The Final Year
The Trojan War lasted a decade, but only in the final year did the victories begin to add up. The Greeks had destroyed most of the Trojan
countryside and had cut off routes and conquered their neighboring allies. All that remained was the one final assault against Priam and the
Trojan capital city of... well, Troy. Well-matched forces made the the
Trojan War drag on for ten years. Then, in that tenth year, many dramatic events
took place. First there was Agamemnon's capture of a priestess of Apollo. Upon
his refusal to return the priestess, a plague struck the Achaeans. The seer
Calchas, summoned once again [see earlier page], reported that the priestess
must be returned to her father for health to be restored. Agamemnon agreed, but
only if he could have a substitute war prize -- Briseis -- Achilles' concubine.
The Greatest Greek Hero Won't Fight
When Agamemnon took Briseis from him, Achilles was outraged and refused to
fight. Thetis, the immortal mother of Achilles, prevailed upon Zeus to punish
Agamemnon by making the Trojans beat the Achaeans for a while.
Patroclus Fights As Achilles
Meanwhile, Achilles had a dear friend and companion at Troy, named Patroclus,
who tried to persuade Achilles to fight, knowing that Achilles was so capable a
warrior that he could turn the battle. But Achilles refused. Patroclus did,
however, prevail upon Achilles to let him lead Achilles' troops, the Myrmidons,
into battle. Achilles even gave Patroclus his armor to wear.
So dressed and accompanied by Achilles' Myrmidons, Patroclus went into battle
and killed a number of Trojans. But then the greatest of the Trojan heroes,
Hector, mistaking Patroclus for Achilles, killed him.
Achilles was so grieved by the death of his dear friend Patroclus that
reconciling with Agamemnon (who returned Briseis), Achilles agreed to go into
battle.
A Madman Kills and Disgraces Hector
Achilles met Hector in single combat, killed him, then in his madness and grief,
dishonored his body by dragging it around the ground tied to his chariot by a
belt, for days. This belt had been given Hector by the Achaean hero Ajax in
exchange for a sword. Hector's father, the old king of Troy, Priam, eventually
persuaded Achilles to return the body for proper burial.
The Achilles Heel
Shortly thereafter Achilles, too, was killed, wounded in the one spot where he
was not immortal -- his heel. When Achilles was born, his mother, the nymph
Thetis, had dipped him into the river Styx to confer immortality, but the spot
where she held him, his heel, remained dry. Paris is said to have hit that one
spot with his arrow, but only through the guidance of Apollo.
Next in Line for Title of Greatest Hero
The Achaeans decided to award the armor of Achilles to the Achaean hero they
thought came next in stature to Achilles. They selected Odysseus. Ajax, who
thought the armor should have been his, went mad, tried to kill his fellow
countrymen, and killed himself with the sword which he had received in his belt
exchange with Hector.
Aphrodite Continues to Help Paris
What had Paris been up to all this time? Besides his dalliance with Helen of
Troy, he had shot and killed a number of Achaeans and had even had a one-on-one
contest with Menelaus. When Paris was in danger of being killed, his divine
protector, Aphrodite, caused the strap of the helmet, with which Menelaus was
dragging Paris, to break. Aphrodite then shrouded Paris in a mist so that he
could escape back to Helen of Troy.
The Arrows of Hercules
After the death of Achilles, the seer Calchas uttered yet another prophecy.
Calchas said that it was necessary for the Achaeans to have the bow and arrows
of Hercules if they were to defeat the Trojans and end the war. Philoctetes, who
had been left wounded on Lemnos, had the bow and poisoned arrows. So an embassy
was sent to bring Philoctetes to the battle front. Affter he was healed by a son
of Asclepius, Philoctetes shot a poisoned arrow that only scratched Paris. But
like the wound to Achilles' one weak spot, that was enough to kill the Trojan
prince.
The Trojan Horse or Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts
Odysseus soon devised a way to end the war -- the erection of a giant wooded
horse filled with Achaean men to be left at the gates of Troy. The Trojans had
noticed Achaean ships sailing away earlier that day and thought the giant horse
was a peace or sacrificial offering from the Achaeans. Rejoicing, they opened
the gates and led the horse into their city. Then, after ten years of privations
for the sake of the war, the Trojans brought out their equivalent of champagne.
They feasted, drank hard, and fell asleep. During the night, the Achaeans
stationed inside the horse opened the trap door, crept down, opened the gates,
and let in their countrymen who had only pretended to slip away. The Achaeans
then torched the city, killing the men and taking the women prisoner.
Helen was reunited with her husband Menelaus.
So ended the Trojan War and so began the Achaean leaders' torturous and often
deadly trips home, some of which are told in the sequel to The Iliad, The
Odyssey, also attributed to Homer.
Agamemnon got his comeuppance at the hand of his wife Clytemnestra and her
lover, Agamemnon's cousin Aegisthus.
Source:
The
Trojan War