The Iliad – The War of Troy

In distant Asia Minor, a city shown whose name was Troy. The wealth and splendor of this metropolis eclipsed all neighboring cities.

It also had magnificent walls built by the Gods. Kingdom developed rapidly. Some people said that the city would become more developed than the legendary Atlantis.

But the spinning goddesses of Fate knew that the only similarity between Troy and Atlantis was their sad fate.

In Troy reigned Priam alongside his wife Hecuba. He had already had his firstborn son Hector and the queen was pregnant again.

The night before the baby was born, the queen had a terrible nightmare. In this dream, the city of Troy was burning in flames.

King visited the Oracle to try to understand the meaning of the dream. The answer given by the Oracle was desperate.

It was said that the birth of the second child would ruin Troy. On that same day, Hecuba gave birth to the child.

He was a strong and healthy baby boy, but Priam just wanted to avoid that terrible prophecy.

The baby had to be sacrificed to safeguard his kingdom. Hecuba tried to protect her son, whom she had named Alexander, but could do nothing in the face of the king’s will.

The baby was handed over to the shepherd Agilus, who was given the mission to kill the baby.

The shepherd took the baby to a forest at the foot of Mount Ida. But when he arrived there, he didn’t have enough courage to carry out the task.

He put the baby on the ground and abandoned him to his fate. After several days, the shepherd still had the image of the baby in his mind.

He decided to return to the place where he had abandoned him. Incredibly, the baby was in good health, suckled by a she-bear.

The shepherd realized that the life of the Little Prince of Troy would not end prematurely, for this was the will of the Gods.

Agilus took the child and raised him as his son. The baby was named Paris and grew up along with Agilus’s other sons.

Paris became a man of impressive beauty, also having great physical strength. Like his adoptive father, he became a shepherd.

He had a bucolic life in the countryside. His was the beautiful nymph Oenone who swore him eternal love.

His life did not seem fit for the prophesied destiny. But he did not know that he was about to make a choice that would affect everyone around him.

Young Paris, while attending his flock, noticed that one of his young rams was straying away from the others, heading for a cave.

He went to the cave to search for the lost ram. But inside the cave, Paris found something unbelievable.

There were three women with divine beauty. The shepherd did not doubt that they could only be goddesses.

The young man did not know that he was about to make a decision that would change the fate of the world forever.

Earlier that same day, the Nereid Thetis married the hero Peleus. All the deities were invited to the marriage.

The gods satisfied themselves at a great and lively banquet. But one goddess was not invited: Eris, the goddess of Discord.

She was furious and decided to take revenge. Sitting at the banquet table, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and Hera, the queen of the gods, were chatting amiably.

The goddess of Discord flew over the banquet table and dropped a beautiful golden apple between the goddesses.

On the beautiful bud was the inscription: “To the most beautiful.” This apple would become known as the apple of discord.

The three goddesses fought over the apple. After all, each considered herself the most beautiful among the goddesses.

With his powerful roar, Zeus stopped the goddesses’ dispute. He said that that attitude was not worthy of such important divinities.

Zeus thought of a way to solve the standoff. He chose an impartial judge to elect the most beautiful of the goddesses.

The apple of discord was given to Hermes, who would lead the goddesses to the judge of all the men in the world.

The young shepherd Paris was chosen to settle the dispute. He was not the wisest, nor was he a great connoisseur of the concept of justice.

But the Moirae, the women of Destiny, had woven this future for him. After learning of his task, the goddesses were introduced to the shepherd.

“I am Hera, the wife of Zeus. Choose me as the most beautiful and I will make you the richest king in all Asia, give you a palace as splendid as Olympus.”

“I am Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom. Choose me and you will be the greatest general ever.

Instead of commanding herds, you will lead armies and be known as a great conqueror.”

“And I am Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. My epithets would already guarantee me the title of the most beautiful of them all.

Choose me and I will give you the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Aphrodite showed him the image of the beautiful princess Helen of Sparta. Paris’s heart was won by the desire to have that woman so beautiful that she could only be compared to the goddess of beauty herself.

Thus, the young Paris handed the golden apple to Aphrodite. The goddess of beauty celebrated her victory, but resentment remained in the hearts of the two unsuccessful goddesses.

The goddesses Athena and Hera vowed to take revenge on the Trojan Prince, and the people of Troy would pay a great price for Paris’s choice.

The city of Sparta was celebrating the return of the princess Helen who had been kidnapped by the hero Theseus, but had been rescued by her twin brothers Castor and Pollux.

Helen was looking for a suitor and, because of her beauty, she was the most desired princess in Greece.

Knowing that the beautiful Helen had reached the age to marry, all the suitors went to Sparta.

Her father, King Tyndareus of Sparta, did not know which husband to choose for his daughter, for any choice might offend the others.

He was at a crossroads. Among the nobles was Odysseus, the king of the island of Ithaca, known for his cunning and sagacious mind.

Although he was the son of Laertes, one of the Argonauts, some said that he was actually the son of Sisyphus, the man so clever that he tricked the gods and even death.

Odysseus had no interest in Helen. He knew that such a beautiful woman would only bring him trouble, and his heart was already in love with Penelope.

She was not as beautiful as Helen, but she was much more intelligent. The shrewd nobleman approached the king and made him a proposal.

He asked the monarch to use his influence over his brother Icarius to convince him to give Penelope’s hand in marriage.

By doing this, he would help the king resolve that difficult situation. Tyndareus, aware of Odysseus’s famous shrewdness, readily accepted the proposal, and Odysseus told him what the monarch would have to do.

After listening to Odysseus’s plan, Helen’s father spoke to the suitors with all solemnity. The king said that he would not interfere with the will of the gods; therefore, he would let Princess Helen choose her husband.

The suitors cheered up. Those who thought they had little chance of being chosen by the king realized that there was a new window of opportunity.

But the king demanded that everyone would have to swear to accept Helen’s decision, and they would defend the sacredness of that marriage even if it led to war.

All the suitors accepted the Spartan King’s proposal and took the oath, sealed with the sacrifice of a horse.

Helen was allowed to choose her husband. She carefully evaluated everyone, among them the bravest warriors, kings, and nobles of Greece.

The only man unavailable was Agamemnon, the powerful King of Mycenae, married to Clytemnestra, her sister.

Until she saw Prince Menelaus, so handsome that her knees trembled. Everything happened as Odysseus and the king had planned.

The king of Ithaca was sure that Helen would choose Menelaus because he was undoubtedly the most attractive.

And Odysseus knew of Princess Helen’s youthful naivete, which would cause her to choose the most handsome man.

But the cunning king of Ithaca had a much more strategic vision in allowing Helen to choose her husband.

Menelaus was not just any nobleman; he was the brother of Agamemnon, the most powerful king in all Greece.

In this way, the other suitors would never attempt to enter a contest for Helen for fear of the wrath of Menelaus and his powerful brother.

Just as he promised, Icarius, Penelope’s father, gave his daughter to the hero. Thus, Odysseus cleverly conquered one of Greece’s most precious treasures.

Helen and Menelaus married, and with the death of Tyndareus, the couple inherited the throne of Sparta.

For several years, the couple lived in relative harmony and Princess Hermione was born of this union.

But the kingdom of Sparta would be shaken by a storm. King Priam of Troy had more than 50 children.

Among them were the twins Cassandra and Helenus. Early in their infancy, their father decided that they would be given to serve in the temple of Apollo.

One day, when they were still children, they both played in Apollo’s temple and forgot the time to return home.

As it was already late, they decided to sleep in the temple. During the night, a serpent sent by Apollo licked the youngsters’ ears.

Thus, they received the gift of prophecy. Young Cassandra grew up to be a beautiful woman who marveled the god Apollo.

The god declared his love for the young girl, but she rejected him. Apollo managed to hide his anger at her rejection and asked her for only one kiss.

When the young woman brought her lips close to the god, he spat in her mouth and cursed her.

Cassandra still had the power of prophecy but had lost the power of persuasion. In this way, no one ever believed in her prophecies again.

Cassandra came to be seen and treated as crazy. If poor Cassandra had not rejected the god Apollo, the great bloodbath that was coming could have been avoided.

In Troy, preparations were being made for the annual festival in honor of Prince Alexander of Troy, whom everyone believed had died.

The soldiers of the royalty went to Mount Ida in search of prizes for the winners of the festival games.

The guards chose the shepherd Paris’s favorite bull as a tribute for the games, but he was unwilling to lose the animal he held so dear.

So he went to Troy to participate in the tournament and try to get his bull back.

Oenone, the nymph who lived with Paris as if she were his wife, prophesied: “If he left for Troy, he would never have her in his arms again, as he would cross the Aegean Sea and find another woman who would win his heart.

And when he finally decided to seek Oenone again, it would be too late.” The young shepherd had never been to a city like Troy and was amazed at its splendor and grandeur.

He signed up for the games where he would fight against the best warriors of Troy.

Among them were some of King Priam’s sons, including Hector, the crown prince. The daring shepherd beat each of his opponents in the tournament, including some of King Priam’s sons.

Paris made it to the final of the tournament where he would face Hector, the bravest Trojan warrior.

The fight between the lost son of Priam and his heir and champion of Troy was close, but unbelievably Paris defeated the mighty Hector.

Deiphobus, also King Priam’s son, was furious to see a shepherd humiliate the Royal House of Troy.

He and his followers took up their weapons and attacked Paris. The shepherd fled and found shelter in Zeus’s Temple.

Cassandra, the discredited prophetess who had already recognized her brother and knew that he would lead Troy to ruin, cried out for them to kill Paris.

But instead of listening to Cassandra’s cries, King Priam and Queen Hecuba asked the pursuers of Paris to stay away.

The queen approached Paris and through tears recognized that this was her son whom she thought was dead.

Agilus, the foster father of Paris, confessed that he didn’t dare to kill the prince when he was just a baby and that the Moirae would have chosen a different fate for him.

Agilus showed the rattle made by Hecuba for her baby and all doubts about the prince’s identity were dispelled.

Parents of Paris in tears embraced their reborn son and everyone celebrated the return of the Trojan Prince.

It had been 10 years since Paris had regained his position as Prince of Troy.

Suddenly, an entourage from Sparta docked at a location near Troy. Menelaus, the King of Sparta, was leading the Greek entourage which asked permission to take the remains of Greek warriors who were still there from the conflict between the Achaeans and the Trojans.

Paris was responsible for hospitality, receiving the visitors according to Trojan tradition. The Greeks were very pleased with the welcome.

Before leaving, Menelaus stated that he wanted to repay the prince’s hospitality and invited him to visit Sparta.

Priam, the king of Troy, was missing his sister Hesione who had been kidnapped by the Greeks when Hercules attacked Troy.

The king decided to organize a squadron that would leave for Greece to recover the king’s sister who was at Salamis.

The monarch allowed all necessary means to be used to accomplish his mission. The command of the expedition was given to Prince Paris, who would have the help of Aeneas, Prince of Dardania.

With the help of the goddess Aphrodite, the winds drove the Trojan ships toward the Spartan coast.

Paris took advantage of the invitation extended by Menelaus to improve his relationship with Sparta and re-establish his forces before setting sail for Salamis where the sister of the king of Troy was.

King Menelaus was very pleased and welcomed the Trojans. Wanting to show the best of Greek hospitality, Menelaus was very proud of his beautiful wife, and so he ordered her to wear her most beautiful attire to be presented before the Trojan entourage.

Paris was amazed to find the beautiful Queen Helen. She could only be the woman whose love Aphrodite had promised.

The naive queen did not know that Eros was spying on her with his bow at the behest of Aphrodite.

Helen was also surprised by the charm and beauty of the prince from Asia. He was more handsome than all the Greeks she had ever seen.

Menelaus was perhaps the most handsome of the Greek kings, but his beauty was eclipsed by Paris who had an almost divine pulchritude.

The queen’s heart was pierced by one of Eros’s arrows and Helen suddenly fell in love with the Trojan prince.

The following days were marked by feasts and banquets promoted by the King of Sparta in honor of his noble Trojan guests.

Far from the king’s eyes, a flame warmed the hearts of the Trojan prince and the queen of Sparta.

But as if fate was written, a piece of news from the island of Crete facilitated the fulfillment of Aphrodite’s promise.

Catreus, Menelaus’s grandfather and king of Crete, had died. So Menelaus left to be present at the funeral in Crete.

But he left his guest in the care of the queen, who would reign in his place.

As soon as the King of Sparta left, Paris and Helen materialized all the repressed passion.

The adulterous couple was consumed by a passionate madness. The prince of Troy and the queen of Sparta decided to flee together to Troy.

Paris would still commit one last sin against Menelaus’s hospitality. He gathered his men to rob the treasury of Sparta.

The palace’s small defensive line was surprised and could do nothing to protect their king’s treasures.

The population of Sparta revolted against the Trojans and tried to prevent the escape of Paris, who was attempting to kidnap their queen.

They hurled stones and arrows, but protected by the Trojan guard, the couple managed to embark safely.

The Trojan squadron left Sparta behind, carrying on its deck a great treasure in gold, silver, and jewels.

The couple of lovers seemed satisfied and believed to be on their way to happiness.

But the trail left by the lovers was followed by Ares, the god of war, and his sinister retinue.

Paris and Helen would bring war, death, and despair to Troy. Helen’s abduction would be the trigger for the beginning of a conflict that would be sung about for millennia to come.

The war of Troy was beginning. Queen Helen of Sparta and the Trojan Prince Paris docked on the island of Cranae near the coast of Peloponnese.

They were drunk with passion instilled by Eros and wished to materialize that feeling. Paris and Helen had their first night of love on the beaches of Cranae.

Meanwhile, the other Trojans were having fun with the treasures stolen from Menelaus. But the news quickly reached Crete where Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon were still mourning the body of their grandfather.

Menelaus felt an enormous fury and thirst for revenge. Agamemnon tried to calm his brother and assured him that he would do everything possible to enforce the oath that the Greek nobles took when Helen chose Menelaus as her husband.

In the glorious city of Mycenae, Greece, dozens of warlords entered through the legendary Lion Gate and made themselves available to fulfill the oath before Agamemnon and Menelaus.

They made their warriors available. These nobles had various motives. Some were motivated by honor; others sought to profit from the plunder of the rich city of Troy; and others, above all, desired glory.

A gigantic army was formed with the goal of rescuing the Spartan Queen. But the wise Nestor was an old king who had already participated in the most varied missions.

He knew that they couldn’t leave for Troy without recruiting the cunning King Odysseus of Ithaca.

The small island of Ithaca was not very wealthy and its few soldiers were not renowned.

But its king was known to be clever, an attribute that could make a huge difference during the Greek campaign against Troy.

Odysseus led a full life with his beautiful wife Penelope, with whom he had a son named Telemachus.

When Odysseus heard that the Greek kings had gathered to fight Troy, he knew that someone would soon summon him.

The king of Ithaca had no desire to leave his kingdom and family to take part in an uncertain adventure.

So he decided to visit the Oracle. If he were told that the war would be short and that he would return safe and sound, he would participate in the mission.

But if the prophecy said otherwise, Odysseus would find a way to slip away. Halitherses, the old soothsayer, prophesied: “If Odysseus left for Troy, he would not return until 20 years later.

During that period, he would lose all his men and no one would recognize him.”

Faced with this omen, Odysseus decided to do everything possible to prevent his going to Troy.

