Troy

The earliest traditions of the Greek people represent the country on both sides of the Ægean as peopled by various races, either of genuine Hellenic, or of closely affiliated tribes. Among those who peopled the eastern Asiatic coast were the Trojans. The story of the Trojan war is extremely simple. The Trojans, in the person of Paris, or Alexander, the son of the reigning monarch, Priam, are represented as having had certain dealings with the Achæans, or Greeks of the Peloponnesus, in the course of which the gay young prince carries off from the palace of Menelaus, king of Sparta, his spouse Helen, the greatest beauty of her age. To revenge this insult, the Greeks banded themselves together and sailed against Troy with a large fleet. The most notable of the tribes who took part in this expedition were the Argives, or Achæans, the Spartans, the Bœotians, and the The alians. Of the The alians, the most prominent captain was Achilles; and the general command of the whole expedition was committed to Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ. This well-appointed European army is represented as having spent nine years in besieging the god-built walls of the city of Priam without making any impre ion on its strength. A violent quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, breaking out in the tenth year, so weakened the invading force that the Trojans, under Hector, pushed the Greeks back to the very verge of the sea, and almost set their ships on fire. At the critical moment, however, the The alian captain was reconciled to the head of the expedition; and with his return to the field the fortune of war changed; Hector, the champion of Troy, fell, and the impending doom of the city was darkly foreshadowed; it was finally captured and sacked, 1184 B.C. (the date generally accepted).