The Trojan War

Achilles' campaigns

420

The Achaeans besieged Troy for nine years. This part of the war is the least developed among surviving sources, which prefer to talk about events in the last year of the war. After the initial landing the army was gathered in its entirety again only in the tenth year. Thucydides deduces that this was due to lack of money. They raided the Trojan allies and spent time farming the Thracian peninsula. Troy was never completely besieged, thus it maintained communications with the interior of Asia

Nine Year Of War

420

Philoctetes was Heracles' friend, and because he lit Heracles's funeral pyre when no one else would, he received Heracles' bow and arrows.[72] He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War, where he was planning on fighting for the Achaeans. They stopped either at Chryse Island for supplies,[73] or in Tenedos, along with the rest of the fleet.[74] Philoctetes was then bitten by a snake. The wound festered and had a foul smell; on Odysseus's advice, (420 B.C.E)

The death of Palamedes

500

Odysseus was sent to Thrace to return with grain, but came back empty-handed. When scorned by Palamedes, Odysseus challenged him to do better. Palamedes set out and returned with a shipload of grain.[99] Odysseus had never forgiven Palamedes for threatening the life of his son. In revenge, Odysseus conceived a plot[100] where an incriminating letter was forged, from Priam to Palamedes,[101] and gold was planted in Palamedes' quarters. The letter and gold were "discovered", and Agamemnon had Pal

Wedding of King Peleus and Thetis

500

Peleus and Thetis loved each other. Yet because Thetis is immortal and Peleus mortal, the marriage ends in separation, symbolizing the ongoing dissonance between divine and mortal. Thetis is an interesting creature defined in part by her archetypal characteristic

The Events Of Aulis

530

Aulis is a town in central Greece, celebrated as the place from where the Greeks launched their campaign against Troy and where Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis to ally the contrary winds. The seer Calchas declared that Artemis required the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Agamemnon sent for her under the pretext that she was to be married to Achilles. Versions differ here but she was killed in the Oresteia while others say she was carried off by Artemis.

Trojan Horse

Jun 2, 670

he end of the war came with one final plan. Odysseus devised a new ruse—a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the Trojans. It was built by Epeius and guided by Athena, from the wood of a cornel tree grove sacred to Apollo, with the inscription: The Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena for their return home.[148]
The hollow horse was filled with soldiers[149] led by Odysseus. The rest of the army burned the camp and sailed for Tenedos.