Odysseus pretended to be mad. The news that the king of Ithaca had gone crazy spread throughout Hellas.

The news reached the kings who were gathered around Agamemnon, saddening them. But Palamedes, the king of Euboea, who was almost as intelligent as Odysseus, was suspicious.

Palamedes, Menelaus, and Agamemnon left for Ithaca to check on Odysseus’s situation. They were greeted upon arrival by the beautiful Penelope with her son Telemachus on her lap.

She seemed saddened by her husband’s situation. Odysseus worked the land with a plow pulled by an ox and a donkey, an unusual combination.

In addition, he sowed the land with salt. Menelaus and Agamemnon found that Odysseus had lost his lucidity.

But Palamedes, despite that grotesque scene, was not convinced. He took the hero’s son from his mother’s arms and placed him in front of the path Odysseus was walking with the plow.

The king of Ithaca stopped the animals abruptly so as not to run over his son, proving that his madness was just a trick.

Odysseus glared furiously at Palamedes as he returned his son to his mother’s arms. Odysseus asked his countrymen to forget that episode, for their future was Troy.

He vowed that he would fight the Trojans with unparalleled courage. Together with the two sons of Atreus, Odysseus left for war, leaving behind his beloved wife and little son.

Odysseus would never forgive Palamedes for having unmasked him. As soon as there was an opportunity, he would take revenge on the king of Euboea for putting his son at risk and driving the patriarch away from his family.

Meanwhile, Odysseus was given his first mission: to find the whereabouts of Peleus’s famous son named Achilles.

Achilles had barely come of age. However, despite his youth, he was already recognized as the best Greek warrior.

Achilles was the son of King Peleus of Thessaly with Thetis, a sea deity. There was a myth that claimed his invulnerability.

When he was a baby, his mother immersed him in the sacred River Styx. Due to this ritual, he would be protected by the gods.

His only weak point was his heel, which did not touch the water of the sacred river.

Achilles grew up and together with his faithful friend Patroclus was trained by the centaur Chiron, the renowned trainer of heroes, to become the greatest warrior of his time.

Greek preparation for war was advanced, but King Agamemnon knew that the Hellenes would not leave for Troy without their greatest hero.

The diviner Calchas had predicted that without Achilles among the Achaeans, victory in Troy would be impossible.

Odysseus, upon learning of this prophecy, set out in search of Achilles. The hero of Ithaca strongly desired the success of this expedition so that he could return safe and sound to his land, where he would meet again his beloved Penelope and his son Telemachus.

Thetis knew about the prophecy which claimed that if her son fought at Troy, he would never return alive.

And making use of matriarchal power, she ordered Achilles to hide in the court of King Lycomedes.

There he would dress as a woman and mingle among the countless daughters of the king, receiving the name of Pyrrha.

In this court also lived the princess Deidamia, Achilles’s girlfriend, with whom he already had a four-year-old son.

His name was Neoptolemus, nicknamed Pyrrhus. Following some clues, Odysseus arrived at the palace of King Lycomedes, who received him with every hospitality and introduced him to his many daughters.

Among them was Achilles in disguise. The king of Ithaca had with him gifts for Lycomedes’s daughters.

On a table he placed jewelry, Egyptian makeup, perfumes, mirrors, silk, and a sword. The girls were excited to see the gifts.

They began to try the gifts and Odysseus noticed that one had her eyes fixed on the sword.

Suddenly, one of Odysseus’s men ran into the palace shouting that they were being attacked by pirates.

The girls screamed hysterically, running to their rooms. But Achilles instinctively grabbed his sword and assumed a fighting stance.

There were no pirates. It was all a ploy organized by Odysseus, and in this way, the cross-dressing hero was unmasked.

Achilles, feeling ashamed that he had been exposed, was pleased to be summoned to head for Troy along with the other Greek heroes.

He had remained hidden only by the action of his divine mother. Achilles bade farewell to the princess Deidamia and his son Pyrrhus.

This little boy was destined to achieve glories almost as great as those of his father.

Achilles promised Odysseus that he would gather his men and join Agamemnon’s army to achieve glory in front of the walls of Troy.

While Agamemnon was managing the last preparations before leaving with his gigantic army towards Troy, he decided to send an embassy to the court of King Priam of Troy on a diplomatic mission.

The Greek delegation included the astute Odysseus of Ithaca, Palamedes of the island of Euboea, and Menelaus King of Sparta.

The arrival of the Hellenic entourage surprised the entire Trojan court. Until that moment, news of Helen’s abduction had not yet reached Troy.

The Greek heroes demanded an audience with King Priam to deal with their prince’s terrible offenses.

Priam received the emissaries in his palace, believing that the litigants would ask for the rescue of Princess Hesione.

After all, that was the purpose of the mission imposed on Paris. Although Odysseus was known to solve any situation, his rival Palamedes was the leader of the entourage.

Palamedes was known to have the gift of speech and to have a silver tongue.

He was so good with words that he was the inventor of several letters of the Greek alphabet.

The leader of the entourage presented his case to the king of Troy, exposing the crime against hospitality committed by Paris, who kidnapped his host’s wife and stole his treasures.

He demanded that the king of Troy peacefully return the queen of Sparta to her husband and he threatened to take the war into Trojan territory if King Agamemnon’s demands were not met.

At that moment, Priam’s sons took up their swords, feeling offended at the Greek threat.

But Priam ordered the princes to put away their swords, as the Greek nobles were only messengers of King Agamemnon.

King Priam claimed to be unaware of his son’s actions and said that the Greek queen was not hiding in his court.

The king also said that the Greeks had no morals to support such demands; after all, in the recent past, Hercules had kidnapped the princess Hesione of Troy, taking her to Greece.

Priam said he would return Helen to the Greeks if they would return his sister, whom he had not seen for a long time.

Palamedes emphasized that the great King Agamemnon’s terms were non-negotiable. Hesione lives happily in Salamis, where she reigned alongside her husband, having sent her beloved son Teucer to join the huge Hellenic army to turn the walls of Troy into dust.

Trying to keep calm, Priam said that given the case, Queen Helen of Sparta would be returned to her homeland if she appeared at court and that was her wish; otherwise, she would have asylum and protection in Troy.

Odysseus realized that Palamedes was only increasing the animosity between the two peoples. The king of Ithaca tried to lessen the tension of Palamedes’s and Priam’s speeches.

He, upon entering Troy, had realized that the city was a real fortress and the walls built by Apollo and Poseidon were practically impenetrable.

A siege of that city would make the war last for years. Therefore, Odysseus tried to get Palamedes and Priam to come to a reasonable agreement.

But the Trojan King had his pride wounded by Palamedes’s threats, who sowed seeds of Eris in Priam’s heart.

The diplomatic mission failed. War was around the corner, and the hatred Odysseus felt for Palamedes grew.

His rival squandered the opportunity to keep peace between the two peoples. In Greece, several kings presented themselves at Aulis, where the great army was forming.

These kings gathered there to fulfill the oath sealed among the nobles who swore to defend the marriage of Menelaus and Helen of Sparta.

And to fulfill that oath, the nobles sent their ships and best warriors to form the greatest army the Greek world had ever seen.

The Hellenes wished that Nemesis and the Erinyes would be on the Greek side in their quest for revenge and retribution, fomented by the injury to Paris, the Trojan prince who had violated the enforced laws of Zeus by kidnapping the beautiful Queen Helen.

All the resources and supplies needed to further the endeavor against the Trojans were gathered, and diplomatic efforts to avoid a full-scale conflict had failed.

War was about to break out. The order was given for all commanders and men to prepare to depart as soon as the wind conditions were favorable.

The mighty army would leave for Asia. All the armies were mobilized, but a great calm was felt on the beaches of Aulis.

The wind necessary for the departure stopped blowing. Not even a simple breeze seemed to help the efforts of the Achaeans.

Several winless days passed. The soldiers who had long been waiting began to grow impatient.

The temporary camps had not been planned for such a long stay. Supply problems and disease proliferation began to lower the morale of the combatants.

Some soldiers died ingloriously without having set foot on Trojan land. Discontent was general. It seemed that the gods were not willing to favor the Greeks in their goals.

All kinds of rumors began to circulate through the camp. To prevent the situation from getting completely out of control, the nobles decided to turn to a well-known seer.

His name was Calchas. The priest was appointed as the official seer of the Greek army.

At that time, no army had the courage to go off to war without a seer capable of interpreting the auspices of the gods.

By observing the flight of birds and examining the entrails of animals sacrificed to the gods, these priests were able to communicate with the gods.

And through the prophetic powers granted by Apollo, these men were able to reveal the wishes of the gods.

The men gathered around and watched Calchas apprehensively as he looked to the sky for a message from the gods.

The seer’s serene expression quickly changed to a sorrowful countenance. The seer addressed the crowd and revealed the will of the gods.

He stated that such tranquility was not just a meteorological phenomenon. The absence of wind was a reprisal of the goddess Artemis against Agamemnon.

The king, son of Atreus, had killed one of the deer consecrated to the goddess Artemis during a hunt.

And as if that were not enough, Agamemnon had the courage to say that not even the goddess of hunting could kill that creature with such a sharp blow.

Offended, the goddess demanded that the winds stop blowing on the shores of Aulis until the great king was reconciled with the goddess.

To do that, he would have to sacrifice what he loved most: his beautiful young daughter, Iphigenia.

Great sorrow struck all who heard those omens, but no one would suffer more than Agamemnon.

The great camp of the Greek army was exceedingly silent. The terrible omen uttered by the seer Calchas affected all the Achaeans.

After all, to demand of a man the sacrifice of his beloved daughter seemed inconceivable.

In his tent, the great sovereign Agamemnon was dismayed at his terrible fate imposed by the ladies of Destiny.

His greatest desire had always been to have all the Greek nobles under his command, seeking a common goal.

But he was not prepared to pay the horrendous price needed to fulfill his ambitions.

The king of Mycenae talked to his brother Menelaus and said that he would not sacrifice his beloved daughter just to rescue his brother’s wife, who had been kidnapped by the Trojans.

And he stated that his wife Clytemnestra would never allow one of her daughters to be sacrificed.

Menelaus, who initially understood his brother’s pain, was more incisive, showing the truth that his brother’s pain did not allow him to decipher.

He said that the thousands of men who were there were someone’s sons, and that that father sent his most precious treasure to fight and sacrifice for the honor of the people.

These patriarchs put into his hands the most formidable generation of young men that Greece had ever produced to shed their sweat and blood for the glory and pride of their land.

The most powerful man in Greece wept like a child while his brother tried to console him.

He knew that there was no other way but to carry out the will of the gods.

Agamemnon knew that his wife would not agree with that decision, so he decided to deceive her.

In his letter to the queen, Agamemnon called for the presence of the princess Iphigenia in the military camp to celebrate her marriage to the renowned hero Achilles.

Menelaus and the other Greeks were pleased with Agamemnon’s brave decision, but Odysseus remained suspicious.

In the evening, another messenger hastily departed from the tent of the paramount chief, unaware that Menelaus and Odysseus were watching him.

They intercepted the messenger carrying a message for the queen of Mycenae, ordering her not to bring her daughter to the shores of Aulis.

A short time later, Iphigenia and Queen Clytemnestra arrived at the camp of the Achaeans.

They realized that the reception was very different from what they had imagined, as it resembled a funeral.

Agamemnon pressed his daughter against his chest and many tears fell from his eyes. The princess was surprised, as she had never seen her father cry.

The queen told her not to worry, as he was thrilled to give his beloved daughter to another man.

Suddenly, in fluke, Achilles passed nearby and seeing him, the queen congratulated the man on his betrothal.

But Achilles did not seem to understand what was happening, as he had not established any marriage.

Achilles quickly realized Agamemnon’s plot. The latter had used Achilles’s name to lure his daughter into sacrifice.

Feeling outraged, he revealed the whole truth to the queen. Clytemnestra knelt at Achilles’s feet and taking his hand begged him to defend her daughter against such a treacherous act.

Achilles assured the queen that he would defend Iphigenia and her honor even if it cost him his life.

The queen ran to Agamemnon’s tent, where the priests who would organize the sacrifice were already gathered.

Clytemnestra embraced her daughter to protect her and told her everything her father had prepared.

The young princess could not believe that her father would be capable of such a thing.

Iphigenia begged her father not to let them sacrifice her, as she was innocent and had nothing to do with that dispute.

But consumed with sorrow, Agamemnon said that it was the will of the gods and before them even the mightiest of kings was powerless.

Achilles suddenly entered the tent, sword drawn, and said that no one would touch the princess while he was alive.

He also said that if they killed him, the whole expedition would be ruined as it was prophesied that the Greeks would only achieve victory if he fought on the walls of Troy.

The young princess seemed to be moved by the wisdom of the gods, and Achilles put down his sword.

She said she would agree to be sacrificed, for on this depended the lives of all the Greek warriors and of the sons of Greece who would shed their blood on Trojan soil.

She would give her blood on behalf of all the women of Greece. Achilles took Iphigenia’s hands and told her that she was the most virtuous woman he had ever known.

He added that he would have had the highest of honors if he had been her husband if that had been the will of the gods.

Iphigenia asked her mother to forgive her father, as he had no other choice but to obey the will of the gods.

The whole army was moved to see the princess hotly climb the stairs that led to the altar of sacrifice.

Agamemnon placed the dagger around the neck of his daughter, who calmly offered it. She asked the goddess Artemis to accept the supreme sacrifice on behalf of all Greece.

The king, letting out a great cry of pain, slashed the neck of his beloved daughter.

Shortly afterward, Agamemnon laid the inert body of Iphigenia on the altar. A strong wind began to blow towards Troy, and the thousands of warriors on the beaches of Aulis celebrated the heroic sacrifice of Princess Iphigenia.

Agamemnon, still covered in his daughter’s blood, swore that Troy would be ruined and that he would use its ashes to build a monument to Iphigenia’s sacrifice.

After the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the Greek armada was finally ready to head for Troy.

Their ships were stocked and the men were eager to begin their journey. Calchas had made the last sacrifices to the gods to ensure a safe journey.

Suddenly, the seer observed on the branch of the tree above his head a snake approaching a nest with eight sparrowings and their mother.

The serpent devoured all the birds, and Calchas revealed to the Greeks the meaning of that omen.

He said that the sons of Priam would fall one by one. Eventually, the city of Troy would succumb before the courage of the sons of Hellas.

At that moment, all the warriors celebrated. But they did not hear the rest of the prediction: it would take nine long years of siege for the city to fall in the 10th.

With the help of favorable winds, the giant Greek armada crossed the Aegean Sea towards Troy.

More than 1,200 ships filled with warriors set sail from the beaches of Aulis. Punish Troy after the humiliation caused by the enemies who had kidnapped Queen Helen of Sparta.

Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek army, wanted revenge, but he was also motivated by greed.

He wanted the spoils of war to make him richer and more powerful. Other heroes like Achilles aimed to achieve glory on the battlefields and place their names marked among the stars.

Odysseus, on the other hand, wanted above all to return home as soon as possible, as long as he guaranteed the glory of the kingdom of Ithaca and his family.

Several other warriors wanted to triumph on the Trojan battlefield. Among them was the gigantic Ajax of Salamis and Diomedes of Argos.

Another famous warrior of that time destined to make his mark in the conflict was Philoctetes.

