The fall of Troy refers to the siege and destruction of the ancient city of Troy, which is believed to have occurred in the late Bronze Age, around the 12th century BCE.
According to Greek mythology, the war was sparked by the abduction of Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, by the Trojan prince Paris. The Greeks formed an alliance, led by Menelaus's brother Agamemnon, and sailed to Troy to rescue Helen and exact revenge on the Trojans.
The siege of Troy lasted for ten years, during which time the Greeks were unable to breach the city's walls. However, they eventually succeeded in infiltrating the city by using the famous Trojan Horse, a massive wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers, which the Trojans unwittingly brought inside their walls. The Greek soldiers then emerged from the horse and opened the city gates to allow their army to enter.
The Trojans were caught off guard and overwhelmed by the Greek army, and the city was sacked and burned. Many of the Trojan defenders were killed, including the Trojan prince Hector, and the city's women and children were taken as slaves. The Greek hero Achilles also died during the siege, having been struck in the heel with an arrow.
The fall of Troy has been celebrated in Western literature and art for centuries, and has become a symbol of the triumph of civilization over barbarism. However, it is worth noting that the events described in the mythological account of the Trojan War are likely to be heavily embellished or entirely fictional, and there is little archaeological evidence to support the existence of the Trojan War or the historical accuracy of the story.
In the 1870s, an archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann found evidence of several ancient cities in the area from that same time period, including several that met violent ends. Of course, none of this is proof that Homer’s tale of a soldier-filled horse is anything more than a good yarn, but it may lend credence to the idea that, at the very least, an actual war did occur inspiring the legends.
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