Did the Trojan War Really Happen?

Did the Trojan War really happen? No one knows because the story is either a myth or a legend and many times, those stories have a basis in fact. 

Eris, the Goddess of Discord, wanted to give a golden apple, marked “for the fairest” to one of the three goddesses Aphrodite, Athena, or Hera. Zeus sent them to Paris of Troy, to make the decision and he picked Aphrodite. 

She was so grateful, that she made Helen, the most beautiful of all women, fall in love with Paris and he took her home to Troy. Helen was the wife of the King of Sparta, Menelaus, so his brother, Agamemnon, led Greek troops to Troy and staged a battle that lasted 10 years. Some of the heroes that died in battle include Achilles, Ajax, Hector, and Paris.

Since the “Trojan Horse” is a plausible story, the answer to the question, “Did the Trojan War really happen?” could be yes. The battle was finally won with the use of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks built a large wooden horse that could fit 30 soldiers inside. The other soldiers sailed away, but left one soldier to talk to the Trojans. He acted mad, saying that the others had left him and the horse was an offering to Athena. The Trojans celebrated the end of the war, and later that night, the Greek soldiers climbed out, attacked, and won the war.  

Archeological Digs

If the answer to the question, “Did the Trojan War really happen?” needed to be proven, an archeology dig would be the place to find the answer. Heinrich Schliemann excavated a site which discovered Troy; many people thought that proved that the myth of the Trojan War was real. It does allow for the fact that it may have been at least partially factual.

The dig was over 100 years ago, and there was much learned at the site. A lot was found out about the Mycenaeans and the Hittites. There were fortifications in Troy to protect against chariot attacks and there were many levels of destruction dated from 1300-950 BC. Some of these could have been caused by natural events, or by war.

More recent excavations were started in 1988, supervised by Dr. Manfred Korfmann from the University of Tübingen, along with Dr. Brian Rose from the University of Cincinnati. It was been determined, by examining artifacts, that Troy was destroyed around 1180 BC, most likely caused by a war that Troy lost. There were a large number of sling bullets, which would have been collected to be used again if the Trojans were victorious. That could very well have been the war described by Homer in the Iliad.

Before these excavations, Troy was thought to be an insignificant town, not much to fight over. Now it is believed that Troy was very large and had logistical importance because of her location. Troy was attacked often and was fortified and re-fortified many times. It is estimated now that Troy covered about 75 acres, which is 15 times larger than previously thought. Finally, there is nothing in the archeological findings that contradicts the idea that Troy was the place where the Trojan War happened. The findings have told us that it is a possibility, and some will believe it to be true, until science says otherwise.