He was a faithful friend of Hercules and received from the great hero his magnificent bow and arrows poisoned with the Hydra’s blood while Hercules was in agony.

Although he was destined for great achievements, a huge misfortune struck the hero as he was leaving the ship to stock it up with supplies for the journey.

In the middle of the grass, a snake suddenly emerged which attacked Philoctetes’s leg. Some say that the snake was carrying out orders from Hera, who was punishing him for befriending Hercules, an enemy of the goddess.

The hero was helped back to the boat by his friends, feeling terrible pain. His wound caused a black spot to spread down his leg.

The pain was so great that poor Philoctetes couldn’t stop screaming in pain. The putrid odor of the hero’s wound, in addition to Philoctetes’s endless screams and groans, disturbed the sailors and warriors of the neighboring ships.

Odysseus realized that if this situation continued, the Greeks would reach the beaches of Troy with their morale crumbling, which could be a tragedy for the expedition.

Odysseus ordered Philoctetes’s ship to dock on the island of Lemnos, where the hero would disembark.

Philoctetes was left on the beach by Odysseus’s men, along with his bow and quiver and some supplies.

The experienced hero and his special bow would have been an important help in the great battles that followed.

The Greeks even came to regret having abandoned him. Far away, Prince Paris was finally returning to Troy with the beautiful Helen by his side.

Although they were awestruck by the beauty of the Spartan Queen, the people regarded her harshly, for they knew she carried with her the pains of the god Ares and his sinister retinue.

The Trojan nobles and princes did not want Paris and his prey to settle in the royal palace.

But when they saw the treasure stolen from Sparta, which was to be distributed between them, and the beautiful Greek women accompanying Helen, who could be their concubines, the nobles quickly changed their minds, welcoming the prince.

Queen Hecuba, at the king’s request, asked Helen if she was reporting to court of her own free will.

Helen assured her that she was there out of genuine love for Prince Paris and that her life was in danger because of the enormous hatred the Greeks had for her.

After that answer, King Priam ensured that she remained under his protection, granting her Trojan citizenship.

From that day on, she became known as Helen of Troy. The huge Greek squadron was heading for the Trojan shores.

Thousands of Greek warriors wished to achieve glory in front of the mighty city gates.

On the beach, Hector, the Trojan Prince, commanded the royal army on behalf of his father, King Priam.

They aimed to push the Greeks back into the sea, but they were not prepared to face an army of that size.

The ships of the Achaeans had already reached the beach. Although it was a great honor to be the first to invade Trojan lands, the Greeks hesitated, for a prophecy said that the first man to set foot on Trojan lands during the war would also be the first to leave for the kingdom of Hades.

Odysseus realized that something had to be done quickly, so he threw his shield onto the sand and jumped on it without touching the Trojan sands.

The king of Ithaca asked his compatriots to disembark and conquer the beaches before Hector’s army was reinforced.

Odysseus was running from the arrows fired by the Trojans, and his courage persuaded the men to disembark.

Protesilaus, son of the old king Iphicles, was the first Greek to set foot on the beaches of Troy.

Protesilaus filled himself with courage and led his men to conquer the beach. He advanced and defeated several Trojan warriors who stood in his way, but his enormous bravery brought him face to face with the mighty Hector, the champion of Troy.

The two heroes measured their strength, but Protesilaus would fulfill the prophecy. Hector took his life and Protesilaus was the first Greek to fall on Trojan soil.

Achilles and his army of Myrmidons attacked the left flank of the enemy army. The superiority of the warriors of the son of Thetis made the men of Troy tremble.

But Achilles soon met his first great challenge. The warrior’s name was Cycnus, a mighty demigod son of Poseidon.

It was said that he could not be killed with a spear or sword, arrow or stone.

He was practically invulnerable. Achilles felt pleased to duel with a foe who could match his abilities.

The son of Peleus hurled his spear with all his might against Cycnus’s chest, but the spear bounced off the demigod’s bronze breastplate, which was given to him by Hephaestus, the lord of the forges.

The son of the lord of the seas also threw his spear, which was blocked by Achilles.

The force of the throw was so great that it went right through the shield.

Achilles took his sword and advanced against the Trojan ally, but the opponent grabbed the sword with his hand and responded with strong headbutts.

The leader of the Myrmidons was stunned while Cycnus advanced with his club in hand.

The son of Poseidon was ready to smash the head of the champion of the Achaeans.

Suddenly, Achilles anticipated the deadly attack with a blow with his shield. Taking advantage of the enemy’s disorientation, the hero leaped onto his back and initiated a stranglehold.

The strong Cycnus, already strengthless, bent his knees before the great power of Achilles’s arms.

The demigod died and would not be the first great warrior to fall before the mighty Achilles.

Hector, realizing that he did not have enough numbers to contain the horde of invaders, ordered his men to retreat and take cover behind the walls.

The Greeks celebrate their first great victory against the Trojans. The conquest of the Trojan beaches was strategically important to the campaign, and their victory was accomplished with few losses.

A large funeral pyre was erected to honor Protesilaus, the brave warrior who was the first Greek to set foot on those lands on behalf of the army of the Achaeans.

He would be the first of many to die on the battlefields in the name of Greek honor.

The Greeks had already conquered the beaches of Ilium, and the previous day’s victory raised the morale of all the Achaean warriors who believed in a quick victory against Troy.

In Agamemnon’s tent, the main leaders talked about an immediate assault on the walls of Troy, pondering whether this would be the most correct strategy.

The moment seemed favorable, and the Trojans’ courage should be shaken. Agamemnon declared that contrary to what the oracles had predicted, Troy would fall easily and they would return home quickly.

The warlords left the tent, determined to storm the Trojan citadel that very day. In his chariot, Agamemnon guided the gigantic army toward the walls of Troy.

Everyone marched with unwavering determination, but they still had no real sense of the obstacle they would encounter.

The city of Troy was not defended by an ordinary wall; it was higher and sturdier than any other fortress in the world.

This work of engineering could not have been made by human hands; its builders were the gods Apollo and Poseidon.

Contrary to what the Achaeans thought, the Trojan infantry stayed behind the wall, prepared to face the Greeks once again.

Above the walls, hundreds of archers provided cover for the troops below. With no fear in their hearts, the Greeks advanced against their enemies and a rain of arrows fell on their heads.

The Trojans fought in a tight defensive formation, while the Greek army was made weaker and weaker by the arrows falling from the sky.

The Greek generals realized that a direct assault on Troy was impossible at that moment and ordered their troops to withdraw.

The Trojan commander Hector and his men celebrated after their first victory over the Greeks, showing their opponents that they would fight to the death to defend their homes and families.

Unable to attack the walls directly, the Greeks opted for besieging the city and forcing it to surrender through starvation.

But this strategy was not as successful as expected. Troy was a huge city and had several allies in the region who supplied the city with reinforcements and strategic resources.

Therefore, the Greek blockade did not work efficiently. Among the Greeks a rumor spread of a new prophecy that could change the fate of the war.

Hector, son of King Priam, always led his men in the front line, but he had a younger brother named Troilus.

This was a boy, but his incredible skills could lead him to a glorious destiny.

The boy was an excellent archer. On the ramparts, he displayed his talent, shooting his enemies with perfect accuracy.

He was also a formidable horseman, riding the fast Trojan horses without saddle or reins.

The intrepid boy would ride out of Troy into the countryside, unafraid of the enemies around him.

A prophecy said that if Troilus reached the age of 20, he would take the place of Hector and lead Troy to victory.

Not to allow the consummation of the omen, the mighty Achilles volunteered to hunt down the young man who threatened the Greek effort.

Troilus often took his horse to drink at Apollo’s fountain, a sacred place which no Greek would dare to vilify for fear of the gods’ fury.

But upon returning to Troy, he found a terrible surprise in disguise. Achilles ambushed the boy as he was returning.

Troilus turned around and tried to return to the spring, but Achilles, the light-footed warrior, ran after him and had his horse not been so fast, he would have been caught up.

Just as the boy was about to reach the fountain, his chest was pierced by Achilles’s spear.

The ruthless warrior put the young boy’s body back on his horse and sent him on his way to Troy.

Upon seeing the boy’s dead body, the whole city wept as if the hero Hector himself had died.

One of the Trojans’ hopes had simply vanished. After the failure of the assault on the walls of Troy, the Greeks realized that a long siege of the city would be necessary to make the Trojans fall to their knees.

Days went by and boredom took hold of the Greek troops in a never-ending weight.

This discouragement could destroy the soldiers’ morale in the long term. The cunning Palamedes, much admired by the soldiers, invented the game of dice and the men were able to entertain themselves and pass the time.

The Greeks began sending military expeditions to weaken Troy’s neighbors and allies who often sent supplies and men to reinforce the Trojan positions.

The heroic Achaeans who took part in these adventures had as their greatest desire to plunder the treasures of these cities and to improve their positions compared to the other Greek chieftains.

Meanwhile, on the beaches of Ilium, the stocks of food for the troops were dangerously low.

But with the return of Palamedes and his fleet with grain, oil, and meat from Thrace, this critical situation was settled.

The soldiers chanted songs in honor of Palamedes. He, in the eyes of the common men, was the only nobleman who cared about the welfare of the plebs.

Agamemnon began to feel threatened by Palamedes’s growing prestige. Odysseus, meanwhile, was even more displeased to see the man he hated most for dragging him into war being carried on his shoulders by the people.

But suddenly rumors emerged that cast doubt on Palamedes’s loyalty to the Greek cause. No one knows from where these rumors emerged that accused Palamedes of being a traitor.

Because of these suspicions, evidence was sought in Palamedes’s tent. Agamemnon’s men tried to find evidence of this supposed treason.

Odysseus found a small box buried in the sand and inside it was a good amount of Trojan gold.

Agamemnon read everyone the contents of a message that thanked them for the information passed on to Troy, and the message contained the seal of the Trojan Royal House.

This message was supposed to have been found in the hands of a Trojan messenger.

Palamedes struggled as he was stopped by Agamemnon’s men. He shouted that the whole thing was just a setup.

Greek chiefs demanded that he confess and others called him a traitor. Palamedes was tied to a pole and sentenced to death by stoning, the most degrading and dishonorable way to die.

Before ordering the execution, Agamemnon asked Palamedes if he wished to say his last words.

Palamedes said that he was not afraid of death, but that he felt sorry for the truth, which would die before him.

Palamedes was stoned and his body would have been thrown to the dogs and vultures had it not been for the intervention of Achilles and Ajax.

Palamedes’s father, feeling outraged, took his son’s entire army back to Greece and promised to tell his countrymen of all the wrongdoings committed by the Greeks in their campaign abroad.

He would spread news that while the wives of the Greek chieftains suffered lonely at home, their husbands delighted in the beautiful and enslaved female enemies, treating them as their true wives.

They would punish their husbands for adultery and the most passionate ones even took their own lives.

The city of Troy had allied troops from all over the region. The goal was to prepare a great counter-attack against the Greek troops besieging the city.

On the horizon a huge contingent of reinforcements emerged. It was the army of the Dardanians led by old Anchises, brother of King Priam, and his son Aeneas, who commanded his father’s soldiers on the battlefield.

From the top of the walls, the population waved and celebrated the arrival of the Dardanians, shouting the name of Aeneas, who was reputed to be a great warrior.

Aeneas had divine blood in his veins and the prophecies indicated that he would have a glorious future.

Aeneas was the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, who always watched over the safety of her mortal son.

The goddess of love could arouse passions in the hearts of men and even gods.

Zeus, the supreme god of Olympus, had excessive passion in his heart, making him an easy target for the influence of the goddess of love and her son Eros.

His love affairs with deities and beautiful mortals were countless. This aroused the fury of Hera, his wife.

Aphrodite was pleased to know that even the lord of Olympus could not resist her powers.

Zeus decided that Aphrodite should taste her own poison and forced Eros to use his arrows to make Aphrodite fall in love with a mortal.

The goddess fell in love with Anchises, a member of the Trojan royal family who was tending her flock.

Aphrodite, properly disguised, visited the Trojan nobleman’s tent during the night and he was astonished by the visit of such a beautiful woman.

Anchises suspected that that beautiful woman was a goddess and knew that it was inappropriate for a mere mortal to wish to possess a deity.

The humility shown by Anchises aroused even more passion in Aphrodite. The goddess pretended to be a princess from the region of Phrygia who had been instructed by the gods to marry the Trojan nobleman and establish a strong alliance between the two peoples.

Convinced that this was the will of the gods, Anchises gave in to Aphrodite’s charms.

The couple had a night of intense love. At daybreak, Anchises awoke and saw the goddess without any disguise.

He was astounded at such beauty, but a great fear quickly ravaged his heart. He remembered Actaeon who dared to spy on the beautiful goddess Artemis while she was bathing.

That sight caused the goddess of the hunt to impose a terrible punishment on him.

Aphrodite calmed the noble Trojan, saying that he should not worry, for he had committed no sin.

Everything that had happened to him had been the will of the gods, and to her, Anchises and his descendants were very important.

The goddess assured him that from that union, the heir to Troy would be born and under his leadership the seed of a new nation would be planted that would bring all the opposing ones to their knees.

Aphrodite knew that her union with a mere mortal would forever be a stain on her reputation, and so she asked Anchises never to reveal the true mother of her son Aeneas.

The fruit of this tainted union, Anchises kept the secret for many years. Time passed and while fraternizing with his friends and relatives because of alcohol, Anchises boasted about his son Aeneas and revealed the prophecy that spoke about the glorious future of his son, all thanks to his divine mother the goddess Aphrodite.

Zeus, upon learning that Anchises was boasting of his union with a goddess, hurled one of his thunderbolts at the noble Trojan.

Anchises survived but was crippled for life. His son with the goddess of beauty and love grew up, and his strength and beauty reflected his divine origin.

Hector and Paris were very pleased with the arrival of the Dardanians, but because of the rumors of the prophecy predicting the glory of Aeneas, King Priam distrusted Aeneas, for he feared that he would take over the throne from his sons.

However, he also knew that without Aeneas and his men, defeating the Greeks would be an almost impossible task.

The siege of Troy had been an ongoing episode for many years and the last months had been marked only by battles and skirmishes.

The inhabitants of Troy were going through hardships, but there was no sign of any surrender.

But during this period, the Greeks didn’t just stand by. Their heroes commanded expeditions to attack and plunder the allied cities of Troy.

Achilles sacked 23 enemy cities where he plundered many treasures, resources and made plenty of slaves.

Some cities offered no resistance to the invaders and were easily conquered; their people were spared the wrath of the Achaeans.

But others tried to stand their ground and refused to yield before the enemies. On the island of Lesbos there was a great struggle for the taking of the city of Methymna.

The defenders fought fiercely against the Myrmidons of Achilles. The defenders managed with great effort to repeal the invaders.

Meanwhile, from the top of the wall, princess Peisidice gazed passionately at the mighty Achilles as he led his men.

In the evening, Achilles was visited by an old maid of the princess who brought him a message.

She offered Peleus’s son the opportunity to invade the city if he agreed to marry the princess.

Achilles agreed and Peisidice opened a hidden door, opening passage for Achilles and his men to storm the city.

The Myrmidons unleashed all their fury on the residents of the city for making the Greeks pay such a high price after stubbornly resisting in the face of a superior enemy.

When the princess ran to Achilles lest he forget the deal he made, he ordered his soldiers to stop the young woman.

