly guests at the wedding of Peleus, the ruler of Myrmidon and Thetis, one of the Nereids.
The award of the apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, secured for Paris the favor of the goddess and the love of the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
Helen went with Paris to Troy and an expedition to avenge the injury to Menelaus was placed under the command of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Agamemnon's force included many famous Greek heroes, the most noted of whom were Achilles, Patroclus, the two Ajaxes and Ulysses.
After the Trojans refused to restore Helen to Menelaus, the Greek warriors assembled at the Bay of Aulis and sailed to Troy in 1,000 ships. The siege lasted 10 years, the first nine of which were uneventful. In the 10th year, Achilles withdrew from battle because of his anger with Agamemnon. To avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, Achilles returned to battle and killed Hector, the principal Trojan warrior.
The city of Troy was captured at last by treachery.
What was the treachery used to capture the city of Troy? A force of Greek warriors gained entrance to the city by hiding in the interior of a large hollow wooden horse.
Unable to capture the city after the 10 year siege, the Greeks resorted to stratagem: They sailed away and left the horse, filled with armed warriors on the shore.
Sinon, a Greek spy, persuaded the Trojans to take the horse into the city, convincing them that to do so would mysteriously make Troy invulnerable.
That night Sinon let out the armed Greek troops. Kililng the guards, they opened the gates to the Greeks and Troy was captured and burned.
Only a few Trojans escaped, the most famous being Aeneas, who led the other survivors to the region that constitutes present day Italy. This story is told by Vergil in the "Aeneid."
The return of the Greek warriors to Greece also provided themes for epic poems, the most celebrated being that of Ulysses, whose wanderings and arrival in Ithaca 10 years later were related by Homer in the "Odyssey."