With great contempt, he ordered her to be stoned to death. Achilles would never unite with a woman who would put her interests above her fatherland and family; for such a traitor there was no fairer penalty.

Achilles set out to invade the city of Thebes of Troade. It was a wealthy city where the family of Andromache, the princess and wife of Hector, lived.

Achilles dueled with King Eetion and his sons who fought bravely, but the king and his seven sons died at the hands of Achilles.

In this city valuable spoils of war were plundered. The most precious treasure was Chryseis, so beautiful that she looked more like a goddess.

But Patroclus told his commander that if he was impressed by Chryseis, he should see what was in the temple of Dionysus: inside it was Briseis, a priestess even more beautiful than the previous one.

Achilles was convinced that there was no spoil of war more valuable than the precious Briseis.

With her by his side, the glory would be even more evident. On the other side of the Dardanelles strait, the gigantic Ajax was attacking the Thracians, also allies of the Trojans.

No Thracian warrior could oppose the mighty giant from Salamis. With his huge shield, he brought down the enemy lines.

Ajax also captured a valuable war prey: he was the young Polydorus, Priam’s youngest son, and for whom he had the most affection.

Odysseus realized that the hostage was more valuable than any ransom. Therefore, accompanied by his friends Diomedes and Menelaus, he asked that a meeting be organized in Troy to negotiate.

Odysseus proposed exchanging the king’s most beloved son for Menelaus’s wife. But listening to the advice of his sons, Priam refused to return Helen.

As a counter proposal he offered his daughter Cassandra to Menelaus as his new wife.

Menelaus found that proposal outrageous and said he would not accept that the people who dishonored him should choose his wife.

He declared that he did not want a wife from a barbaric lineage and the Trojans would pay for that offense.

Greeks and Trojans again failed to come to an agreement and the king demanded that the Greeks be removed from his presence.

The Greeks dragged young Polydorus close to the wall and stoned the boy to death.

From the top of the wall Priam witnessed it all helplessly and in tears. Achilles had now returned full of glory and treasures.

Everyone celebrated as the fruit of the loot was shared among all the lords. When Agamemnon saw Chryseis, he immediately demanded her for himself.

Achilles quietly gave in to the girl for he had expected that the greedy Agamemnon would not resist a young woman with such attributes.

But Achilles was smart and only revealed his Briseis to Agamemnon after he had already decided to choose Chryseis.

Therefore, Achilles got the most precious of treasures, Briseis. Chryseis and Briseis did not know it, but they would be responsible for changing the course of the war.

Achilles’s wrath would be aroused. For nearly 10 years, the Greeks besieged the glorious city of Troy and could not bring down the remarkable walls erected by the gods Poseidon and Apollo.

But on the beaches of Ilium, a dispute between the Greeks changed the course of the war.

In the millennia that followed, the Muses would inspire aoidos, bards and minstrels who sang the story of how Agamemnon aroused Achilles’s wrath, driving the souls of thousands of Greeks straight into the realm of Hades.

Agamemnon was relaxing in his tent in the care of Chryseis. She was his war prey for whom he had developed some affection, displaying her like a trophy due to her remarkable beauty.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers warned him that a priest of Apollo demanded an audience with the great leader of the Achaeans.

At the gates of the camp was a priest allied to Troy named Chryses. He intended to free his daughter who had been captured as a slave, precisely Agamemnon’s favorite.

He was willing to pay a large ransom for his beloved daughter. But after hearing Chryses’s request, the great leader quickly refused the chance to release her.

He threatened and insulted the priest, demanding that he not return to the Greeks’ camp.

He said that Chryseis would be taken to his palace in Mycenae until Thanatos took her in her old age.

Fearing the threats of such a powerful man, the priest of Apollo withdrew with his head down.

But he knew he had a powerful ally who would not abandon him in a complicated moment.

In front of the waves of the sea, Chryses began a fervent prayer addressed to the god Apollo, son of Zeus with Leto.

He asked the luminous god to pour his vengeance on the Achaeans for they had treated their priest who had the sacred insignia with arrogance, disrespecting the god himself.

At night, the god of the silver bow began to punish the Greeks. At first he attacked their animals, but quickly advanced against targeting men.

These men did not notice the terrible arrows shot by Apollo and fell slaughtered by a terrible plague.

For nine days the Greeks suffered from Apollo’s punishment. Warriors one after another died an unworthy death.

The funeral pyres were constantly burning and the Achaeans did not understand the reason for that heavy punishment imposed by the gods.

Calchas the seer, who had Apollo’s gifts, already knew the reason for the god’s immense fury.

But he feared revealing the information without having a guarantee of protection. So he turned to Achilles, asking him to protect him from Agamemnon’s fury, since he always punished excessively the weak who went against him.

Achilles promised that he would protect his life. At a meeting among the chief leaders of the Achaeans, Calchas revealed the whole truth.

He claimed that the plague was because Agamemnon had offended and refused to return the daughter of Apollo’s priest.

To reconcile with the god, the great leader should return his war prey and offer a hecatomb to the god Apollo.

Furious, Agamemnon vociferated against the seer, saying that he only prophesied misfortune and that he had never made an optimistic prediction.

He said he would return his slave Chryseis for he wished only good for his men.

But he did not think it fair that he be the only one to go without a prize.

He thought it fair to receive a reward of equal value. Achilles said that there were no other cities to be plundered on the Trojan coast, so it would be impossible to find such a prize.

But when Troy fell he would be rewarded. Agamemnon said that Achilles couldn’t fool him, making him wait while he himself enjoyed the beautiful Briseis.

Achilles said he would return to Greece along with his Myrmidons if Agamemnon disregarded the right to his prizes.

But the king of Mycenae did not bow to the threat. He said Achilles could leave for he would not be missed.

But before that he would go to Achilles’s tent to steal the beautiful Briseis. Achilles was consumed by fury, grabbed his sword and decided to advance against Agamemnon.

But someone held him by the hair. He turned even more wrathfully but found the image of the goddess Athena whom only he could see.

The goddess asked Achilles to calm his heart and not to worry, for his true prize would soon be repaid to him in glories.

Achilles put away his sword and told Atreides that he and the Greeks should not reckon with the son of Peleus and his Myrmidons.

He also said that the Greeks would cry out for Achilles, but he would not appear to deliver them from the deadly blade of the magnificent Hector.

Thus they all regretted that they had allowed such an injury. After heated exchanges of insults, Achilles left Agamemnon’s tent full of anger in his heart.

Odysseus decided to deliver Chryseis back to her father along with the animals that would be sacrificed in the magnificent hecatomb.

Agamemnon’s men went to Achilles’s tent and searched for the beautiful Briseis, who refused to leave.

In the evening, Achilles went to the seaside where he knelt and wept. Thetis, his divine mother, approached her son to hear those laments.

Achilles could not understand why he was so wronged. Even with such a short life, he wished the Greeks would pay for their injuries.

Thetis knelt before Zeus’s throne and begged him to help the Trojans during the war.

After all, he was indebted to the goddess for she had been responsible for saving him when the Olympian gods rebelled against Zeus and put him in chains.

Zeus promised that he would assist the Trojans until Achilles’s glory was repaired. Achilles retreated to meet with Agamemnon.

The division between Greeks was all the Trojans desired. A Trojan spy reported to Hector, head of the Trojan army, all the events in the camp of the Achaeans.

Weakened by the plague and already without their champions, the Achaeans were deteriorated. Hector seized the opportunity to try to push the Greeks back toward the sea.

The decisive battles of the Trojan War were about to take place. After the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, a great dissatisfaction spread across the Greek lines.

But the leaders of the Achaeans managed to prevent an even greater rift from dividing their warriors.

Led by Hector and Paris, the Trojan army entered the battlefield. They knew that Achilles and his Myrmidons had withdrawn from the conflict.

Without their best warriors, the Greek army already looked less threatening. Paris stepped forward and waving his weapons shouted and challenged the best Greek warriors to a duel.

Suddenly, through the Greek lines and with his mighty shout, Menelaus King of Sparta and disciple of Ares opened the way through the Achaean warriors, saying that he accepted the challenge.

Paris’s courage vanished at the sight of his rival. His knees trembled in terror. He retreated close to the Trojans, taking cover behind his powerful brother.

But Hector felt outraged at such cowardice. He furiously insulted his brother to arouse the pride and courage of Paris.

He, ashamed, apologized for his dishonorable attitude. Then Paris said that he would duel with Menelaus and that the winner of the dispute would have the right to keep Helen and all the stolen treasures.

Greeks and Trojans made a compromise sealed through sacrifices. It was agreed that Helen would stay with the winner of the duel.

High on the Trojan walls King Priam and his court were waiting for the duel that could change the fate of Troy.

The king asked Helen of Troy who were the great warriors he could see from up there.

She pointed out and introduced to the king great warriors such as Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax and Menelaus.

But she missed her twin brothers Castor and Pollux. Paris and Menelaus equipped themselves with shields and spears, ready to start the duel.

The spectators held their breaths because of the tension. The silence was total. The Trojan prince hurled his spear with all his might at his opponent.

But the disciple of Ares deflected the weapon with ease. Then the Spartan king made his attack.

Menelaus threw the spear offered by the god of war with the intention of killing the enemy.

Although Paris blocked the enemy attack with his shield, it could not contain the enemy’s strong weapon which pierced it and wounded the handsome Trojan prince.

Paris dropped his shield and picked up his sword, preparing for a hand-to-hand duel. Menelaus and Paris exchanged sword blows but the difference in strength between the Spartan king and the Trojan prince was remarkable.

The disciple of Ares struck a strong blow with his shield which threw Paris to the ground.

Menelaus wanted to end the life of the man who had stolen his wife. Therefore he raised his sword and used all his strength to strike the fatal blow.

But Agamemnon’s bronze sword broke when it struck his rival’s helmet. The king of Sparta cried out to the heavens demanding to know what crime he had committed to be so severely punished by the gods.

Grabbing his opponent’s helmet, Menelaus dragged the Trojan prince along the ground. The Achaeans were already celebrating the victory of their champion when the leather buckle that fastened the helmet to Paris’s head broke and the prince crawled away from his opponent.

When the Spartan king was ready to kill the adulterous prince, a cloud of dust covered Paris.

Through the mist Paris was visited by the goddess Aphrodite. She, using her powers, led him away from the fight.

Menelaus was furious at the disappearance of Paris, shouting for him to appear. Due to the Trojan’s escape he considered himself the winner of the duel and claimed his prize.

Agamemnon, the chief of the Greek expedition, demanded that the Trojans immediately hand over Helen so that there would be peace between the two peoples.

High on Olympus the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, was watching everything and did not want the war to end without Paris and all the Trojans being punished.

Zeus questioned the reason for such fury against one of his favorite cities. The goddess Hera responded by saying that he could destroy any of her favorite cities such as Argos, Mycenae or Sparta as long as he allowed Troy to be completely devastated.

Zeus allowed Athena to mingle among the Trojans to spread discord. Athena, who also hated Troy, whispered in the ear of Pandarus, an excellent Trojan archer, saying that the glory of whoever defeated Menelaus would be enormous.

Pandarus fired one of his arrows at the Spartan king, hitting him in the waist.

The arrow fired by the naive Pandarus ended the chance for peace between the two peoples.

The heroes of both sides ordered their warriors to attack the enemy. The war which had lasted for more than nine years entered its bloodiest phase.

Great heroes died and even gods shed their blood in front of the Trojan walls to the great satisfaction of the god of war.

After the Trojans spurned their agreement with the Greeks, a great battle began. Heroes from both sides fought bloody battles and even the gods participated in the dispute.

Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, was on the side of the Greeks.

Apollo encouraged the Trojans in the fight. Ares, the god of war, was followed by a sinister procession which carried all the evils of war.

Eris, the goddess of discord, strove to keep burning the flame of hatred that impeded the two peoples from finding peace.

Deimos and Phobos, the sons of Ares, filled men with fear and terror. Ajax, the gigantic Greek warrior, after slaughtering a renowned Trojan hero began to fight for the spoils.

The fallen enemy’s weapons and armor were true trophies. These spoils of war had not only economic value; the status of these trophies was priceless.

Among the great warriors fighting on the Greek lines was Diomedes, son of the renowned warrior Tydeus of Aetolia.

He looked like a true demon on the battlefield. All those who crossed his path were defeated.

The Trojans faced with the enormous carnage began to retreat, fearing Deimos and Phobos. But the god Apollo did not allow the men of Troy to be overcome by fear.

With the god’s support the warriors of Ilium returned to the fight. The formidable archer Pandarus wounded the great Achaean hero again shooting at Diomedes.

Pandarus’s arrow pierced Diomedes’s shoulder. The Trojan archer celebrated and boasted that he had brought down the unstoppable Greek warrior.

But Diomedes had not fallen as his aide extracted the arrow from his body. Athena instilled in the hero the vigor and daring of his father.

The goddess told him that he had nothing to fear for she would always be at his side regardless of the opponent.

Diomedes hurled his spear trying to hit Pandarus in the mouth who was mistakenly celebrating his victory over Tydeus’s son.

The blow was terrible. Pandarus fell to the ground and Diomedes walked over to him to pluck out his spoils.

But Aeneas did not allow his friend’s body to be plundered and tried to defend the corpse with a large boulder.

Diomedes attacked Aeneas. The heavy stone severely wounded the Dardanian prince’s leg who fell to the ground.

Diomedes was ready to make another famous victim but the goddess Aphrodite descended to earth to rescue her beloved son.

As she lifted Aeneas up the unthinkable happened: Diomedes threw one of his spears at the goddess wounding her hand.

The goddess wept as the divine ichor that is the blood of the gods gushed from her hand.

Aphrodite complained to Zeus but he told her that he did not want to get involved in the quarrels of men; that was the job of Ares and Athena, the warlike gods.

The god Apollo placed himself between Diomedes and Aeneas, but even that did not stop the Greek hero’s momentum.

Diomedes attacked Apollo who dodged the hero’s blows. But Diomedes’s insistence enraged Apollo. The shining god gave a loud cry and warned Diomedes how foolish it was for a mortal to try to equal a god.

The son of Tydeus walked away and Apollo led Aeneas away from the conflict. Beside Hector, Ares was leading a powerful counter-attack against the Greeks.

Hector’s men seemed not to fear death and fought with unprecedented audacity. Athena knew that the ruin of the Greeks would happen if Ares was not stopped and she could only count on Diomedes to stop the god of war.

Ares was Aphrodite’s lover. Upon seeing the man responsible for hurting her he felt an enormous rage.

He hurled his divine spear at the hero of Argos but Athena deflected the spear preventing Ares from killing her protege.

Diomedes hurled his spear at the god of war and guided by Athena the spear pierced his belly.

His cry of pain was equivalent to the cry of ten thousand men. Ares fled to Olympus and showed the wound to his father who told him to stop his whining.

The supreme god hated the fact that his son worshiped violence and blood; he was the deity Zeus liked least.

Without Ares on the battlefield the Trojan’s advantage was over and the Greek troops were able to contain Hector’s advance.

The great Trojan hero could not find his brother Paris anywhere so he returned to the city of Troy to confront his brother for his courage.

Diomedes was celebrated among the Achaeans as the man who faced and smote the gods.

His deeds became eternal. Hector hurriedly returned to the city of Troy in pursuit of his brother Paris who was nowhere to be found on the battlefield.

The chief of the Trojan hosts stormed into Paris’s palace and spotted him sulking in his room while Helen looked disgruntled at the way he was behaving.

Hector yelled at his brother telling him how shameful it was that he remained apathetic in his palace while his brothers and countrymen were shedding their blood in a war that he had ignited.

It was Paris’s duty to put on his armor and stand in the front line.

Helen lamented that she was the cause of such tragedy. If only she had been united with a brave man her fate and disgrace would have been more bearable.

While looking for his wife to say goodbye before heading back to combat Hector was mobbed by the wives of the warriors who fought by his side.

They anxiously asked him about the state of their husbands. The prince understood the dire situation that the wives were in but had no way of answering so many questions.

Finally Hector met with his wife Andromache who was joined by a servant girl bearing their son and heir Astyanax on her lap.

His wife emotionally embraced him saying that one day his courage would be the reason for his death.

She begged him not to expose himself to danger because he was all she had left, considering that Achilles had killed her parents and brothers.

But Hector said how much of a coward he would be if he sent his men to their deaths while he was completely safe.

He knew that Thanatos was always around but he didn’t fear death. His only fear was that after his fall his wife would be enslaved and the captor would display her as a trophy saying that she was Prince Hector’s wife.

Hector stretched out his arms to take his son but the child was frightened by his father’s imposing helmet.

The prince laughed, took off his headgear and said goodbye to his wife and son.

He was ready to take on the bravest of Greeks. Returning to the battlefield Hector took the lead of his men and hollered loudly for all the Greeks to hear that he was there to challenge any Greek warrior brave enough to face him in single combat.

Even though Menelaus was wounded he tried to come forward but was restrained by his brother Agamemnon.

He said that it was foolish to defy such a man in his condition and simply lust for death.

By now the Greek’s bravery seemed to wane and they looked at each other hoping that some countrymen would volunteer to confront the great Trojan hero.

But no one came forward for the duel. Old Nestor, King of Pylos who many decades ago had been a great warrior but whose strength and agility had been eaten away by time, said that if he were not so old Hector would have already found his adversary.

Nestor’s address roused the spirits of several Achaeans who volunteered for the duel. Among them were Odysseus, Agamemnon, Diomedes and the great Ajax.

There was a draw among the volunteers so that the gods could decide who would be the warrior to take on the Trojan champion.

The great Ajax was the one chosen by the gods to face the one that many believed could only be matched by the mighty Achilles.

But Ajax of Salamis was a true force of nature. No man among the Greeks could equal him in size and with his gigantic shield which no other man was able to carry he came face to face with Hector.

Hector’s spears were not able to pierce Ajax’s unbreakable shield. Meanwhile the spears thrown by the giant pierced Hector’s shield and almost took his life.

The two heroes struggled with tremendous bravado until the sun dropped behind the mountains preventing any indication of who was winning.

The fight was stopped by the referees of both sides and a draw was declared.

Hector and Ajax greeted and praised each other for their performance. They traded gifts. They had started the fight as enemies but eventually finished as great friends.

An armistice was enacted and hostilities between Greeks and Trojans ceased for a time. The bodies of the fallen fighters were collected by their colleagues and families whereupon they could receive the rightful funerary honors.

While Greeks and Trojans were clashing on the battlefield a major tussle between the gods was about to take place on Mount Olympus.

Hera, Athena and Poseidon were on the side of the Achaeans while Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo were helping the Trojans.

This feud was about to lead to a civil war in the abode of the gods.

Zeus called for an end to the turmoil that had erupted and struck a deafening thunderclap.

The supreme god decreed that he would not allow any other Olympian deity to directly interfere in the conflict until further notice.

Should any of them disobey his command he would personally throw them into Tartarus. If they wished to test his power Zeus said they could stretch a chain connecting the earth to the heavens.

Every other god together could measure forces with him by pulling from one end of the chain.

High in the heavens he would raise all the gods and even the earth and the sea as evidence of his omnipotence.

Zeus went to Mount Ida from where he would set the course of the upcoming war events by himself.

Fate had indicated that it was time for the Trojans to overpower the Greeks. Even though they were outnumbered they were fighting for their families and their land.

Favored by Zeus, Hector and his men pushed forward against the Greek hosts who could not withstand the pressure.

The Achaeans soon began to give way and retreated to their camp. All the while they were pursued by the Trojans who followed them like rabid dogs.

Paris fired a sharp arrow at the horse pulling old Nestor’s chariot who fell to the ground.

Although old, the King of Pylos still kept the same bravery of his youthful days.

He defended himself against the attackers with his sword but Hector was drawing near with his fearsome spear which had already brought down more than a hundred Greeks.

But the gods appeared to be watching over old Nestor and he was eventually rescued by Diomedes.

Diomedes wished to achieve glory by claiming Hector’s life but a mighty thunderclap revealed that this was not Zeus’s will.

The old warrior succeeded in dissuading Diomedes from confronting the Trojan champion. The Trojans proceeded to advance to the moat guarding the Greeks’ camp.

Hector even said that he would have burned the Greek ships had it not been for the arrival of Nyx, the goddess of the night who blanketed the earth with her black cloak.

In Agamemnon’s tent the Greek leaders seemed supremely worried at the overwhelming victory the Trojans had achieved that day.

The Achaeans’ morale was at an all-time low. Nestor reminded Agamemnon that the Greek’s luck turned when the Achaean supreme chieftain fell out with Achilles.

The Mycenaean king agreed that it was a mistake and he was now willing to rectify it.

Achilles would be offered great treasures, slaves and even the beautiful Briseis would be returned to him if he agreed to fight again.

Odysseus and Ajax would present Achilles with Agamemnon’s offer of reconciliation which was indeed quite generous.

But Achilles was undeterred. He said he would already have left if Poseidon would grant him safe passage.

He had worked hard to get his spoils only to be later robbed by Agamemnon and so he would not be fooled again by that man.

During the night Odysseus and Diomedes set out to spy on the Trojans and find out what they were up to.

That’s when they came across a man who was surely a Trojan spy aiming for an equivalent purpose to theirs.

The Greek heroes forced the bloke to surrender and threatened him with death if he did not reveal some information of value to the Greeks.

He said his name was Dolon who owned valuable information that he would trade for his life.

The Trojan said that King Rhesus of Thrace and his men were camped nearby and that they had with them their wonderful white horses reputed to be the finest in the world.

Diomedes decided not to risk it and did not spare the spy’s life. Diomedes and Odysseus sneaked into the Thracian nobleman’s camp.

The Ithacan king made his way to the horses while Diomedes provided him with cover.

Diomedes assaulted the watchmen from behind but he was not silent enough. A soldier woke up and sounded the alarm but his cry would be muffled by Diomedes’s knife.

The Thracian warriors woke up startled, unable to understand what was going on. All the while Diomedes ran among them, taking their lives like a ghost at Thanatos’s behest.

Diomedes’s last casualty was King Rhesus. He and 12 of his brave warriors fell that night at the hands of Tydeus’s son.

Meanwhile Odysseus had succeeded in stealing the horses and was calling for Diomedes to flee before reinforcements arrived.

They reached the Greek camp along with goddess Aurora which heralded the birth of a new day.

The two heroes were cheered by the Greek fighters for stealing Rhesus’s mighty steeds and that lifted the Achaeans’ morale.

Nearby however Hector was giving a fiery speech to his men. He said that they would invade the Greek base that day and set fire to their ships.

The fight for the retaking of the Ilium beaches was just beginning. Hector sensed that the gods were on his side.

He was hell-bent on invading the Achaeans’ camp and burning their ships, leading the attack on the Greek fortifications from the forefront.

But Agamemnon would not allow the Trojans to storm the camp. Together with Diomedes and Odysseus he would protect the camp gates.

Agamemnon fought ferociously in front of his men until he managed to contain the impetus of the Trojan advance.

Hector wanted to strike at the great Greek king but was halted by the hand of the goddess Iris who brought him a message directly from Zeus.

She informed him that he should wait until Agamemnon was wounded. This was the sign the gods would send him to exert full pressure on the Greeks.

Without Hector’s resistance Agamemnon seemed undefeatable. He went as far as to take the armor of a noble Trojan hero who perished at the hands of the great basileus.

But Agamemnon would eventually be wounded in the arm by the spear of a Trojan who sought to avenge his wiped out relative.

Hector ordered his men to move forward while the king of Mycenae was helped to retreat from the battlefield.

Diomedes was now leading the Greeks. Under his powerful commanding voice the Greeks were trying to resist but the son of Tydeus had no idea that he was in the sights of Paris’s bow.

Paris’s arrow pierced Diomedes’s foot, cutting him through and pinning him to the ground. Albeit wounded he insulted Paris, calling him a coward and a wife stealer and saying that he lacked the courage to confront a real man face to face.

For this reason he hid behind his brother and fought at a distance with his bow.

Odysseus ordered two of his men to help carry Diomedes back to camp but now he was the only great hero left on the Greek front line.

Odysseus fought bravely but was harassed by several Trojan warriors. At this point he was unsure whether to continue fighting and die a glorious death or flee to the camp.

But a warrior named Socus freed Odysseus from his dilemma by piercing the hero with a spear.

A wounded Odysseus fell to his knees as Socus came forward celebrating that he had struck down one of the bravest Greek warriors.

But when he stepped up to strike the coup de grace Odysseus stabbed him in the throat with his sword.

The Trojans were bewildered to witness such a scene and wondered how such a thing was possible.

However thanks to Athena who slightly diverted Socus’s strike, the Trojan’s spear only pierced the edge about Odysseus’s armor.

This, since it had belonged to his father Laertes, was a little loose on Odysseus’s body so he barely escaped with a bruise on his ribs.

Ajax with his tower shield provided cover so that Odysseus could retreat into the fortification.

The Trojan army finally broke down the gates of the wooden wall which had been raised to defend the ships and the Greek camp.

Hector felt that victory was within his grasp. Only a bit more pressure on the Greeks would cause their army to crumble.

Agamemnon, Odysseus and Diomedes groggily retreated to the glorious tent of King Mycenae. There they met with the other Greek chiefs to quickly decide on measures to contain the Trojan advance.

Paris and Aeneas burned the Greek ships that had already been conquered. The sons of Ares, Deimos and Phobos stood back as dread and despair spread through the Greek’s hearts.

The Trojans had swarmed into the Greek camp and the fight for the ships had begun.

Supported by Zeus the warriors of Hector pursued the decisive victory that would rid Troy of its enemies.

Led by Ajax and unaware of the will of the supreme god the Greek coalition warriors were fighting for their lives like a beast hunted by its predator.

All the while the great Greek leaders who had been wounded the day before were debating their options.

Surrender would surely mean a death sentence. Agamemnon broached the possibility of pushing the ships back into the sea and returning to Greece.

An angry Odysseus rebuked the great leader saying that with such an attitude he was not worthy of commanding the alliance.

From the heights of Olympus Hera, Athena and Poseidon watched the despair of their protege without being capable of doing anything.

Zeus had barred them from helping them directly. The Olympian queen was convinced that something had to be done even if it went against her husband’s will.

The goddess knew she would not succeed in changing her husband’s will through reason. Instead she decided to act using the ways of Eros and Aphrodite.

Wearing her most beautiful robes and pouring over her body the finest perfumes, she knew she needed another artifact: the belt of Aphrodite which made the goddess of love irresistible to any man or god.

The queen got Aphrodite to lend her her belt without revealing the intent behind it.

After all, the goddess of love was a Trojan ally. Hera went to Mount Ida from where her husband commanded war.

He was impressed to see how exquisite and seductive his wife was. While the god was busy Hypnos, the god of sleep in league with the goddess, used his powers to make the god slumber.

Without the supreme god’s hindrance the gods allied to the Greeks were free to provide aid to their proteges.

With Zeus now off the fight Poseidon sided with the Greeks and had inspired them with uncanny bravery that stopped the Trojan advance.

The Achaeans struggled to defend their ships as if these were their true homes. Hector threw his spear at Ajax the Great, hoping to knock out the Greek’s resistance.

But as if deflected by the gods Hector’s spear skimmed across Ajax’s chest without doing him any damage.

But Ajax’s counter-attack would prove terrible for Hector. The gigantic Greek warrior threw a heavy stone at the Trojan hero.

Hector was struck violently on the leg, leading the Trojan prince to the ground. With the help of his companions Hector was taken out of the forefront.

Without his great hero to lead them the pressure of the Trojan attack finally began to ease.

It was at this point that Zeus, who was peacefully sleeping on Hera’s lap, awoke.

He was suddenly overcome with anger realizing what had happened on the battlefield and that it was his wife’s doing.

Zeus threatened and scolded her. He asked her if the goddess’s wish was again to be hung in the heavens just like when she and the other gods had rioted against him.

But since she was still using Aphrodite’s belt Zeus’s anger found no room in his heart.

Zeus ordered Apollo to heal the leg of the Trojan champion. In the meantime Hector could return to the command of his men and fulfill the plan laid out by Zeus.

The Greeks shuddered as they heard Hector’s mighty war cry which sounded more like a lion’s roar.

The enemies had spotted him fall and now he was returning as if unscathed from the world of the dead.

While the Greeks ceded land to their enemies Patroclus in Achilles’s tent begged the greatest hero among the Greeks to put aside all the humiliations he had suffered and help his decimated compatriots.

If that was his men’s wish, Achilles said, then Patroclus could put on his armor and lead his valiant Myrmidons against the Trojans.

While Patroclus was putting on Achilles’s armor his friend gave him one last piece of advice.

Achilles told Patroclus to drive the Trojans out of the Greek camp but not to pursue his enemies if they ran away.

However his main advice was that his beloved comrade should not try to engage Hector in battle.

The young Patroclus did not know it but he was gearing up to change the course of the war for good.

The Greeks were struggling frantically to protect their ships and prevent the Trojans from setting them on fire.

The Trojans sensed that the long-awaited victory was within their grasp, but they had no idea that their luck was about to change.

The sound of the wheels of Achilles’s chariot, pulled by the two divine horses Xanthus and Balius, made the Trojans’ hearts tremble.

Patroclus, wearing Achilles’s armor, headed the mighty Myrmidons off to fight their enemies. Frightened and eager to save their own lives, the Trojans on the forefront fled in confusion.

Meanwhile, they were pursued and had their flanks battered by the Greek spears. From the top of Achilles’s chariot, Patroclus took out Trojans by the dozens with accurate stabs from his spears.

But Sarpedon was a Trojan ally as well as king of Lycia and son of Zeus.

He was bent on stopping the Achaeans’ counter-attack. Patroclus leaped from the divine chariot and dashed against the son of Zeus.

Sarpedon was strong and experienced, but his age had eroded his endurance. He was not up to the task of fighting a warrior as good as Patroclus, who had Achilles as his training opponent for most of his life.

From above, Zeus looked at his beloved son in peril of his life and thought of intervening, but was scolded by the other gods.

It would be disgraceful for the gods to freely intervene in the destiny of men to save the life of one of their descendants just to avoid the pain of loss.

Zeus resigned himself to let Sarpedon’s fate be fulfilled. Patroclus easily dodged the thrusts of the King Lycian’s spear, just standing by to deliver the fatal blow.

The Greeks rejoiced as they stripped Sarpedon’s body of its glorious armor and weapons. However, sent by Zeus, both Thanatos and Hypnos carried the dead king’s body back to Lycia, preventing the corpse of Zeus’s son from being defiled.

Thus he could have a dignified funeral in his homeland. Patroclus’s heart had started to be seized by pride, which made him believe that he could lead the capture of Troy that day, completely forgetting Achilles’s warning not to pursue the Trojans who fled behind the walls.

On the very front of the Trojan walls stood Hector, but Patroclus did not look daunted by the presence of such a mighty hero.

But Patroclus’s shining moments were over. Zeus was sending Apollo to weaken the man who had killed his beloved son.

Patroclus’s spear broke and the straps that tied Achilles’s armor to his body snapped, rendering the hero defenseless.

That’s when a Trojan named Euphorbus struck Patroclus in his flank, attacking him with his spear.

Hector drove his spear through the body of Achilles’s cherished friend. With Patroclus dying at his feet, Hector called him a fool to think he would take Troy that day, saying that the Trojan vultures would feast on his corpse.

Patroclus used his remaining strength to say that Hector was bragging about a victory that was not his.

After all, the greatest blow he suffered was dealt by Zeus and Apollo; then it would be Euphorbus’s and only then would come the one from the Trojan prince.

The Greek hero also stated that by killing him he lured to himself the shadow of death that now surrounded Hector because Achilles’s revenge would fall heavily on the Trojan.

Hector would carry Achilles’s armor back to Troy as a trophy and place it on an altar in honor of the gods.

Meanwhile, Trojans and Greeks fought over the body of Patroclus. With the arrival of the mighty Ajax, the Greeks succeeded in retrieving Patroclus’s body and bringing it back to the camp.

The news of Patroclus’s death changed the course of the war. Achilles was in his tent, utterly oblivious to what was happening during the battles outside.

Antilochus, the son of old Nestor, arrived with some grim news. The messenger had the message of Patroclus’s death, and the chest of Peleus’s son was overwhelmed with pain.

Achilles was suffering from the thought that his best friend had not listened to his advice not to stand up to Hector.

Patroclus’s negligence had cost him his life. To make matters worse, Hector had taken Achilles’s magnificent armor for himself.

The weeping hero went to the beach and his cries of excruciating pain were heard by his mother, who came up from the water to find out what was happening.

Achilles told her about the death of his beloved friend and the loss of his armor.

He could never get his revenge on Hector disarmed. But Thetis reassured her son and told him that she would return the next day with armor even more splendid than before.

With it, he would be able to accomplish his destiny. Thetis went to Olympus where she found Hephaestus working in his divine forges.

She asked the craftsman deity to help her beloved son by making him new armor.

Hephaestus owed a great debt of gratitude to Thetis; she had sheltered him when he was thrown off of Olympus.

He assured her that he would make Achilles the most magnificent armor ever seen by human eyes.

Ajax returned to the Greek camp carrying the body of Patroclus, while his brothers in arms fended off the Trojan attacks that came at them like hungry hyenas.

Then, albeit disarmed, Achilles emerged and let out a mighty roar of war that frightened all the Trojan warriors.

The body of the late warrior was at last safe. The goddess Hera prompted the sun god Helios to dive into the ocean early, prematurely putting an end to another battle day.

She knew that Achilles without armor would not be able to lead the Greeks. The Trojans, camping outside the Trojan walls, discussed during the night the following actions to be taken.

One Trojan nobleman urged his men to retreat inside the city, as Achilles’s fury would be relentless.

But Hector and other nobles refused to hide behind the walls as the gods were on their side.

Once in the Greek camp, the nobles spent the night mourning the body of the bravest and wildest hero who tried to take the city in a single day.

Achilles ordered Patroclus’s body to be preserved. He would only receive the funeral rights after the hero brought the body of Hector the murderer.

In honor of the fallen, the next morning Thetis stood in front of Achilles’s tent wearing the new armor and shield made by the most skillful of the gods.

Achilles donned his new armor and its golden color shone almost as brightly as the sun.

No man had ever worn such magnificent armor. Pelides requested an assembly of the Greek nobles, as he had an important pronouncement to make.

Standing in front of all noblemen, Achilles reconciled with Agamemnon and regretted that everything had not been settled on the very first day.

Agamemnon apologized to the hero for having offended him so deeply, but everything he did was due to the will of the gods and no man would oppose it.

Agamemnon returned all of Achilles’s stolen treasures, including the slave Briseis that Peleus’s son held so dear.

When she saw Patroclus’s body, she wept over it as he had always been very kind to her.

Achilles was now leading the Greek army on an assault to avenge Patroclus’s death. The Greeks marched confidently with him as they had the best warrior in the world at their side.

Achilles and his men fought their opponents. All those who dared to counter Pelides’s rage met Charon the ferryman.

Achilles fought with unfathomable anger and took the lives of the Trojans and their allies by the dozen.

The gods watched Achilles’s anger and Zeus sensed that at that pace the hero would bring the war to an end that very day.

And so he released the gods to act upon the conflict in whatever way best suited them.

Hera, Athena, and Poseidon sided with the Greeks, while Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite sided with the Trojans.

With the gods on the battlefield, the war returned to the path laid out by the Moirae, the ladies of fate.

Ares joined forces against Athena, as he was still angry with the goddess for having helped the hero Diomedes wound him.

The powerful goddess, employing her sheer strength, threw her brother to the ground and taunted him for thinking he could measure up to Zeus’s favorite daughter.

Aphrodite stood between Athena and Ares to protect her lover, but Athena landed a powerful punch to the chest of the goddess of love.

She fell at Ares’s side and Athena told them that it was the deserved consequence for those who supported the hateful Trojans.

Near there, Poseidon teased Apollo to fight, but heard the light god’s retort saying it was not worthy for two deities of their level to fight each other over mere mortals.

Artemis, who sided with the Trojans, taunted her brother for refusing to fight his uncle and said that his bow and arrows were useless.

Hera snatched the bow from Artemis’s hands and struck her with her own weapon. She told her that a child like her was not supposed to be there and that she had to go play with her pets in the forest.

Artemis walked to her powerful father and while crying on his lap, he asked her who had hurt her.

The hunting goddess replied that Hera was responsible and that his wife was determined to bring dissension between the gods and men and seemed to be pleased with it.

Despite the gods’ interference, Achilles pushed on relentlessly and seemed determined to bring back Hector’s head even if he had to tear down the Trojan gates with his bare hands and drag the Trojan prince by the hair.

Achilles was marching relentlessly towards the city of Troy while many Trojans fled in desperation.

But one man did not fear the dreadful son of Thetis: the Dardanian prince Aeneas.

Achilles called the prince a fool for believing that if he defeated the champion of the Achaeans, he would only become king of the Trojans after Priam’s death as an ancient prophecy said.

He added that by facing him he would only advance his meeting with Charon the boatman.

Aeneas retorted by saying that he was not there to hurl insults; if he wanted to advance towards Troy, he would have to run over him.

The two noble heroes proceeded to duel. Aeneas gave his all in attacking and dodging the attacks of Peleus’s son.

On the other hand, Achilles fought provocatively, almost carelessly, before the warriors who were witnessing the combat.

Poseidon watched the contest between the heroes from a distance. Even though he hated the Trojans, he knew that the gods did not want Aeneas to fall before Achilles.

When he felt that the prince was greatly handicapped, he realized that he would have to act.

Aeneas was weak and Achilles was ready to give the final blow. But Poseidon brought a cloud that obstructed Achilles’s vision.

The god would take Aeneas to safety, away from his enemy’s jaws. When the cloud dissipated, the Dardanian hero was no longer there.

Achilles realized that Aeneas was indeed beloved by the gods. In the vicinity, the Myrmidons were facing the Trojan lines and taking the lives of many Trojans as revenge for Patroclus’s death.

Achilles and his Myrmidons took several prisoners; many were noble children of the most prestigious Trojan families.

However, this time Achilles would not trade them for a generous ransom; their lives would be offered to the gods as a sacrifice during Patroclus’s funeral.

The war was at one of its most heated moments. Achilles was killing more enemy warriors on the banks of the river Scamander than ever before.

That day, the blood of the fallen dribbled into the river, reddening its waters. Achilles invaded the river waters to chase the Trojans who were trying to escape.

But many of those who escaped from the hero’s terrible spear met an even worse fate: drowning in the river due to their armor’s weight.

But Scamander, the river deity that gave the river its name, was enraged at Achilles for polluting his waters and would not let that insult go unpunished.

The enraged river god made a massive water wall appear and threw it at Achilles.

Achilles was battered by the mighty water whirlwind spawned by Scamander. His glorious armor, crafted by the gods, was worthless without air in his lungs.

But Hera would not allow Achilles to die and turned to her son Hephaestus for help.

The god of the forges brought forth a mighty fire that dried up the river and Achilles was able to escape from the grip of death.

After catching his breath, Achilles would drive to the Trojan gates to challenge Hector in an attempt to avenge the death of his dear friend.

On the battlefield, for almost a decade, men and gods were eagerly awaiting the encounter of the two greatest warriors of the Trojan War.

Achilles, the Greek champion, was overwhelmed by the will and wish to avenge the death of his beloved friend Patroclus, while Hector, the bravest of all the Trojans, was battling to defend his homeland, his people, and his family.

While advancing, Achilles’s eyes burned with the hatred he felt for his opponent. Albeit invisible to human eyes, Phobos, the personification of fear, stood next to him.

Hector’s spirit was filled with dread, and his instinct for survival made the warrior flee.

Three paintings in a row from the walls of Troy, King Priam, his wife Hecuba, and their princes worriedly watched Hector being pursued by Achilles who, like a hungry predator, was chasing his prey.

Hector avoided the arrows and javelins thrown by the warriors following Achilles. Peleus’s son yelled, ordering his men to stop attacking the Trojan prince as he would be responsible for sending Hector’s spirit straight to Hades.

Zeus commanded his golden scales to be brought out because the time had come to decide Hector’s fate.

His fate was weighed and Achilles’s platter rose toward glory while Hector’s platter dipped down toward Hades.

Hector’s fate had been sealed by the gods. Zeus directed Athena to come down to earth and enforce the fate set out for the warriors by the Moirae.

Athena whispered in Achilles’s ear for him to stop pursuing his enemy, that she would encourage him to fight.

Hector then listened to his brother Deiphobus’s call and was delighted to have his brother by his side in a time of need.

The prince found his courage again and was now ready to at last face the Achaean champion.

Hector attempted to reach an agreement with Achilles, whereby the corpse of the warrior who fell after the duel would be given back to his friends to receive the proper funeral rights and tributes.

But Achilles countered, saying that there was no such thing as an agreement between lions and men and that it was the will of the gods to grant him victory; he would toss the prince’s body to be gobbled up by the hungry dogs.

The two greatest warriors met in front of Troy’s mighty gates while the Trojans, watching from the top of the walls, held their breath.

This clash could change the war’s outcome. Hector launched his spear at Pelides, but he easily dodged it, using the divine armor bestowed by Hephaestus.

The Trojan prince beckoned his brother to hand him his spear, but Deiphobus was absent.

Hector realized he had been deceived by the gods and that Athena had disguised herself as his brother to motivate him.

Though he knew that the gods were not with him this time, Hector would not let himself be taken over by fear.

He pulled out his sword and charged forward to meet his fate. The king and queen on the walls feared for the life of their beloved son and worried about their kingdom’s fate should Hector fall.

The prince was bravely contending against the world’s most powerful warrior. The heroes charged each other in a fight that seemed like a deadly ballet.

Within seconds of fighting, Achilles had understood how Hector behaved in combat. No enemy’s blows could reach him, and now he only expected the prince to reveal a vulnerable point for the fight to be decided.

Hector bravely stepped forward against Peleus’s son. With one perfect blow, Achilles fatally clipped Hector’s neck.

The great duel was set. Groans of pain and despair took over the Trojan walls and everyone mourned the death of the noblest of all Trojans.

Princess Andromache, Hector’s wife, collapsed upon knowing that her husband had died and that little Astyanax was now an orphan.

With the spear still stuck in his neck, Hector begged Achilles to deliver his body to his parents in exchange for a great ransom and gold.

But the ruthless Achilles replied that he would not; his body was meant to be eaten by the dogs and vultures that roamed the Greek camp.

In his last breath, Hector cursed Achilles and threatened that the god Apollo would be in charge of avenging him.

Achilles, however, said that he did not fear his meeting with Thanatos. He had already accomplished his destiny by killing the best Trojan of them all, and his name would now be hailed for centuries to come.

Hector’s spirit went to Hades, but his body would still suffer much humiliation. Achilles bound the prince’s ankles with a rope and fastened the rope to his chariot.

Achilles dragged Hector’s body with his chariot through the entire city of Troy, revealing to every citizen of the city that their champion was now dead and along with the prince, all hopes for Troy.

On witnessing his son’s body being dragged in front of the walls, Priam tried to throw himself from the top to take his own life, but was halted by his sons.

Meanwhile, Hecuba the queen was shrieking and tearing her hair out. Achilles dragged Hector’s body towards the Greek camp and was greeted by the Greek warriors wherever he went, saluting his victory.

Having exacted his revenge, Achilles was at last ready to provide his faithful friend Patroclus with a proper burial.

Achilles triumphantly returned to the Greek camp, carrying with him the body of the Trojan warrior who inhabited the nightmares of nearly all the Achaean warriors, afraid that they would encounter Hector on the battlefield.

Having fulfilled his promise, Achilles sent orders to initiate the funeral proceedings for Patroclus. Animal sacrifices were started, and Hector’s body was ordered to be thrown to the ground and left at the mercy of dogs.

During his sleep, Achilles was visited by Patroclus’s spirit, who cried out for his friend to quickly perform the funeral rights as he was being barred from entering the underworld.

Achilles apologized to his fellow man and promised him that he would speed up the ritual.

Patroclus reminded Achilles of his fate in war. He reminded him to make room next to his friend’s grave so that he could be buried there; this way they could rest together as they had been together since childhood.

Twelve Trojan prisoners were slain with sword blows at Achilles’s command, because the Pelides’s desire for revenge was immense.

At last, Achilles gifted his locks as a tribute to his dead friend. Achilles had promised his father to give the locks to the river god of his homeland when he returned.

He asked the god for forgiveness as he was not meant to return and fulfill his offering.

The great pyre was lit and Achilles finally made good on his promise. Patroclus’s spirit entered the realm of Hades and found rest in the Elysian Fields.

At night, the goddess Aphrodite spread an ointment of ambrosia on Hector’s corpse, so his corpse did not decompose even when exposed to the elements.

She also kept a watchful eye over the body to scare off the dogs that wanted to feast on the corpse.

Achilles continued to be anxious. He tied Hector’s body to his chariot again, dragging his tormentor’s corpse around Patroclus’s pyre several times.

Achilles in his tent was visited by Thetis, his divine mother. Upon seeing her son’s agitation, she advised him to return Hector’s body to his people.

The gods were unhappy with the way that Peleus’s son had treated the body of such an honorable warrior.

Achilles said that if that was the gods’ will, he would allow the body to be returned.

Iris, the divine messenger, went to Priam with the message that the king had to go to Achilles’s tent to retrieve the body of his beloved son.

He had no need to worry, for he would be under the gods’ protection. The sons of Priam attempted to dissuade him from leaving; if he were captured by the Achaeans, Troy would suffer greatly.

However, the king said that all his beloved sons were dead and he had only the worst of them left; he would do everything to bring back the body of his best son.

Priam took a donkey-drawn cart to the Greeks’ camp, unsure of how he would be received.

Along the way, the king encountered a man who said he would help him enter the Achaeans’ camp.

Priam knew that this stranger could only be an envoy from the gods, as they arrived at the Greek camp gates.

The mysterious man commanded that the gates be opened and was immediately attended to. Priam sensed that a god was at his side, and he was right: at Zeus’s order, Hermes would escort the king to assure his safety.

Achilles was taken aback when he saw a noble elder walking into his tent. In a sign of great humility, Priam clasped the knees of the man who had taken the lives of almost all of his sons.

He told Achilles to remember Peleus, his old father, who was probably as old as Priam, and how much he hoped for his son’s return or at least his body.

He said that he had lost more than 50 sons, but he could not do without the body of the only one who was truly worthy of defending the city.

For this reason, he carried a generous ransom with him. Touched by the king’s speech, Achilles brought him to his feet.

He said that great would be Priam’s suffering so as to have the courage to stand face to face with the most terrible of Greeks, and that an iron heart would be beating in his chest.

Achilles replied that he would return Hector’s body to his father; he had promised his divine mother that he would do so.

With great relief after such stress, the king finally relaxed; he ate and rested in Pelides’s tent.

He had not eaten or slept since his son’s death. Before sunrise, Priam and his divine escort departed, carrying the body of the glorious hero Hector, before Agamemnon found out that the Trojan king was in his camp.

Achilles apologized to Patroclus’s spirit for returning Hector’s body, saying that his part of the ransom would be laid at his tomb.

Priam headed toward Troy with the promise of an 11-day ceasefire to ensure that all preparations were made for the funeral of the bravest Trojan.

The Trojans rejoiced and wept, watching the king carrying the Trojan prince’s body. Thanks to Aphrodite’s care, Hector’s corpse was perfectly preserved and he appeared to be sleeping serenely.

Andromache, the hero’s wife, grabbed her dead husband’s head and regretted that his departure had left behind a widow and a helpless son, who would certainly be persecuted by the Greeks.

They would not allow poor Astyanax to grow up and seek revenge. On the 11th day of the truce, Hector’s enormous funeral pyre was lit in the center of Troy.

All the city’s inhabitants grieved with the departure to Hades of the only man capable of defending Troy against the Greeks.

One of the Trojan War’s saddest chapters had ended. Even without its champion, the city would continue to fight until its last gasp.

The Trojan War had already killed countless renowned warriors, but no loss had the impact of the fall of the Trojan prince Hector.

Without the protection of their leader, the morale of the Trojan people was shattered. The armistice proposed by Achilles, which allowed Hector’s funeral to take place, was coming to an end.

Agamemnon took his men to the front of the Trojan walls and tried to challenge his opponents to a fight in the open field.

But the Trojans didn’t have the courage to come out from behind the mighty walls built by the gods.

They saw Thanatos’s terrible shadow at every corner, a sign that the ruin of the city was about to happen.

King Priam regretted that he had lost so many sons in the war, but his grief was even greater that only his most cowardly sons had survived: Paris and Deiphobus.

In their hands would be the future of Troy, since the king did not want to give the city’s command to the brave Aeneas.

After all, there was a prophecy where he would be the great upholder of Trojan tradition, and the king had no wish to give that honor to Anchises’s son.

But as the goddess Aurora appeared, bringing with her the rising of a new day, a fresh hope appeared on the horizon.

They were the brave and untamed Amazons, tremendous warriors, daughters of Ares, who fought on wild horses.

Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, was beautiful and her armor reflected the sun’s rays.

She even looked like the daughter of the goddess Aurora. The emergence of the dreadful warriors who feared no man filled the Trojan warriors’ hearts with courage.

Led by Ares’s daughters, the Trojans came out from behind the walls to once again face the Greek army.

The Amazons advanced against the Greek lines, who were stunned to see an army of women mounted on horses.

Their attack was frightening, seeming to be inspired by Ares, their father and bellicose god.

The Greeks began to flee to ships, pursued by Queen Penthesilea, who killed dozens of warriors with her glorious axe offered by the god of war.

Achilles and Ajax were surprised by the Greeks’ disorderly flight. They shouted for the men to re-establish the defensive lines, for Achilles and Ajax were now in their army’s forefront.

Encouraged by the two great heroes, the Greeks returned to the fight and a great bloodbath began.

Achilles, Trojans, and Amazons spilled blood on Trojan soil in one of the most violent battles of the war.

Achilles again began to turn the battle in favor of the Greeks, using Peleus’s fabulous spear.

But Penthesilea feared no man, not even the fearsome son of Thetis frightened the queen of the Amazons.

Mounted on her horse, she hurled a spear at the hero. Achilles blocked the attack and ordered his war chariot to be brought to him.

The objective was to hunt down the brave Amazon. Pulled by the divine horses Balius and Xanthus, Achilles pursued the warrior queen who continued to hurl projectiles at him.

Penthesilea turned around and raised her axe. Achilles was impressed by the courage of the fearless warrior, who looked more like Athena’s incarnation.

The queen of the Amazons fearlessly charged forward against the champion of the gods for the final showdown.

Achilles pierced the horse’s body and struck the Amazon’s belly in a blow delivered by his mighty spear.

The queen and her horse fell mortally wounded. Achilles approached to examine Penthesilea’s body. He could not believe that a woman would have the courage to challenge him, when even the mighty Hector trembled in his presence.

He removed the queen’s helmet and was surprised. Not only was she really a woman, but she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

Achilles was touched by the queen’s courage, and so he did not strip her of her weapons and armor as was his custom.

Achilles returned Penthesilea’s body to her subjects so that they could arrange a funeral to honor the woman’s greatness.

She had been braver than most of the great men who fought in the war.

After defeating the fearless Amazon warriors, the Greeks began preparations for the assault on the Trojan walls.

Many tall ladders began to be manufactured for the warriors to reach the top of the walls.

In Troy, the high-ranking nobility of Ilium were desperate. Some said that Helen of Troy should be handed over to the Greeks so that their fury could be controlled, avoiding a terrible fate for the city of Troy.

But Paris found all this inconceivable. He said that returning Helen would in no way diminish the Greek warriors’ bloodlust.

At that moment, the Ethiopian Prince Memnon appeared, leading his army of African warriors. He had skin as dark as ebony.

He was strong as a bull, so strong that he could only be compared to Achilles.

And just like the son of fetus, Memnon also had divine blood: he was the son of the goddess Aurora with Tithonus, brother of King Priam of Troy.

And like the Greek, he also had divine armor made by the god of forges.

Memnon led his men in a bloody battle against the Greeks. The dark prince claimed dozens of Greek lives.

He seemed unstoppable, and the Greeks were taken aback, for they did not think they would ever again face an enemy as strong as Hector.

Achilles wanted to face him, but was stopped by his divine mother. She warned him that this enemy could kill him in the next 24 hours.

Therefore, Memnon fought on without finding any opponent to match him. On his chariot, the old king Nestor of Pylos commanded the Greek lines, trying to prevent them from being overthrown by the pressure of the African army.

The Ethiopian prince realized that if he eliminated the Greek commander, the opponents would be left leaderless and the Africans would be victorious.

Memnon advanced against Nestor, but his son Antilochus placed himself between the warrior and his old father to protect him.

The African prince pierced the chest of Nestor’s brave son with his spear. The old king tried to push Memnon away from his son’s body, preventing him from plundering the spoils.

The Ethiopian said that he would not have attacked the old king due to the heat of the battle; he had only charged at him because he did not realize that he was an elder.

Antilochus, like Patroclus, was very dear to Achilles. Therefore, the great Greek warrior forgot his mother’s advice and tried to take revenge by fighting Memnon.

The two great warriors began their duel, and the Ethiopian prince proved to be a formidable opponent.

He was strong and skilled. Achilles felt that this warrior seemed to equal him in almost everything.

That fighter might be destined to kill him, just as it had been prophesied since his childhood.

Achilles used his spear to strike the African prince in the shoulder, but the blow only made Memnon fight with even more devotion.

Unlike any other opponent, Thetis and Aurora watched the duel between their sons with distress.

They knew that only one would come out of the fight alive. Both asked Zeus to favor their respective sons, but he said that the fate of each warrior was already determined by the Moirae; not even he could go against the ladies of Destiny.

Memnon wounded Achilles’s hand with his spear, and the Greeks were shocked to see the divine champion bleeding so badly.

The goddess of dawn stood behind her son and revealed Achilles’s secret weakness: his heels.

Memnon tried to surprise his opponent with an assault on his heels, but Achilles, the light-footed warrior, leapt on his opponent.

With one terrible blow, he claimed Memnon’s life. The body of the African prince was carried away by the deities of the winds, so just like Sarpedon, he was buried with all the honors he deserved.

After defeating that mighty warrior, nothing seemed impossible for Achilles, who would now lead the assault on the walls of Troy in search of ultimate glory.

Achilles commanded the Trojan offensive in the final assault on the walls of Troy. He wanted to conquer the city that day and everything looked favorable.

Using their long ladders, the Greeks began trying to scale the walls while the Trojans mounted desperate defenses.

Aeneas led the Trojans outside the walls; if they could not destroy the great stairs, the city would be lost.

Achilles, with his dreadful blows, kept sending Trojans to the kingdom of Hades. The defenders’ fortitude was weakening.

Afraid of dying, the Trojans began to flee while Achilles impaled them with Peleus’s spear.

Suddenly, Apollo appeared before Achilles and ordered him to stop the advance, for it was written in destiny that he would never overcome the Trojan walls.

But Achilles ignored him and told the god to go back to the other deities; if he tried to stop him, Apollo would have a taste of Helios’s spear.

Apollo gave way to the senseless Greek warrior, but he could not let him get away with such an insult.

The excellent archer Paris focused as hard as he could. With the help of the luminous god, he fired a devastating arrow.

Guided by Apollo, the prince’s arrow hit Achilles’s heel, his only weak point. Achilles was practically invulnerable for his divine mother had performed a ritual where he was submerged in the waters of the sacred river.

But the only unprotected part of his body was his heel, for it had not come into contact with the water.

Mortally wounded, his blood flowed abundantly in the stricken area. Achilles called the one who struck him from behind and at a safe distance a coward, for his opponent did not have the courage to meet him face to face.

Achilles still managed to stand up. He staggered forward against his enemies, managing to kill a few more enemies before running out of strength.

To everyone’s surprise, Achilles tumbled to the ground and the sound of the impact of his armor against the ground was heard throughout the battlefield.

The greatest of all heroes was dead. Paris celebrated the victory over the best Greek warrior and ordered the Trojans to plunder Achilles’s weapons and armor.

The Trojan soldiers who had previously fled rushed to pillage the hero’s body. Ajax appeared on the scene, raising his mighty warhammer to scare away the Trojans trying to snatch Achilles’s body.

Odysseus gave cover to the strong Ajax so that he could put Achilles’s body on his shoulders and set off for the Greek camp.

Ajax used his enormous strength to quickly cross all the way to the camp. Many said that for this heroic feat he would pay a terrible price.

Completely exhausted, Ajax accomplished his mission and rescued the body of his dear friend. Achilles’s body received due care and was mourned by all the Greeks who grieved the departure of the most glorious warrior among them.

Thetis appeared in the sea waters to bid farewell to the son she had tried so hard to divert from his fate.

She covered her son’s body with her tears and everyone present was moved by that mournful scene.

Achilles was cremated on a huge funeral pyre worthy of the greatest of kings. His bones were buried next to the remains of his beloved friend Patroclus; they met again on the Elysian Fields.

After Achilles’s funeral, the goddess Thetis, the hero’s mother, offered her son’s armor to the Achaeans.

It was to be given to the one who had rendered the greatest assistance to Peleus and Thetis’s son.

Ajax considered himself the only man worthy of such honor, for it was he who had taken the hero’s body from the grip of the Trojan warriors.

But Odysseus objected and said that he himself was the one who deserved to inherit Achilles’s breastplate.

Ajax was furious with Odysseus. He claimed that the comparison between the two was preposterous, as it would be the same as equating a dog to a lion.

The giant also said that if it were not for him, Achilles would have his head on a stake and his spirit would roam the banks of the river Acheron.

But Odysseus replied by saying that if it were not for him who contained nearly a dozen Trojans, Ajax would never be able to carry the body, and that it was he who found Achilles and convinced him to fight.

Without that, the entire Greek expedition would have been lost. Old Nestor suggested a competition to decide who was most worthy of such an honor.

Ajax and Odysseus spoke before everyone, defending their causes. Ajax was brave and worthy, but he did not possess the power of speech.

But Odysseus had a silver tongue and charmed everyone with his words. Menelaus and Agamemnon convinced the council to give Odysseus their weapons.

Some did so to prevent Ajax from getting even more prestige and power. Upon seeing Odysseus being presented with Hephaestus’s divine armor, Ajax’s blood boiled to such an extent that he felt ill, even having a stroke.

He became motionless in front of everyone and had facial paralysis. In his tent he seemed to recover from his malaise, but he was still outraged at the humiliation he had suffered.

He wanted to make the Atreidai pay for conspiring against him. At that moment the goddess Athena appeared behind him and clouded his judgment.

Ajax was completely beside himself. He came out of the tent with his weapon, determined to take revenge.

Two of Agamemnon’s guards tried to stop him, but failed. He suddenly saw Atreus’s two sons, who seemed startled to see Ajax’s hateful face.

The giant lunged forward with bloodlust against Menelaus and Agamemnon. Ajax mortally struck Menelaus, then he strangled Agamemnon until he took away his last breath of life.

Even after killing the two sons of Atreus, Ajax’s thirst for revenge remained unquenchable. He went to Odysseus’s tent and dragged him out; his opponent would not die as quickly as the others.

He tied him to a rock and began to whip him. That’s when the Athena-induced confusion dissipated and Ajax realized that he was flogging a ram, and everyone witnessed the grotesque scene in shock.

As he killed the other lambs, he thought the animals were Menelaus and Agamemnon, for he shouted their names during the slaughter.

Again humiliated before everyone, he ran back to his tent. He called his slave Tecmessa, whom he had taken as his wife, and he said that he could not stand the humiliation, so he would depart from the world.

His wife and son would have to seek out Teucer, his brother, so that the Greek leaders would not enslave them.

Ajax held a sword against his chest and threw himself to the ground against it.

The war’s second greatest warrior, second only to Achilles, died. Agamemnon wanted to deny him the right to the funeral because he had betrayed everyone, and that had it not been for Athena confounding him, Ajax would have killed him plus his brother.

But Odysseus convinced the supreme leader to bury the hero with all the honors of a great fighter.

Had it not been for Ajax and his great shield, the Trojans would have burned all the Greek ships.

Thanks to the intervention of the king of Ithaca, the mighty Ajax was veiled and honored as a great warrior.

The Greek leaders were worried. The death of two of their most powerful warriors, Achilles and Ajax, made it almost impossible to conquer the city of Troy.

Although they had weakened their opponents, something beyond their comprehension prevented the Achaeans from overcoming the Trojan wall.

With Odysseus’s help, the seer Calchas learned of the prophecies of Helenus, the seer who was Priam’s son; they ensured the safety of the city of Ilium.

Calchas revealed to the Greek leaders that Troy could only be conquered by men using the weapons of the great hero Hercules.

Furthermore, the city would not fall without having someone with the blood of the great Achilles, and there was also a sacred artifact that protected the city: it was the Palladium, kept inside Troy in Athena’s temple.

Odysseus, who had no time ever wanted to take part in the war, wanted to end it quickly.

He said he would find the solution to all those shenanigans. The king of Ithaca headed in his ship to King Lycomedes’s palace, the same place where he had found Achilles hidden among the king’s daughters.

He came across a young man. This one was training against two strong opponents at the same time.

The warriors, although experienced, could not hold the young warrior back. He was not just anybody; his name was Pyrrhus, and the Greeks called him Neoptolemus, which meant the new warrior.

In his veins he had Achilles’s blood, father of the young warrior with the princess Deidamia.

The princess felt a deja vu when she saw Odysseus recruiting her son for war, just as he had done with her beloved Achilles.

Odysseus handed the boy his father’s weapons and armor, which were in his custody. He said that the lives of thousands of Greeks depended on the lad.

Pyrrhus would not allow his father’s sacrifice to be in vain and agreed to accompany Odysseus to Troy.

Meanwhile, a new reinforcement had arrived to help the Trojans. The warrior Eurypylus brought with him fresh troops sent by allied cities to Troy.

With few heroes to take the lead, the Greeks began to give way before the enemy.

They were not ready to contain that renewed force. Suddenly the Trojans and allies halted their advance.

They couldn’t believe their eyes: Achilles seemed to have returned from the dead. Pyrrhus, who was wearing his father’s armor, let out a powerful battle cry.

The enemies began to flee, fearing death. But Eurypylus tried to stop the flight, saying that they were fleeing from a child wearing his father’s robes.

Eurypylus advanced against Neoptolemus, who did not hesitate to face him. The young Pyrrhus leaped on his enemy.

With one perfect blow, he struck Eurypylus lethally. The witnesses to that scene had no doubt: Pyrrhus was the son of the glorious Achilles.

With Neoptolemus’s arrival, the morale of the Greek warriors improved. The Trojans hid behind the walls again.

Pyrrhus had a triumphant debut on the battlefields once dominated by his late father. The Greeks now carried a new warrior on their shoulders, celebrating victory.

The first hurdle had been cleared. Now Odysseus needed to find Hercules’s weapons. The king of Ithaca knew where he had last found one of them, but he also knew that it would not be easy to convince the owner to take it to the Trojan shores.

After taking Achilles’s son to Troy, Odysseus had to undertake a mission that would cause him great embarrassment: he was to find Hercules’s weapons, and he knew very well where they were.

On the island of Lemnos was Philoctetes, the warrior who had been abandoned there almost 10 years ago because of his snake injury.

He felt a great hatred for Odysseus, responsible for his having been left behind. Odysseus asked the hero for forgiveness, for Philoctetes was heir to Hercules’s bow and his magnificent arrows bathed in the Lernaean Hydra’s blood.

But the forsaken hero would not pardon the Greeks. He turned his back on Odysseus and said he would not travel to Troy.

Hercules, who after his death went to live with the gods, spoke in Philoctetes’s ear.

He told him that he had given him the bow to take him to Troy and that his destiny would be fulfilled that way.

After Hercules’s intervention, Odysseus took Philoctetes and the divine bow to the shores of Troy.

The serpent wound, the reason for his abandonment, still had a putrid odor, but Philoctetes was miraculously treated by the best physician of the Greeks.

The hero who before could barely put his foot down was completely cured. Everyone was amazed by the miracle.

At that moment the gods seem to favor the Greeks. They were preparing for another assault on the walls of Troy.

The protectors were weak, but the strong defensive position was a huge advantage. Aeneas led the Trojans and their allies in defending the base of the wall, preventing the Greeks from climbing it.

Meanwhile Paris provided cover for Aeneas, commanding the archers who fired the projectiles from the top of the wall.

Neoptolemus embodied his father’s spirit. By the start of the fight, he had already slaughtered more than 10 enemies.

Paris seemed to be having a deja vu: he had a feeling if he could shoot down the mighty Achilles with his arrows, then he could also shoot down his son.

Philoctetes with his divine bow would not allow the cowardly Trojan prince to bring down another Greek hero.

He struck straight at the Trojan prince, who felt intense pain, much greater than a normal wound.

Paris cried out in pain as he was accosted by his brother Deiphobus. But they did not know that the arrow had been bathed in the poisonous blood of the Hydra of Lerna.

Few people in the world knew the antidote to that poison. The Trojans managed to repel the Greek attack, but the prince and heir to the throne lay dying on his bed.

No Trojan physician knew how to help him. Paris remembered Oenone, the nymph to whom he had found love before he met Helen.

She knew the secrets of herbs and could cure any ailment. Paris was carried on a stretcher to the nymph’s dwelling at the foot of Mount Ida.

The Trojan prince threw himself at Oenone’s feet and begged for help. But time and bitterness had hardened the nymph’s heart.

She told the prince to seek salvation in Helen, whom he had chosen as his wife.

With great pain in her heart, Oenone refused to render aid to the only love of her life.

By the time the men carrying Paris returned to Troy, the prince’s spirit had departed for Hades.

Helen mourned the death of Paris. Meanwhile Deiphobus and his brother Helenus fought to decide who would be the new husband of the world’s most beautiful woman.

Paris’s body burned on the funeral pyre. Hidden, the nymph Oenone saw everything. She felt enormous pain and guilt for having let her beloved Paris die.

In an act of love and desperation, the nymph threw herself into the flames and burned to ashes holding her beloved.

Upon Paris’s death, Helen was forced to marry Prince Deiphobus. An enormous sadness plagued Helen’s heart, and she felt guilty for the mistakes she had made in the past, which had led to the deaths of thousands of men and were the root of tremendous unhappiness at this stage of the war.

The other women of Troy hated Helen; she could see the contempt in their eyes.

She was held guilty for all the tragedy in the kingdom of Troy. Outside the walls, Odysseus pondered how he could break the last prophesied barrier that prevented the city from being taken.

The city of Troy would not fall if they had the Palladium of Athena within their walls.

But the cunning Odysseus devised a plan to enter the city. He needed the help of his friend Diomedes.

Diomedes beat and whipped Odysseus as if he were the worst of criminals. This scourging was essential to Odysseus’s plan.

Odysseus put on a tattered tunic and knocked at the gates of Troy for help.

The disguised Odysseus deceived the Trojans, saying he was a foreign merchant captured by the Greeks while trying to smuggle supplies into Troy.

He said he almost died after being tortured for days on end but had managed to escape during the night.

Helen, hearing that man’s voice, was sure that she already knew him. To clear up any doubts she said that her maids would take care of the visitor.

Helen’s handmaidens bathed Odysseus and tended to his wounds. When Odysseus put on the new clothes that were offered to him, Helen entered his quarters.

Seeing the king of Ithaca clean and without his hood, she recognized him immediately. She told Odysseus to be quiet, for she would not alert the Trojans about the spy who was now within the walls; after all, she was there only as a slave.

During the night Odysseus sneaked to Athena’s temple. With the help of the gods, the guard experienced a heavy sleep.

Odysseus entered the temple and stole the Palladium that protected the city. In his escape from Troy, under Athena’s protection, he eliminated the guard standing in his way and the Palladium prophecy had been solved.

After showing off the Palladium to all the Greek warriors, the leaders of the Achaeans motivated the troops to prepare for the ultimate assault on the city of Troy.

The Trojan archers standing on the walls continued to repel the attempted assault. But the brilliant Odysseus came up with an innovative strategy.

The Greek warriors advanced together, shoulder to shoulder with their shields raised. They looked like a great turtle.

The Trojan’s arrows were useless against Odysseus’s formation and the soldiers went towards the gates.

They began to strike the gate with axes and quickly brought it down. But Aeneas stood over the Trojan gate, asking the gods to help him stop the Greeks from conquering Troy that day.

The Dardanian prince was empowered by the gods. Using this divine power he pushed a large block of stone, causing it to fall from the top of the wall.

The great impact of the block claimed the lives of nearly a dozen warriors and injured several others.

Once again the Greeks were repulsed; they fled, thinking that the gods did not wish Troy to fall into the Achaean’s hands.

The Greek chiefs were extremely discouraged. The war was already 10 years old and all their effort and sacrifice seemed to have been in vain.

But Odysseus would again display all his genius by devising one of the most famous ruses in history.

After 10 years of war, the Trojan sentries noticed during the night that a flash from many flames lit up the skies over the Greek camp.

There were large columns of rising smoke as something very strange was happening. The next morning scouts called the Trojan nobles to contemplate the miracle that had happened: the Greek camp had been abandoned.

The Achaeans had left. But in that desolate scene a huge wooden horse stood out.

The gigantic equine had been built from Greek ships, which no longer had sailors to command them, for they had perished in battle.

That monument was certainly meant for the gods. They found a Greek man, scourged and tied to a pole.

He said his name was Sinon and that he had been left behind as a sacrifice to the gods; this way the Achaeans could safely return home.

Sinon was interrogated and asked why the Greeks had suddenly left after enduring a 10-year siege.

He said that the Greeks had angered the goddess Athena, who was on their side.

She was deeply offended by the theft of the Palladium, which was in the goddess’s temple in Troy.

As a result, a great plague spread among the Achaeans. Without divine support, the Achaeans realized it was impossible to conquer Troy and decided to return home.

He said that the gigantic horse was an offering to the gods. Its shape was grandiose to prevent the Trojans from taking it to Troy; after all, the gods would certainly favor whoever possessed that tribute, and they feared that with the gods siding with the Trojans, Troy would exact a ghastly revenge on the Greek city-states.

King Priam, his nobles and priests discussed what to do with the great wooden horse.

Some wanted to burn it, but that would anger the gods. Others wanted to leave it where it was, but the glory of carrying that offering to the gods to the temple square in Troy was irresistible.

Cassandra, the discredited priestess, begged the Trojans to burn the cursed monument, for it would ruin Troy.

However, she was once again ignored, and they still scoffed at her who had predicted years earlier Troy’s defeat in the war.

But the Trojans did not know that lurking inside the horse were dozens of Greek warriors.

Among them were Odysseus, Menelaus, Diomedes, Pyrrhus and Epeius, a magnificent carpenter responsible for building the gigantic horse.

With considerable effort the Trojans pulled the horse up to the gates of the city.

The great gate was partially demolished so that the huge horse could pass through it.

In a nearby creek the great Greek armada was hidden; thousands of soldiers were waiting for the signal to attack.

The great wooden horse was stationed in the center of the temple square inside the city of Troy, and a great feast began.

The whole city celebrated the victory over the Greeks after 10 long years of war.

The king opened the doors of the royal cellar and offered his entire stock of beverages to the people.

Everyone was to celebrate that great day with joy and plenty. As night advanced, the city fell silent.

The people of Troy were fast asleep after the long day of celebration. Suddenly a trapdoor opened in the belly of the wooden horse.

Dozens of warriors began to emerge from that hiding place. The Greeks stealthily initiated their way to control the city gates.

The sentries were surprised to be attacked from behind by the heroes infiltrating the city.

At the top of the wall a signal fire was sent to the tens of thousands of warriors outside the walls.

The gates had been conquered. Led by Agamemnon, the gigantic Greek army stormed the city and started a massive bloodbath.

Unarmed young men and women were not spared. The bloodthirsty rage of the Achaeans seemed unlimited.

Many Trojan men, even without proper weapons and armor, tried to stop the Greek advance.

But Troy’s fate seemed sealed. Nothing could stop them. Achilles’s son led the men in the final assault on the royal palace, the last stronghold of Trojan resistance.

The Trojan War was nearing its end. After invading the city of Troy, the Greeks indulged in scenes of extreme violence.

Ares, the god of war, could not be more pleased with the rivers of blood that flowed through the city streets.

Inside the royal palace the Trojan nobility was terrified. They knew that the Greeks would be merciless; a terrible fate awaited all of King Priam’s subjects.

Aeneas led a heroic resistance, halting the advance of the Achaeans and buying time for many Trojan citizens to escape the city.

All hope of victory for the Trojans had gone up in smoke. Achilles’s son, Odysseus and Menelaus broke down the door of the royal palace, and the goddess of victory stood beside them.

Menelaus’s blood boiled as he searched for Helen of Troy. He had an enormous desire for revenge.

Odysseus was fighting the last men of the royal guard who, even though outnumbered, offered strong resistance, while Neoptolemus cornered King Priam of Troy in the Temple of Zeus.

Old King Priam raised his sword for the last time. The king’s white hair did not move the son of Achilles, who pierced the old man’s belly with his sword.

Menelaus found Helen in the chamber of Prince Deiphobus, her new husband. The Spartan king wished to dye the room with the couple’s red blood.

Deiphobus raised his sword and advanced against Menelaus, but he didn’t stand a chance against Ares’s apprentice warrior, who killed the prince as if he slaughtered a pig.

Helen came face to face with the man she betrayed and abandoned. Menelaus was bathed in Deiphobus’s blood and huffed like an angry bull.

The queen of Sparta was resigned, for she knew that her destiny was Hades. But the gods had not yet abandoned Helen of Troy.

Her ally, the goddess Aphrodite, caused an aura to emerge around Helen. This aura emphasized all the exuberant beauty of the Spartan queen, almost blinding Menelaus.

Repentant for her actions, Helen offered her body to Menelaus’s blade. The son of Atreus could not consummate his revenge, for he was still in love with this woman.

Seeing her husband falter, Helen embraced him and asked for forgiveness, saying that she still loved him.

Without speaking a word, Menelaus dropped his weapon and accepted the embrace of the woman he loved so much to the point of driving two nations to war.

The battle for the royal palace was over. All the descendants of the Trojan nobility were dead.

None of King Priam’s sons had survived. Queen Hecuba, the prophetess Cassandra, and the princess Andromache had been arrested and their fate handed over to the Greek leaders to be shared as slaves.

But the fate of Astyanax, son of the great hero Hector, was still uncertain: he was the last living heir of Priam’s lineage.

With victory accomplished, the Greeks pillaged and burned Troy to the ground. Aeneas managed to escape the city carrying Anchises, his crippled old father, on his back and hauling his son Ascanius.

He fled to distant lands, giving rise to a proud people known as the Romans.

As Troy burned in flames, the goddesses Hera and Athena rejoiced that they had achieved their longed-for revenge against Troy.

Agamemnon was pleased by his large share of Troy’s plunder. He also received Cassandra, a prophetess whom the Trojans ignored, leading them to such a hideous fate.

But one last sad and terrible scene put an end to the war: Astyanax was torn from the arms of Andromache, who wept in despair.

From atop the walls of Troy, Neoptolemus hurled the poor child towards certain death. The Greeks agreed that they could not leave the last heir of Priam’s house alive; after all, Hector’s blood ran in the child’s veins, and if he grew up as strong as his father, his revenge on the Achaeans would be terrible.

After 10 years of war, the Greek heroes and their men returned to Hellas. Despite the many glories and treasures, the return home was difficult.

United they fought for the honor of their land. For millennia the Muses would inspire aoidos and minstrels to sing the deeds of the great men who sacrificed their blood at Troy.

Those achievements became immortal.